3/2/19 Kiruv Rechokim in a Politically Correct World: How to do Kiruv today in Halacha and Hashkafah

[Music] welcome to headlines my name is Benjamin Goldschmidt and I'm looking forward to hosting this show with you today placed on the clay dock Sonya so I'd like to thank robed of it for this wonderful afonya this digital afonya to virtual pulpit I think this is the closest I'll ever get to giving us your clothing the pun of his yeshiva you know if a rev were to get a an offer by a make-a-wish foundation to choose something I think would be this this would be his choice to host this wonderful show so thank you above it again I'd like to dedicate this podcast in memory of my my first cousin time Dave Benner I've been seeing Shalom passed away at the age of 26 he left behind his wife Miriam and his daughter earth he was only 2 years old maybe miss Mills Asia and the gods maha and the truth is sitting at the Leviathans past Sunday it was it was mama was a mother safer just to listen to this badum of all the family members who've been with him for two years the Jews vanish Moustakas me swim and his father's has but he included so many points that showed how wonderful what a wonderful human being he was dovey Brody was really a prince of a man he was someone who had impact on every single person he came across in the Beast Madras playing basketball in camp and even during the last two years when he was in the hospitals he had impact on the medical staff that took care of him and I think really a look into his life it's really what I want to talk about today how are you Makar of other people how do you bring other people closer to really what we believe is the the sama Haim is the purpose of our life the meaning of our existence and the truth is it's by literally exemplifying what Tyra's or bounce is living the values that we preach and I think that the Gemara in Yuma pain love that discusses what Susilo Chemeketa session the end of the day Mario Chalmers Elif Shan Shan my Masai value akka do people look at you and say in Asha other chemin de terre ashley roberts Olinda TOA do people look at you and say wow look what a bento looks like look what a look person whose the same Arturo missus looks like at the end of the day that is kiddush Hashem the end of the day it's how are we miss got my God Allah Mikado's sham sham I'm and how do we glorify and sanctify God's name two people look at us and say listen there's there's something defining human beings there is an Hashanah there's something deeper to humanity than just existence alone and you know I don't like you know Dakota from my solemn Bill Clinton said that the world is more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power now I'm not sure in the relations to American foreign policy but when it comes to being much SPEA on others there's no question that there's nothing more powerful than personal example you know when Ravana Yosef was lifter the region would see on the paisa kadar close to 1 million people came to his funeral it was the single biggest event in the history of the State of Israel there was no bigger event no rock concert filled up more spaces than the funeral of rava Veda Yosef so the whole country is shut down because you have close to million people who are you know giving the cover the offering to Rav Ovadia Yosef and all the TV stations and the the journalists are trying to discuss and speak you know what was so special about Rebbe ovadia yosef you know it's always what's the perception of the outside world on other incredible accomplishments of raava Wan Jia and they interviewed the late Shimon Paris the President of Israel who happens to be was very close to Ave gia and he actually learned some SaLuSa I don't know if Reviva came late to the Seleucid tomo so he got stuck was to embarrass but at the end of the day they asked him what's so special about him and and Shimon Peres said that when you're in the presence of a great man you know it when you're in the presence of a great man you know it and a true Ben Aliya any man or woman who lives by the values that we at the end of the day is going to be able to make an impression on people around him you know I thought there's a mark su vs. IANA morales by Roberto Calvi I see me miss Estella BK sir when he would come from the Academy miss if they would come from the Beast measures to the house of the Emperor na from Haase the BK sur la pay the maid servants of Amber's house would go out to greet him and this is what they sang to him Martian Lee ha ha Robert I am a mad Branagh doom say boots Enid in Ohio briefs methodically shelling mass service people leader of a nation candle of illumination blessed is your arrival in peace you know you can ask a question you know what what does a mate servants know about remove oh did they learn with him a rash but that they listen to this urine the Dame Amish hoppin off from from history Tyra at the end of the day if you're a guttural but IRA the end of the day if you follow what a Shem wants you to do everyone are going to notice it this is not something you're going to be able to keep a secret even the maid servants in the house of the Emperor are going to say you're obscene adenovirus you're a candle of illumination so a little bit about myself my name is Benjamin goldsmith and I was born to family that devoted its life to spreading Torah my father of pinnacles goes what is the chief rabbi of Moscow and the president of the conference of European rabbis my mother founded a time day school in Moscow he moved to Moscow 1989 and I grew up in Russia spoke English at home I was born in Israel I grew up in Moscow then at the age of 4 right before my bar mitzvah I went to learn an artist throw know they used to joke that it you know in litter when the kids would leave the shtetl the parents would wish them twice a model to one Mazel Tov was for the bar mitzvah another Mazel Tov was for their wedding our house my soul my parents after I left but I was slated to be a nurse to show for many years and then it came to the States and now I I serve as an assistant rabbi in a wonderful community in Manhattan's Upper East Side it's called parky synagogue 0nf rhyme and if you're ever in Manhattan for Shabbos you're welcome to come here it's a great kiddush it's so great it's really a great experience grabbin em gray Kazan in the great gala and I'm privileged to be able to serve here as an assistant rabbi and when we speak about curable it's important to know that there are many different aspects that we need to understand curve is something that involves cure for something that changes and you have to adapt with the times and how to do cure you know in the beginning of the 90s in Moscow they said you could be Makara it by giving him just a warm bowl of soup people had nothing people were thirsty and just made offerings anything offering a framework where people could come and learn Tyrel people would do that and then but that that changed over time and as people progressed and they succeeded economically and Russia came out from the ruins of the perestroika you know you had to readjust the whole industry of outreach you know if people used to like coming to schools that were for free now people if it was for free be suspect as it wasn't a good school so at the end of the day you have to adopt outreach to the times you serving and I'd like to discuss some of the questions and some of the aspects in which in the in the framework of how we do cure today we have a three very special guests three three very different perspectives we have with us the chief rabbi of Israel arrived of it Barolo it was actually the youngest person to ever be elected as chief rabbi of Israel at the age of 47 since rough cook founded the Chief Rabbinate in 1921 and does it loud yeah who's also serving is the Nazi but the Nazi of the best in our bunny agonal Jewish line we'll discuss with us some of the showers that come up and cure you know you actually you know you have to become a place that can be Evitts you know how do you measure the homeless of an inner I watch more Hummer what's less Hummer if you're in situation that neither is ideal you know someone told me is about a conversation of someone asked rabbi yosef that he could have impact on someone not to marry out should he do it so what's the child of course you should do it so you ask them you know technically speaking you know if he marries out you know maybe latest cotton bum it's one laughs but if he lives you know if he marries if he marries Jewish he doesn't keep tiresome miss Baha'i could have many many more Eastern so technically speaking maybe perhaps it's not as bad Ravi Asif told them it's partial to barbed leash and Suffolk plow that you know that keeping someone was in marrying Jewish is they have the utmost importance because at the end of the day you you could cut yourself off by this by this decision from the Jewish people from from the nucleus of Chloe's wrong so the question is in order to avoid intermarriage how far do we go how you know how much effort do we put into it another style if someone comes and asks you for example you know he says listen I'm gonna make an event that's not going to be kosher then because whatever a wedding or reception should I have non kosher meat or should I have a ha sir so you know technically speaking if you have a kosher animal that's trace you could have an insert buzzer bahala you can have this or a hey Liv get an Aussie I'm not going to get into the details of it but essentially how do you measure swaram and are they're always measured just by the amounts of volume or there are other reasonings behind it as well this is an open-ended question and I like to hear responses from your perspective as well then no conversation about cures is good without having actually without doing client research what do the people were masks are of telling us what brought them closer so I think it's important verse Asian what makes people become from what makes successful people who you know have a life and you know and are good people and living uh you know put a productive good lives what makes them come closer you describe so we have with a savanna ma ear today who is actually one of the most famous TV anchors she was voted in as the most popular media personality in Israel and I have to hopper right before she got into the late-night show to discuss the charges against the Prime Minister of Israel yesterday and she devoted some of her time to speak to us of what made her from at the end of the day what brings people closer to you describe is it emotional is it intellectual and actually she's a very big market store today so we'll have an opportunity to speak with her as well in addition were speaking to Dovie shiner rube dovey shiner is the founder of the Soho synagogue which was the hip synagogue downtown got enormous amounts of people to engage in his programming and we're going to debate with him perhaps what are the limits of what's appropriate for for outreach purposes how far do we go in terms of what's an atmosphere in the room how is the shul supposed supposed to look look like and and this is also a conversation that is ongoing and this is a conversation that should and would be a will be held for many many more years so for the riddle of the week here's our following question as I'll say that the old silicium am Elohim when the Mishkan was put together i emotion ami valium frk you would put it up and be and break it down the UMS meanie hear me Joey the lady really on the eighth day you put it up and without Masaryk it back and therefore it says the he BR increase my shell a hakama semester I said yeah in cold welcome myself and at the end of the the man William that's when Moshe really put the Mishkan together so obviously to was aced eight days that obviously included the Shabbos the question is that in the beginning of this week's parsha change in comm casa móvil msv/year ahem pradesh Shabbos shavasana donna kholer Osogbo melaka Hamas and Rashi says why is the Magnum as our Sabha stood at Sibley of the building of the mission low Marsha annoyed I says the Shabbos so how in the world were they able it's a big Thema how could they be making the Mishkan and Shabbos it's awesome so mile and if the aim being in the MiG distance the Shabbos was forbidden to do so please let us know your answers we have on the phone with us the rubber seal Israel the chief rabbit of Israel the Nazi of the based in our bunny agudo at the head of the high rabbinical court of Israel we're rebellious Evandro Parvati you'll safe used to be members of the based in her average ever of lao shamanism assumption we wanted to ask you today a few questions especially regarding outreach and cure of them and the first question is when someone comes and wants to learn to learn torah what is the best way to approach what's what's best to start learning together with him you not only depends of the people I tend to tell you exactly the way because everyone with his head if you are speaking about someone that his way is a to think and to check something and he do things according to his head this is a way of course for him to learn tomorrow to learn mother to learn with him and to take him into the deep of our Toa but before that you need to speak with someone they understand that we believe that we have a shame that we are one of the very big girl that may be done with Mohammed Sarai his and Rivka our coven and Helena and what you you can ask him what you are doing not that you are proud about your parents and your forefathers what you're doing about it you grandchildren can be proud about you that you continue the way of the you tradition of you Judaism this is a way to everyone but if someone is a the men or women that like to think and to learn of course a technomage on dipped maha is very good for him thank you so much Rob allow and if I could expand a little bit on the question I'm I was a child I grew up in Moscow and the day school I went to the Jewish day school it was a majority of kids who obviously came from completely secular homes and it was a state school so we had to teach the state curriculum secular curriculum and the parents didn't want the school day to be too long and there was a debate whether to have if you have one hour to be with the kids should it be cheela or should it be hajiman Mussoorie and hamas what's more important if you're speaking about henna and you want to leave an impression on the child who doesn't have another Jewish education what should have the emphasis what's more important I think that Fela is very important finality she's always it according the around it Fela you can explain about Amana about trust in a god you can explain about it you have opportunity to speak with God with Hashem and this is a way that you can speak to his heart and this is a way that I think one hell you need to prefer to this way I think so well more important than learning Torah is is to do Madani Sh'ma Israel and spoon as Ray yes this is a way of course for children if you're speaking about children you need to speak to their heart to speak and to give them the opportunities of filling the tradition of cleaning the Judaism and this is something that can stay with them you know the rabbi offer also to father's most of their also abashiri asked me a few years ago that they hear the opportunity to sing to meet a lot of thousands of a teenage all students Jewish peer around the days of the Holocaust around the meet other Haim the module of a living mouth of the living this is for him the death a one-week that thousands he a meet and he asked me what is the important to speak with them and they told him please remember two words and tell it again and again and repeated again and again Jewish marriage marriage Jewish Jewish marriage marriage because after a few years they can't remember exactly the emotions in the feelings that they felt in those days but if you give them this message and they remember then when they have a question about it they can help to remind themselves the emotions of this week and this is a way to remember and to feel it and to help them for the future Jewish marriage so that's a very important point I want to ask you about putting the intermarriage and obviously the importance of stressing to marry a Yid to marry a Jewish person I want to ask you you know it we have coolest we have Michelle Hetzel Maru Becky Lou we have a Terry Motorola we have Mishima gunday kubera Bannon is there a new coolest mushroom cure hikin Kuwabara Bannon what coolest can we do for for cure for hiking you asked me a question that I need to write a book to give you until this is very big equation it depends depends affair thing say for example if you ask about you want to invite people to sue - service service meal and of course it you need to give them the all the options to stay full all the Shabbat in a you home and but it's very but if you live in Manhattan you can't you don't have an extra place and you just need a person if you invite them to come to your home for Shabbos they'll think you're crazy they're gonna run to the other direction yes is it you're crazy but you can you give them all the options but you know that they chose the to take their way back to the home by car but if you give them the options at all to stay with you yes you they can think that you're crazy but you did it you give you give them the options and this is a cool of course because I know that I close my eyes I know that they'll come bicycle but if I give them the absorption this is the way that you can take a course about this and of course that if you are speaking about a lot of things every everything you need to check it and the is a way you know everyone is in here a letter from the earth to heaven and every one in his place in the ladle between Shem to him I can't tell you one cooler for all the people because a lot of cells in the ladle because of that you need to check everyone and if you are you want to ask me a special question I can tell you and I'm sure that in Moscow in your father home you can find the examples this is not example the same the question of faith that in in Manhattan so every place every one every situation in into different so for example could you follow a darker that span the circle allaha the turkey roof this again at the followed us yoga that standard CERCLA waha to be so mera dard as Yahud that's that's not a sec or let me have it and it depends you know you know if you want to ask me something special but it apparently depending if it's duck your head for example if it's a trip myself I'm stayin if not for me that yahud so you need to do to be to know who is the the couple that you want to invite them and water a well from well they came and what is the how much percent you can give that be after yo cooler they come a one step a close to a shame if you give them if you give them a cooler and after that it okay another colors and another color this is not a way you need to look so far away that if they came for one is one step and now say because of that they came closer to him yes you can do it but you need to check it if I could ask you from a random who host man boom Paraguay's allaha Dalit he speaks about history based on luck or varam Leticia after pshew cotton Minoru Sonam Schlussel home remedy Ritter as Moe but any rights the same enroll the fish all the battle mitts versus a lover on this was close our sacred a la Hache dear Robin Ladas perhaps he'll Robin is firmly Casa de Parma Hiram Olsen with he mastered Swiss commercial a shame sorrowful jose aldo or a glow so there they Celia culo Basden marimbas monument of man and lava Akash missile official today she's cool on Coderre moussaka memory Shonen how our table Asahi's Kadesh marsha buses harbour and I'm asking if in today's generation when America we have over 70% intermarriage and you know the silence is this today is the mass of the rock the Robin with us or the hearts of Robin me strongly caution but Varma Haman whatever Morgan is not everyone loved I can do it you said the lesson no problem and you need to pay attention about the lesson of wampum this talk about bathing bathing it means placed in a girdle not every rabbi can a big decision about it yes here in Jerusalem we need to think about we need to check and we need to remember that from time to time if you said something you can lose a lot of faith Torah if you can tell say something another way you can earn a lot of Torah so you need to check every place every every years of course that's why were so happy therefore we're so happy we're speaking to the Nazi of the base in a girdle in your slang that's exactly we are not tell you you know that from time to time this is the time the pick you I can tell you to you are only only almost yes you can do it but to say in your way a program that you can that a lot of people heard now our voice I need to to keep and to be sure that the no one take mistake for my world okay so so my question is make let's do specific questions you're learning your miserable condition for a couple and they're completely secular and you have a chance to speak to them about tiresomeness paha and you know that if you'll speak to them about our Jaquez they'll be marked X themselves from you for two thousand I'm a minimum you know they're not going to come back the Shila is is it is it considered like we're editing the Tyra I see no it's mean okay a car or a car how is this is this proper what in what way is it proper to do it how do you how do you present part of something and then mapping is also in the sewer either abundant no no you you need to first of all to speak with them about the principle and the after that give them book that they can learn and they you give them the opportunity to learn to know if they ever fail to do another thing or to throw your book to a garbage this is their choice but you need to learn with them you need to try to tell them and of course keep yourself not to be without an oven on to tell them this is our Torah and for us we need to keep the right hand of onam together we are this is one Torah one tradition and you need you can add a few words about MA importance of the keeping of the tradition because a small details this is a way that I can keep tradition can keep nation this is a small you can give one or two stories to explain them that yes of course the small details told us about nipple oscidyne this is only the balloon but materials are dying because of that someone a puzzle so because you need to try to tell them the the principles and after that to give them book and to tell them the rice and Lebanon this is a way together we have one two ha and if you have question about something special you can ask me tell them and give them your phone and I hope that they heels with it okay our Ava's walking down the street on Chavez and he sees a member of this community who didn't walk into shoe and over a year but he sees he's walking out of a car and he's talking on the phone should the rough say good Shabbos embrace him or should the rabbi make believe he doesn't see him yes I try to not to see him I tried if I can but you know I remember one time that I went in the road and the car dropped near me and asked me excuse me how can I go to this world road and I tells him first of all shabbat shalom good Shabbos they smiled and after that I told them I prefer that you are going with me you can walk with me not Baikal but because it you are in car I can tell you that a short way is the next day left side involved wrong right side I didn't tell them exactly what is a way go and go this and this no I told them that this is a way but I told them we that shabbat shalom and with that I had the please remember that this is not a way for you to go I'm not sure that a Shabbat after they'll go not right now I'm sure that the smile and the world can come into the heart and maybe can help them even for one Malaga I remember the child walking with my father and Lillian kipper and one of the members he didn't know anything and he stopped by and he said rabbi it's so cold outside come in I'll give you a ride back home and Lillian Kippur so my father wished him a good jump commercial scene the tailor I said no no no we'll work we work we have to walk today sighs oh this has been asked you know father maybe you want a cup of coffee hot coffee maybe Russia will be over cup of vodka yeah oh and III want so for example you know I heard a rabbi in Australia in Canberra you know the shoe is very far from where people live they said your you shouldn't drive on Shabbos but if you drive on Shabbos you better be driving to shoe is that okay for a ruff to say no I don't like it you know I don't like it I don't like it in jokes it's Kelly it is very nice in joke but not limo because this is not a way we can't be miss out there on service no service is very easy so my skiff setting give to our nation's remember that in the Tri you can see that OTE the new vein FM leader with him so Chris beau who wrote in the Torah the teaches the day only for the Jewish nation and the first question they continue they began they started in a Shabbat but they changed a special day to Sunday the Muslim is the Friday and we keep our nation this is according to the promise of a shame this is only for you OTB Newman ahem so nice gift not to be miserable and not to we can't allow to go by the car this day because this is a day that the sham gave us as a sham told us not by car so we can tell okay if you are in Karl please come I'm sure that no one can tell it that I don't like I think the cigarette is danger I'm sure that cigarette is not good but if you are in cigarettes please take this company allah nazil know this is not only or tjuta that's what people smoke today i want i wanna ask a question very often you know people are miss havoc very often around the valus you know even for people who are far away Bayless is a very big deal saying Kaddish miss scores are very busy what happens your your officiating a funeral aliyev a year who's passed away and the Sun is not someone he wasn't in shul again in years and you come to the you come to the base of course and there's no minion and he wants to say Kaddish is there a hub of the of the rough to be mine and to say Kaddish because it's a dovish apophis Messara know if he wants if he feels that for him to say Kaddish it is very nice you can invite the trees to to be his minion but you can tell him that a the way is to say it with a soul and I invite you to come too soon and to tell itself but if he wants insisted for him this is something special I didn't disturb him someone walks into a shul he wasn't for a long time again and he puts on a perfect villain and he's pulling around completely wrong it's a the tarantula righteous mom-ish is under is on the forehead on the meta and again and you're scared that if you come over to him and you tell him that the villain is not in the right place that he might take it personally or be insulted or feel judged is it better to to not say anything you have a Suffolk you don't know the Midrash lamb and the Shiloh that he has you know speaks about the flavor he said it's not the flavor it's someone who comes and doesn't say the breakfast it's okay to give him food even though it doesn't say brockett's the child is is it's a service ability to try to when you're a Suffolk you don't know if someone will be insulted or not is it better to err on the side of caution and not to say anything or to be mock me and try to say it as nice as possible and tell them listen the proper way to put on filling we're so happy you came but you should put it on you know it should be on your forehead we're here starts to grow you can see you can find a way without insulting you need to find it and after that you find the way you can do it and I'm sure that everyone can they can find their walls we smile I can to help you this is only to help you not another way this is you can do it you know we smile with wound with a heart everyone can do it okay we'll try to get physic from that I want to ask you another important thing we live in very turbulent times and you know there are a lot of political issues both in America and in Israel that are extremely that are in people's minds and people come in and say if your rabbi is were what does the Torah say about this what does the Torah say about what this or that politician is doing is this something we should how do we respond is this something I mean there should be a doctor and everything how does the rough feel about that no no you know Ravi is a man that need to guide people to Torah to way in which vote to to keep themselves in Jewish nation this is even you are a democrat or republican if you are liquid or a Buddha you need to be a Jew and this is number and if you are only for one part of the Jewish nation this is not a way to help people to be one nation no because of that and they said it not only because it I'm a judge that and of course it everyone understands a judge must be not a from one part of the political but I said it because the time rather than rabbi must be rabbi of all the people and to be in touch with all of them not only from one side of the politician map so this is not a way of course if someone can come to ask you something special you can try to help him to give him to guide him but not a politician question but what if one side is supports Israel more one side support Israel yes what about speaking about politicians no no to support Israel I'm asking you all of us maltreat here's what I'm asking you to support Israel no no we support Israel but if there are politicians who support more politicians support less people come and say rabbi who do you think is better for Israel who do you think is better for the Jewish people no no they're not asking what do you think is this better for the which president or which candidate is better for the economy if it wherever it is in Europe or in South America North America wherever people are people come and say you know who's better for the Jewish people who's better for for Israel what should be the response of course if someone is against Israel this is this is something special against is against Jewish people and you need to be sure that this is against the way not against the Jews but because of the Texas years is a place is rabbis need to say if some someone is against but the concept I know that all of them are a with Israel but maybe they are seeking reserve now after thinking that this is way better to Israel and another said that no my ways is better to Israel this is the place says Rob I need to take himself one step back and to not speak with political okay I want to ask a question a rabbi who's a rabbi in the community that it's a mixed community there Shambu Shabbos and those are not sure my Shabbos there those were those were close those who are observant and those were very distant what's the acre Hayase of the rough is it towards to be methodically strong or tea or to be mackovic those who are far away or if I could if I could ask it in a more personal note the robber Russia you're the robber rushy of era to struggle you have I think close to seven million Jews how many shomer Shabbos are narratives all today like millions know exactly because I don't know exactly because the you can call a shame a service for someone that not his way is a Jewish life you need to think about it Seamus obvious is someone in the streaming service with 24 hours exactly all the limited Melo has all telltale this all this routing and another people they pay so much service but I'm not so that they know exactly all this routing so because of that this is a I'm I know that the most of them are keep Sabbath and it's very important there are other kiddos you can see the a movie you can see the movie that people come from the the they work in Shabbat and they say kiddos from the cell phone so who is a streaming service for thank God we have a lot of assembly service here in Israel and of course that we pray to fill it in the lobby also so so my question is you know there are a few million people were not not yet as Obama's Rebbe said they're only two types of hidden in the world those are Obama to see them and those who are not yet Lubavitch I see them so there are a few there are few million Jews in Israel who are not we're not you know as close to tormentors as we'd like them to be does the rough feel what's the main our eyes it's towards those who are ready connected or towards those were still not what's the eager target of a rough I try to connect everyone to oil the tradition I try to do it this is a my Goldie she's been examples but aha and please again it's a maybe Zakhar that's only the rock has everyone together tractor because the ticket I will pray but we need we need to be sure that everyone is okay and this is ways that we need to learn we need to go and step by step this is a way and I hope one day to see all our Jewish nation you know I remember that I have when I heard the sons of Absalom a caliber he said that he went in a world in name I don't know exactly if it between Manhattan to the Brooklyn Bridge or another way and so a lot of millions people and it was in Shaba say come bicycles and be prayed that means most surely my service all the world will keep Shabbos and we pray and be strong and this is something that's one Joe looked in his eyes not the the time the present of faith that calls he looks at dream he ever dreamed and people believe in trust about the future and he tried to see the future is not so far maybe it's name o close so I am I try to do the same if he white girl I'm going from the east to west from north to south to meet people and all of them together we pray that one day all of them can know and can feel that we are one nation one tradition and there one Hashem and this is a way that if we believe if we go according to these I believe that one day we can feel it and we can see it in our eyes thank you very much the rubber secret I asked one last question yes some people feel that Kirov is a mitzvah for professionals it's if you're in Asia Torah if you're a regime if you're in love with him if your sleep about then you have achieved to do cure is Q of a human specific individuals or it's a coalition is Rho and I don't know if I could quote the the Rambam and say for our mitzvahs and miss versus a a mr. Gimbel he speaks about avocados bar who should serve on uber so easily the session astrovan is gonna be miss fossa does that then he says forward Luke robaron Lucia salsa Mitzvahed uncle Ella shaniyah poem whose nya Adam Coulomb model does a Solomon bow possession a potato of each shot the superb Bhishma have the table behind the tea table autumn lab also and if our cab at Cargill hama massacre famous also the hula-hula so if you if you read the Rambam simply it's part of our session is doing queue of you know a cube is not for professionals its cure for people who are trained to specifically chose to do this or outreach is something that every single Jew is obligated in doing its part of your Mitzvah if you love about is powerful it's part of your Mitzvah to tell the whole world about a shaman about the torah you know every jewel says it twice a day smile there are other similar Kehoe and well taught us that they're artists America who it means she has to mime meet a heavy haul she has to Miami to have a yahoo that if you're going exactly so according to Torah exactly to the way Seamus OMA Tony Bennett employees speaking about every Jew everyone not only about the organization's of Kiev not only about the age of another way this is not the only about a blow of oil or gold meat this is for all of us that if we are going with a way that can show that all initial imatra come on Imus I've got me to kanuma serve this Israel after that every Jews must do it every Jew said twice a day thereafter that we will try to do twice a day my team of cable and because of that we can be one nation with one tradition thank you so much thank you for this debate avec the debris dragon aha and we hope to speak to you soon again my pleasure to be with you again and the everyone why blue I want to bless you for Musial I'm that today is very cold day to New York that I know that you have a whiff of cold days but in the heart we feel the warmth of Jewish hardhome this is a way of one nation to fill that we have one heart thank you so much but we had on the phone with us see van Rajas Meir now if you do not know who's even Rahab Maher is it means you're lacking in knowledge because probably today she is one of the biggest Torah teachers in the world and I'm not joking she gives a weekly class in his household on Jerusalem sometimes thousands of participants she's not a classic Torah teacher Stephen Revere is a top Israeli journalist primetime news reporter publicist TV and radio anchor and I know it's a very busy day today in Israel and I appreciate so much for taking the time Sivan how are you Shalom hello how are you excellent so thank you so much for joining headlines and we're having a conversation about all things outreach has outreach gone too far or we have in far enough how to do outreach right how to teach Torah to people who are not familiar to Torah and I want to speak to you you know you grew up in Ramat Hasharon you started journalism is a very young age there's a famous photo of you at the age of 14 with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at a right before ha carbon was killed can you tell me a little about your personal journey becoming religious and becoming observance yes first of all I really think that that's the main headline okay the topic you chose the this subject although now the headlines in Israel you know why we speak hi when I was in use the way Israeli Prime Minister faces corruption charges you know these are the headland and I am allowed to go to the studio in a few hours I will be there also hosting a show till is a night show and we will talk and discuss you know these issues but I do think that what you chose that this headline of a queue of and how can we reach you know all the Jews in the world basically and let them you know really ever to get to know their identity I think that's even more important and and now I will really try to answer your question although it is a hard one because we all have our own personal journey I can only share you know what happened to me I really was brought up in here Thalia which is a big city near Tel Aviv in the center of Israel and until the age of 15 I never met an observant Jew it may sound weird and maybe I'm not supposed to say to you because I want your listeners to you know to know only good things about our beloved country about Israel but I have to tell you that the truth you can grow up in Israel you know during the 90s without even knowing one Jews when I say observant I mean you know all the sectors all the streams I know one know how good their sister is you know let's rock breslav the web which nothing so much Shabbos I think no Jew I knew you know what so much about and that's really weird you know um at the age of 15 I I met for the first time three observant girls and I was already a journalist a young journalist and I wanted to interview them because I interviewed you know everybody about about everything so I thought that's like a headline you know to meet three religious girls that was like a scoop that was so unique and they laughed at me because I asked really silly questions and they said why don't publish the interview okay you're you're completely clueless okay it will be weird don't publish it but they said why don't you come for Shabbos why don't you really get to know us you know I'd to know who we are and I said okay why not as an investigative journalist you know it was for me an item but Travis wasn't just an item and that was the beginning of everything you know getting really to experience real Shabbos it was in the city of there Sheva a big city in the south and it all started there that's that's my personal story I think that's what Morgan is exactly that you think what do you think is a more powerful tool for outreach Shabab he told exactly Shabbos Saba Travis and Torah and I will explain it's very boring to Russ story you know today we have all these celebrities with these fascinating to read stories people you know they converted and they did cool crazy things all over the world and I'm just telling you about a normal Shabbos in British ever I mean what what's so fascinating about it I really think that the basic element you know just come and talk about the real thing about Chavez and really Torah was also very meaningful you know I I really loved you know reading and writing that was my hobby that was was everything to me but I never met rushy and I've never met you know about shem tov and here in israel professor on a homily with a generation of all bands of course the above each Arriba and then this SMS you know it was hard but I you know with it with the chemical taters so first of all first of all I love the salad how you bring the sauce MMS with Alabama Tribunal yeah yeah it was really fast you know to meet them all it was a salad but it was a tasty one year I saw that something good is happening here and again um I don't want to tell you know the truth about our educational system but you can really be you know at the age of 15 and and you know I never met Rashi I knew nothing about Rashi so so yeah it was for me you know what adventure to start you know exploring the Torah all alone I was sitting on Shabbos you know and just reading and reading it it was it was beautiful you know just to get to know myself my heritage it was mine it wasn't theirs you know these girls from Herschel are they I remember the first girl that bought them myself had a vote for me and as a gift she gave it to me and I was really good you know you can lie still know it by heart because I was reading it you know again and again exploring again our mutual heritage which unfortunately I never met till till till then so I do believe that in Shabbos and and Torah these are the main you know tools that and and I think again every Jew must must know them you know we have elections in Israel now so everything is so political and so diverse you know and all their like left and left right-wing disputes and conflicts I think that um when we say howdy you know when Chavez every week when Chavez so it basically comes so in the holiday we say um yamino small t40 how can we translate like a break through the the right in the right over exactly exactly and then the centers continue them Hashem Pepsi and you should worship Hashem I mean there is nothing about above you mean and small above you know left and right or if you want to say Republicans and Democrats I think really Shabet is more important and and our two rides you can you know you can vote for this party or for the other party and I will think you're completely wrong but I think um our you know our identity must be above all these you know small like sectors that we created okay when we receive the Torah there in Mount Sinai they nobody was you know voted there for Denethor for Catalano for Allah peed we're standing there together so that's we should return to this situation okay in in America mostly Democrats and Republicans but I'm sure many are following what's happening in Israel I ask you I want to ask you a question as someone who teaches Torah and you have a tens of thousands I mean you have a hundred and fifty thousand followers on Facebook you're on Twitter you are on whatsapp you're on YouTube your classes are literally through all the new the new the new media new age media you're using all the tools you're using all the hot sauce throat yeah you know that they used to have you know the forms of communication and I want I want I want to ask you if you think that when you before you teach um do you think about how do people who never learn Torah will perceive what you were teaching now yes of course um first of all that goes to your minds yeah yeah I think you know I imagine myself at the age of 15 all the time I keep thinking about Savannah at the age of 15 and I thought awful things really awful things about Judaism because all I knew was you know I don't want to use the phrase a fake news but really where the Israeli TV showed us about the Orthodox extreme her ad you know settlers I thought awful things about them all all of them so I really think of how can I talk to this teenager and showing her the beautiful beautiful things we have you know and leave you know make her I don't want to forget or maybe ignore for a few minutes you know all the headlines she's reading about all these extreme of a name and all these extreme settlers and society people and I want to I want to talk about you know the the essence and I'm really using all these tools you know thank you for you know the pleasure yeah how many DS what do you think is a percentage of your listeners you get a lot of mails back that are not observant that listen to you um I think maybe half but I can't I can't really say because we just came back from Baltimore now a few days ago me and my husband get idea and we were there for three days you know meaning like almost ten different communities in shul and a month earlier we visited Atlanta okay and also meeting the shoals and the communities and and I discovered that people there you know I never imagined them watching the show room and listening you know we're getting there what's up the what is what's up is translated into English every day so I see that people that are coming to the weekly she or that weekly lecture we have and there I see an Israeli soldiers and students and you know sometimes it's neck even it's like you know the religious people and sometimes like more soon like already woman and I see all of them you know in front of me but I never imagined the woman and then and in Atlanta or Baltimore sir I really don't know and both of them I'm really talking to them all but I think that the main thing eat here is not an expert I'm not a reverend and I'm not you know I really don't know so much I'm a journalist you are you are a storyteller and that's malpractice yeah in a way yeah I'm a journalist and you know for I'm 37 so for 34 35 years my job was to make you watch when I talk about what happened today you know in the Supreme Court in Israel or in the Knesset our Parliament and I was covering you know huge demonstrations and I wanted your press conferences and I wanted you to stay now I'm using these tools and in order to make you listen to what's going on you know in our parish are in the weekly portion that we read in there in the Torah so basically you can say I'm really using all the tools that are that I've been using for years the the last three years when I started talking about our Torah you can say it's the way it's it's superficial and I will say yeah you're right we're girls right it's not so deep you know I'm not talking about all the depths there you can read a book any fun and find them you know more meaningful things about the parish ah but I think nowadays with the new media we must use these tools because unfortunately Russia is not on Facebook you know and I never saw the Maimonides you know he didn't upload like a story for like 800 years okay so if we're talking you know I think that they are not there and we must bring them there because otherwise they will say you know on the shelves and the books but if we are on Facebook all day so they must be a part of our I will feed you know to take all these ancient texts and bring them into our feet that's that's the mission so I'm not inventing anything and I'm nothing there is mine okay it's all I only quote but I do think that's the main mission we're all facing you know to to be relevant today so Steve on let me ask you a question you said you're a journalist do you feel like sometimes we the or or any person who teaches Torah we are also serving as editors when you're teaching you're choosing what to teach and what not to teach alright and my question is are you editing and trying to think you know are our teachers were teaching Judaism sometimes avoiding speaking about subjects that are too difficult to speak about that's my question for example you know try explaining why destroying the entire nation of Amalek someone who has no connection to Judaism and never open the whole mystery foreigners in his life his or her life what do you think is that something you try to avoid is that something you edit out or you face head-on all the difficult subjects that that used to be interim um first of all it's not me I know on them let's say the main editor but I have many editors I mean it's like a partnership because all the people that are coming to the weekly show or listening from from you know from Israel Oh from all over the world they keep sending me like stuff for materials mails all the time it's a mutual like every week I quote them for example the main issue in in in Jerusalem well I teach I think these are mostly singles you know coming to the to the shul and for them that's the main thing you know dating and how to choose today when you have same what so many options and when you're already like 30 plus and so many people around you're like bid for example every week they find something in the Persia you know it has to do something with their own problems and when someone in I wish you both of em gets married or even you know engaged so we celebrated and they sent it again they're all lettering their own like messages to us that's let's say that's one example another topic that again I see that's the best I'm sorry but nobody wakes up and asks themselves I know maybe I'm again too superficial I don't think people are asking themselves questions about Amalek or even about you know Zionism and Torah science and Torah and where was God during the Holocaust all these philosophical questions they are very important but I'm sorry I asked myself mainly where is God now when I'm spending two hours a day you know using whatsapp and Facebook I think that's today more crucial so I try to be relevant and ask people you know what what do you think is the most interesting thing and they keep writing about again about like about the relationship you know inside the family when it comes to raising their kids and having limits and as parents and of course a lot of a lot of media and new media stuff a lot of we have a lot of new immigrants you know orlean people that made aliyah from the state or they come only for the you know for a year from either shine they also come and share and it's interesting to see the way they see Israel sometimes they teach us how to see ourselves so I try to listen to them we get really hundreds of messages from all over the world and we try to see what what they see as relevant and to talk to discuss it nobody asked about them elected what can I do you know question credential question there is a resurgence of secular study of Torah in Israel you know route called their own give her famous speech at the Knesset when she was elected as a Knesset member and she took out a service if I remember correctly there are these made me drafts in the Tel Aviv for what do you think where does it come from how do you explain this phenomenon um basically I think it comes out of curiosity and again they feel that the Torah is also theirs which is of course it's true but and again people sometimes say I I can't talk about the taurine a neutral way and I agree you see the first thing that I say so you know it's there is home - here we treat the Torah as a holy text we try to learn from the Torah we don't teach Rashi when we try to have like a modesty you know another we when we talk about our like ancestors okay I will not say what did Salah a man who did wrong here and abiram was now he was fooled by that's not the way I do it by the way one of the favorite lines I heard you say is that you used to talk about tire netanyahu and now you speak about sorry men oh yeah I see people interested in scoops you know it comes to selling men oh they're also interested in scoops about about hair yeah exactly but yeah you know I try to just see how the track and improve us and I don't try to improve the Torah you know it's me that is there that's not perfect it's not that it's not that a lot it's not perfect you know that but I don't talk you know again so nothing again as I said I'm not I have no like official job like here I came I interviewed Calderon she when she was a rock method a member of the Parliament and an MK I interviewed here I disagree but people can choose you know and see and when I started I also thought you know it's any more like academic way you know when I when I started learning I also thought you know uh it's not a holy text it's an interesting one okay so um maybe just um you know a schwäbisch MA exactly maybe it's like a phase of stage okay except that they're taking until they're it's the right grade you know how to treat the oh it's a Torah question you're observing from the side you know you see this whole surgeon and outreach movements within the religious world yeah they shatori have no or you have rabbis on campuses you have a bottle over the world what are some of the things you think that the outreach world is doing right and what are some of the things you feel like there's still place for improvement first of all it shows the necessity of you know they were there all needed they're all required and we required and they're all wanted you know it's it's fun to see you know about and really so many activities and and it's good to see that you know people can choose how to you know how to get closer to Judaism I do feel that maybe the main failure is again Shabbos because how let's think of it it it's the most beautiful thing I think in our life we will all agree if you ask every person it was like the tea you know that in Israel we call it Haldol and light you know the most more liberal open like ER or Orthodox people and the more like conservative people within the Orthodox world but they will all agree the Chavez met them you know the main gift we got especially nowadays so when we you know we're all connected like 24/7 and we have the privilege of being like you know for one day during the week you know to remain sane people so how well well why don't we you know succeeding and promoting this value of Shabbos I would expect it all the food people in the world will say okay that's the main thing you know before we talk about anything else you know all the other subjects are less important because I think when a Jew is connected to you know to Shabbos that's you know that's the main the main thing so again I'm asking myself why can't we you know agree that that's the main thing we should promote just think that every family that that keeps troubles you will invite another family that will be like the mission for for a year to add another family another Jewish family to this Chavez circle okay and you see like that that's more portal teaching Torah um again it's it comes together maybe because in my personal story the first time I had the time you know I was relaxed and I could really read Torah was on Shabbos because during the six days you know that maybe that's why the have the time rights you get a double reward for learning Chavez exactly exactly really you can come down and really be concentrated focused and so it's okay SUV shomer Shabbos I guess you'll also learn more Torah but um I I do think that's again the main the main tool the main remedy we have for the humanity when you teach Torah do you also comment on political matters Wow do you think it's important people say you know if you're teaching Torah what does the Torah have to say about what's happening in Israel what's happening exactly what's happening in the world and you are very when you teach I mean you quote from a lot of different sources both Jewish and both in the current current events so how do you feel about that ya know in the weekly should you look I have other places and oh gosh am i right every week I write a column you know and I do know then I have a weekly show you know on Galatia the IDF radio with my husband Jared yeah so and I work for channel 12 I mean I have other places when I want to say you know and I have things to say about guns or on the peat or Netanyahu I think it belongs you know it's in there we have other like sages other places and here people are really from they're all different kind of people are coming and I won't respect them and again if I said the tour eyes above the political disputes so that's not the right place you know to add all my personal thoughts about the elections this week they have other places for that and people are people also want to rest if they come they give me you know the most precious thing they have their time and you know 45 minutes of their time so let's try to fill it with you know with important more meaningful content you know and but we talk about student affairs that's not specific political figures you know they do hear about the news I don't know if your listeners know about this ugly world words in Hebrew haha do you know what it is anything in Israel had that time how do you translate into English no way I was that was my next question okay when when you're teaching it when you're learning Torah with someone and that person says are you trying to change me like why you know if you're if you're in a relationship and one tries to change the other person the other person is not trying to change the first do you think there's a problem the relationship yes listen I learned from them you know more than I think maybe they learn for me there were two ladies but now converted for example young ladies converted and they teach me a lot they listen to they come to the show they listen to this year we have like totally cool um yeah exactly I it's not like I am prove again I know everything and now um you will learn from me the truth that's not the attitude you know we all learn together it was created you know nothing here was planned the she was started with a very small group of singles that wanted to learn to rap I wash and we have thousands of thousands of listeners and you know people better coming today but it's all we feel it's like a mutual you know it's a mutual project so I really learn a lot from them with people that's almost every week I quote them and I I want to know you know I sent them the the materials before I give the Shuar I have three different people and they were famous Rob and understood biology student as if it helps me with you know different angles and they all read it every week before I give this you I want to hear what they say you know it's I don't think I'm so wounded I'm so smart why did I really it's again it's um for me fascinating too because I freaked example I brought from from Baltimore I brought four or five different new ideas about the Porsche so each one of year one yeah we had it maybe it's a to be funny but we were on Chavez morning we have earned that NER Tamid sure and robust well Watson was talking the shoes rubber was talking there and he was talking about the parsha tech tip ISA and he said only two words but for me when I came back to Israel I should peel it for Hebrew speakers it teaches you like meaningful ways to look at the Porsche and I will give you two examples and in English and then in Libra you understand because he said when motion enters a limo edie the tenth of meeting now excuse me but for the first time in my life I heard that oh hell no ed is the tent of meeting ever I never saw dude exactly meaning meeting here every session exactly so Hashem is meeting Moshe all Moorhead for me okay it's a hardware it's high level in Ebru more IDI to meet someone lay ahead I never thought of the meaning of oil mo ed and I was saying the tent of meeting Wow there's a completely different and new concept of think oil mind but then when I have regard for the article translation I exactly I think when we say Shania me Clara had pilgrim maybe we should read you know not the are make the English version because article will give us a new way you know to understand the basic cable I never sick about it when it's in Hebrew and then he said it's Moshe breaks Zulu hot break the please complete your may go Smitty break the Saudis the tablets I look at the DVR my husband and he's looking at me and nobody's there is surprised except the two Israelis that are there do you understand what it means breaking the tablets I imagined a publicist that is growth for the Ezio real tablets that are that are broken and that's not that's also a disaster when a tablet is broken but not when you think of it as a Lewis Scott appear you know exactly exactly so and I never imagined it that way you know and now please is that of course the real disaster is here is the holy tablet but when you even think about the simple tablet being broke maybe you understand part of the disaster so we are both like laughing but nobody understood why so even thinking of the hour taurine English I think I went I came back home with new perspectives and you understand I try to listen all the time and think about I think you know but nuclear anyways do to understand our our Torah I'm so my question I'm gonna push you a little bit to the wall over here okay no problem no problem yeah someone who grew up non is someone who grew up secular yeah today is teaching Torah to the thousands um how would you if you would have to rate how successful we are in communicating Torah to the rest of the world in Israel in America in Europe I'm you know in one hand there's a lot of great things that on another hand look at the numbers look at the general attitude look at the animosity look at the misunderstandings um how would you rank on one to ten where we we're where are we right now hmm wow it's hard because really fascinating things are happening positive things and negative things are happening and it's like parallel I think maybe instead of like describing the problems maybe I will share an idea I had there again in Baltimore about a solution I want to I want to try to to tell you what I've experienced there we were eating on Shabbos with Rabbi Moshe Howard from sherry Zion I don't know soon know who is but really he was fascinating and he was telling us that secular students from Israel came to Baltimore and they met him and the even met diverse Oshiro you know when air is really Sheva rarely feldman and they were fascinating as secular students from Israel and they really became closer to Judaism while they were doing Jewish Baltimore now I was telling him about the famous project called JW RP Jewish woman Renaissance project secular woman from the states coming to Israel and getting closer here you know seeing Jerusalem and all the places the holy places and the tourists like they spend like a week in Israel and then they change something in their life because they are exposed to what's going on here and then I started thinking what's going on here we take secular people from Israel through the Jewish communities in the state and then we take secular women women from the States to see as well so what is it like a mission a Macomb mission a Mazar what's going on here and then because they were reading the Torah and capital ki Tisa we were reading about Maha Shiva shaken and I thought in Maha siddhis a character ever says that we are supposed to see ourselves as my hot seat as a half half a shekel were only one us and we have to find the other half in order to really be complete to be perfect and then I started thinking about us you know maybe it's a new version of Jerusalem and Babylon we have Jerusalem in the States you know the two greatest communities communities in the world and maybe we can solve each other's problems and I'm really thinking about it like for the first time now I haven't really you know we thought about a reform the reform movement is trying to do a reverse birth right there's some ideas that you know Israelis should do birthright that see an American Jewish community is that way okay yeah I don't know he should go to the reformer communities I'm saying we people from Israel you know if they will meet us jewelry I think they would be really impressed and we had a lot of things to learn from you I know that summers and were like perfect with nothing to learn no we have some I know that's basically that's the attitude when you're air and Israeli but a lot of pride but we're not we're only half will run amok sleep and maybe you have again when I see our shores for example you don't only come in dozen that's a huge like Empire of the whole community and you can do at everything there you know Jewish activities and ads at the community center everything's going on there and in Israel it's completely different and when I look at the Jewish education you pay a lot I know you pay too much but maybe it means something here everything is almost free maybe when you pay you also say I care and maybe you care about your education more than us and maybe again we can learn things from your educational system and of course there are many things you could learn from us so I really think maybe that's again the next stage learning from each other's experience you know I think that's going to be helpful for both theater shaquille and they be together we we can really be a you know more complete I'll ask you a question at the end of the day for a decision for you to become religious was it an emotional decision or intellectual decision emotional hey ed yeah I don't elect follower yeah but I never you know I am I was never looking for answers you know about the know there's this whole subject of proof okay prove to me how can you say mount mind sign I was here and the world was really in a way of questions about trauma no sure mine didn't keep you up at night yeah yeah yeah yeah um the questions with myself in on my soul which on around how can I be better how can I talk and think and act in a different way how can I improve my own coach coach trick six you know we don't that was basically the the thing that really changed my life but I understand there you know other paths other ways and people sometimes named the intellectual challenge let's today but I was never searching yo for like evidence you know prove and show and demonstrate and you know I never had to to use these tools do you think most people are that way as well would you say so I think at the end of the day they won't admit it but at the end of the day yeah we care about you know our relationship with our parents and spouse and children and bosses at work and that's I think that the man you know anything else okay yesterday the messaging should be should have to draft a messaging you know a statement for their release for the press the veteran should be how Judy that makes your life more meaningful as a sound elation I don't accelerate you know as a new method you know like um like it like it's not a market I'm not that you know it doesn't Public Relation my public relations you know the PR that you know to it promote it once and what to try come and see come and really meet it you know see it experience it don't believe what you read you know and what you see on the news come and see what it means to you you know you know the story about you know the lavash rabbi was on a plane there's a person sitting next time extremely secular next you know you know have bad feelings about Judaism and you know said you know Judaism so strict it so uh you know detailed in my new show and you know it's ona it's so you know it has to be updated and so on and so forth after 20 minutes of screaming at the rabbi they're a bit turns at them and says you know listen I understand your frustrations but I don't work in management I work in sales hey thank you so much for your time I really appreciate it thank you thank you I'm sorry I have a show now that's my life thank you very much good right we have on the phone with us Rick Doty shiner Dobie shiner is known as together with St his wife he founded the so host synagogue which was the cool hip synagogue downtown and he did many other great things Dobie it's great to have you both been young man it's a true honor to be on the phone with you thank you for your time thank you for your time tell me okay tell me a little bit about yourself how did you how did you get into into what you're doing right now yeah I grew up in Borough Park the youngest of four children my father's a father sent the boys in the Bronx to Lubavitch area Shiva my mom was a base Yaakov girl so that's why we lived in Borough Park so I had exposure to sort of both both ends of the spectrum but I went to a barbecue Shiva's and ultimately bought into the rebus visions for Jewish outreach okay excellent and and how do you choose to go to so yeah so our story was you know an SD and I dated we both felt passionate about doing outreach we probably would have gone the sort of conventional Habad route but our wedding day obviously we didn't plan it but we woke up on the morning of September 11 2001 and a couple hours after we woke up the planes hit and so our hope Oh was in front of 770 with smoke behind the canopy and I was very very traumatic and emotional and so we felt drawn to lower Manhattan and how bad you know Lubavitch had at geography covered so we had to make a strategic decision of not going where we felt we were drawn or going without the sort of affiliation that we were most familiar with and ultimately we chose to sort of just go and figure it out without the Lubavitch brand gets a lot of franchise yeah we were not part of that system and that was you know that was unchartered territory for us and it wasn't necessarily easy but we felt compelled to do it and so we initially moved a few blocks away from Ground Zero on Chambers Street in Tribeca and then when some young people said let's start a shul we realized that Soho had never had a shul so he said let's go where there's nothing currently and we said let's call it Soho synagogue and that turned out to be marketing gold excellent and Soho is almost like bar park where you grew up in terms of the sphere that cold or take yes give or take okay the subject today I'd like to discuss with you cure of have we gone too far or we haven't gone far enough all right question and I want to take or take I want to speak to you about your take on the things you know cube organizations used to be these serious of Shaba tones with forty lectures with programming with lecturer ranging from a total machine I Cisco Shabbos Hebrew for starters and so on and so forth today the curve world is nightclub parties comedy nights pool tables and I feel like there's been a certain transformation within the Cure of attitude and I like to hear your opinion about what's going on Wow rabbin Youngman I think you're asking an astounding question it's an incredible question incredibly important question and I have a lot of experience that informs my perspective and so I'll say it's a split screen I think the intention is very very good and they're basically the gold idea I don't think we're going far enough in the sense that I don't think we've reached every Juliet in a meaningful way and until we do we have to keep innovating and we have to keep evolving towards that goal so I think we haven't gone far enough in terms of inspiration and reaching every Jew in terms of what you're describing look I'm very very well equipped to address that because Soho synagogue which was a big project for me which has sunsetted and has evolved into something new called Soho supper club I went on that path to a certain extent where it took on a social / party identity and I think it went that way because it sort of just took off on its own and suddenly there were very large numbers of people in the room and the larger the crowd comes on a certain level the harder it becomes to convey content and what we've evolved to in our sort of 2.0 is going back to content and at the end of the cycle that I ran was so synagogue I was so fatigued and I would be in a loft and the DJ would be playing and there were 200 people there and mind you this is extremely important work on many levels young Jews are meeting other Jews it's an entryway to other programming which is more substantive but I was like what am I doing here and and what am I going to be doing in 20 years from now you know still up at 11 o'clock you know in a bouncing room and we've come to a new who said we can't dance with a DJ in 20 years from now you know honey oh no how I noticed I became old and husana you know when you're kicked out of his inner circle I notice that I'm dancing in the search circle around the hustle and Kalla slowly marching that's how you know you're old you know okay I give you credit for trying to get into the inner circle but ya know one of the things we actually were very careful on all of our events were there was music but there was never dancing actually but but just the just the atmosphere wasn't stimulating to me and I didn't feel was having the level of impact that is possible and necessary and so we've come to a new format which is much more intimate where there's much more content and I feel that that is an update that has to happen in the world of Jewish outreach there has to be a realization that the differentiator of what we're offering ultimately is in social and spiritual and that people need that and want that and that if he hooves us to figure out ways to convey the substance of Judaism okay so so Abbey before before we go any deeper just want to say that I know many people who were personally impacted by your work positively I know people who have met a Jewish spouse because of you because of solo synagogue I've spoken to people recently that they got their first taste of you described at the Seoul synagogue I've heard great things about you and I have the people I know who go diving with you on Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur and enjoy your services but I like to take a little bit listen you got a lot of press you did a lot of buzz when you first came out and I just want to quote a little bit from what was written and and just hear a little bit back the New York Times article reported the following so synagogue first made headlines more than five years ago when it began hosting bus still downtown parties without obvious religious content so the question is are we diluting it too much or or for example you know the attire and website it says in another piece attire is anything goes the trendy website which contains no contact information shows glamorous party shots of men and women socializing and I have to give you the credit you got the people that every single care of organization and every single Jewish outreach organization wants in the room you got them into the room the people who don't sign up to all other programs signs up to you and I know many people been personally impacted by your work but my question is to you what is together what's the borderline how far do we go yeah so the answer is the answer is you know you know leave um yeah yeah let me let me let me tackle we've evolved now to a to a subtler more intimate more mature experience and I went to one of our supporters from the service synagogue days and he's someone who is more traditional then and has become even more traditional over time so you know he Dobbins in a firm soul today wears a yarmulke you know very very very committed and I was sort of like apologetic for the experience of our 1.0 and I said you know you know I'm so happy that we're doing something that's more than a party and he said don't underestimate the importance of those parties and what he was saying and what he explained is when you take a young Jew and I think this is the this is the epic failure you know of modern times is that you have a majority of young Jews today if you stop them on the street you should be able to say what's the best thing that has happened - in your life they say without thinking they the fact that I am Jewish but most of them get to 20 get to 30 without having much of a conception that Judaism is a value-add in their life they see it as irrelevant they don't see it as talking to their lives they would think that a yoga studio or Eastern religion has more to offer them in terms of living a healthy and spiritual life and that's patently you know false but that's our failure that's our failure of marketing they also see you know Jewish experience as what I like to talk describe as you know tom-toms in a dusty basement so we haven't evolved the aesthetic we haven't evolved the perception so when you take that young Jews never seen Judaism as something that's beautiful something that exciting and you suddenly walk them into chip Rihanna Wall Street and there's 2,000 young Jews and black ties and there's a rabbi in a Rebbetzin in the middle of the room stopping anyone who's trying to turn it into a dance party and you know yarmulke and sit sit and the food is kosher and the people are Jewish and suddenly they're one second one second if I could stop you the DJ is not playing the Miami Boys Choir yeah coughs what you singing running and and it doesn't feel like a party in bass take a hole in Lakewood so it correcto correct right okay yes not so so there are definitely I that's a compromising you're pointing to I I I'm I'm playing devil's advocate right now and I look and I completely respect that and and I think I think the point is well made and I think that where I stand today is I feel I was a part of innovating the trendiness and the packaging I think that's an important innovation but where I personally have evolved who is bringing that back and dialing that back and realizing that we should use that aesthetic sophistication and that marketing but we should do it not towards parties the occasional party is fine but the the focus should be on building community and education of you know Jewish spirituality so you're going to you're going to compromise on the quantity of people who attend the events and focus more on fewer people and and more interaction yeah look we in in Manhattan the way our entire community evolved was we had been you know downtown for a couple of years we were serving sort of across demographics we met one young man named Scott you know walking down the street on Shabbos we were coming home from Shirley at a ponytail he said the Shabbos we invited him to our house a couple of times we said bring your friends he said look my friends aren't going to come to a rabbis house but they'll come to my house so every Friday for a few weeks we would cook the chicken get into the back of a taxi you know with trays with oil we made a wrong turn you know we got staying in the car got stained and he filled his house as you said he would you know with with guests and that became the nucleus of our community but suddenly those tables of 15 turned into 50 and hello thank you yeah I couldn't hear I couldn't hear you broke up a little bit sorry sorry so not only those things about 15 turned into they turned into larger groups who are interested in the experience that we were offering and we thought that was a good thing we thought the numbers were a good thing but what we ultimately came to realize that you can really beat an intimate setting around food around conversation where the person could really get to know you you could get to know them and you can have a real conversation that could lead to personal growth and and exploration so while the quantity was tempting and fun on the certain level ultimately we circled back to those earliest programs and saying this is what we want to be doing and not as a means to an end but as an end to an end and and that's what we're excited about today that's wonderful I want to ask you another another another aspect about outreach I'll call the velvet rope keerful basically meaning of being exclusive making exclusive events we're doing Jewish educational outreach and I want to quote a New York mag article then arise how the new so hopes to bring Orthodox Judaism to the velvet rope set we call it a boutique synagogue you might have to RSVP there might be a rope line it will be totally it will totally be a scene but it's all kosher explained through Toby shiner is it ok for Jewish homes of worship and gatherings have be like an exclusive nightclub almost like with the bouncer I once had a person call up you know I got a cold call to shul where I serve as an assistant rabbi he said listen I work for a guy in hedge funds and he asked me he just moved into New York he asked me to find the most exclusive synagogue in the city so how a conclusive is our city guy I said listen our bouncer is not so strong these days so he doesn't bounce too many people out but but you know they're quite a lot of impressive people so so my question is you know the famous Kamara you know in in Broca's our bloods urban Azaria became the messiest cloudy straw you took over yonder from the Rubin Gamliel when he was 18 years old and that same day invited everyone to come and study Torah and either 400 or 700 new benches were added in you know people complain you know it should be completely open it should be open for everyone to attend but it's like a catch-22 if you make a you make an event for everyone no one wants to come you make it exclusive people complain that they can't get in how do you how do you deal with that yeah look it's a tremendous question look first to address the New York magazine quote you know I've grown up and you know there was a period where I really really thought I was smart and thank God that ship has sailed and I I really celebrate the fact that I'm you know just the schmack eggie who has certain gifts that I'm good at most things I'm not and I've tried to give what I can to this space because I'm passionate you know about promoting Jewish life um look it's very very tricky I would definitely by the way my question to you the Lubavitch young professionals initiative when did that start that's a new initiative no it's newer the last few years yeah just last year so again I feel like both litsa and and Hasidic outreach organizations very much follow many of the many of the norms and so to say that you have established and you have promoted yeah so we have to update the file look here's what I believe it I I'm not a fan of exclusivity and definitely not obnoxious exclusivity in the sense of you know what a bouncer would represent and and you know we we actually never had that so I don't even know where that the way that dream came from but what I do believe you know here's what I do believe I believe that there is a group that is hard to reach and that very often we reach the same group over and over again and one of my passions been trying to reach people who are not meaningfully engaged now what I found that to mean is not that they don't want to be connected for whatever reason they haven't found the right community they haven't found the right experience so I do like to sort of try to fish around and identify those people and bring them to the table in a in a in a focused way and I do think that you know sometimes rabbis worry about competing rabbis what I found is that everyone has their charisma and everyone's going to attract their group and that's that's natural and it's sort of self selecting and that's not a bad thing I would say you know obnoxious in-your-face exclusivity marketing with terms like exclusive is definitely not appropriate in my perspective but that someone is going to tell you you know if you get 10 liters you get 100 followers if you target down to followers you know you're lucky people show up look so I think you have to know your audience I do believe that part of our mission with Soho synagogue and now it's a supper club is to sort of be a model by the way by the way why did you choose supper sorry what does the word supper mean the Last Supper the first supper what's what's the meaning of cetera so you know the idea is basically to create a Friday night dinner on a weeknight so the logistics of the dinners that we're hosting you know kosher food with mosquito in homes that maybe started the day not kosher there's a lot of logistics to pull that off so weeknights are more effective for us but we're basically creating an intimate spiritual kosher dinner we're celebrating osmosis arson we're celebrating Tarot we're celebrating you know making a broth before and after a meal so that's where we've come to in terms of our new product and you know so synagogue was able to reach Jews even though it had the word synagogue that wouldn't typically go to synagogue and here you have a brand that it's not obvious what it is until you show up and then it's really a powerful experience so that's that's what we're doing now it's very interesting let me ask you a question you know there's a lot of debate discussion around it's not just in the world of Jewish outreach but in general are you for online platforms or for brick-and-mortar style which means the future of Jewish outreach is it with a ruff sitting usual I'm with a website and you know a chat group with 50,000 people or its old-school brick-and-mortar tools you know with manana and with communities with some sort of membership and so on and obviously the brick-and-mortar tool will have a website and the website will make events in places but how do you see that can you expand a little bit about that yeah it's a great question we we have struggled with this we went we did a little bit of back and forth and here's what I'll say so but one second the by the way it's very appropriate this week's but you know these weeks partials we were learning about the building of the Michigan what's the missus map my room it does the concept of having a home of worship and and a lot of the Jewish our each was not fake it's not focused around to his worship at many Jewish organizations you know it's an office spaces and lofts and galleries how do you feel about that yeah so you know one of one of the core innovations that we drove at the beginning of our journey was we got to lower Manhattan and we didn't have real estate and we couldn't afford real estate but we wanted to gather and we realized pretty quickly that you know there's a subset of people who have incredibly beautiful homes and that if you ask them politely and the way that we would do it is we would cover all the expenses so if you're hosting us it doesn't mean you're picking up the bill and you leave the place clean they're happy to open their doors for a few hours and we notice that for the participants entering into a non institutional space not into a shoal not into a Federation building was exponentially more appealing so is a real win-win and we really double down on that and it's sort of like you know free high-end Airbnb I'm a big believer in that I think the difference between our first project on our second the first was called Soho synagogue we were trying to innovate within the context of the synagogue structure it wasn't by any but I Claire Rito could I read a short paragraph for an article in New York curbs comm so synagogue the yoga friendly design savvy congregation menorah arms or MTA subway map ambiguous thanks to a new old mix of Orthodox Judaism designed by studio drawer for a sixteen hundred square foot storefront synagogue in Soho a suspended steel staircase and furniture made through parametric modeling mingle with exposed pipes raw brick walls and so hip hurts single Edison bulbs and ASCO design points out it looks a lot like a nightclub which may explain why the circular bookcase bookcases house prayer books alongside wine glasses so I think this is a little little intro into the design you know if you're just reading the Mishkan you know because this is a 2019 misspent you know someone asked me you know which tools are competing which which are the rules and I said you know especially in Manhattan you know shows are not competing with each other they're competing with Broadway shows with museums with galleries that's the competition and the biggest competition is for people's time people say I'll take I'll give you anything but you know just to just let me let me go you know you know or how much do I need to pay in order not not having to show up so it's very interesting where you're saying I thought I have if I would ask you to rank the effort the global Jewish effort in terms of outreach and honest ranking of how much effort are we doing could have to make it from one to ten yeah this is something I'm very passionate about and I'm passionate about about it because I think I have a unique lens I come I come from Habad and my organization doesn't operate in the context of Chabad I have a lot of relationships I would say that I am absolutely amazed by the way in which cities do you operate right now could you talk a little bit more so we're currently hosting dinners in New York Los Angeles San Francisco Miami and in May we're going to launch in Paris and this year we hope to launch it in London and Tel Aviv so where he'll get to travel to cut all of those cities I do hopefully we'll be able to build teams I don't have to be there all the time but for now I'm the event planner but by the way by the way when you work for Smith no one teaches you how to plan an event it's a you know you know they don't wanna negotiate with a caterer with with the musicians we wanna make it's a lighting person one of my favorite stories in the way I actually pivoted ultimately career from rabbi to event planner that's mostly what I do today and we came we someone gave us a beautiful log and we she knows President Obama started as a community organizer that's what it's called I mean I be organized yeah so we with somebody know for sure someone gave us a beautiful loft and we we did what we knew my wife and I we went to the shwarma place in Flatbush and we got a couple of tins full of you know swarmin we showed up and we put it on the table and a woman who at the time we were deeply insulted but ultimately we realized she did us a great kindness she was an event planner and she called us over and she said are you out of your mind you have any idea like why did you just put tin foil in this beautiful house and that was the beginning of us opening up our eyes and this is you know just to back up one is one of the things you made I think I think one of the things we stand for and is extremely important is there needs to be a greater effort to understand who you're competing against and when you're competing against 5-star restaurants and Broadway shows while the focus should be the content you cannot compromise on the aesthetic and the thoughtfulness of the experience and really respecting people's times and and we need to we need to out do experientially and obviously will outdo spiritually the competition and that's possible and so that's one great challenge but I look I look around the Jewish world and I'm amazed because look I was a little kid in Borough Park and I would have arguments on the corner this was early in the rebus you know earlier you know in their Eva's outreach vision and people say what do you mean you're going to go to some in a random community and the schlaf is going to assimilate into the community and I would be like no that's not going to happen we've gotten to a point you know where everybody it seems to me not everybody but there is an incredibly broad spectrum including you know the non-orthodox there's incredible innovation is incredible financial investment and it blows my mind it blows my mind when you hear you know I look at Chabad House the term Chabad House and then I look at moisture house and I was like oh there's the house of Chabad House and then I look at base hello and I'm like oh there's the base of base Chabad so I obviously see this all as an outgrowth of the rebus vision which he passionately expressed which ultimately I think today it is in the consciousness of the entire Jewish world that if you know Alice if you have the gift of Jewish inspiration you have to share that gift now different people are doing it in different ways some more effectively some less effectively and even in my own journey I would say I had to learn as I went and hopefully I'm getting better and evolving and hopefully we can each learn from each other the strengths of our successes and collaborate and build it but to me there's no question that there's not a lot of people left on the bench that people are getting off the bench that people are rolling up their sleeves that to me is extremely exciting the diversity of offerings and I think it's you know I think it's you know it's it's a foretaste of mushiya in the sense of we're all trying to bring our brothers and sisters into the jewish conversation and I think that's laudable and deeply exciting excellent listen you got away with not giving me a number from what to ten but it's okay at what other the other interviewees didn't answer that question either but you know you're reminding me you know when I first came to parky synagogues and servire as an assistant rabbi and I started working at some young couples people's program and you know was looking for a comedian for a perm event or something by the way I'm still looking for Camille newse clean rather says only clean jokes I haven't found them if you if you hear of sellers let me know it's very difficult listener there's no there's some some great comedians and some to special shul routines you know you got to speak to them in advance about it and then you know one of the young guys who works in finance can automate said you know rabbi Goldschmidt you know you know I love it that you're trying to do these events and you know but let me tell you honestly if I want to hear a comedian don't bring me some be a comedian I'll go here Jerry Seinfeld I mean I'm going to get myself a great comedian I want to learn Torah I never wanted to Talmud and then like it dawned on me I'm like wow I could actually you know do what I learned how to do and and that actually interest people you know yeah I feel like we have to balance ourselves not to forget the day occurred the Torah and it cleared the bestest Clara it's a you know and my mother told me something very powerful before I became around she said Benjy don't forget people want to be inspired people want to be inspired and we shouldn't underestimate that we shouldn't underestimate that and again I want to salute you for all the years you have impacted all the people who've you helped find the Jewish match UN SP and wish you much success in all your endeavors and thank you thank you pleasure talking blocked off all the best culture thank you so much [Music] you