THE AMBASSADOR’S BELLYACHE

?My early childhood was pleasant. And most kids don't remember much of it until they turn a certain age.

When I was eight, my family moved from Israel to Germany because of my father's work. My parents did everything they could to prepare us for that trip; for example, I studied English for the year before moving.

But right before leaving Israel and on the first trans-ocean flight in my life, I had the most horrible belly pains. It was so bad that when we arrived in Germany, I didn't even get to see or experience any of it because I spent a week or so in the hospital.

Nobody ever found out what I had. And eventually, it went away. Today, I understand the issue was that I was only scared; it was utterly psychosomatic. I was so frightened of the unknown move that my body reacted this way. And I guess, retrospectively, that that's perfectly normal and could maybe have been avoided. The same thing happened to me many more times in my life. Only then, and at a much later age, I understood that's how my body reacts to fear and the unknown.

It was just a horrible first impression of a new country: gray and cold. I vividly remember the big hospital room with a massive cross over my bed. But the bellyaches eventually disappeared, as they would do many more times later in my life.

The time that followed in Germany was magnificent. I attended a great school, met many people from many countries, and learned two new languages. I know how privileged I am that my dad got this job through which I get to do all these things.

Interestingly, though, I, a secular Israeli, eight years old, never thought much about who I am and where I came from until arriving in Germany: In a country with a population of 82 million, only 100,000 are officially registered as Jews. That makes a Jew in Germany one out of 800 people, which is not much at all.

And I got a taste of that a few months after arriving. It was Hanukkah, and there were two Jewish kids at my school and a Jewish Arts teacher. We all celebrated Hanukkah together during one of the breaks.

The only problem was that nobody knew people needed to figure it out. So, I got the job of doing the blessings, the most recent arrival from Israel. And I do come from a completely secular home. But for the first time in my life, I proudly understood that I was an ambassador of something much bigger than me. I'm an ambassador of Israel. And I'm even an ambassador of this ancient religion, whether I want it or not.

And this is just my case; you could be black, female, gay, transgender, or any other minority in a specific setting, living in any country in the world.

The question is, do you think you should accept that you are proud of that?

?BE AN AMBASSADOR OF WHO YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU COME FROM.

?When I enter a new place, I often say, "Hi, my name is Guy, and I come from Israel." Being out of Israel for more than half of my life makes me want to say that. I'm one of many TCKs worldwide and a third culture kid. A TCK is a child who grew up in a different country from the one they were born in for a substantial part of their childhood. What happens then is that you create a so-called third culture that mixes the country's culture from where you originate and the one from the country you (also) grew up in. And I've embraced that many times.

One of the more interesting ones was in 2014. That year, the Consul General of Israel to Bavaria, Dr. Dan Shaham, asked me to join him in helping the Bavarian Ministry of Economics prepare the first-ever delegation to the start-up nation Israel. Of course, I joined him, wanting to support Bavarian-Israeli relations.

To make a long story short, we ended up conducting a delegation of about 50 business people to Israel. We saw all these great companies, had great lectures, and had excellent pitches. Still, I couldn't see how anything sustainable happened beyond the three-day tour.

So, in one of the bus rides, I approached the Bavarian Minister of Economics, who led the delegation, and told her" "Minister Aigner, how much did this delegation cost? A few hundred thousand." She said yes. So, I told her, "You know what we can do for a few hundred thous thousand? We can create a real intercultural program for Bavarians and Israelis in which they work on real challenges for actual companies, which will cost much"less!"

I used my background and who I am to create this BIPA program—the Bavarian Israeli Partnership Accelerator. BIPA has been running for over ten years, with more than 300 graduating participants and dozens of companies participating in both countries.

To make it happen, I used what I already owned, being an Israeli in Germany, and brought the benefits of working together to life.

Kickoff of the Bavarian-Israeli Partnership Accelerator, Tel Aviv, 2014. Left to right: Economics Minister Aigner, Dr. Eyal Benjamin , myself, Prof. Israel Borovich , Prof. Dr. Klaus Sailer