Life Lessons From Kosher Pizza

"There's a saying in Israel: Rules are meant to be bent, not broken."

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I was recently hanging out with two of my Israeli friends in Tel Aviv, when we decided to order pizza. One of them (Aviad) asked the other (Itamar) if we needed to order from a kosher pizza place, because Itamar is pretty religious.

Itamar said: “It depends.”

Taken aback by his answer, I asked him, “It depends on what?” — genuinely curious, since many religious people in Israel strictly keep kosher.

“Well, if we go out to a bar and order pizza,” Itamar said, “it’s fine, because the fact is, almost every bar in Tel Aviv isn’t kosher. But if we order delivery, I prefer we order from a kosher pizza place.”

The lesson here is not just about being flexible and going with the flow, or standing by your values and principles. It actually goes much deeper. What Itamar effectively told us is:

If there’s an option to eat kosher, he prefers to eat kosher. If not, it’s all good.

There are three vital lessons I took from Itamar’s approach: