May 10, 2007 -- A group of 85 top international entrepreneurs who attended an industry conference in April heard from sales and marketing gurus, management consultants, the founder of a major Internet company, work-balance coaches—and one rabbi. For the first time ever, a member of the clergy—Rabbi Benjamin Blech, assistant professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University—addressed executives at the annual Gathering of the Titans conference at MIT Endicott House in Dedham, MA. The Gathering of the Titans is a peer-to-peer learning event organized by the Entrepreneurial Organization. Other speakers this year included sales management expert Jack Daly; founder of Monster.com, Jeffrey C. Taylor; parenting and family experts, Linda and Richard Eyre; and Michael E. Sloopka, an expert in negotiation in business. Rabbi Blech’s talk, titled “Taking Stock: So You’re a Titan, Now What?,” stood out from the roster of speakers topics for its unprecedented focus on spirituality. He encouraged the executives to clarify the values and vision guiding their businesses and personal lives. “You need to have a strong sense of your mission—in business and in life,” he said. He reviewed the mission statements of some Fortune 500 companies, showing in each case how their values and their vision helped guide them to success. “A major difference between the mission statement for a corporation and the one for our own lives is that success for a business is determined by making money; success for ourselves is measured by our understanding of how to spend it wisely,” said Rabbi Blech, whose 11 books include both highly popular and scholarly works including Taking Stock: A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life’s Financial Ups and Downs, three volumes of the best-selling Idiot’s Guide series, and If God is Good, Why is the World So Bad?, translated into three languages. Rabbi Blech, who has taught at YU since 1966, is a nationally recognized educator, religious leader, author and spokesman on a spectrum of spiritual and Jewish communal concerns. A graduate of YU’s Yeshiva College (1954) and affiliated Rabbi Issac Elchanan Theological Seminary (1956), he is a frequent lecturer in global communities such as Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Israel. He was handpicked to speak at the conference after his successful presentation at a previous business conference on “Spirituality and Leadership” for 75 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in Dallas last September. Rabbi Blech is a tenth-generation rabbi born in Zurich, Switzerland. He has served as rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Oceanside in Oceanside, NY, since 1993 and has written f