Stephen Neuwirth A"H - The Power of One.

happy birthday to us let's blow one wait wait wait make a wish make a wish okay one 2 3 Steve fundamentally is probably one of the most spiritual people I've ever met he was really just a regular guy and yet he had that super quality about him it was almost like just I'm going to be excellent at everything right I'm going to be an excellent attorney and I'm going to be an excellent father he wanted his legacy to be that people would learn more that people would spend more time with Torah the capabilities and and the skill set that Steve had was was unmatched he was a realist but he was a dreamer and he put his realism into his dreams I don't know anyone who had the respect for raban him that Steve had if it said Rabbi before his name he treated that person with tremendous difference real der Steve was a man of Truth he found that truth in learning he found that truth in the Torah he found that truth in Hashem he found the truth in [Music] CLA Steve lived in the moment working hard playing hard learning hard being an amazing father an amazing husband he really in every area he taught us live in the moment as a Jew as a mench as a person I've been in the rabit for over 50 years and I've known many really great human beings some of the finest human beings on the face of this Earth and among the very top still Steve new worth Steve made me feel like family like it just I mean that's what our friendship was I hope I did the same for him I I you know never got a chance to ask and never really talked about it but I know how he filled the void for me and he really had this gift of making everybody feel warm and welcome what was really unique about him was he was able to take from every experience the value of that experience in every facet every area whether we were talking about TR whether we were talking about politics whether we were talking about friends whether we were going out for steaks or cigars or whatever it may be it was always something oh did you know this oh what about that you know that was the that was just the way it worked all across the boarda Benny had this basketball tournament uh in Orlando and Steve said to me he goes hey look the boys are going down to Orlando why don't we both play hookie it'll be the best time it's like okay let's go for it and so the two of us went down with our sons we did Disney World we did Epcot we went out these incredible kosher meals in Orlando and Steve you know just he loved having a great meal and just the whole the boys had the best time after the tournament they both got knocked out at some points he was like let's let's go to Wet n Wild and we spend the afternoon at Wet n Wild and then we you know get to the airport right before the plane takes off and it's amazing cuz I don't know what possessed me but I have this great video of Steve at the airport where did we go wed and wild Steve where did we go wed and wild that's right did we have a good time Steve newer I think so gentlemen did we have a good time this weekend we sure did that's why I'm always is going to remember him I'm going to remember him as this guy who just figured out a way to live life with purpose to live life with joy to be a great dad to be a great friend uh and honestly I I miss him every single day Steve was a phenomenal lawyer Steve had an unbelievable ability to master enormous amounts of material and texts and distill them into bitable sizes what would normally take a lawyer two weeks to figure out and digest Steve could do in a matter of hours I had just transitioned from the Quinn Emanuel Hamburg office to New York and he said like hi I'm I'm Steve newworth have a seat um I have um two cases I want you to work on and we're going to trial in 6 weeks so this very important um and it was Wednesday and I hadn't even signed the contract yet and and he he said like and and I need that motion by my day and I said okay you know obviously you know I'm happy to do it um you know I wanted to let you know that that I'm Jewish and that I keep the Sabbath and at that time Steve got up from behind his desk stood up put his fist on the table and said I'm Jewish too I'm sh shabas and Sh kashus and you have till Tuesday my son got married uh last year during Kaneka December 22nd and um Steve was already sick at that point um and so my I spoke into my son he was looking for uh suggestions for who could be a good Aid and I suggested maybe he'd want to consider Steve and he said you know that's a great idea so I called Steve and I and I said my son would really like you to sign the cuas he was concerned at first that his Hebrew handwriting wasn't good enough um and wouldn't look professional on the kuuba so first just to understand the essence of his ability as a perfectionist he spent at least a week practicing writing his name so that when he wrote it on the line of the kassuba it would look professional so that's just one small side point but he was overjoyed with the opportunity to do this and you're talking about a guy who was at the time very sick and um they came to the wedding and he signed the kuuba and all of that was great seeing him was great dancing with him privately was great you know being able to just rejoice in the SIM with him was great given how close we were but the most amazing thing was waking up the next morning and having him write how special it was he had never been an aid before he had never been an Aida obviously before and the opportunity to participate in a Simka at that level given how in retrospect how sick he was and and what a TI it was for him to have to shlep all the way out to Long Island on a winter night to participate and the joy and and the and and never complaining and just doing this the joy in being able to be M A Mitzvah was an incredible incredible experience for him and an incredibly moving experience for me 5 years ago four years before he before he passed away he had uh come over to me and he had asked if I would be able to find him a Kusa he wanted to learn in the morning take off a few hours of work or delay starting his workday and you know begin to hone his gamar skills he had already made a CM hasas but now he wanted to work learning Bean learning how to learn learning the language of the gamarra he was rigorous in his defense of the two hours a day he learned so much so that no matter what was going on whether it was a hearing a trial a meeting the rule was he takes no phone calls and does nothing before 10:00 a.m. because the first two hours are for Hashem the first two hours are for learning people are very often satisfied with minimalism I did enough Steve was never s satisfied with that he was looking to be the maximal person that he could possibly be and whatever he accomplished he always wanted more I don't think there should be any confusion that he was probably one of the most spiritual and one of the most religious people and he felt it so deeply it wasn't just for him he made other people want to do things with him which was the incredible part I mean you've heard the stories 100% his kids coming with him to dfom in the morning he walk into sh first first minion and his kids would be there with him like at 5:30 in the morning his kids were there kids wanted people wanted to do stuff with him he'd ask me if I enjoy today's do what did I thought about this or I would ask him a question about something that I learn heard and sheer and like and he would give me a thought he always encouraged me um you know to increase my learning I think his kids have a Rashi teacher and he said this is the best thing that um he's ever experienced because he was never able to learn Rashia at a young young age and now he's doing it alongside with his kids and this is just tremendous for him Steve was incredible father the way he would come to basketball games and schedule things around basketball games he took their education seriously their Torah learning seriously their secular learning seriously he knew his kids were going to be growing up and he knew this is the school he wanted them s was the school he wanted to send them to and he wanted to make it the outstanding school and he did he really contributed to the point where s is the number one day school in the country yesterday's da it said that M and one of the things they say is and simple explanation usually people say is peros but I saw explanation that MOS means not just that you're focused on your own religious growth it's your focus on being a father and making sure that everyone in your family has much religious growth as you do so it's not just to have mosos me DeVos mean be like the OS that you actually can transport that Torah to the Next Generation and I think Steve was excellent at that Rabbi thinkink once shared with me the beautiful words that when a person who is like a sadik dies it is a painful and sorrowful moment for those of us in this world but for the person who is like at sadik this will be the greatest time he will be welcomed in shamayim by the other sikim and the members of his family who had passed away previously I feel confident that tul Nama with all its Merit and goodness is a complete peace close to Hashem and experiencing hashem's Mercy and greatness and loving kindness please Hashem May tally be sitting with you in Gan studying the Torah that he so L he taught all of us what emun means it's easy to have faith when everything is going brilliantly but to have faith when things are not going very well when you have a young family and you're only 60 years old and never toess to have that kind of rock solid diamond Solid Faith in hasham that things are going to be okay that that Hashem will be with him always that was something that brought tears to all of our eyes anybody who knew him and visited him and saw him during his last months we all stronger and better because of it he was giving he was caring he was fighting and he was loving um somehow all at the same time that's what I that's what I take from him that's what I took from him that's what I miss about him and that's what I see in his in his children and Natalie um um wonderful wonderful people who I know will continue to bring the things that he brought to this world they will continue to bring it to the world to the to the people around them um for for years to come I think of him every day and I always think what would Steve say to this what would Steve think about this so I think look he he would love if if the old do app and if the U and if all of his friends are learning more if it is a source of harbas Torah for for for CLA he would be over the moon because I have no doubt Steve is up there in shamayim at having a kabusa with the kind of people like rabi AKA and those kind of people and and he's on a madrea that's very high near the rebon shum he just wants the end result to be that we're all doing better in Torah learning more caring less about the gashos and more about the Ros the world should know that there was a person who lived amongst us who wasn't a rabbi and wasn't a prominent individual that everybody knew his name but dreamt big and did big and that everybody everybody has that opportunity to dream big and accomplish big