#107: Behind the Bima - Yishai Fleisher

from Boca Raton Florida rabbis F from Goldberg Philip Moskowitz and Josh Brody are taking you behind the bema the BRS Rabbi schmooz about contemporary issues and talk to special guests who give up behind the scenes look at how they got to where they are and what keeps them going welcome to behind the bema good evening Wednesday night 9 p.m I'm gonna buy it from Goldberg joined by my dear friend and colleague Rabbi Joshua broday Rabbi Brody we're here to take everyone where behind the behind the bhima very special uh very special episode behind the Beamer joined by our friend yoshai Fleischer and the timing couldn't be better unfortunately and tragically because uh today in Israel two bombings woke up this morning to find out and you know our hearts and our thoughts our filos our prayers are with our brothers and sisters in Israel who we know that terror terror continues to show its ugly head but we thought the days of of bombings bus bombings um so it's it's sad it's tragic there was a tragic loss of a young man and um our dear friend Rabbi polachowski his daughter was present thank God only lightly injured not really injured but you know that's very premature to say personally physically could not be injured but the trauma mentally emotionally of course our thoughts and feel us are with him too and and he was sharing a lot with the public today so um what a day to have you shy on to talk about as the international spokesperson the Jewish community of Chevron talk about Israel at large but we'll come back to that in a moment already tell us what's going on with you oh it's been a busy day um a lot of action going on here we're on locations somewhere somewhere far away where do we find you tonight Rabbi Brody I can just tell you right now I'm not saying do you still file taxes in Florida or you don't qualify we actually might start start doing an investigation on me because you know we have all these great benefits to be to be residents of Florida that's my income tax and all the other good stuff yeah um but it's 4 a.m right now 4am where you are 402 in the morning right it's 902 in Boca on the East Coast so everyone can calculate for themselves yeah yeah where were you on Sunday evening yeah it's been one of those weeks where it's just been like late nights every night uh it was the annual so I really want to just say a big shout out to all those big Chabad rabbis who are big fans of behind the bema there was a lot of excitement everyone was looking for you that you were the only one that was missing there and I know you had a very special special day um probably one of the most incredible bar mitzes I did you know the rabbit we always like to go behind the beam and give people a little inkling into our life and decisions that we make and sometimes you have something that you want to do I wanted to go to the Kinesis rabbis around the world almost 6 000 of them gather you know there are 6 400 men at this program that's got to be the largest kosher meal served every year anyway how do you have the cutlery how do you prepare the food how many what's the cost of Hosting that just coordinating dinner for 6 500 people you know many people are making a big Thanksgiving dinner nobody's making one for 6 500 people kosher yeah you can't imagine and the security was so so extensive I mean you pulled up I would say probably a two mile perimeter around the entire Convention Center you couldn't get close you have local police state police you know as an just coming in on an Uber you the Uber driver couldn't get it right yeah I've always wanted to be I have not been there yet I get invited every year as everybody does if you know a local Chabad Rabbi wants to take you it's not some uh special Inn and I always want to go whenever you guys say this is the year and while it was going on we had a very special bar mitzvah locally your wife was a very big part of making it happen beautiful beautiful courageous family they have two sons both sons have duchesne's muscular dystrophy both sons are in wheelchairs and the two of them they're actually a year apart but celebrated the bar mitzvah together and it was a very very meaningful evening for the two of them and their heroic parents who are devoted Beyond imagination to these two boys and this bar mitzvah would not have happened without Simone Brody who coordinated it and put it together organized it so I know the family well I feel close to them I remember when their sons got the diagnosis and had been with them and I wasn't missing that bar mitzvah so please get an extra canister I know actually I said that to someone they're talking about this year schnas hockels I said you know in seven years you're planning another schnasako like how do we make it even bigger they're like seven years what do you mean shifts coming today what do you mean seven years from now there's no 100 no seven years planning right now so give it give us a little link what was the highlight of the chemist for you what's it like as a you went on Outsiders but you're not one of the so what was it like so it was actually really interesting because there weren't a lot of beards a lot of non-beards there you know if you had a beard you'd definitely fit in if you didn't have a beard so every time I saw a guy without a beard I just kind of figured like I should know him so we we're all making eye contact with each other there definitely were some guests George Roar was their guest speaker this year fantastic and uh again the the the the the sheer number of people there that were represented representing communities and countries all over the world was was was mind-blowing it's similar to what what you always used to tell me before I started going to Apex policy conference you used to always tell me just wait for the roll call right now right and that's very very exciting moment now imagine a roll call of of of the emissaries that have been sent out around the world right now every single City and they're all being represented so you heard them there you heard the stories of how they're being successful and they actually wrote in in honor of uh I guess it's I mean there's so many different things taking place but 36 Towers were completed you try commission one Tower 36 Aquas at the same time just take just one other piece here after it was over around 11 pm so I got in a a van with a bunch of guys some of them you know and they said you're not going back to the hotel or to the airport now you're coming with us we went to Crown Heights from Edison New Jersey got kidnapped by a bunches and I'm telling you these guys were so much fun so first they said before we go to 770 we're actually going to stop at one of the schools where they're having a full day of programming for the children of all the shlochen this was just the boys I'm sure the girls were somewhere else but it was the boys these you look at these five six seven eight ten-year-olds these are the future of the world they're looking at themselves you're looking at these little kids they're just having fun in games these they view themselves as as the next level of leadership and then after that we went to 770 for for bringing and more for bringing and just lots of amazing lots of excitement well I just came from a wedding I had a wedding this evening and uh the Husson and Carla bride and groom wonderful people Mazel tovs to them Kelly and Ori they met at um they met on tjj on a tjj trip seven years ago right and they went to college here on the West Coast of Florida so I was sitting with the Chabad Rabbi from there with Gordon first of all he said he knows you because you were amazing our community were so proud came together took supplies made meals brought it up there he said that you know we we BRS and we the greater Boca Community and Beyond really saved them after the hurricane they lost power for a week many were very affected and um you know it was really nice to meet him and to hear it firsthand how how much they benefited and gained but it was interesting I said how many Jewish students are there at this college I don't even know this State College on the west coast he said they're about 300 year students I said how did you how'd you come to get there he's been there for about three years now he said what do you mean that's Hashem that's where Hashem sent me I'm like well how long are you there he's like forever it's a one-way ticket one-way ticket they buy a grave in the city that they go that's where they are forever you don't trade up you don't scale up you don't go to another position you don't look for how you can advance where you go is where Hashem wanted you to be I said 300 students how do you support that he said you know the student parents it's not really alumni yet some local community and Hashem sends the dollars they put it all together and you find a way and like the rep has been gone for many years and these yeah there's a young guy because he's married five years he's been there three years he's a young guy and and he just the rep is long gone talking about a generation now who never met the Reba but feel as the passion and the dedication and the sacrifice it hasn't waned in Iota passed away I think they said that there were 1200 slochen today they're over five thousand it's right it's just unbelievable they've got something magical going on and we can all be proud but the truth is that many of our background our parents want to know your Rabbi you know what benefits and where you going and how long will you be there and where's the professional advancement and how will you and just I think I think we could all take a huge lesson in mysterious nephesh that if there's a Jew who needs what you're willing to do for them with no reward and no honor and no professional advancement and just these are all children of Hashem they need help they need love they need support you show up and you do and it was really uh it was special to spend the evening with him so another individual is really wonderful you shy Fleischer I went to high school he's a couple years younger than I am but I don't think either of us thought we would be where we are in life but he's doing great things really passionate and uh mysterious enough for sacrifice voluntarily serving in the Army you know what that's like you've had you have your daughter who did that and um representing the Jewish people doing great things so we're really proud and really excited to be able to bring him on particularly on a day at Israel so much in our thoughts and in our hearts and so much part of our um our Consciousness and artillos we're davening for the families who've been affected for Safety and Security for only good things without any further Ado it's a pleasure to introduce our good friend yishai Fleischer we are honored and privileged to be joined by a old friend of mine not old of his age but old how far back we go yishai Fleischer the spokesperson for the Jewish community of Chevron advocate for Aliyah a fighter at the front lines for the Jewish people and the state of Israel Isha thanks for going behind the bema together with us what an honor and a pleasure thank you so much wow there's so much to talk about we want to hear about we just came off of Shabbos this parasha of course the Parsha in which the Torah testifies that This Land Is Ours avram purchased it he overpaid for it because it was so valuable want to hear about how many people there and what it was like I want to talk about your childhood and your upbringing where we overlapped and how you ended up doing what you're doing but let's go right to the following question on a lot of people's minds how many Jews live in Chevron today uh we have almost 100 families let's call it a with together with the Yeshiva which has 300 students we like to say that we have about a thousand people living in Cleveland it's a little less than that a thousand shoes but we also have our sister community of Kyrie at arba which has about 9 000 people so we're a block of 10 000 Jews in karat Arbor Chevron and Chevron proper uh the the Arab city of cabron numbers about 200 000 Arabs so it's about 200 000 Arabs and ten thousand Jews that's the opening question ten thousand Jews a thousand have everyone surrounded by 200 000 and I'd love to hear more from you and learn more from you about this in terms of the relations and and how many really don't want us there are okay with having us there I'm not asking because I believe this you know me well enough and my audience knows me well enough to know this I'm asking because this is what we sometimes hear yishai why are we spending the money we're spending why are we risking the lives we're risking the Army the police security um security paraphernalia military why are we doing all that for a thousand Jews in Chevron okay maybe nine thousand I don't know what the critical number is maybe carry at Arbor hits it maybe in combination they hit it but why is Chevron so important why are why are we spending all of this and risking all of that and in fact losing lives tragically we've lost people in Chevron is it responsible for someone to live there with their family what makes it worth it okay so I think there's at least three very solid answers to that question the first one is is that if you sit on the beach in Tel Aviv uh and you're drinking a beer and just lay back in that beach chair every 30 minutes a helicopter gunship will just fly right in front of you the same thing is true in the Jordan Valley same thing is true in a lot same thing is true in the golanites same thing is true in the Galil in other words uh our country's militarized we are defended post Holocaust country and we're an armed minority in our region and therefore we live wherever we live with the surrounded by by our army and police to make sure that we're safe the same thing as every mall that you go into Israel when I come to America and I go into a mall and I just walk in without somebody checking my stuff or my life my gun license or my bag I'm like Hey where's the where's the guard you know we live in a in a defended militarized Society because again we're post Holocaust we live in a place that has hostility towards us and has had many wars with an effort to annihilate us that we've been through in terrorism Etc everyone happens to be a tad more militarized a tad more defended but that's just because there's a small amount of Jews there we were kicked out we were destroyed basically in 1929 the most ancient of all Jewish communities was destroyed in the 1929 riots when 67 Jews were murdered and the British that were in charge basically kicked us out and we only came back in 1967. now hour after The Six Day War now our country is a tad ambivalent about uh the right of Jews to to settle everyone over the importance of it so they're the country has been a little bit like wishy-washy a little ambivalent uh but the Jews that have historical consciousness know that Chevron is key to the assertion of our historical and religious rights if we if we abdicate that uh historic right of Jews delivered we basically undermine one of the pillars of Zionism which is our historical connection to the land and then we will undermine our connection to Tel Aviv or any other seemingly safe place but we've discussed that gunships defend the Tel Aviv as well uh and lastly I'll say to you that uh the Thousand Jews that live in Chevron are not just a thousand thousand Jews in truth we have about a million visitors a year we keep that place open for about a million visitors mostly Jewish but also Christian and Muslim visitors um people around the world know the importance of Hebron people who have historical in in Tanakh biblical consciousness uh know the importance of the place and we have there the founding site of Abraham's first purchase in the land of Israel and the burial of our fathers and mothers uh the tomb the burial tomb of our of the founders of our peoplehood and so we cannot leave it we cannot abdicate it we need to hold on to it for all those things lastly if we gave up Chevron it would do it would become just what happened in Gaza which it would become Hamas land it's mostly a hamasity right now and if you gave it up you basically would allow Rockets to enter it and just on a security principle you would you would be abdicating the security of Jerusalem to the Jihad uh and allow it to become filled with Rockets So for all those reasons for you know the fact that that we have a historical connection to it the fact that everywhere in Israel is security the fact that uh the the foundation of our history and in our peoplehood is there and and that we don't want to give up the security of the of Jerusalem uh by giving up heaven for all those reasons Jews live there and of course the million tourists that come a year every single year those are great reasons for all those reasons you're in that's a great those are great reasons and and I find them compelling I'm curious a secular Soldier who's asked to guard Chevron who's there at the front line rocks are being thrown has to be in an armored vehicle maybe God forbid is going to take a a car ramming or attempted stabbing do those reasons suffice for that secular Soldier do they say you know what that makes sense that's compelling I'm happy and I'm honored to Sir they have to serve otherwise an army of course that disobeys you've got problems but does the secular soldier who may not buy the religious tie or connection to the land may not even subscribe any longer to the Zionist connection to the land but in terms of the security connection of Defending yushalayim or in terms of do they buy today's soldiers are people that enter the fighting ranks by choice you really have many ways to be out of the fighting ranks if you so choose if you want to be a fighting Soldier then you basically know what you're getting into so we find that soldiers are there the simcha with joy they like the interchange with people they like the action some of them and some of them just like the fact that they're instead of just driving around and defend the Jeeps they get to be with people with children with within interchange every single day throughout their time in Chevron we do our best to shower them with love and with lots of barbecues and with lots of you know fleeces and fun stuff and we try to make it that the opportunity of having a secular soldier in our midst is an opportunity to educate and to bring him or her into the fold the the experience that most soldiers have and it's been brought brought out through uh uh what's it called Skyrim what's it called the when you um ask ask people what they think the surveys right is that um is that the soldiers do very much enjoy their time in heaven but it is also challenging uh some of them actually are despondent not uh because of serving in Chevron or because they have to defend this religious site so-called uh they're actually uh disappointed when our own Army doesn't let them react uh with the full measure that you know of Justice against people who tried who embarrass our army who throw rocks at them and you know they shoot back you know rubber bullets and stuff like that and and sometimes they get like upset that that we're not giving a stronger response I have heard soldiers say to me that I have lost some national pride serving a Chevron being under attack and not being able to to respond with their politics they've changed their political orientation after serving in Chevron um the the the the soldiers see the reality and therefore it is it is it is a statistical fact that Israeli soldiers tend to the so-called right in Israel uh again maybe it's a self-selecting group that wants to be a fighting Soldier and there's plenty of also religious soldiers amongst them uh so it's a self-selecting group and they tend to be more you know patriotic and strong and fighting type but certainly you cannot pull the wool over their eyes and tell them that the when they look at the huge Arab Hebron 97 of which Jews are not allowed in and it is one of the richest Arab cities in this region it's probably the richest city from here to Riyadh uh and certainly to the Persian Gulf uh it's a very wealthy Arab City and they see how big it is how Lively does how vibrant that is and then they see the left tour people around and say to them look the Palestinians are abused because they can't walk in total freedom and this one little Jewish ghetto street the soldiers just rolled their eyes and are just like come on you know we know the truth so they uh see the truth for what it is uh there are sometimes soldiers that are disappointed in the friction there are more you know gentle Souls uh that are sometimes you know are likewise they're you know why does there need to be this friction between Jews and Arabs uh but most really do see the truth which is that that the Jews need to be defended in this place and if the Army wasn't there basically we would have another program like we did in 1929. we're thrilled that you're there I've been there with my family my daughter Tamara was just there her had our 12th grade class was just in Israel for the uh 12th graders always go and I know um cats hello day school goes to Israel and Chevron you know for us thank God thank God you enable us to be able to go to maras to be able to still continue to be at one of those the first holy place for our people so I was asking to hear you formulate but of course we are Beyond grateful Rabbi Brody yeah I'm just wondering the other side you know you're talking about the secular Israeli that might not understand the significance what about the Muslim who's religious and they have the same Bible where they're looking inside and they see the story of avram they see the story of Sarah You could argue about the Temple Mount I mean we we're not going to argue about it we understand that it's that that that's that historical significance they could say it's got nothing or there's no traces of history there but here you open the hummus and you see everyone it was purchased what do they do with this story if they really do believe it uh Rabbi Brody let me let me tag correct you the for the in in the Muslim tradition they don't look at our Torah as a valuable text that's in the Christian tradition there like that's the Old Testament so-called in the Islamic tradition uh they understand our Torah to be somehow warped and the Quran is the correct text now in the Quran uh Abraham Isaac and Jacob were important people but they were great Muslim prophets and so was uh uh and and so was King David and so we're we're the women that are buried at maratha they were great Muslim prophets and so that's how they get around that problem it's it's their place as opposed to our place however however it is interesting that the Muslims do not dispute that it's Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Leia who are buried at maratha the Tomb of the Patriarchs and matriarchs they do not dispute that and in fact Christendom also doesn't dispute that so basically they have billions of people in this world who all agree because because there are some places that are disputed for example uh the tomb of Rachel the great historian Yasser Arafat claimed that it is in fact the tomb of Bilal bin rabba which is one of the helpers of Muhammad who never visited Eric's Israel the Holy Land uh but it but in order to uh claim that it's their property not our property in Bethlehem uh he he Yasser Alfred invented this claim when it comes to Mahatma interestingly enough nobody ever debates uh who's buried there they just debate whose it is so therefore the the way that they do it uh the Muslims today not all the Muslims but those Muslims who fight us for control um are they call it the ibrahimi mosque right so uh therefore they say it's a mosque it's their place interestingly they pray today in what was originally built as a Byzantine Church uh a building on top or inside of my of the of the herodian structure uh in maratha basically the structure that we know today was built two thousand years ago by Herod and about 1500 years ago the byzantines built a church atop of that building because it was so massive and then it was taken over by the Muslims then it was taken over by the Christians then taken over by the Muslims and held that way till today tell us what it's like with the Muslim neighbors there are thousand Jews that have run ten thousand if you include Kyrie at arba it's as you said a very hostile region a very hostile neighborhood I know you need a lot of protection to go visit if you don't need it you're given the impression that you need it and people won't doubt it whether you really need it or not um is there a subtext a sub story that's not told often enough about positive or warm relations you as a spokesperson or some of the leaders of Chevron are their friendships do you sit down and break Pizza do sipti are there relationships with leaders that maybe you know wouldn't play on TV because you know sort of uh man bites dog is what makes news not dog bites man so it's much more to talk about conflict and peace is there any hope any optimism anything that we should look towards to see as a positive sign uh first thing is is that I I want to just make sure that people know that you could take the 381 or 383 bus every hour from the central bus station in Jerusalem and come to Marathon that's why we have a million visitors a year we have recently a whole load of Koreans Uh Russian Eastern Orthodox folks uh certainly Jews from America and every day svarti grandmas get off the bus and say to hilim at the Tomb of the Patriarchs of Matrix I'm only saying that to say that like uh we shouldn't be scared of coming there people are coming every single day and The Narrative of fear uh is a narrative that's created by your enemies in order to make us afraid to come to these places uh if you are afraid to come to Martin you have been terrorized because somebody struck Terror into your heart in order to scare you to keep you away so we can't let them have that and I'm just saying it is safe it is welcoming and is open every single day uh with regarding to dealing with with the Arabs we have no doubt we have enemies for example the mayor of uh the Palestinian controlled city of Chevron is a guy by the name of tiasir Abus Nena who in 1980 was part of a group that shot and killed six Jews at uh next to bet Hadassah and today he's the mayor how do we know it's him because he runs on the campaign hey look at me I did that in 1980 give me more power maybe I could do more good things that's that's literally the campaign that he runs on uh but on the other hand uh we have neighbors like uh uh like Ashraf jabri uh and I made a few videos talking about that who are uh literally interested in Jewish presence in this area think it's historically just believe that Israel is a far better Sovereign than the corrupt and regressive Palestinian Authority and one of the stories that I tell and he tells is that um is that when my daughter Leia had her Bat Mitzvah right before Corona my mom was a Russian Jew uh said to me can we have fireworks because we like fireworks for a big Smoot and I was like okay so I you know checked with uh with the local Jewish fireworks people and it was expensive and the Army said no and everybody said no and a week before the bar mitzvah my mom's like what about the fireworks and suddenly Hashem put a thought in my head and I was like wait a minute why didn't I just turn to the Arabs my Arab friends who lived behind Martha they're always shooting fireworks and nobody gives a darn so what's the problem so I called Ashraf shabri and I said to him you know if I said to him uh can you shoot fireworks for my daughters Bob Mitzvah he's like you want me to buy you some fireworks I'm like no man I need you to buy them I need you to shoot them over the marathon at a certain time the prescribed date prescribed time can you do it and he said you honor Me by asking me to do such a thing to be part of your simcha no permission required and that's right no permits nobody cared and so at 7 pm on that day which happened to be yural of on the same day that the rambam uh excuse me uh the same day that the rambam came and prayed at the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matrix in the year 1165. uh that same very day uh we came out of the marathon after my daughter Leah toured us inside and exactly at seven the sky lit up and it was the most beautiful fireworks and I was like laughing because it was so fun and beautiful and everybody's like yishai what a coincidence there's fireworks that your daughters bought this one I'm like no I arranged it people like no you did it and in fact that's what happened and I tell the story and he tells the story as a matter of Pride so we do have some interchanges we try to beef up those those relationships it's not easy it's not easy for Arabs to be pro-israel because they are under watch all the time and the Hamas or the PLO will come knocking out their doors and saying to them why are you good to these yahood or these mustache the settlers uh and uh and they are always Under Fire for any decent relations with us but we try to push it forward and we believe that if the state of Israel was less ambivalent and more clear-eyed about our rights and more and more assertive about our rights in Chevron than more Arabs would come in line and and have good relations with us give us a quick uh synopsis how many people were there where do they stay in sleep during Corona was it on break was this the first time back since Corona or through Corona did it anyway give us a little overview of what it's like for years we've talked about we got to bring that's a time to be there give us a little taste of what that's like I can give you a taste but I'll tell you honestly it's very hard to to pass over what what transpires it's about 40 000 Jews that show up in Chevron for a Woodstock style festival over Shabbos there's just nothing like that in the world this is nothing like it you you just there's tense everywhere now it's also Caravans these what you call these mobile uh like homes these Caravans come in and people stay every nook and cranny that they could find every piece of grass every place that they could park a tent and in Care at our book here at Arbor it's completely packed full of folks uh and then Friday night a massive unbelievable gathering at the maratha that the Tomb of the Patriarchs The Matrix and then afterwards uh eating and drinking and singing and the swardim do uh bakashot and then people giving out showing for free and the whole thing is like uh it's like log bomber um uh all rolled up into Shabbos in injured in Samaria it was everyone you know with a Nash City all around us and allow a walk apart it's like it's a crazy thing the tons of army tons of folks and then the most moving part of it all I think is Shabbat morning and I can tell you I wasn't there at fatiguing I wasn't there at the early prayer but 5 15 in the morning it was totally packed now the Tomb of the Tomb of the Patriarchs The Matrix is today split in half so that there's a Muslim side in the Jewish side but 10 days a year 10 non-sequential days a year the Arabs have full control of the Mahatma and 10 not sequential days a year we have full control of the month is one of those days where we have full controls therefore the big Isaac and Rebecca Hall is open and it was packed full of people praying at 5 15 in the morning I prayed later like more like 9 15 but like don't tell anybody but anyway uh the the most moving part of it all is to read about the purchase of Morata at the place I mean it I mean talk about organic it's like the ground below the tomb is right before you the forefathers and mothers you are the Jew the children of these people reading the ancient Torah looking at the God above and it's just a total like organic sensation of like wow it's this is the place it just it just sends shutters through you and then to read about how Rifka comes from from Quran uh you know from up there in in southern turkey and comes down to meet Yitzhak at the field you know it's this field of machpelah what can I tell you it's a love affair and and there's nothing like it in the world and I really I really extend my invitation to both of you you know next year we we'd love to host you and you you don't have to bring a tent the Hebron fund will will make sure to keep you comfortable as comfortable as we can we appreciate that you know we're going to come you're coming with our character that sort of combination and it made me think that you know when we think about when you think about Safety and Security from the Arab neighbors but after mayron we learn that Safety and Security can be a challenge just from stampedes and numbers and volume how does that get managed is that a big concern what's done now to to help make sure that the flow of traffic and spacing and that it's a safe environment for everyone absolutely I can't tell you how much effort you you just talked about safety but I'll talk to you about something that we debate and discuss endlessly bathrooms we need lots of bathrooms we need lots of garbage cans we need lots of uh policing making sure that there's no abuse because in such situations 40 000 people and in fact we do have some uh uh security problems not so much from Arabs but from 10 drunk Jews who who just make a lot of trouble uh so we have that sometimes and so we have to deal with a lot of logistics uh you're absolutely right now the building is very sturdy and the Avenues are relatively wide so we don't have the situation that you had in Maryland there's no like bridges built and anything like that it's all on the ground so we don't have those problems but yes we have to make sure that there's no crushing and we employ lots of people and we do lots to bring bathrooms garbage cans security Army transportation is a big it's a tricky problem because getting into government was not exactly so simple just physically logistically so we for example we we have you know like in my room we have a one-way bus system like a circle that they come in drop people off and and leave and Saturday night we didn't let private cars leave until two hours after Shabbat so that all the buses could take people there's really lots of logistics for us we say we have a little joke inside the office we call it again which is a famous phrase in Israel which means after the holidays like Banks stop working and like towards Rosh Hashanah you're like they're like so we say game for us goes a few more weeks after Tokai Sarah I gotta tell you I have a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders After High Sarah and and on top of on top of all that people like myself are also concerned with bringing VIPs in bringing speakers we had Jonathan Pollard this year and we had him speak uh we have Rabbi shmuel speak uh last year we had my good friends Viejas Kelly very famous it's really commentator to speak we always bring VIP so that's housing them and bringing them in the whole thing so it's a big headache and it and it and it's one of the most special things again it's like a festival that that that that is that is by the way it started as a political protest against Netanyahu in 1996 uh to not give away have run to the Palestinian Authority that's how it started today it's much more more of a cultural heritage spiritual Gathering to really show our connection to our fathers and mothers in Cleveland well do people have to reserve like how do you know how many people to anticipate and okay so the one thing that we do have to reserve Chabad and I must mention by the way came to Chevron in the year 1807. and you can debate whether Chabad a Zionist or non-zionist we could have a whole discussion about that but if you ever want to evoke the more zionistic style feelings out of Chabad just mention Hebron they are wild above Chevron and Danny Cohen has basically instituted uh the largest Shabbat feeding uh tents in the world and there's about 3 000 people but it's not like uh uh what do you call it's not uh what do you call it when when you when you have a train you pick a proof it's like called the cafeteria style yeah it's not cafeteria style it's waiters China they know how to do it they put tents and those tents have chandeliers big pictures of the Revy and and so you do have to reserve that and that costs money uh if you want to eat at the Chabad tense then there's you know people like bark Mars will give out challenge and stuff for free and then there's the Hebron fund which is the fundraising arm of the Jewish community of clever and we bring VIPs and we fed them beautifully and then toured and brought them VIPs to hear from including custom member itamar bengvir came and spoke and and Chiefs uh command the Brigadier General of the region came and spoke et cetera et cetera so lots of logistics but it's a very special thing and for us everyone we're one of our big fights is to normalize Chevron make it less scary make it accessible and then therefore make it more hours in the eyes of Jewish people people outside the land of Israel and our own government it's it's a big deal to succeed in making hi Sarah smooth and beautiful you uh you mentioned Ben Veer will come back to that in a moment we're not going to let that pass but you said normalize that's your mission that's your mandate normalized cabron and I think it's important for people to realize that you're normal and what I mean by that is people try to picture these settlers from Israel right they're like they're violent they're cavemen they're barbaric they're archaic settlers are fundamental they're extremists they're painted in a certain light until until you meet them you know my brother and his family live in a launch food and gushazio and he's a he's a settler he's a rabbi and a doctor and my brother is the gentlest sweetest person that ever walked the face of the Earth he's the farthest thing from the image and and you you know you you went to high school with me we went to frischer a couple years younger than I am you came back and you went to Hawaii you were a lawyer cordoza cordoza correct you graduated law school you're a lawyer um and and right before this episode you were doing yoga so when we talk about you know the settler you're not a fanatic you're not somebody who's an extremist you're not some gum touting violent so talk to us about how did a kid who came from Frisch Paramus New Jersey uh fresh cougar how did you go from why you cordoza and now be a spokesperson of this hotly contested city in the world stage called Chevron how do you find yourself did you picture is this what you thought you'd be doing when you were in high school I was chasing you to get into davening when you were in NYU when you were getting your law degree and whatever you thought you would do with your law degree did you picture that one day you'd be on all the major news stations you'd have an op-ed printed in the New York Times which drew a lot of controversy around it did you ever think that you'd be that spokesperson for Chevron and to a degree also for Israel did you apply for the job was there an opening International spokesman or you just stepped in you said I'm I'm doing I had been uh my the my predecessor was uh David Wilder uh who had done great job as a spokesman of clever on for many years and when he stepped down I basically was like David you know I heard you're stepping down I want the job and he recommended me I had been in Jewish media for years beforehand I was the manager of the arucheva English language radio station um uh Rabbi Ephraim you you talked a lot about uh like that that I'm normal that we're normal the truth is is that we're very passionate we're not fanatical but you know and we accept others and there's a love for other people and there's no hate and there's no like inner like violence quite the opposite but we are but we are quite passionate and I think that the two of you are quite passionate that's why you're doing the show that's why you have such a successful synagogue that everybody you know talks about that's why people are moving down towards you I mean people feel passion and they're drawn to it um I was a passionate young man uh I when my parents left Israel when I was eight years old uh I promised myself and said to my upstairs neighbors that I will be back for the Army and uh after my time at Fresh I I wanted to go back to serve in the Army I just knew inside my heart that if I didn't serve in the army that would be something that would bother me it's just a calling I I have to mention also my parents are Russian Jews uh who were also refused Nicks in Russia and there's like a tradition to be you know strong Jews you know uh my grandfather you know fought the Nazis and fought off the you know in in the great uh Siege of Leningrad and and so there's a tradition of being strong and I I didn't want to miss the opportunity to be a soldier in the army of Israel which is the first opportunity that we've had to do such a thing in 2000 years oh my gosh it'd be bigger but today it's not unusual when you did it nobody else did it you're absolutely right when when I was a lone soldier that term meant that you were alone it didn't mean that there was a whole organization embracing you or you know and that yeah you didn't have cell phones you really were kind of alone and you were an odd burden not everybody understood your your your challenges uh just to get laundry done and stuff like that but but I just knew that I wanted to come back to the Army uh and do it and and it was you know something that that later on also you did I did reserve duty for many years and something that I that I loved and felt great privilege to do when I came back to Yu Toshiba diversity um I really enjoyed this year university and I I love New York City there I said it you know I love New York City and I love living in New York City uh but I was kind of surprised that uh Jews were so they didn't have that yearning to connect with their Israel so I started an Aliyah organization called Kuma which meant the rise and I just wanted to promote the consciousness of like we can live go live in our homeland not disliking America it doesn't come from this place of like ew you know gosh no no it comes actually for like the world is good Hashem made a beautiful world including the great New York City and and now let's go to our homeland and build it up and we started that at the end of college and I went into law school and um when I went to law school I actually did go to law school with the Consciousness that I wanted to learn American law to go back to my home country Israel and to effectuate change positive change with with that kind of thinking by the way Ben Gurion herzl and javitinski all went to had law degrees from Vienna from from Turkey whatever from the different various places and brought that way of thinking into creating a state I wanted to do that um and Hashem has given me the opportunity you know in a way the person wants to walk the the heaven the heavens take you and Hashem has given me the opportunity to do just that which is to help build Israel to help create a bridge between the diaspora and Israel to help hold hands across the Atlantic uh to to help consciousness of the centrality of our great mission of building the Jewish State Building yerushalayim is in our time and what can I tell you I I that feelings that I'm telling you right now I get a Zing feeling every single today I was at the knesset today I I was at the knesset you know all afternoon and I was just like but I I can't believe I'm here Hashem just give me a chance to to do something good to to move this dream forward so you you get to live that every single day and um even with the challenges and all that stuff and you know I think that's what it means the 10th of the king of the Torah attack like give us a chance to just be part of your your dream and your and the stuff that you want to do in this world your energy is is absolutely infectious so um I want to ask you a question about about Alia in a moment but you mentioned Ben Geer before and uh I believe you're even part of his his campaign bengvir is an enormously polarizing person as you know I don't have to tell you in Israel maybe even more so outside of Israel yeah yeah in Israel he's not so polarizing in Israel he's actually you know pretty much understood it's well known that judges in the Supreme Court like him itamar Ben it's known that he's actually attractive in Israel not so polarizing outside yeah so you have this prominent um a leader of the reform movement who there was a headline just the other day that that I won't say his name but one of the leaders of the reform movement likened Ben and clear to a Klu Klux Klan leader and he said Ben Beer's career derives from hate ignites violence warns his appointment to senior cabinet post could cause a rift with the U.S and I'm reading directly from the headline I know on the other hand Rabbi Dr Danny gordis who you know we're fond of wrote an article basically saying Israel had opened Free Fair elections that are uncontested nobody challenges this is the will of democracy and its people and just like America elected first um you know first Trump many people were deeply disappointed then Biden many people are deeply disappointed and who knows who's next and who will be deeply disappointed in but free and open and clear elections and kind of American Jews should not be telling Israelis who Express their Democratic right to vote and voted someone who might be misunderstood or is exaggerated so tell the audience I'm not weighing in here I know there are people with very strong feelings that benfir has certain heroes or has said certain statements or has advocated certain policies which are very difficult for people to accept or understand he seems to have become a little bit more moderate Maybe in the election or since in order to achieve some greater goals and on the other hand I have family in Israel who may have voted for him and said he's grossly misunderstood they distort and manipulate you know who he is and what he stands for and that's really unhealthy also so give us maybe weigh in on both things number one help those who don't know understand a side of Ben Veer that they don't and and I'm not bringing you on takash or bengvir that's not the purpose of that question but help us understand and number two the bigger broader question do American Jews and do American Jewish leaders have a right to weigh in and to even sort of put an ultimatum about duly elected Israeli officials if you're going to give them certain appointments you're going to risk alienating us so uh with your permission I'll I'll answer the second question first and then we'll go into who Bank various I think that diaspora certainly has a right to the opinion that's obvious uh but at the same time it should be taken with a grain of salt and I think what should be spoken with some humility uh here in Israel we're putting our kids on the line uh uh our wives are driving on these roads our children are going on on you know trips with their schools and we are tired of living in fear we want security uh this is this is the the life that we're leading and so many people in Israel live in fear women are reportedly afraid to walk in bereshev at night in the midst of Arab cities like beresheva AKO yafo ramlalud uh here in Jerusalem not so far away from where I am right now uh next to the university there's an Arab Village called isawia and young Jews young Jewish women are afraid to walk around the University at Night by themselves because of of of of attacks we know that people that live around Gaza are afraid of shelling uh businesses in the South and in the north pay protection money protection rackets for myself living in Judean Samaria if I'm driving and I see a nice Green Hill I just want to walk on that Hill I just want to pull my Carver car over and walk in the hill I can't do that because you know I have to be armed and be aware of the fact that it's dangerous you know there's so many so many tales recently uh Mahmoud Abbas the the head of the Palestinian Authority boasted that he helped pay for 7 200 attacks against Jews in the last year alone and he helped fund that we live in an atmosphere where there's a lot of hate and a lot of bullying around us and the people of Israel that elected Ben kvir were like can you please help us with security please help us with security that's the majority of the issue issues that he's talked about and that's what he keeps I was today in in one of the meetings and he keeps saying give us the internal security portfolio give us the negative and Galil portfolio we want to normalize life there we want to bring it back from a place of fear so with regards to the diaspora a little bit of humility you're not living in our shoes I know that people in diaspora sometimes especially in the more liberal circles think that Israel projects its Modis onto them and they feel uncomfortable that Israel is more aggressive or whatever it is look we live two different style lives the style of the Jew and the diaspora is to speak truth to power um it's like you know a Jew in the foreign Court they call it in biblical Literature Like Yosef in the court of pharaoh it's like it's it's a different way to subside and exist Israel we are the sovereigns we have issues that we have to deal with so it Demands a different way of Behaving not everything that we do has to broadcast on to you and not everything that you feel about how Israel looks to you is something you should stay in public you don't like it okay you don't like it but we have to we're living this life here and just with a little bit of humility if things would be said like well we understand Israel's right to choose but it may make us uncomfortable maybe we have to learn more maybe we'll meet with you tomorrow but instead throwing out these terms like Klu Klux Klan it's such an absurdity like the whole thing about it tomorrow is is to is to you know bring more more security uh to Israel that's the majority yes there's been other statements and we can discuss this but the majority thrust of what itamar says is let's give soldiers right to pushback let's let's make stronger laws against terrorism etc etc now the part that you think got him so many votes it was that the security component of what he stands for that is what turned a lot of Israelis around about him no doubt about that uh he is he he by the way is a very interesting character he is a religious Zionist but he comes from a secular home he is what we call an Israel Amma me he's like Sephardic uh kind of like amami means you know of the people it means the kind of people that work in the shook or the taxi driver of the Falafel guy it's it means like from the nation and he's got a way of being very clever and smart a brilliant with media but still being very much a man of the people and in many ways it's not his Charisma that got all his votes it's the fact that he said something that everybody else knows which is we live in fear and we're tired of it we're tired of living in fear and so and that's what that's what people that's why people voted I've heard police officers sorry to interrupting yourself but how did the the voter who voted for him because they're tired of living in fear how did they get past certain associations he has or glorifications he has or radical statements that he's made you know and again I I'm not this is not not behind the beam as a very friendly and learning and warm and celebratory show this is not a hard-hitting uh type of show that's not what we have behind the beam before so I'm just trying to understand even myself is can we say pagin and dibury do we separate out what people say or do so you know the individual I could vote for their security part of what they stand for and the fact that maybe they've said some things or stand for some things that I disagree with or make me uncomfortable or even reject that I'll ignore how do people navigate that uh he went on uh TV not TV he was a he was at a high school Israeli High School a secular Israeli high school and they asked him all the hard questions it's a wonderful 17-minute uh YouTube video which has been seen lots and lots of times and basically every question was asked are you against the LGBT community he says no I embrace them I'm not here to be anti it's not my cup of tea I'm not going to be watching the in the gay pride parade and I you know may think that that it doesn't belong in certain places but that's not my agenda to be anti and I embrace them they said you know do you think that all the Arabs need to be kicked out he says no I may have said things like that in the past but today I understand that they're part of our uh society and even part of our nation but uh of course I'm anti-jihad not anti-arab I'm anti-people who want to hurt soldiers want to destroy our country not anti-abs per se uh are you know you he he once pulled off when he was a younger man he pulled off the um uh Insignia of the Cadillac off of rabin's car and he said you know we could get to the Prime Minister as well and then the part of the video that they cut out is when they asked him as a young man what would you do if you met the Prime Minister he says I would yell at him but they cut that part out and the other part has become famous and he said I regret those I regret those things I apologize for that you know that's not the way to have uh discourse they asked them about uh having a picture of of Bart Goldstein who was a great doctor in Chevron but also a man who perpetrated a massacre against Arabs and Chevron uh uh and basically snapped when he was told that there was going to be a massive attack against Jews on that Purim uh but uh he instead you know did this act which we condemn without equivocation uh but he said that he hasn't apologized for having his picture up that he was also his friend and that he added up as a picture because he was also a great doctor that saved Arabs and Jews but he apologized for that and he's taken it down people have noticed his his moderation and his moderation is something I'm very proud of and not only for the purposes of moderation but also for the purpose of getting real legislation done he is a pragmatic person who is also a very skilled uh advocate in Supreme Court in Israel he's one of Israel's great lawyers he's known as a civil rights lawyer and a great litigator and so from that place from from the place of he was once convicted for putting up a you know a a racist sticker that's it the rest of the rest of the accusations were dropped uh you know he said from there he's become a great lawyer a great Advocate and now a great politician who's moderated his his stances and Views and wants to get real policy done to get us back on track I I am I must say to everybody here is Israeli Arab cities are full of guns they tell us this uh these really the mixed Arab cities and mixed Jewish Arab cities were were incredibly violent 10 synagogues were burnt in the conflict last may we have we have Untold amount of missiles in Gaza and in South Lebanon from Hezbollah and in Hamas respectively and and we need to deal with these things so here comes a guy who came from a more radical tradition uh and has moderated his views and is now saying listen let me take care of the of the arms against us of the jihadist ideology against us I'm not here against Arabs and people accept that that's what we need right now we need somebody that's going to have a a more strong stance against that that that bullying that jihadism the criminality that the Jews face and by the way he says this and it's 100 true uh the first victim of the Jihad is the moderate Arab uh who is shut down the silenced and even worse uh if he says you know hey let's let's get along with Israel so uh the the phenomenon of vitamar Vancouver is really the phenomenon of Israelis being tired of uh of of persecution and wanting to live under God and you'd say the Jewish leaders in America um get to know him listen to him maybe meet the new him find Common Ground maybe the things you could work on or the things that you reject feel free to reject but the Israeli people have spoken so sort of better to work with and better to understand what would your message be to them yeah and and what is this whole I must say that the atmosphere of America which is this the divisive atmosphere uh you know you're afraid of of us in Israel broadcasting on to you like come the rhetoric down a little bit like bat it down relax like this is Tom Friedman wrote an article saying like the Israel that you knew is gone actually the Israel that you used to know is back which is the tough Israel which wants to push back on the bad guys that's actually Israel's original uh kind of Heritage an American Jewish leaders like guys like why Israel's not going anywhere you're not going anywhere let's have a let's let's calm the the discourse let's have a relationship let's see where we can find Common Ground we were our brothers and sisters let's let's not use this kind of terminology let's not use Klu Klux Klan and somebody your Island yesterday said something here from Israel said that what happened to Chevron with some of the violence that Jews did against against ABS these drunk Jews he said this was like Crystal knocked everybody's got to calm down a little bit let's use language that's that's proper and constructive uh and and I think that I wonder what agenda it serves uh when people use language like that uh is it is it to popularize themselves or are they really so used to this American divisive atmosphere or do they want to get in the headlines uh but it's not helping the common person understand Israel understand Israel's needs and my life for the last uh you know 25 years has been to to bridge the gaps between Israel and the diaspora to make sure that we're one people and to to get us together on the on the project of of building the Jewish State wherever we are uh I don't find this this language helpful and and I hope that maybe maybe if I continue helping the Ben Grier team I'll I'll try to manage uh you know a greater connectivity between those those leaders and Anita marbenfir and people who think like him remember Brody wow that's incredible I was wondering is he involved at all in uh in your work with coverone uh no those are two separate things uh those are two separate things Chevron is the city cabron is a tourist attraction an educational platform uh that's one thing but he does live in Chevron and so the the way I got close to him is that a lot of people that that know me and and whatever I do and if everyone you know recommended to him I actually came to him and I said to him listen I think you're going to need my help for this campaign and he's like you know you're a great guy I hear a lot of good things about you but uh I don't need an English language uh you know I don't need any any help in that department and then like a week later uh Senator Menendez of New Jersey you know came out with this radical statement saying you know that that if each of our Benford gets into Congress I think it gets into knesset or it becomes a minister that will hurt the US's real relations I mean it was such an absurd statement and uh he called me itamar called me and said you know get to work and um yeah and and and and these are absurd statements that that would not be accepted within any other democracy nobody would would what kind of colonial you know uh you know impulses that to tell people you know what their government should be a democratically elected Ally it's just absurd and uh Benford made that point with a great uh press release uh and Natalia himself said hey you know Menendez and Co calm down uh this is this is our country and and we're not a Banana Republic and we're not going to be you know talk to in that way and and this comes from Love and uh you know we we have a right to elect our leadership and I think Senator Ted Cruz has done a great job also making that that point heard uh and others uh so generally is a dear friend of Israel who's done great things which is absolutely he made headlines because it was so unusual for him because he is really a a staunch friend and and we're so grateful particularly we need bipartisan support so usually I want to move over to something I just I just want to say that the the bengalier uh uh press release said that in fact Senator Menendez for all of his good work towards Israel it did not attack him it just said you know let's respect each other's rights and please get to know me before you you make States statements like this absolutely you wrote an article I loved you wrote a great article and because it said something that I believe deeply only you have infinitely more credibility to say it than I do and it was after our fellow Floridian Ben Shapiro spent circus in Israel and did a major event with Jordan Peterson and um and was asked at that at that sold out event about why he doesn't make Aliyah and you wrote an article afterwards talking about Aliyah being non-binary that maybe a younger version of you felt hey Jews either you're with us you make Aliyah or if you didn't make Aliyah you're not with us and the reason it resonated deeply for me and and people who know me know I feel passionately about this so the following reason I am I have two siblings they both live in Israel my parents are in Israel right now they spend half the year in Israel and I desperately want to be in Israel I would be in Israel I believe we belong in Israel and here in our show we don't talk about if but when we will live in Israel we celebrate those who've moved to Israel we bring in and we host people like this conversation we're having right now we're not shy but I find that many people have made Aliyah have a phenomenon that you know I like to call their their Aliyah snobs and what it means to be an Aliyah snob is somebody who maybe spent a good part of their life certainly their youth maybe even their adulthood and from the day they move to Israel they no longer understand how anyone could live outside of Israel and rather than positively appeal to and collaborate and invite they actually alienate so so I and my social media presence will often speak about Israel or advocate for Israel and there's a whole I am ready for it I already get ready for it it's a country of people who will post publicly or write me privately if you really cared about Israel you'd make Aliyah you know or why are you doing a night for Israel that is a thousand Jews and non-jews and we hosted last year we're very proud of it if you really cared about Israel you'd make Aliyah or something happens or if if there's a question or a conversation about anti-Semitism though right well if you're afraid really you know you kind of they don't say this but almost you almost deserve this because really you should just just make Aliyah I was in Israel recently I had several families and and and at both of them frankly in two different cities I won't mention where and I get ready for this already now how many people will come over to me and say Rabbi if you just go back and get up on the Bima and say you're making Aliyah the whole show will go with you so really you are like the problem you know we start to go through Jewish history together I'm the problem and it's so unhelpful and it so makes me think twice before posting something advocating positive speaking out because I don't want to get that onslaught of the Aliyah snobs and I loved your article because what you essentially say is Alia is not binary you're not either there or here Aliyah Israel is a central mission of the Jewish people Total Learning in Israel the Jewish people in Israel we have three pillars Israel it's core to who we are what we dive in for it's part of our life wherever we are the keyboards golios is not only Geographic it means our attention and our efforts and our and our contribution is from wherever wherever we are and I have this dream we've talked about it we worked on it recently we didn't follow through on that project if you're listening stop getting in touch we did not follow through on a particular project but I have this dream that says instead of vacation village and instead of Century Village a seasonal community in America why can't we for those who say I want to be in Israel I belong in Israel I need to be I will be in Israel I'm not yet ready to make Aliyah but I could spend my summer I can go for khagim not an apartment I use seven days a year and and raise the the the cost of living for all the Israelis in that neighborhood who can't get an apartment but create a space create a a sort of vacation village a create a bungalow Colony just like the phenomenon in America people go for a season and why can't we put together a group of people who say I want to live there for a season I can't live there all year yet I want to live there for a season so I love that article and and you basically I guess I'll post it to you this way did you accept Ben's answer right Ben a little bit off guard which he isn't often past Caster behind the b-man our neighbor so Ben kind of looked a little bit and he said look I think my schlich was my mission my I'm making a difference there and many Israelis did not accept that did not like that one might have thought you'd be among them instead here you write this article like it says essentially you know I sort of accept that it's not binary we need friends everywhere could you elaborate a little bit more on that foreign I have to tell you that I'm very moved by your question uh it's something that I'm that I feel very strongly about and I I wrote that article that came out of me out of some a lot of experience and I I didn't know if people all understood it what I was writing and you really you know you understood what I was saying and and I'm very I'm very gratified and touched by that and it it's um I got a lot to say about that but I'll tell you a little stories that I I was once um reading a book called Millionaire Mind somebody told me to read this book and sometimes you know sometimes you read a like a non-jewish book and it gives you like a haara like an understanding in the Jewish concept and he says if you want to be a millionaire and you're the kind of guy that walks past the Millionaire's house and you kind of curse them or put an eye on her on them and you're kind of jealous of them if you don't know how to bless that other millionaire and just say God bless you and may you continue to be successful you'll never be a millionaire and I was like that is so true that's what I want to be in this world a person who draws positivity and light blessings for people I don't want to go to America and say I hear she you're building another shoe here what are you needed for Comfort I want to bless you I want to come here and send you a blessing send you a connectivity I want to look at you so I start my speeches a lot of times I or end my speeches I say to people I want to bless you a rabbi I want to bless your Mikvah I want to bless your kosher food I want to bless your school and bless the school and then I say let's take a step towards connectivity to where it's Israel what's the step that you're going to take what's the what's the little step are you going to take and one that I've recommended um and has has had the most impact as I say to people just buy wine and drink kosher wine from erits Israel Friday night Friday night make Kiddush unwind from Earth's Israel and tell your kids and tell your neighbors this is wine from the Holy Land not because I'm supporting the holy land so Holy Land supporting me is going to go into my veins and and this is the this is the water that Eli drank I'm gonna drink it now and here I am and if you're in I was just recently in Aventura Florida it's Sarah's tent and you could buy I don't know what they have in Boca but but certainly in in Sarah's town you could get wines from like every part of Earth's Israel in short we've got to build Bridges not cut bridges down we we need to support people and I know so many people who are lawyers who come for the summer and these men work at night while their wives and kids you know grow up in there it's Israel for the summer because they could do because the kids are up I know lawyers in America this is from cordoza law who hire only Israelis not only but like a lot of Israeli lawyers so that they could give Israelis par NASA we we have so many things that we do so many steps that we take how many people in your community now also own an apartment in Israel how many people in your community send their kids to the Army or to Aliyah or to Yeshua for a year or two whatever it is we are building bridges and to come to people and to be snooty which is a human instinct you know but it's not Building Bridges it doesn't bring people any closer it's just a mistake and you pointed it out better than I could it's just it's just a mistake it's not the way to do it and people have their situations they have their Partners they have their their their moms and dads they have their kids in the school they have they're afraid of this or that there's a million reasons that their wife he wants to go but she doesn't want to go she wants to go he doesn't want to go I mean I see that all the time and so so instead of telling people like wow you're you're up a creek because your wife doesn't want to go I tell them was okay so what step are you going to take you know what what little thing you know are you going to come for the summer are you going to budget every year a trip to erits Israel um send your kids to camp in Israel one of those OU camps uh you know send your daughter to go to barilan you know if your son says I want to go to the Army let him uh and of course I always tell people buy an apartment that's that's I don't even tell people to make Ali I said buy an apartment it's good for your money and and it maybe you'll tell me maybe it changes your lucky status in terms of if you should keep one day or two days in there to stop our job is to put put people in the game not out of the game our job is not to be snooty to our brothers and sisters but to hold hands our job is to bless the communities around the world and and and and give them a light of Israel by the way when people send money uh to support their what is what is money money is your sweat your your your effort in Hebrew another word for money is the meme it's your blood and the blood has the nesham in it the Torah tells us so part of you is making Aliyah your money's making all the alternative Israel it's like it's your your hard efforts is going there it's Israel I respect that so much and I and by the way there's another group of people there's the people who make Aliyah but fly there's you know you go to Modine or what do you call it in there these are all guys and gals who ladies and men who like fly I have a my good friend Dr wiesen Who is a doctor in Florida but he lives here in the front and he and he flies to to to to Florida you know once a month for a week to to do uh emergency medicine there's so many ways to like to like to to live in a kushboo who's given us a time of of me and he's opening it up why should we why should we close and say no you got to be just like this this is the way to do it hashem's giving you an opportunity you know you know that there's 11 I counted 11 direct flights from the New York New Jersey area to Israel every day every day 11 flights and from Florida there's there's many flights and I'm thankful daily it from American Airlines it just announced it right that's right and you have a lot and that's not even the the stopover flights if you count that and forget about it then there's tons of of yeah that's exactly it shivatsion we're building together now what I ask is what I do ask is can we get around the idea that the mission of our time is to help builderity surround that would that the central big project of the Jewish people is the building of Jerusalem and Eric Israel that's our Central project no matter where you are let's get around this idea that that's the project of our life of our of our time of these Generations but you know what like BRS for God's sakes that's the show that's like we're trying and I'll just tell you by the way for all those listening if I got up Rabbi Brody if I got up instead of making Alia next week who's in how many people would come maybe you maybe yeah first of all I would I would be on that flight with you that's not why I'm not going right that's not why I'm not going because people wouldn't come but it's a misnomer life's complicated it's new it's complicated and you're encyclical you're teaching Torah there you're bringing a Generations up it's so refreshing we love it thank you yeah it's it's it it came from real life experience it came from flying to America and realizing that I don't want to be that guy that doesn't spread the love and the light I want to be the guy who brings a spark of erits Israel and by the way takes a spark back uh uh two turrets Israel and brings the best of America back kitsarma let's not be snooty to one another it doesn't bring anywhere let's love let's hold each other's hands let's strengthen the diaspora Jewish Community let's let's get around the the project of Israel and let's take small steps that we can uh to to love one another and and and to be on the same page amen remember Brody final word I love it do you I'm just wondering do you see a lot of the children of those Living in America now making Aliyah and bringing their parents do you see more and more of that happening I see all kinds of phenomena I say all kinds I see I see I see the Army you know Yeshiva kids at hakotel or levatora being like I'm going to the Army and and by the way like there's a class of let's say you know 50 or 100 so two three five want to go to the Army but but it's it's normative I see American Jews sending their kids to Israel that's become totally normative for the year and staying later I see parents more supportive of kids saying I want to stay in Israel right I see that I see more people buying apartments in places like Baychester my friends who sell Apartments tell me that you know there's just a run on on on purchases and I when I go to I'm to Sarah's tent I see a lot of Israel you know there uh uh you know and and sending its you know its blessings kids are in short uh that's what that's why back to the other question of vitamar bang fear those reform rabbis that made those statements they're not helpful to anybody why should we like promote this idea of of distance let's promote the idea of closeness yeah we're not the same we have different different ways that of of of governance and and the different survival methods uh but we should not like we should not we should not fan the Flames of distance but rather you know uh seek to to embrace and there's there's all kinds of phenomenon another phenomenon by the way is the IAC the Israelis Living in America who have have conglomerated together for a wonderful organization many of their they have Israeli culture in their house many of their kids make Aliyah many of the kids go to the Army so in short you know we let you know it's and I guess maybe maybe it's back to everyone you know Chevron is from the word and the the main thing about is the mothers and fathers together these are men and women who came together in love to build a family to give birth to a nation that's why I called the Tomb of the Patriarchs and matriarchs it's about you know coming together that's what I'm Israel is about you know in Jerusalem is a city that joins us all together you know can can American Jews by the way come more for for for Sukkot and for pesach yes you know and for sure you know listen listen to the opportunity of our time buy that apartment but uh but looking down I don't think that's the way to move forward you should keep doing what you're doing let's leave it right there what a perfect place thank you for all that you're doing thank you for your efforts thank you for your energy thank you for your soul and your spirit thank you for your friendship really thank you for all that you're doing has been a fantastic eye-opening conversation and we wish you and the holy Heaven community and we wish all of our brothers and sisters in Israel around the world only only kibur and Chevron only that connection and that unity and that love thank you so much for going behind the with us and and let me send you a blessing to this great show to the great ketus Hashem that you're doing you're wonderful School your wonderful community that is that is a light a lot of people I I know I've and I've heard a lot of people are touched by by what you're doing and continue to have success and Hashem should continue to keep us together um foreign hours ahead so he is sleeping in the Holy Land but that was really a great conversation you shot he's thoughtful he's articulate and he's passionate and he's compelling and agree or disagree on issues be the Israeli politics be the itamar bengvir and sort of the cleansing of itamar bengvir or itama Ben giver's own um new image that he's been fashioning himself whether you accept it don't accept it subscribe or not but yeshi is a really great guy a Capelli Guy and um somebody's put himself uh doesn't just talk to talk but walks the walk volunteer in the Israeli Army and puts his family at the Forefront of fighting for Israel and and I certainly appreciated that that conversation so hopefully it planted a lot of seeds and gave you a lot to think about and I think that it is important that we in America whatever concerns we have we're not prescribing to our brothers and sisters into their politics um I think that would happen today in Israel these two Terror attacks it's not for me to have posters even say such a thing but part of the benvir phenomenon aside from the things that he said or believes or has done that that bothers people uh is the fact that he speaks out about wanting to confront Terror and stop it in very meaningful very real way taking real measures and what others have done has failed it's not working we've seen the spike and it's not stopping it's not slowing it's getting more intense more severe and it's scarier too bus bombings it's really really scary and really horrific and so as as he said yeshive from the comfort and the relative security of our lives here in America to tell Israel who to vote for not to vote for who should serve what position and what cabinet it um it's pretty bold and it's pretty Brazen without having to live with the consequences of it doesn't mean that we're not entitled to opinions or the way in but we should be careful with it we have a very exciting exciting weekend here in Boca Raton welcoming is coming to Boca for Shabbos brsert on synagogue action-packed schedule starting tomorrow night or the sheer he's giving air of showers called Friday morning speaking over the community Friday Friday night his recollection memories with different ghidolisa Feinstein and footner and then Shabbos many is now in his 80s and he's not slowing down and even though recently had a little bit of a health scare and we are slowing him down he is not it's extraordinary I should continue to give him huge strength to continue to teach tone in such beautiful ways tomorrow morning Thanksgiving morning men of the community are invited to the Yeshiva of South Florida for a great morning of learning that we have with the Russian 11 and the rush color by Rosenfeld and yours truly three 20 minutes urum one hour in total dominating at eight o'clock breakfast and three quick shirim men are invited to Yeshiva South Florida to see it learn it take advantage of a morning off to be immersed in Torah so we got a great great weekend planned here at BRS and hopefully wherever you are there's a lot to give give thanks for be thankful about and wishing everyone stay happy stay healthy and stay holy