One funny specificity of business plans in Israel

Sometimes cultural differences are getting to business plans/emails…I noticed recently a few startups send their business plan with the jewish religious mention besyata hachimaya represented by three letters (bet / samakh / dalet) that is the abbreviation for “With the help of God” and which is supposed to bring luck to the document/project.

At first i thought it was interesting and actually even respectable.

But then i discussed it with a friend of mine more religious than me and that gave me a good view on this. It should not be put on business plans. Why not? because if the document is printed and then thrown away then you have participated in something that is not appropriate (throwing the name of god to the bin is not hmmmm good)

Concerning my practice i never print a document (or extremely rarely) so this would not happen. But what if i threw this document to the “digital bin” ? Would that be considered as an offense?

In the doubt please don’t put the mention in your business plans or your emails…

PS: i take advantage of this post for a professional claim: please do not to send your documentations in hebrew. Only english please many people involved do not read hebrew….

PS2: i am being updated that there is no problem with digital material as long as not printed. but still in doubt do not mention …

Comments

[Uri L.]

Besi'ata De'shmaya - בסעתא דשמיא

Actually today it's a common header that's added by default by
Religious and religious-wannabes to any document they write - even if it's a note like "let's put x in the toto".

Apparently the "gniza" rules apply to this.

[nathalie]

cher Ouriel

Connais tu un endroit suympa vers tel aviv ou pas loin ou nous pourions feter la nouvelle annee 2007? merci

[frum yid]

It is not a problem to throw this out as it isn't actually the name of G-d. There are some people who put lamed hay vov, lhasem haaretz umloh. Basically signifying that this paper these ideas all belong to him, and it is with his blessing all things are achieved. It is sort of like wearing a kippah on one's head as a reminder of who is in charge.

So even if you throw it out you are not desecrating the name of God.

[Israel Blechman]

Even though it's a jewish custom, it's not "with the help of gold" (line 5), but "with the help of god". :)

It should be corrected.

[ouriel ohayon]

Israel> Oops :) fixed. although for some Gold is God...

Nathalie> Try Helena or Blend for your new years eve

[Wysiwyg]

בס"ד is in Aramaic (not Hebrew) and means 'With the assistance of the heavens' (though in Aramaic it is only 2 words - 'בסיעתא דשמייא')
To my knowledge it is a superstitious customs, like knocking on wood, and can be written on *any* piece of paper or whatnot.
It is used by Jewish religious people as a reminder of the lord and his(her?) supervision, and by the common joe as a good luck sign, just like crossing one's fingers - for the Christians among us.