By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Why are Jews the richest people in the world and reputed to be the ones who can beat the Chinese when it comes to business? I think I found the answer.
I once had a friend more than 30 years ago who was from Israel. He was a Jew. I don’t know where he is now.
Back then, my office cum residence was in Cubao, Quezon City. Whenever he was in the country, he would be buying from everywhere trinkets and other personal accessories which he would bring to Tokyo, Japan to sell on the sidewalks at obscene profits. What he would buy at P50.00 he would be able to sell it at P500 or even a thousand. In one trip, he could make about P100K, all expenses paid. That was big money then. It would take him only 10 days to complete the process of buying the goods and then selling them.
The most important thing I noticed about him was how hard he worked. He would wake up so early in the morning and then immediately go out in pursuit of business up to late in the night. And he was only doing that business when he was here, on vacation for about three months. Then he would go back to his regular job in his country.
During those times, he was always ready to go home at a moment’s notice when there was trouble in the Middle East that involved his homeland. He would drop whatever he was doing and head home.
At one time I was working all night long in my office. He and another friend of mine who was assisting him came around at midnight, as they usually did. Then they would start computing and computing about how much money they would make. Among their topics would be other businesses they could get into. At around 2:00 a.m. they would already be tired. The Israeli would just lie on the floor and in no time would be snoring with out the benefit of any blanket or pillow. After about two hours, he would suddenly get up and waken his assistant. The first words out of his mouth would be, “where were we in our computation?” Then they would go on and on again.
The Israeli was practically thinking and working for money 24 hours a day. He would only stop for short cat naps and then would be at it again the moment he opened his eyes. That was his routine day-in and day-out.
That, I think, was the big secret of the Jewish people. They give their heart and soul for any project to make money such that, I think, God has no choice but to make them successful.
But here is another viewpoint. I had a Filipino friend who stayed for a while in the States for an educational scholarship. At one time, he and some compatriots went to to a Jewish community and here was his reaction. “They were so arrogant and condescending to us.” He added, they deserved how Hitler treated them. **
