#1: Behind the Bima

Live. In three. Two. One. Wait. We are. You didn't broadcast your Zoom yet. Wait, I know. Could you Could you lean back? You're making me nervous. Why no one? Okay. Now how do I do it? We are live. Welcome everybody. Is there any Rabbi Brody, join us. I am coming in. I'm just sharing this on my Facebook right now. Okay, fantastic. So everyone can see we are live. We are live. Share now. Okay. Welcome everyone to the first installment of coffee talk with the BRS boys, the BRS rabbis. I am Ephraim Goldberg. I have the privilege of being one of the rabbis of Boca Raton Synagogue. Tonight we are joined by not only my colleagues, but by my dear friends. Brothers. Moskowitz in the blue shirt. Rabbi Philip Moskowitz hails from Boston, Massachusetts. He is an avid runner, a great friend, a wonderful friend. Rabbi Moskowitz, thanks for being with us. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. We also have tonight as part of coffee talk. We have Rabbi Josh Brody who hails from Elizabeth, New Jersey. Welcome Rabbi Brody. Rabbi Brody is the average Rabbi of Boca Raton Synagogue and also has the distinction of being the poster child of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. Right. He is the president of the Larry and Debbie Silver Center of Jewish Engagement. Rabbi Brody, great to have you. Thanks for being with us. Who brought the coffee? Welcome. Welcome. Who brought the coffee to the coffee talk? Is an excellent question. So, Rabbi Brody, we're live, but I don't know if I'm Facebook live. Does everyone see all of us or just me? Cuz that was They see all of us. Okay, poor them if they had to only see me. So, I'm going to open up tonight. I'm going to play the role of host. We have a lot of conversation, a lot of topics. First of all, let me give you a background of why we decided to do this. In in crisis, in this time where we were only able to interact with technology, BRS has had robust programming as always. You know, there are many other shuls and communities, and many other organizations and institutions who had to first discover their wheel, had to come up with programming. Thank God we got a lot of programming on a regular basis, so we didn't have to design new, we just had to move it over to another platform. And our new tagline is, BRS, our campus is closed, but BRS is as open as ever. And so, we've been able to interact for many classes happening online, men, women, children, beginner, intermediate, advanced, but they're all been classes. It's all been formal, frontal conversation. And we thought, you know, wouldn't it be fun just to get together and schmooze? Because normally we get to see our mem- What are you writing, Brody? I have something to say back to what you said. I don't want to forget You know, you take your notes. Okay, I'll just say I I figure what you wanted to do is that you wanted to just create an opportunity for me to be involved. I can't teach. I'm not teaching anything. So, this is a chance for me to do something. Take yourself buddy. So, we said, you know, every Shabbos weekdays we see our members, we give a hug, a high five, a handshake. We ask how it's going. You fill us in in your lives. You get to see us in an informal role, not behind the pulpit. And we really missed that. And so, we thought we'd just get together for some some coffee talk. So, first of all, I want to wish everyone a chodesh tov, a chodesh tonight. It's the beginning of the month of Nissan, the period of geulah, of redemption. So, I begin with the hope and prayer that we experience the collective redemption from the people who are struggling and suffering, that this turns around uh quickly, that we recover quickly, certainly those whose health is compromised should have a refuah shleimah. So, here's the first question I want to pose to both of you tonight. And by the way, none of the questions I made a little just notes right now. I wrote a few things down. None of the questions have we shared. So, Okay, I got mine also, don't worry. I got mine. It's going to be fun and spontaneous. Question number one, boys, is why the beverage of choice? It may be called coffee talk, but it's 9:04 at night. Nobody's drinking coffee tonight. So, why the beverage that you chose tonight? We'll start with you, Moskowitz. You've got two beverages there. I got two. Actually, I I have a little selection up here. I have my my bottle of Dalwhinnie 15. And I also have my bottle of Lagavulin, which is an 8-year-old Lagavulin. For those who know me know that I love my scotch as smoky. So, that's why I'm starting with some Lagavulin. But this is very near and dear to me. This was given to me by our dear friend Matthew Hockerman. Shout out to Matthew. Matthew, is Matthew with us tonight? Is Matthew tuned in? I don't know Matthew. If he is, he should he should put a comment in there. But on his last first. At his last day at BRS, Matthew gifted me this bottle of scotch. And so I have it here because he is very much a part of us as well, even though he's no longer at BRS. Wow. I think Matthew gave me his pens and pencils from his drawer. That he had in the office. So, Matthew, love you, brother, but I didn't get my Lagavulin, so. All right, interesting beverage of choice. Brody, tell us why why you drinking what you're drinking tonight. Okay, I got I got two bottles here. First I have the Laphroaig. The reason I got Laphroaig is because The only reason I brought it out was because I knew whatever else I would bring out, Moskowitz would make fun of me. So, I had to bring something I had to crack open a new bottle. But I'll tell you that I started with a bottle of Crown Royal, which I'm sure most of you guys have never even heard of. But I really was going to start with a beer. I brought out a Stella. Watch this. A Trappist. A Trappist. A Trappist. Stella. Because I normally drink Budweiser. And then again, you guys are going to make fun of me. So, I just figured So, you I'm trying to avoid being made fun of. So, that's why I brought out what I brought out. You went for the big boy drink. I'm proud of you. Okay. If I keep looking at the comments, I'm going to get to me. But if I keep looking to the side, I'm not being rude. I apologize, guys. I'm trying to follow We're on We're on Zoom and Facebook Live. And we've got comments with questions. And we've also got anonymous emails coming in. He's Robert Bader. I like him already, by the way. I know. Don't worry about it. It's Dr. Bader. Big shout out to the person who sent me a picture of them actually drinking coffee at 9:00 tonight. We hope you have a good night's sleep tonight. So, I'm drinking a glass of wine. Uh different beverages that speak to different moments, and of course don't drink unless you're of age. Don't drink unless it's responsible. Don't drink as a solution to your problems. Just drink responsibly. It's good for the heart, a glass of wine at night. I'm having a delicious Shiloh. This is a Shiloh privilege 2018, the winemaker's blend. And uh nice, soothing, comforting, nice uh it's a nice glass of wine. It's the proper temperature. We've opened it up a little bit, and I'm really enjoying it. So, let's begin everybody by saying l'chaim, to life. L'chaim. The life should be filled, the world should be filled only with life, happiness, and good health. To the two of you, to all those watching, we wish everyone a l'chaim. L'chaim. L'chaim. L'chaim. By the way, you should let people know that this is We do this every day. Not with the drinks, but this is our meeting. Everyone's getting a little bit of a eavesdropping in on something very special. We think it's special. Well, Brody, actually we we work hard, you know? Like uh I look forward to these meetings. this every day, but we're we're working pretty hard during the day. There are two types of staff meetings at BRS. Those that include Brody, and those that don't. Yeah. Yeah, and be honest, Rabbi Mott, which ones are more fun? Be honest. Definitely with you. Definitely with you. Okay. All right. So, we we've got some questions that are coming in already, and I got some questions for everybody. I want to start a little bit light. We started We talked about why the drink that you chose tonight, but I want to start light about asking you during this crisis and during this time, we're all cooped up in our homes. We're trying to balance communal responsibility, which are awesome. We can come back to how we make these decisions, and the pressure that we feel, um with our family, homeschooling our children. What are you guys doing to relax? What are you doing to decompress? How are you getting through this with all that pressure? It's possible someone spotted you, Rabbi Moscowitz, a couple hours ago going for a run in a in a hot pink t-shirt and uh blowing off steam. So, tell us about tell us about your run. I know you were scheduled to be uh competing in something big. It's a big disappointment that it's been canceled. Tell us about that that training, that experience, and why you're not dropping it all together during this time. Yeah, so um many of you know, I was training to run the Boston Marathon April 20th, 2020. That is not going to happen. But uh life is about moving on from disappointments and uh making the best out of any situation. So, the worst thing to do as a runner is just to stop cold. Um that's not good for your muscles, it's not good for your ligaments, it's not good for your for your mindset. don't stop. That's where you don't stop. For me, and you guys know this, running is never about uh physical exercise. It's it's a way that I clear my head. Um the ideal sense, I'm running with no headphones. It's just me and the world around me, the noises, the sounds, the smells. Um and it's really cathartic. It's really therapeutic for me. So, despite the fact that I'm no longer training for the running for the Boston Marathon, um I continue to run because it's my outlet, it's my time alone, it's the way that I It's the way that I clear my head. So, for me it's uh it's critically important. The other thing that I do and that I'm in the middle of this phenomenal book right now is I read. Those are kind of my two outlets outside of Judaism and outside of family. What? Not while you're running. Not while I'm running. No, no, no, no. But that's You asked how we relax. So, I relax by running and I relax by reading. And for me, reading is a way to transport myself out of this world into the world of the author. And that's why um those are kind of my two mechanisms for how I make my What are the What are the What's the top book that you read in the last 3 years? The book you recommend to people. Everyone's cooped up at home right now. Maybe you could download it on Kindle. It's I don't know if it's safe to take out a library book right now. You could order on Amazon Um so, I actually um when you and I were in Israel last month, I I read a phenomenal book which I was very thought-provoking in many ways. It was by Yossi Klein Halevi. It was called Letters to My Palestinian Neighbors. And the beauty really what what resonated with me about the book was that there were parts of the book that I loved, and there were parts of the book that got me very upset and angry. And any book that is able to draw me in emotionally and really play on to all different sides of I agree, I disagree, but but to get me thinking into about issues, um to me that's a total success of a book. So, that was a phenomenal that I just finished reading. Um the book that I'm reading right now actually has nothing to do with Judaism, but it was recommended to me by someone and it's about JFK and the moonshot and America's quest for to reach the moon in the 1960s. And part of what I love about that and what's resonating so profoundly with me is it's about dreaming big. It's about thinking. It's about having these ambitious, audacious goals and saying we know it makes no sense right now, but we're going to go for it and we're going to make it happen. And very So, what's what's your what's your audacious goal, Moskowitz? What's your big go bigger or go home? I thought we're starting easy. I thought we're starting easy. What's the dream goal? No, we're going to come to that. We're going to come to that. I'm going to challenge you with that. All right. But for me, you know, seeing a time in America's history where whether politicians or whether the the you know, general people in America were aspiring for something great. They were aspiring to tap into something beyond this world. So, I think we are doing that very much now through Judaism. I think you see people tapping into that in Judaism now where they're kind of stuck in this rut um and many people want to aspire for something greater. That's why your Emunah class I think has taken off so much is because people want to transcend the everyday trivial, mundane issues of this world and again to tap into something a little bit bigger. Nice. All right, have a drink. Say l'chaim. Loosen up a little bit. We're going to move down to Brody. And by that I mean both in height and in Okay, everyone relax. And where his picture appears on this at least on my screen. So, Brody, first of all, can I ask you to just stand up for 1 second if you don't mind? Just stand up. No, I am not standing up right now. This is a PG show. My first question for you, Brody, is when is the last time you put on a full-length pair of pants? Dress pants? Have you worn a full-length pair want to challenge you guys also. Have you guys I mean, I know you're wearing, you know, some suits and and shirts right now, but I'm saying for the last for the for the last uh couple days, anyone been lounging? Same same pair of shorts, same pair of t-shirts, maybe not changing too much. I wore the same t-shirt 5 days in a row now. That's amazing. All right, let's Okay, let's skip that for a second. I'm sure Okay, no one else wants to answer. I know that. tell us tell our audience we've got a nice crowd around Facebook Live and here on Zoom and encourage people if you have questions or reactions or thoughts, then please feel free to share them. But, Brody, what what are you doing to relax? How are you coping? I know you're doing an incredible project that we're going to come to later. Um we'll come to that later. And then through Boca Raton Synagogue helping an enormous amount of people, that's very stressful. It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of A lot of pressure. What what are you even tell you. I really thought that this week would be a week where you could kind of sit back, relax. It's been anything but that. But, when there are those moments, I've actually decided I play guitar, I play drums. I played drums since I was 12 years old. But, I've always wanted to learn how to play piano and I found this app. I've been looking at it for the last few months. It's not a lot of them. It's a couple bucks, you know, you pay a month. And I've actually spent the last 6 days learning how to play piano. I can play five chords right now and it takes you through from playing one hand, one finger to playing the right hand, playing the left hand and I just started playing with the left hand now as well and I'm on my way to to playing piano. So, so that's up to Are you up to Twinkle Twinkle? No, actually learn a great I'll tell you I'll tell you another time what song I'm playing right now. It's actually a very cool song. But, yeah, I could play for you afterwards if you guys want to hear it. Play for you live. But, I'll tell you something interesting. There's a lot of basic facts that, you know, you and I, proud Americans, we should be very knowledgeable about I came to America when I was in fifth grade. So, I never learned some of the basic things like the 50 states and their capitals. So, a friend sent me, you know, a test. It said, "How many capitals can you name in 2 minutes?" I'll tell you how many I named. I named five. I named five. So, I'm just going to give you, between the two of you right now, go for it. Name as many capitals as you can name together. Go. Go for it. Right now. Let's just try this out. Trenton Albany Albany. Darn it. Um Albuquerque Okay, we got three. Those are the three I got so far, also. Those are the same three I had. Listen, our audience doesn't want to hear this. Let's move on. Anyway, um No, I'm serious. Anyone know the capital of Alabama? There's a chat. I didn't even know there was a chat going on here. Yeah, there's a chat. Anyone want to give it? What What about Arkansas? How about California? Anyone want to know? So, right now I could tell you I know 15 states and their capitals. That's what I spent time last 3 days. That's kind of proud of you. And while we're on it, Sacramento why don't you mention for a moment your love affair with the Daf Yomi going on right now? Got it right here. Funny you should ask. Now, you might say that says Brachot. That's cuz the Shabbat is one. Let me just be clear here. I don't learn it. I don't learn it in I don't I don't open the Gemara. I try sometimes. Like on Shabbat, I'll do that. But, what I do, as opposed to Phil, and I saw there was a question that came up with books we're reading. I have a new new policy. I don't read books. I do Audible. So, I'm listening to the Daf Yomi. I'm listening to books. I haven't listened to a book, I'll be honest, since last summer, but that's my If I would listen If I would read a book, I would listen. And I love the Daf Yomi. Today was all about Erev Pesach, which happens to be, you know, what we're in right now. Amazing. I want you to know we're so proud of you for doing the Daf. It's really amazing. So, I'm playing, if I'm playing, I'm playing with Jonathan Harris. That's all I'm saying. He knows a lot. Yeah. It's a it's a good segue. First of all, shout out to our coffee distributor in our community who's pledged to supply the coffee for next week, next Wednesday night 9:00 p.m. Coffee Talk. So, um I'll tell you Josh, for me the daf yomi has been a lifesaver. I was privileged to finish the last cycle, it was my first cycle, and continuing into this cycle. And um you know, for me we're living in a world that's that's rapidly changing. One hour is not similar to the one before to the one after it. The news is unfolding in real time and the policies, the decisions. And in a world of so many so many variables and so much fluidity, the daf yomi is one of the few constants. And to know that every day you just you got to get in your daf before the end of the day. You don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I do know that it will include the daf yomi. I find that to be I'm so grateful to have this pattern of doing it already now because um I found it to be really something which is which is strengthening me. So, big shout out I am my Rebbe for the whole first cycle still learning with him out in Bal Harbour Shops. And uh during these days that we've all been quarantined, got uh Chef Gersh joining us too. And and props to Chef for taking on the daf, really proud of him. So, the daf yomi has been a really a really stabilizing factor. And we've needed a stabilizing factor. I'll tell you for me the other thing I've been trying to do, which you know, I don't know if the people watching appreciate. Maybe they do and I'm not saying this for for any um you know, sympathy or appreciation, but your rabbi, if you're not from Boca, I'll speak about your rabbi. But right now your rabbi on Shabbos is working less hard than they've ever worked in their life. I've never had as nice Shabboses as I've had the last two weeks. Don't get me wrong. Crime. I miss planning and the seudah shelishit. I miss all those things. I What's your favorite part of Shabbos now, Rabbi? Uh my favorite part of Shabbos, I love davening with my kids. I love the fact that Friday night there's nothing to go out to. I love being home seudah shelishit. The seudah shelishit is the right of the right of the part of the week. The most sacred part of the week. for Shabbos? Yeah, we've been Yeah. going outside and singing for seudah shelishit for about the last hour of shabbos. Unbelievable. It's going to be It's going to be hard to give that up. I'll tell you it's it's amazing because, you know, you feel shabbos slipping away. You know that that phone is about to come back on with its text and its WhatsApps and its beeps and its alerts and its news and its reality. And so you feel shabbos slipping away, but you're surrounded with family and, you know, I found that I'm with you. It's like it's been unbelievable. So, shabbos rabbis are working not a fraction, 100% less than we normally work. And during the week we're working 500% more than we normally work. Maybe not the campus being open, but the responsibility, the decisions we're making, the teaching, the counseling, the questions, the emails. So, we definitely need to find a way to decompress. I do it yell me, nice glass of wine, it's good for the heart. And I've been trying to exercise, which it's interesting because having less time than ever, but I found it's more important to try to carve this time. So, my kids and I have been challenging them to plank every night. It started out as a minute and a half up to 2 and 1/2 minutes, adding a little time. Maybe that doesn't impress you if you're a 65-year-old retired Navy SEAL who did it for 8 hours, but 2 and 1/2 minutes, not bad. Getting there. So, I'm doing that and we have a stationary bike that we use. That has been very helpful. So, I've been enjoying that. So, it's a good segue. I want to move over to something that I think is on people's minds. And um I'm not sure I can say just came back from shabbos for a second? That's right. Shabbos is interesting because the difference is is is is that now from the moment you wake up in the morning till the moment you take shabbos morning, you're with your kids, you're with your family. So, I could say that I've never spent more time on one particular day. There's no school, so there's no online classes, and it's just it's davening, which, you know, the very small piece of the morning, and then you have it's just time together. There's nowhere You know one's running anywhere. Kids aren't leaving. And literally is menachem avram because you know the whole world with its reality is on hold. It'll be there as soon as shabbos ends. We don't have to be watching graphs and charts and trajectories and statistics and numbers and and so it's this like refuge. You go hide there with your family and the kids our families who are so connected to technology today, you get to shut off disconnect and really and really be together which is amazing. Shabbos has been fantastic. Right. But I just want to say but that thing that challenge is is that by the time Shabbos is over and Shabbos is late now. So let's say it's 8:00. You're Yeah. By the time you you were you you're with each other. Phil, you feeling this a little bit? The entire day? I think I think Phil's body And I'm like Rabbi Brody I know he's my anal maharba but I'm telling you by the end of the day I'm like we we we just need to all be be out like let's just do something else right now. We family time, we just did it. The whole day. Rabbi Moskowitz time has knocked him out. We lost him for he's going to come back. We're going to get him back. So I want to segue over to this topic. I think it's on people's minds. Very serious topic. We went from the you know light what are you drinking? What do you do to relax? Tell us about your biking to let's talk about a heavy topic for a moment. First of all, this just in from our coffee drinker. Albuquerque is not a capital. This just in. So that's 14 capitals you know, Brody. Not 15. Anyway, um One second. I didn't say Albuquerque. Oh, someone said I think I said that one but that was I was showing it as an example of what's wrong. New Mexico just for the record is Santa Fe. Santa Fe. Okay, impressive. Let's move over now to a state whose capital is Albany. Um but a state which is very much on our mind right now. We put out the Boca Raton Synagogue released a letter earlier today and shared it through social media as well. Um talking about the relationship between Florida and New York. And for the most part um I've received incredible incredibly positive response from Floridians in particular obviously are grateful for the level of vigilance. Even New Yorkers whether it's my colleagues, friends or family in New York who not only understand what we said but wondered out loud is there really a New Yorker who would be going to Florida right now? Nobody's leaving their homes. Nobody's moving. Why would anyone think to do that? I did get plenty of hate, too. I'm a little bit nervous to ever visit New York again. I did get some people who were rather strident in their objection. So, I want to talk a little bit about the background about how we come to these decisions because we have this team and and each day we convene our kind of mini cabinet for our Boca Raton synagogue community. We confer with our medical experts in the hospitals and infectious disease. We talked to our post-K that we're very blessed to have great access to and we try to come up with decisions each and every moment that's in the best interest of protecting ourselves, our health, and the community to whom we have this really awesome responsibility. So, um basically the formula is this. First of all, I want to just clarify that I grew up in the New York area. I'm a proud grew up in in Teaneck, New Jersey, which when I got married to my wife 23 or so years ago, she told people she married someone from out of town. In those days, Teaneck when you're from Lawrence, Long Island was out of town. But today, I think Teaneck has made the Yeshiva League. I think Teaneck is considered in town even by Lawrence standards today. So, I'm from the New York area. Brody's from a little bit of a time warp in the New York area, but also from the New York area. Elizabeth, New Jersey, I think qualifies, you know, right over the right over the Lincoln Tunnel. And uh Rabbi Moscowitz, well, he's from Boston. He has been um thank God repentant, lived in New York for a while when he was in Yeshiva University, married, was living in Queens, and working at Yeshiva University. So, when we make comments about New York, we're not doing so as native Floridians who have any kind of bitterness or anger towards New York. We love New York. We are New Yorkers. We live in New York. We're from New York. Uh two-thirds of us do. Two-thirds of us do, but even Moscowitz on 9/11 felt a little something. And so, we're all It's not This is not from any kind of animosity towards New York. We're simply living the reality. The reality is that half of the cases of coronavirus in the United States of America today are in New York. New York is the literally ground zero. It is a hotbed. It is the the core, the center. Not because of New Yorkers. New Yorkers didn't do anything wrong. We love New Yorkers. We're not blaming New Yorkers. It's not anyone's fault. It's just the reality. So, you have a population just saying some of them didn't some of them didn't react as soon as they should have. I'm just telling you, I know, I read, I spoke to a lot of people in New York. They think the order was a joke at the beginning. And then, you know what? Look what happens, you know, you got to be careful. You could say that. the bandwagon a little too late. You could say I'm not saying that. You could say that. saying I'm saying that. joshbrodyahyahu.com. I'm not saying that. You can say that. I'm saying that it's not anyone's fault. I This is not a blame game. Certainly, we're not going to help anything when we start to blame people. Because, by the way, the more there's a stigma to admit It's not even an admission. The more there's a stigma to acknowledge that you have a confirmed case, then the more people will go underground, the less we'll know, and the less we'll react. And so, I think it's really important to not make people feel guilty or blame them, particularly when they're not at fault. So, I'm not blaming New York. Let's not debate that right now for these purposes. But, here's the reality. New York is ground zero. It's the epicenter. And Florida is the ground zero of the vulnerable population. This is where we have an aging octogenarian population who can't afford to contract it. So, I didn't make this up. Our governor declared, asked New Yorkers not to come to Florida, and said, "Create an executive order. If you come to Florida and you don't quarantine for 14 days, you will go to jail." The president today declared Florida an emergency disaster with whatever resources that means comes our way. Goldberg mask with some Brody who sat in the back room and said, "How can we get even with New York? Let's, you know, highlight them." There's New York and there is and there is Florida. And we love New York. New Yorkers come down, they help our economy. Thanks to the taxes in New York, more of them are moving here. And we're helping with our our real estate values. We we love New Yorkers. Our family and friends, we love New York. But, even the people you love, sometimes you have to love them from a distance. And that's what our message was, was that right now. So, you'll say if you're in New York, "Why do you have to say that? Why do you have to pick on us? We're not coming anyway." So, here's the last thing I want to say before I turn it over to you guys for a reaction, is it's not true. What precipitated the communication today is that we're hearing and seeing and finding out first-hand testimony of people who are saying, "I got a doctor in the ER who tells me that they're treating confirmed cases who in conversation mention, 'Oh, yeah, I just came from New York.'" I got people who just got back from New York who now have confirmed cases cuz they were there for some core visiting. We've got a supermarkets, and we've got places where people are We've got people who see their neighbors come down from New York, and all of a sudden they weren't here a couple days ago last week, and they're here now. We've got people boasting proudly on social media platforms about packing the car and coming down from New York to Florida. This is There's no room for error in this. No room for error. There are people on ventilators. There are limited resources. Floridians need them for those who are down here already. Everyone needs to stay put. That's the guideline, and that's all we were asking. So, I called and conferred with Reb Schechter today in order to find out from Reb Schechter a psak because we do have a halacha called mesirah. A Jew doesn't turn in another Jew. Thank you. So, we have a halacha called mesirah. You don't report on another Jew. However, if that Jew is endangering Jews, that's not a violation of the rules of mesirah. Reb Schechter confirmed that. Reb Schechter, who I'll say a l'chaim, how grateful we are Why do you think that you received such a negative backlash to the post that you made today? Right, what do you attribute it to? And the way you laid it out, it's so obvious. New York has a high concentration of it. Florida has older people. Reb Schechter psak. Why did people react in the really vociferous way that they did? Well, I just want to say Reb Schechter again, the l'chaim is that we're so blessed, and we thank the Almighty that we have people whose shoulders are broad enough to carry us like Reb Schechter who's making decisions. Nobody knows how little he slept and how awesome the responsibility of the decisions he's making, life and death. And I just want to thank Rebbe Reb Schechter and and the many other posts can who have been putting themselves out and making themselves available and taking upon their own shoulders enormous questions. And Herschel's insistence, by the way, was he said if you communicate that, you have to do it as a warning. If the goal is to deter New Yorkers from coming, then tell them it's a warning that Floridians, the is if someone comes and they're violating the guidelines, that you can call health services and report them and there's nothing inappropriate or incorrect with that. But Herschel said don't do it as a threat, do it as a warning out of love. We love you, don't come, don't put us in a position that we have to do that. So again, for the most part it was a positive reaction, but the people who were the most vociferous to use your word, I don't know why they took it. Maybe they thought we were highlighting them, targeting them, identifying them as New Yorkers. Again, I said we're from New York. It's nothing to do with what state you're from, it's due to the reality of the statistics and the data. I think people are very heightened emotionally. I think people I'm not sure, what do you think? Um I'm not sure. I was actually surprised. I was surprised that you received such a backlash. Um I was surprised that people were so flippant about Herschel's that people were so flippant about the dangers here. I mean, you know, you and I have obviously had hours and hours and hours of conversations about communal policy and how it interacts with and how it interacts with the medical advice that we're getting and that's obviously been what you and I have been spending a lot of time with. And I and I I to be honest, I don't understand how people can continue to be flippant to the dangers, to the risk, to the threat that are involved in this when you and I both know very well people who are on ventilators, people who are in ICUs, when we hear reports from hospitals, when we speak to the head of the local who tells us that they're you know, they're coming up to crisis situation. So to me, it becomes a no-brainer, right? It's all concentrated in one area. Thank God we're we're relatively okay still down here. Why why why why shake it up? Why Why risk anything? Why risk anyone's health? Especially because we have high concentration. I don't get it. I think people don't like being told what to do. Um especially by rabbis. And um I'm not sure though. I'll tell I'll tell you and Brody we'll come to you in a moment, but I'll tell you you know, all afternoon I I try to um and again we're among friends here. I don't even know how many are if anyone's watching. So, maybe just the three of us, but so so I'll admit this and and you know this, you know, when when people are critical, particularly when they're strong, we all try to sit back and say, you know, even if I don't like the messenger or the messaging, is there merit to the message? May Maybe they're onto something. Maybe we could have said it differently. So, looking back, maybe the one thing I regret and and I don't know that I regret it because I think it needed to be stated and it needed to be stated so much strongly to get attention and to be listened to. But if there's anything that maybe could be tweaked and I'll tweak it now here publicly, is maybe what we should have said is, "New Yorkers, we love you and we're worried for you and we care about you and we're davening for you and we know that the overwhelming majority of you have no intent on coming down here and would never risk us. But for the few, the minority, who would take that risk, there's a message for you." So, when I look back, I say to myself, "Maybe that's the one difference." Because I think maybe what what and again, it was a very small reaction, as strong as it was, but I think maybe what triggered them was the sense that they felt that we were lumping everyone in one bucket. So, if I could do that again and maybe we update this communication going forward, we should be clear. I should be clear. I take responsibility for this and I apologize if I offended anyone. That we care about you, we love you, we're davening for you. We know the overwhelming majority of you are just as vigilant and as being as careful as we are. But for the few morons, imbeciles, idiots, fools, who are risking your health and ours, don't come here. Maybe if I put it that way, it would have been better. Brody, let's move over to you. Talk to us for a moment about the amazing work. You came to me a week ago. You said we had an opportunity. We made a conference call. We spoke to somebody special. I don't know if you're allowed to mention his name. And from that one phone call we had, the three of us raised some money and launched this amazing project. Tell us what you're working on. What's going on? Yeah, I'm going to tell you about that, but I just wanted to just get back to what you just said a second ago. I think it's the same people. Like we've got a major issue in this Jewish world today. It's called sinas chinam. They're people that hate one another. They don't get along. It's their way or the highway. They don't care about what other people have to say. And when I said before that unfortunately there are people that didn't listen to the the warnings and they wanted to do their own thing. Those are the same people that are now saying this rule, this next rule about coming to Florida, about doing this, or about doing that, that doesn't really apply. And if we're ever going to build a community, a Jewish community across the United States or really across the world, people got to learn just to respect one another. That's it. Might not be what you want to do, but if this is the policy that we all agree on, Right. then like you said, I mean I'm I'm going to quote you, but you don't have to agree on the quote, but your people are fools. They're idiots. Same as what people's life and death. I remember the first day this happened, you called up. You were in touch with the heads of our local hospitals. They told you, "Listen, Rabbi, the first thing you've got to know, we've got limited ventilators. That's the biggest problem. We don't have more resources. And people going to get sick. Not going to be enough. It's not going to be enough. So these people that are going to come down the game and make more people sick, it's a big problem. Okay, just jumping ahead. We This happened before. This is not the first time this happened. Hurricane. Hurricane, right? Hurricane. We're going to call him Hurricane Jerry. Member of our community lives up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. know if he's watching, but we give him a l'chaim. He's a hero. him a l'chaim right now. We love Jerry. He's a hero twice over. down here right now helping the flood. at home. Whatever's in your glass, raise that glass to Hurricane Jerry. Raise it. Raise it high. He This happened during the hurricane for some some crazy reason. It was like last minute he got in touch with us and he said we have three tractor trailers that are going to be able to support all of the local Jewish communities that were hit by the hurricane. Palm Beach, or specifically South Palm Beach, which was intended with a direct hit. We were the only ones that didn't get a hit. And because of that, we were able to service the as the as the distribution center for communities south of us, all the way to the Keys, all the way to the west coast of Florida, and north of us as well. So, as soon as this happened, Jerry, who operates in one of those big kosher hotels, uh had to close down his operation, and he could have done what many of the other kosher hotels did, just redirected the food. You know, just don't take delivery, send it back to distributors. They'll send it out to their local retailers, and he would have taken a loss in all the food he's already prepared or taken taken uh taken uh at his hotel. But, he says, "Listen, I love Boca. I know what they're doing there. There's no one else doing what Boca Raton is doing in terms of their in terms of their work with the greater Jewish community." So, he called us. He says, "Listen, I can give you a great deal. We can purchase the uh the uh whatever that that the the food is." Rabbi Goldberg just happened to have a a local donor that already had to give him a nice sum of money. So, that was the lead gift. And then from there, we got Jewish Family Services, Hands on Tzedakah, Jewish Federation, uh Deborah and Larry Silver, and a bunch of other community I hope I didn't leave anyone off there. Chabad as well. They uh all got involved, and they said, "We want to be part of this. We want to see how we can make this happen." We purchased all the food, and the first of two major I'm talking about major, not even normal how much food is coming down. Two tractor trailers worth Tell tell us how many eggs, how much milk. Well, let me let me let me give you an example here. You're talking about 850 people that were going to be going to a hotel three meals a day, 24 meals times 850 people. You're talking about thousands of meals. So, families right now we got a letter uh yesterday from one of the recipients. I I could read you the letter right now, I would. I just don't have it in front of me. But, I'm telling you, everyone on this call right now would be crying if they read the letter. A mother who said she gets $40 a week, she can't even go shopping cuz she can't buy the basic necessities. When she picked up what just yesterday was the dry goods or 2 days ago with the dry goods, she said these are things that she would never in her wildest dreams would have ever been able to imagine she would be be able to put on her table for Pesach. And now that's not even that's that's only not even half. It's not even it's a third of what's coming because all the great meats and everything for those that have no money for food are going to come and I remember but we're sitting there with Rabbi Goldberg, just the three of us, got a phone call and next thing you know it's but that's the beauty of this community because everyone just jumped on it. 15 minutes later we had all the financing in place, all the synagogues, every one of our local synagogues. Rabbi how much did they make? How much money did it take to coordinate this? $60,000. $60,000. How long did it take to $60,000. The food the value of the food was was in excess of $150,000. That's unbelievable. And how long did it take to raise it? We raised it in 15 minutes. We distributed food right now through 21 different synagogues and through our Jewish Family Services kosher food pantry. So You're doing an amazing job. the beginning. You're doing an amazing job and a big hats off to both the donors who came up with the money right away. You know the money that I told you I pledged right away came from an anonymous donor without being asked. And these are the people that they pull on my heartstrings. They really move me. They make me so proud to be a Jew. Just just proud of our community. Is somebody just sent me an email. He said, "You know I sent in $10,000 to your fund. I'm sure there are people who are going to be hurting. I want you to use it to help them. Please don't mention anyone my name." And you know we were able to put that to use right away for you. I didn't even have to solicit that. I don't get any credit. That person gets all the credit. And and you raised the rest of that money and we can be very proud the community came together and I think it's one of the beautiful thing about the project is that because you have this dual a as the outreach rabbi of BRS and your Federation hat. We were able to do this in collaboration with former conservative Orthodox because you know, when it comes to people who are hungry, nobody really cares what your denomination, nobody cares what you wear on your head, nobody cares what you observe personally. People are hurting, they're struggling, we don't know how we're going to take care of Oh boy, the background comes on. Plug to the background. So anyway, so really that's some incredible work that's going on. Rabbi Moscowitz, what's been your experience with Are you hearing from people who are who are hurting? Are we worried that you know, a a lot of focus obviously is on the the health challenge and crisis and that is the primary thing. If we don't have our health, we have nothing. That is the first thing that we're facing. But the secondary thing that we're facing, we'll get to the third thing in a moment which I think is anti-Semitism down the road. But the second thing that we're facing is of course the economic and financial collapse. It's reassuring the markets come back the last two days a little bit, certainly hasn't recovered nearly anything or everything, but it's come back a little bit. Maybe fundamentals are strong and we're going to bounce back. We're not economists, we're a group of rabbis here. But are you hearing from people who are nervous? How is that playing out in terms of like schools, tuition? You all have a finance committee meeting recently. Talk Yeah, so So I'll answer that in a few different steps. First of all, you and I both sit on the executive committee of Hillel Day School. We had a recent board meeting and I mean it obviously it's an obvious statement that people are very nervous about what the future holds financially. You are starting to see people getting laid off from positions and really the calculation that people are making is that this is a three-month situation. Most people have enough in savings that they can that they're able to withstand it. Beyond that, people are really going to start getting nervous and schools and the synagogues are making plans for that. But you know, God willing, hopefully this will pass as soon as it came. The one thing that I'll tell you that our community should be enormously proud of. Rabbi Brody just spoke about this these anonymous donors and people that literally threw money at us to be able to to do this enormous act of hesed is that BRS could be very very proud that we have a WhatsApp group of volunteers. People aren't taking a penny. Some are high school students. Some are young adults. Some are people that have four, five, six children at home, have enormous amount of responsibilities. Um but they have committed themselves that in this time period where it's very scary for elderly people to go out of the house, to go to the stores, to go to the Grove, to go to Aroma, to go to Publix. Um these are individuals in our community who have committed themselves to basically adopt someone and to do their shopping for them. And that that's a big deal. Free Pesach to go to the kosher supermarkets, to go to Publix, to honestly put yourself a little bit of a risk, to take your time away from your family. I'm sorry. And when I say we've helped dozens and dozens and dozens of elderly people in our community, both within BRS and I'm very proud to say the majority of which are not in BRS. They're in Century Village Boca. They're in Century Village Deerfield. And in your on the WhatsApp, Rabbi Gober, I post a hesed opportunity and it is grabbed up in a millisecond. In fact, I get text messages from people afterwards who say, "You know, Rabbi, I always miss out when you post it. Do you mind texting me privately first that you're about to post something so that I can be ready to grab that hesed opportunity?" Amazing. So I want to give kudos to Rabbi Moscow who's doing incredible job in in coordinating this hesed part and I agree. You know, what's amazing about it is our members are are so eager they signed up. They've been chasing us. A big shout out to a teenager Max who put together a whole network of his friends and who text relentlessly, incessantly and said, "We've got this network. We're ready to go. Tell us who needs help." So, you know, here we were lecturing people and telling them, "If you're over 70, stay home. Don't go out. Distance socially." So they said, "But who's going to take care of our stuff?" We said, "No problem. We got it covered." We can never get it covered. This is not us. We've got this network of volunteers and they're really amazing. I just want to you know, we're talking about the economic fallout of this, which we don't even begin to know yet what will be. Will we bounce back quickly? Will it just be the government absorbing the majority of it by taking on a bigger deficit and cutting the check for all of us? Small business, big business, airlines, you know, mortgages, who knows? Will we bounce back? But I'll tell you who's taking a big hit and they're not going to bounce back from it. And I want to take a moment to to talk about them are the people the Pesach vendors who run the Pesach programs. You know, um I've had conversations with I've had the the opportunity to have conversations. And um you know, for the most part people who are signed up for Pesach programs, different programs, some have given back 100% of the money, some have given back part of the money, some have said we'll roll it over into if you'll come sign up for next year. But these Pesach vendors are are losing their pants. I know from our ORB our hashgacha work, it's not like they're pocketing your money you gave as a deposit. What they had to give to the hotel and the food and all the other things. So, you know, that makes our our Hurricane Jerry even more special. All these vendors, we should have all a great sense of our rachmanus for them because they're taking a huge huge huge hit. And uh among others, you know, we pray for them and and we hope that they um they turn things around. They, some of them will be making Pesach for the first time. Many people are making Pesach for the very first time at home. You know, it's interesting I mentioned in a class earlier today and um you know, if you have a health crisis right now, that's a real problem. And if you're concerned how you're going to pay your mortgage or put food on your table, that's a real problem. But almost anything other than that is what we would call a first world problem. The fact that you have to make Pesach in the in the context of Jewish history, that's not a problem. Right? The fact that your children are being homeschooled for a period of time in the context of persecution and oppression and and crisis and plagues, that's that's a first world problem. Right? The bandwidth on your home internet has to be expanded, that's a first world problem. So, you know, I think I think important for us who are privileged to only have the first world problems to to recognize that and be appreciative of that and realize that we're in a position to be helping the other people around us. So, having to make Pesach at home is a challenge for people who've never done it before, but it's also an opportunity. It's where Pesach was meant to be made. So, instead of looking at each of these moments as a crisis, we can embrace them as an opportunity and try to and try to bring out the best in it. I want to do that by the way. I am I also I gave a class last night. I spoke about this a little bit. Um I think one of the great opportunities that we're going to have this year is that because generally our children come home with and I know you've spoken about this Rabbi Goldberg. They they come home with Haggadahs that are about this big and they come to the Seder table and we're excited for all these conversations and they're literally regurgitating like robots exactly what their teacher or their Rabbi gave them to read. And it's hard to have a conversation. We always get frustrated by it. This year, I'm guaranteeing you people will say it's going to be the best Seder ever because their kids are not going to be regurgitating divrei Torah. You're actually going to be able to have a conversation. What does freedom mean? What does slavery mean? What's our family narrative? Where does tradition play into it? These are what the Seder's really about and I think we're going to come away from this actually much happier with the type of Seder that we're going to be able to conduct. I I love that. That is such a great point. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky in his Emes L'Yaakov in Shulchan Aruch points out in a footnote, he says, you know, that the the teachers, we have outstanding teachers. We have incredible educators. Maybe we'll come back to them in a moment. They work tirelessly and they're grossly underpaid even while they're still paid during this time. They're doing an amazing job preparing our children, but to a degree, they rob us parents of our mitzvah. Our mitzvah is vihigadta l'vincha. We're supposed to tell our children and they come home having already told them the story. And I think you that you're making a great point. I hadn't thought of that. But this year we get to do the mitzvah of the chamusa. We'll really do the mitzvah of telling the story to a group of children who don't have projects and arts and crafts, who haven't prepared gematrias and divrei Torah and highfalutin ideas. got a text cuz my wife just texted me that I insulted all teachers and how hard they work. I did not. I love teachers. I admire them. I admire them even more over this last best friends Some of your best friends teachers? Some of my best friends are teachers. I'd like to not lose them. But I do think that this year in particular affords us Did we lose Brody? No, I just read the questions coming in. I just try to figure out how to read them. We're going to move over to that one. My point was not to not to disrespect teachers. It was simply to present an opportunity that we won't be having this year. Understood. Everybody knows you love Everybody knows you love the teachers. And let's take a moment to give a shout-out to the teachers. It's been a little the teachers. little chatter between the appreciation to teachers and then we also want to acknowledge the appreciation to the assistant teachers right now who are called parents. Our teachers are doing an amazing job. They're trying to maintain their virtual classroom at home while their own children are being educated. Our teachers are extraordinary. They deserve our appreciation, our gratitude. We'll use this format to say thank you to them. But it's an unusual time. We're also Right, originally the Torah said that the parents are supposed to be the teachers. And then we all got too busy, had other responsibilities, didn't have that skill set. And we came up a system with a system where we outsource. And now we've become true partners again. We're sitting next to children. We're doing projects with them. We're supervising them. There's something And we we we begin to see also I don't know if you saw that one where the teacher the you know, we're starting to see that it's not the school and it's not the teachers. Our kids Our kids have their own issues. I saw that one too. There's an amazing amount amazing going on. So there's a lot to be said about that. We should continue to to pay our teachers. As Scott Goldberg's been pointing out, schools are not closed. They've just moved over to another virtual platform and teachers are still working and need to be paid. But we also need to acknowledge and give a shout-out to the parents who are the partners of the teachers during this time. And parents are are doing a great effort. I had an interesting conversation with a few guys the other day. Simone, I had a few I had a conversation with some guys the other day who were describing They said, "You know, when I work, I I have so much energy left at the end of the day, even though I'm working so hard. But right now, while I'm home, this was a guy who right now his office is closed, he can't be working. So, he's really helping teach his children. He says, "You know, by the time dinner's over, I have nothing left in me. So, I find it hard to even concentrate on learning, doing anything else." I said, "Yeah, welcome to your wife's world. Maybe now you have a little bit more of an appreciation." So, there's a little bit of a reset going on in the universe that's making all of us appreciate one another a little bit more. But let's move over to some of our questions that have come in. Rabbi, can I ask you a question? Can I Can I Can I put the I was waiting for that. Yeah. No, no, this is a serious question. Here we go. I I happen to believe that great leaders are defined by how they respond to crisis. Um in in in that regard, I I put you at the top of the list because I think you're phenomenal. Um whether it's a hurricane, whether it's this situation, I think you have um just a good sense, good chush, a good feel on the pulse of the people, what needs to be said, how strongly you can say it, and how delicately you need to say it. Can you walk us through as a leader of a very significant community, um and as someone who has significant following online, what are some of the calculations that go in when you make communal policy? I see Rick Dorfman just posted in terms of halakha. But it it's really more than halakha, right? It's halakha when it comes to our Kayla mikvah, it's halakha when it comes to the women's mikvah. There are a lot of details in there, but it's much more than halakha, and how do you How do you go about making decisions? Do you ever second-guess yourself? Um What What drives you in in that process? Cuz I think people would be very interested to know that. I appreciate you. You know, I did not set that What do you mean? He just He just asked me what to do. I did not set that up, and I did not see that coming. But let me I'm going to answer you in 1 second, but I see from some of our our Facebook comments, and I want to give a shout out. We were talking about some of the people who are who are hurting and that we can help. So, um a shout out also to our kosher restaurants, vendors, caterers. If you can order from them, and you can do a double mitzvah by buying a card or a meal and having it delivered from someone who's hurting, definitely help them. Really important. Our Our friend and hero is on here, Jay Feinberg, the founder of Gift of Life. Jay, you're a an hero and a role model to us all. Jay's remind I'm from Itzva. What happened? He was at my Bar Mitzvah. He got Glila at my Bar Mitzvah. That's amazing. So, Jay is reminding us to donate blood and marrow. It's safe. It saves lives. We need it. We need those resources. So, these are other ways. And also, the people were asking about how they can get involved in the network of chesed that's delivering. So, maybe at the end we'll talk about how you can sign up for that WhatsApp group and get involved. But, you're asking a great question and and I'll tell you the truth. We get doctors and nurses also, by the way, to appreciate doctors and nurses. Yes, medical professionals are on the front lines. They're risking themselves and we're so eternally grateful to you and that's amazing. Also, um thank you to our wives I'm being reminded to mention Really and also really everyone that works in the medical office, by the way. Everyone in the medical office, rabbis, rebbetzins, everybody who is Anyone else who might be insulted that we left them out. Everyone who is alive and breathing on this earth, we thank you. You're doing an amazing job. So, And back to the question. So, back to My mom, don't forget to thank my mom. Special thank you, Shmuel. And my mom, okay. So, and Jay Feinberg had said what a great Bar Mitzvah it was. First responders, absolutely everybody is putting themselves out there. It's amazing. Our custodian is still showing up. Our security guard who's there. It's a we're we're deeply, deeply appreciative. So, um you're asking a great question, Rabbi Moskowitz, and I'll tell you the truth, you know, I I it's one of those things that might be an instinct and an intuition. There's a lot of things I'm bad at and I'm sure in the comments people would be more than happy to fill in what they think I could improve on. You can text me and call me afterwards. Yeah. Some people sometimes, you know, you have challenges and struggles and deficiencies and you have certain things that you feel just very, very blessed. So, I don't know. I get an adrenaline rush in these moments of crisis, be it a a hurricane, um and the caregivers, I'm getting a reminder, caregivers and aids who are showing up the homes of elderly people who, you know, are risking themselves as well to be able to do that. Caregivers, aids, thank you so much. Um so there there is a I get this adrenaline release which I think is is reflective of the fact that I get an incredible sense of satisfaction and fulfillment from trying to help people. It's It's the most amazing part of what we do. I love teaching. I love speaking. Um I love the interpersonal relationships, but there's nothing more gratifying. There's nothing that makes you come feel more alive or or touch eternity more than feeling you've made a difference for someone. So there are opportunities in the rabbinate and maybe in future episodes of Coffee Talk we'll talk about why we all went into the rabbinate and the highs and lows of the rabbinate and hopefully we can continue Coffee Talk even when the world gets back to normal. And um but this is still a great format. Um the rabbinate on a regular basis enables you to be involved with people in their moments often of crisis and to feel that and to tap into that sense of fulfillment. But when it happens more collectively and communally and globally, it does so even on a bigger scale. So um I'll tell you a few things. You know, the the rabbis tell us in the in the mission of Rabbi Smarba Itza, Marba T'chuna, the more advice you seek, the more wisdom you have. So I don't I don't take credit for it. I think you got to surround yourself with a cabinet. And we have lay leaders at BRS who are brilliant and smart and insightful and humble and modest, who know how to push but not too much and know how to strike balance, know how to keep us in check and know how to think things through with us. And we're so grateful to them. We have access to In this particular crisis, we have doctors. You and I, the three of us, others have been on the phone with infectious disease specialists in New York locally. We have relationships with the heads of the hospital. You know, I'll tell you in in the world of APAC and Israel advocacy, this is just an aside, which I guess this whole conversation is just a group of asides. Um in the world of APAC, I'll tell you the whole methodology of APAC is you develop these relationships cuz you never know when you're going to need them and you can't wait till when you need them to have them. And I would say the same is true here, right? If if you're going to need access to doctors and experts and hospital personnel and administration, you can't wait for a crisis to look up the number and make a cold call. But if you know them, if you've worked with them, if you support them, if you partner with them, then when you need them, you have their cell phone numbers, they're accessible to you, they want to partner with you, and you're really trying to tackle it together. So, I think number one is Marba eats a Marba tuna, you got to have a good cabinet. I feel blessed to have the two of you, all of our staff. We have Rabbi David Shapiro, who's an MD, a medical doctor, who knows how to interpret literature and what's going on, and brings a really level-headed, balanced sense of self. So, having access to all of that um all of that wisdom is really is really how you do it. Um the other part is the execution. We have a great team that we put out our daily email, which, you know, we've gotten wonderful feedback on. It's a group effort, nobody deserves the credit. It really takes a whole group to put that out. And that we So, what goes into our thinking, and you could talk about this also. Every day we try to say, "What would be of help to people?" I think the most important thing is often leadership or rabbis they're like living in another universe, they're on a pedestal. Brody, or they're in an Ivy League they're in an Ivy Tower. So, we say, "Well, let's pretend we're the consumer. We're the congregant, we're the member. What would we be wanting? What resources do we need? What information do we need? What would be helpful to us?" And then we leap into action. So, whether it's a list of the restaurants, we're you're helping the restaurants by promoting for free the discounts they're giving, and people who can know who could deliver. Oh, the elderly, they probably need a network of people who could drop things off. Oh, um whatever it is that we're talking about. Lion Country Safari, you can ride through in your car for $15 for your family. It's an activity, it's safe, you're out of the house. Let's share that. Everything we come across. Tomorrow's email, give a little preview. Tomorrow's email is going to have the resources the government that's given out money to know both federally and in Florida how you can access some of the emergency funds that are there. Support groups, right? You had this great idea, one of our therapists reached out to us and said, "Would it be helpful if I did a support group?" Boom, now we've got it. So, I can't take the credit. I think it's a matter of convening the right people, asking the right questions, not being afraid to react and to get into action. And the last thing I'll say is I think what's really important is just to stay calm. Stay calm, keep it cool, collected, know what you got to do and do it. You can't be a leader if you panic, if you're afraid, if you're anxious, if you project a sense of of fear, you just got to be calm and know what you got to do. Stay calm, do it, and be confident everything's going to work out from there. But we've got That was a great question, thank you. We've got a few other questions, and we're already 55 minutes into this. I could go all night, but um I'm not sure how long our audience, if we have an audience, will stay with us. So um Let me ask the next question. One of you can tackle this. Um Zoom. Rabbi Moscowitz, Rabbi Brodi, Rabbi Moscowitz, either one of you. So we know last night, boom, it hit the Jewish news streams that a group of Sephardic rabbis in Israel came out with the fact that you can you can you can broadcast your seder over Zoom. So we believe in that, we buy into that. Yes, no, why yes, why not? Very sensitively, carefully, how do we how do we deal with that? What's our reaction to that? I've always wanted to join your seder. Now I can do it. Rabbi Moscowitz, go ahead. All right, I'll I mean obviously, listen, I'm not a posek. Um I believe in deferring to poskim, much bigger shoulders. You and I share that commonality, whether it's a Rav Asher Weiss, whether it's a Shachter, whether it's my personal rabbi, Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger. Um so these are the types of shailos that I don't think individual rabbis should be poskening. These are shailos that rabbis should be discussing with people who are far more knowledgeable um than they are. I will say this. Um one of the things that I think the Zoom shaila has shown is how nuance often times gets lost in psak halacha. In other words, if you really read read carefully um that psak halacha, which by the way was walked back by the majority of the poskim that signed on to it, where if you read what Rav Shachter put out today, um which I think you posted online, um is very evident. I know I had a conversation with a prominent rabbi in Israel about it today, um, offline. I think one of the things that gets lost in P'sak Halacha in an in an age of soundbites, in an age of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, is nuance. In a P'sak Halacha like this, there's an enormous amount of nuance that's involved. So, when these poskim wrote that teshuvah, it was not meant for the majority of people. It was meant for a very specific subset of who they were very nervous about when it came to this year's Pesach Seder. And in the context where they were writing the P'sak Halacha, I completely understand it. It's going to be a three-day Yom Tov, people are going to be alone, it's enormously challenging if you have mental health issues to begin with. I told I empathize, my heart bleeds for for people in that situation. Um, what worries me is that when a P'sak Halacha now goes viral on Facebook, and that nuance is lost, so you have people who that P'sak Halacha doesn't apply to, who are taking and saying, "Ah, see, it's muttar. If it's muttar enough for that person, it's muttar enough for me. And therefore, my daughter is in New York and me who's in Florida, we're going to have Seder tonight on Zoom." So, I think that's where there needs to be an enormous amount of nuance in P'sak Halacha. And I think that's also where we have this concept called "Asei l'cha rav." You mentioned a mishna in Pirkei Avot, so I'll mention another one. Right? You're supposed to make yourself a rav. and I'll raise you a mishna, yeah. Okay. No, but you're right, you make yourself a rabbi, which means that just because a few rabbis in Northern Africa issued a P'sak Halacha, doesn't mean that necessarily that's something that you can rely upon. That's where you contact your local rabbi or your local posek and you say, "Does this apply to me? Here's my situation, here my circumstances, is this something that I should be applying to myself or not?" And your rabbi, who knows you and who knows your situation, can decide in a way the heavy issues of Kedushas Yom Tov, of mental health challenges, etc. I I that's a very important point, the the nuance of it and the fact that you could debate the the merits of the Pesach itself, but the way that it was celebrated and and I think it brings us to another point which we'll get to in a second, which is when this is all over, what are the things that are going to be hard to undo and go backwards on. But, you know, maybe speak to us a little bit about the Sinai, what you do over at Sinai and talk about that vulnerable population who could be alone right now who need a seder. What are you doing about What do you regularly do for them and what are you doing for them during this difficult time? Yeah. So, first of all, I think also with the with the uh with the Zoom seders, it's it's it sort of makes you realize that there really is a big population out there that this actually does, you know, apply to. Not that they should rely on this. I'm just saying that like my mother, just say my mother doesn't know where she's going to be for the seder. She's like, I should be at home. I don't know if I'm going I'm going to, you know, my in-laws. Maybe she's there and she's not going to be there because they going to do their own thing, which they're going to be alone. She lives right down the block, but there's a concern of coming and hanging out with the children. we're being asked that right now on Facebook is what are we doing for the singles or people who are alone right now. think I think even if this we're not going to have a solution for the Zoom thing, the question is what are we going to do? Like that's like it's a big problem. It's a For you and I it's not a problem cuz we're going to be with our kids, but but there are people that are going to be alone in our community. Um So, let's Yeah, let's tell us about Sinai first and then we'll move over. What's Sinai? I mean, again, at the end of the day it's it's Sinai I remember the first thing that the first thing that changed for me during this whole coronavirus uh uh situation was going into Sinai. I go there every day almost. And What is Sinai? What is Sinai? Sinai is a local CCRC, continuing care retirement community. It's got an independent living, assisted living, memory care, everything you would need. Um and it's state-of-the-art. It's one of the five stars. It's one of the best in the in the entire country. What's so great about it is that it goes to assist many people in our community and the the the uh income that's produced will help our own community campaign. So, it's it's it's something which benefits everyone. Benefits our local needs and as well as those that are able to afford that that type of program. But, I remember when I walked in there and all of a sudden, this is before like anyone raised the alerts. It was a week before. And they had a you had to walk, you know, you couldn't just walk through the regular entries. You had to walk through and start washing your hands and the Purell and everything. I was like, what is going on here? And all of a sudden, you start to see something something very different. What's interesting is they just installed a system which is an like an internal cable TV system where they can now broadcast programming, live programming. So, for example, there's going to be something I'm going to be doing with them live or recorded before Pesach. And it's going to be broadcast in all the homes, all the residents' homes about the Seder. So, so we are working to do things like that. And maybe we can do stuff like that even on the circle. If we just we come up with something. You know, that speaks that speaks to one of the challenges we have. We know, we're doing this right now on Zoom and Facebook Live. But, what about the demographic of our community who have no idea how to turn the computer on, let alone access these platforms. So, they feel very alone. We know, we try to share always the telephone number to be able to dial in also to classes and programs like this. But, we got to do better to figure out a partner system or a mentor system to help some of the older people have access to these things. So, let's catch up on some of the the questions that are coming in, including the one about what we're doing for singles. So, one of the questions Rick Dorfman wants to know about making a siyum for the firstborn on Pesach on Zoom. And Rav Schechter and Postkin and Rav Moshe Weiss have all said that we can do that. Both because of the fact that the origin of that fast is in itself doesn't appear in the Gemara and therefore it's really basically essentially a custom. We can be a little bit more lenient and you can consider yourself to be participating in the siyum for this year over Zoom. And we're going to schedule many, many Zoom siyumim so people from around the world will have options of to be able to tap into to be able to do that. Um the question was also asked to me that what's the difference on Hanukkah? I was in Israel and I mentioned that I watched my family light candles and answered amen when they made the bracha over FaceTime. How is that really different than Zoom davening? Why aren't we doing the Zoom davening or a Zoom seder? So, um without getting into the whole halacha right now, but um the Talmud tells the story in Alexandria, Egypt, there was a huge shul and the people in the back couldn't even hear the chazzan in the front. So, they had someone stand in the middle, he'd wave a white flag, and the people in the back knew to answer amen because the bracha concluded. So, we learn from here that anytime, even if you don't hear the bracha directly, but you know that you're times for when it ended, you can answer amen. So, answering anything over real-time stream, Zoom, Facebook Live, a telephone call, you can answer, but to fulfill a mitzvah or to combine to be a minyan, that you can't do online. That is something which is not which is not permissible. Um I'll move over for a minute, I want to come back to the question of what we're doing for singles. It's a critically, critically important question, but I want to move over for a moment to talk about a concern that I have that I don't be I don't see being spoken about or considered a lot, maybe because we're in the heat of the crisis, but how we unwind some of the things that are happening. You'll see a lot of communities and I'm not sitting in judgment of any. I love all communities, I love all rabbis, I love all people, I love everybody. I'm just I just love everybody. I'm an ohev Yisrael. However, you see some communities who are hosting Zoom davenings. You see communities who are streaming, Orthodox communities streaming Kabbalat Shabbat, welcoming Shabbat. And I have a very significant concern about this, which is not living in the here and now. You see, you know, yes, Rabbi Moscowitz earlier about leadership and how you make decisions. And I think part of the way we have to make decisions is with an awareness of the past and acute understanding of the present, but also an eye to the future. What happens when this is over and how do we unwind or unravel some of this? And I'm curious what's going to be next year. Are people ever going to come sell chametz in person again or now that we've taught them you could do it online? Are people ever going to attend minyan or class? Are they going to be like, "Rabbi, just stream your parsha class. I loved watching in my gotkes from home. Why do I have to come in person and fight for parking?" Are people ever going to So, you know, here we've taught everybody that Kabbalat Shabbat left for Shabbat, accept Shabbat, receive Shabbat. This is real Shabbat. And the next thing you know, we're streaming and using technology. Why not call it an era of Shabbat kumzits? By calling it Kabbalat Shabbat, what are we saying for the future about what Shabbat really is or when it starts? And uh if you can have a minyan over Zoom, what are we saying about whether you really have to come to shul? Can't you just have a stream from shul and now conveniently daven from home? So, I'm not criticizing or saying who's right or wrong. All I'm saying is I think it's really important as we're innovating and as we're embracing the opportunities to both do that, but at the same time have an eye to the future to figure out where do we go from here and what does it look like afterwards? How are we going to unwind some of these things that we're doing right now? We sent out today, and we're going to get to this, too. I'm not going to go much longer, but I want to get to some of these questions. We sent out some new mikvah protocols. So, how do you unwind that? Normally, we tell women there's a halakha when you come home from the mikvah, you're not supposed to shower right away. Now, we tell everyone shower right away. Normally, we say do your preparations here. Now, we're saying do them there. All of these new things, are we doing an adequate job saying these are unusual circumstances? These are extreme times and that's why you can do these things, but as soon as we revert back to the privileged times that we were used to living in, then we're going to do away with these leniencies and will the world follow us and come back to that? I don't know what you guys think about that. To me, it's it's one in the same as the Zoom shaila. Right? I mean, it really comes down to how do you apply psak halakha in uh in difficult challenging situations and how do you make it clear that these are for very specific times and very specific situations, but when we come back to normal times, it's not going to apply. Listen, you and I both know I already got a few texts about it from from some friends who found uh this uh this halakha psak, but it's brought down in certain sources that there was a time in history when uh kidnyos was um we're more lenient kidnyos because of the difficult challenges. There was a plague ravaging through uh through the area and it was decided that to make it a little bit easier on people they would make a long kiddush. And so that it's a very similar situation where you're you're lenient for a very specific time in a very specific situation, but that lingers. That sakala lingers and and how do you employ it and how do you not? And and I think that's where the nuance and that's where the asal harab really comes in. Is um and I speak even for myself that that's where I rely on people far bigger than me, whether it's you, whether it's uh other poskim that I have, but uh but to guide through that process and to be able to walk us back a little bit and say, "Okay, that was for when coronavirus was, but we should understand we relied on minority opinions, we relied on a concept called shas at cha. We relied on on leniencies that we otherwise wouldn't employ, but to understand that requires a knowledge of of of the evolution of sakala and how sakala is employed." Absolutely. Can I say one thing quickly? I just want to say I I I think the world has changed forever. I don't think I I think there obviously halachic issues that we're going to have challenges with, but we'll step we'll we'll figure it out, we'll come back to where it should be. I think this technology piece where there's always been online education, but I think schools now and students have started using it in a way they've never never never done before. It's certainly our membership, people, older people, adults in the community are using it now. I think we're about to see a whole new world of online education that we've never seen before. I wouldn't be surprised if around the United States you're going to start seeing new online Jewish schools or some form of like a hybrid between our local schools now starting to use this technology because they start to see that it actually can work in some some form. That's an amazing point. That's an amazing point. Maybe we'll we'll explore that more in next week. Um what do we hope lasts after this? What do we hope doesn't last? And what are we afraid won't last? I'll give you an example. Everyone right now is pining to come back to shul, longing. I can't believe I can't daven in shul. I hope that will last. I hope that desire and longing will last to be in shul collectively as a community. So, that's a question and some homework for you for next week is what do we think will change forever? What do we think we hope will not change forever? And what do we wish would change forever but we're afraid it won't? Those three questions are I love that. I love that question. That's an important one for next week. Um, I just want to address to one other thing and then end on a light note again. Um, first of all, we're being asked, "Oh, don't forget our secretaries." Yeah, the shul personnel who've been who've been showing up and getting their job done, we're so deeply appreciative. Thank you so much. We love you and thank you for all of your We your help, we really appreciate it. Um, we're asked here about the mikvah. So, just comment about the mikvah. The singles we said we'd come back to and then we'll end with a light note. So, um, the mikvah, you know, I definitely we sent out our correspondence today about the mikvah and I think the most important part of the communication we sent was the fact that we said that a woman who's afraid to go to the mikvah who's afraid, her own symptoms, other people's symptoms, the mikvah and its ability. A woman who's afraid absolutely must not be pressured to go. Not pressured by her husband, not pressured by the community, not pressured by mikvah or rabbinic leadership. A woman who says, "I'm afraid, I'm simply not comfortable going." Now, what's the consequence of that? So, you'll say, "Well, I had a few women who reached out and said, 'Can I go in my swimming pool? Can I stand in the shower the length of tisha kabin a certain measure of water?'" And the answer is no. The halachic definition of a mikvah is not met by the pool. It's not met by the shower. For men who don't really have a obligation, a biblical obligation to go, it could be met by tisha kabin but for women, it cannot. So, the consequence of a woman who's fearful from going to the mikvah, not going to the mikvah means she's going to remain a nida. And that's a very serious issue. We're not minimizing that in the least. However, um, there are circumstances where a woman remains an a nida for prolonged periods of time. After she's given birth, she's a nida often for 6 weeks and longer. Um, a woman who has spotting from an IUD will often be a nida for extended periods of time. Woman who God forbid is going through treatment or illness is going to be a need there for an extended period of time. So, this might be one of those trying circumstances for which we have great sympathy, but there are no alternatives to it. A swimming pool doesn't work, neither does the shower. We're doing the best that we can. So, we are using all the precautions we can, making sure that the mikvah is open and available. Our mikvah attendants are among our hero list. We have a long list of heroes who are going every night and being extremely careful to preserve a pristine and sterile environment as best as they can, and we're seeking the cooperation of women in order to do things a little bit differently to ensure things are safe. Um but that's not one of the areas where we have flexibility. The flexibility that we have, so to say, is to ensure that husbands and no one else pressure any women who are concerned. And if it means they wait until they're comfortable and confident to go, then that's what it will take. And as hard as that is, husbands have to accept that, and so does everybody else. Let's talk about singles for a moment. Rabbi, I just got a text. Do you want to address oceans? Oceans, yeah. Oceans are viable mikvahs, and I've actually sent a few people, but we've got a problem. The beaches are closed right now. Legally, you're not allowed to go. So, we can't promote going or violating the law to attend a place that you're not supposed to be. First of all, if a policeman comes to the beach and finds you in the beach, in the ocean, in that compromised position, that will not be a fun story to tell. So, we'll bail you out, but that's not going to be a fun story to tell. So, the beaches are closed. Unfortunately, it's not a viable option. If the beaches were open, if the beaches were open, and you have access to a legally accessible beach, then an ocean would be a viable mikvah, but you would need your husband to watch to make sure all the hair goes under water and to serve essentially as the mikvah lady in that circumstance, and the more details of it are are not for now. But yeah, that's why we didn't include that as a viable option because the the beaches are closed um right now. The last thing was was the singles question, and it deserves a lot more than the the few moments we're going to give it now, but it's an enormous question, and nobody takes it lightly. Um we feel for anybody who's alone or could be lonely and Pesach is communication. It's question and answer. It's camaraderie. It's kind. It's companionship. So, the Agudah, RCA, OU, Young Israel, Vaad of Lakewood, and a whole group of organizations have cooperated. This is in itself very refreshing and Messiah might be coming just from that. But, they've cooperated on a couple of statements lately. And one of them included the following. They said that if a single quarantines themself for 14 days, has no symptoms, and wants to join a family that has no symptoms and hasn't been around anyone with symptoms, and they're going to be the only one spending time on Pesach for meals. So, that the single's not going to have one meal here, one meal there, one meal the other place. And the family's not going to host the single, but also host other people. So, essentially you're going to pair a family who are healthy and haven't been around anyone unhealthy with a single who's been healthy and hasn't been around anyone healthy, and they're going to have the meals for Pesach together, whether they stay there or stay at home, but just join for the meals. They recommended that that's something which can be done, and we're going to explore creating that. That's actually on a on tap for tomorrow. So, it's a little preview to our meeting and our email that's going to go out tomorrow. So, we're going to be working on that. I want to end on a light note. We began on a light note. I want to end on a light note. Again, Rosh Chodesh. If you didn't daven Maariv yet, don't forget to daven Maariv. It's one of the hardest part of no minyanim. Don't forget to daven Maariv. A chodesh tov. Chodesh mevorach to everybody. But, I want to end on a light note. Um a light note for us, maybe not for the people who are themselves in this. There've been some Zoom horror stories that are going around. Have you guys heard of any of the Zoom horror stories and what what should we do about it? Talk about it. Brody, take this one. I didn't expect that. Let me tell you something. Okay, I'm going to tell you what I what I think is that people need to be aware of what's going on. Let me just tell you something. You might not be aware on. Hold on. I think we were just joined by Matthew Hackerman. Matthew Hackerman, I gave him a shout out at the beginning. Shout out to Matt for the Lagavulin. No, for the Dalwhinnie. Can we Can we bring Matt on the uh on the on the on the on the video? I don't know. Can you call Can someone call in? Maybe for next Maybe we'll have some sponsors. That must mean Rabbi Gibbers' fire chat fireside chat is done. Can we Can we merge both programs, us and Rabbi Gibbers' program? Listen, the truth is I don't want to embarrass anyone with the Zoom stories, but there's been some Zoom horrific aware. Cover your camera. What do you recommend, Brody? Give us some Zoom rules of I'll give you some recommendations, okay? First of all, you've got cameras on the front and the back of your camera on your phone, okay? You never know which one is operating. Trust me, you never know. So, what you want to do is you want to cover those cameras. And also, you want to be aware that if you're paying it if you're watching a shiur, don't do it in the bedroom. And this You're going to say this goes without saying, but I got to say it. Don't do it in the bathroom. You're going to say, "What are you talking? Who on earth would bring a camera to a bed?" Just trust me. It's happened on many many occasions. The advice to mention the person giving the class doesn't always see it, but you see all the reactions of the people watching. All of a sudden, you Oh, what's so funny? What What's everyone laughing about? You You know what? Take a look at the instant replay. Be careful. We're going to do away with the Zoom horror stories collectively. We're going to bring etiquette back again and make it great again. I want to thank our uh special guests tonight, Rabbi Moskowitz and Rabbi Brody, our first ever. To be honest, I'm feeling a little verklempt. Coffee Talk Moskowitz and Rabbi Brody, I hope this was entertaining and informative for you. It was for us. Wishing everyone a chodesh tov, which should be a zman geulah, time of great redemption. And please God, we should gather only to be able to drink l'chaim to one another, to good news, besoros tovos. Brody, apparently, we lost you, Menachem. I don't know where he went, but thank you so much for joining us and wishing everyone a fantastic night. Thank you so much.