NACHUM SEGAL LIVE with Rabbi Solly Mizrahi

it's unite to heal powered by amudim thousands of people have already supported amudim during this live stream over the last 34 hours have you been one of them if not we need your help we need your assistance we need your generous donations to keep the work of amudam going for yet another year right now we're at $ 3.35 million 67% of the goal let's see both those numbers increase right now go to unite to heal.com donate be as generous as you can keep the work of amudim going and a big thank you to SCH Sim lady Fitz Ellie Marcus more original programming coming up great content that's what unite to heel is known for they're also known for the incredible work of of amudim and uh Rabbi Sali Mahi is with us to talk about some of the incredible work of amudam he's the educational program and Community engagement specialist with daru which is a program of Amud and it's a pleasure to welcome you to this live stream thank you very much it's it's a pleasure to be here um you've had different roles in amudam over the years uh you've worked in Israel you've worked in the American offices case manager daru program coordinator my gosh the list is rather endless a community engagement Specialists uh not many people were exposed to all the different angles and faces of amudim like you have what can you tell us about having had that overall experience it's a it's been a fantastic Journey uh to be honest I remember I started off as an intern uh in the Israel office as as a case manager and how long ago was that that was in 2020 wow 2020 I was the first year of Social Work social work school and the just coming into an organization that was so so powerful and the work that they do um slowly and Surly I saw that the case management was how how how much ENC compus and how much time a person needed to invest as a case manager and really really a shout out to all the case managers over there they they these secret Heroes that are out there um the time the dedication devotion that they have to their clients at the time I was still teaching in Isa still still in Cola for a little bit um and I just saw that the this role of case management is so um it just expects so much of you were most of those cases teens or a specific group or everybody uh mostly it was Gap year Gap year students there were some family members that I that I personally worked with um I think some of the female case managers may have had more of those types of cases that were outside of the the Gap year um but just the the the work that that entailed um I knew that I couldn't continue in that capacity just because there was just an ongoing every day being in touch with the therapist and being in touch with the uh with the with the client I remember uh one time I there was a great match that we had for a certain client uh but just getting in touch with the therapist which is a day after day after day um but I knew that I couldn't leave the organization it was just it just amazing being part of this team and I had approached Yi gbin the director of the Israel office who he's my hero I'm definitely here because of him today and I told him I said y see throughout the entire year as award to the student and working with the community so many people came over to me and said we heard that you're the intern for our mud and could you help our community with this and can we start an event can we can we open up something and I didn't even know where I was I said where am I what is this organization and and I asked him I said could we start some of this educational uh workshops and some of these programs for the communities um and it just it slowly but surely just exploded yeah people in those positions with this organization never say no they just figure out a way to get it done uh back in October of 20122 that's just over a year ago you launched the amudam Israel division why a separate division what was that all about yes so the uh the syan community the faric syan community that lives here in Brooklyn they have a lot of people that make Aliah they live in Israel and really a lot of a gap year students whether they're Yeshiva Bak or seminary girls um I I was teaching in Yeshiva and and so many times a boy would approach me with questions and I I just didn't know what to tell him um there there's so many struggles and challenges and I think being away from home being away from the pressures of the community uh gave them a chance to sort of realize that okay something here you know I was sort of managing or sort of surviving up until now but all of a sudden I'm in a new atmosphere uh may maybe new stressors new anxieties and maybe I'm also I'm looking for some self-exploration I'm looking to to work on myself to grow in Torah at the same time to grow in who I am as a person and they started reaching out for help and there was nowhere to reach out to absolutely not um so we decided together with a couple of friends of mine MOS and Charles sakal these angels of of of of people um to open up an a division within amudim to really cater to those needs we didn't know how how it would work um I had zero experience in anything to do with organizations I remember I reached out to T the first time I saw him uh and I said S I really want to do something with the syrians and I thought he would say listen you know maybe one day we'll see build this up slowly and he said go for it and I said okay now I'm in trouble that's it um and I remember my my wife told me she said this is this is hashem's work this is his children they need to they need the organization and uh the rest is history and just to elaborate I mean people may not realize especially those who don't work with teams on a regular basis that different communities have different challenges and backgrounds are different and even stresses anxieties and pressures in some communities are really not a big deal in other communities so you being familiar with the community that's obviously very valuable yeah sure um and and the truth is we weren't sure how the how the boys or the girls would would take to having somebody from the community working with them would they be skeptical would they be hesitant oh you know my uncle you know my mother right also a very sensitive issue right we didn't know how it was and and the truth is within uh I would say less than a year we had about 50 clients uh boys and girls parents were calling up people from America hi my son is in ISRO or I have a a nephew that's that's in the Army what do we do how can we help him we heard you have something you we you don't know who to turn to um and the cultural sensitivity is a big part of it and and I think um the work has spoken for itself and just being part of this team and and the organization so is all your work now in Israel still working here in the United States with families How does it go yeah so uh one of the things that that we we did before I left I just left this past summer was um we we created a daru curriculum for The Gap year programs so the shivas and the seminaries um really got this what they have here from grades 5 through 12 uh they have that now in the achievements and seminar said they have more than 10 seminaries that have already signed up for it um so that's sort of running on its own anybody that calls from Israel uh if anybody reaches out I just got a call uh not not long ago from somebody who said listen I'm really struggling I'm all alone um I don't know what you do but I heard that you do work with something over here so can you help me and and and just being that you know I didn't do anything I wasn't the case manager I just I referred him up but just being that address for people to have um comforting it's it's it's it's the compassion that that they're looking for and um so the work is really uh primarily here but however in Israel needs help they so reach out so now as we catch up with the career of Rabbi s m you're working with daru Opel team what is that look like on a daily basis yeah so that that's really been a privilege um to work for this team R Linda Miss burit R grossberg these people are just Pioneers in what they're doing it's really preventative where amudim is here spe specifically the case management is there to help people who are already calling with the problem uh and we had a segment earlier on and and I'm sure people know about it is really there to to prevent those cases from happening in the first place um it's a massive project they work with all schools all over the count schools around the world and all the grades that you mentioned which is quite yeah uh there constantly we're building curriculum we just have uh we just had a new a new segment that we added to the curriculum which is a Weekly Newsletter that the parents receive each week from the school uh we created a scenario there's a family that we we sort of go with each week and each one of the family members have a certain Challenge and we discussed on the shabas table and I think it's just been something that's um just just the opportunity to just reach out in so many different ways uh it's been tremendous and you're still able to continue working in Israel as a clinician or as a as a as a clinician from thousands of miles away should we put it that way so I actually left the the JTC uh when I moved back I was one of the postr clinicians there when they when they had opened up a fantastic Clinic uh that really provides subsidize therapy for the for the for the for anybody that's that's looking out for help um now I work in in different places I work by Dr sham zimman Dr k pman um both of them who have close ties with them with them so you can't leave far from the but you're still a big resource meaning if someone from Israel you know would call you you'd know exactly how to direct them to get the help they needed for sure and that's the hopes the hopes are that once the program is there it's initiated it's already established whoever needs help help lone soldiers Seminary girls Shiva boys families um whoever's there whoever needs a help they know they have a place to reach out they can always reach out to the orice directly uh they can reach out to me they can reach out to anyone of the members that really are there to to perform a lot of experience on that team right a lot of experience yeah it was a great team to say the least all right Rob mrai it's your time to join me in giving a message to this community that's tuned in right now as to why tonight is so important and why people should be supporting a moved to the agree that we're demanding they support I'm yeah a message I I would say that a lot of people looking at maybe the program tonight and saying well I don't really need therapy I don't I really have anything that's that's that's burdening me that I need some uh clinical intervention I would just ask the people I I really ask them to to look into their hearts and and ask themselves how you know I might not need therapy but is anything more meaningful in my life is there any way that I like to enhance a relationship with with myself with a spouse with a child people struggle with just the the pressures of community life the pressures of living in the rat race as they as they say right the the financial burdens how many people wish they had the tools or the skills to be able to enhance those relationships uh I thinku is the answer for that I think definitely part of the answer uh there's a lot of projects that we have I would say stay tuned to come um there's a lot of work that we we're we're hoping to to to sort of bring to the community in in in the weeks months ahead and I hope to have that conversation those conversations with rum with Community leaders to really bring uh much more in Awareness in so many different ways it sounds like daru curriculum if you will is Ever Changing or at least growing constantly Ever Changing growing and I think it's also reaching out to different populations whereas up until now it's been from fifth grade to 12th grade yeah um I think can it go to lower grades in that they do have the do have the possibility of going to low grades I actually started giving a class um once a week through an organization called keser uh they had asked me to give a class in veru college and I told them listen I I'll be willing to do it and I'll be happy to do it but it's going to be something that's geared through theu uh through theu vision uh you every every weeks is is another lesson in in social emotional building and and the lessons that we learned from the Torah that really help us develop into the individuals that that we'd like to be um and I think that ladies I think that parents I think that couples people that are getting married um Community leaders uh each one has a has a place in the daro family and I think that soon enough we'll be able to service I thought college kids know everything there's something you can teach that they may be able a tool in life they teach me a lot but uh they teach you a lot as well we try to work together uh well what can I say I mean the work of Dar who is well documented a lot of tremendous experience and as you said uh very effective leaders who are part ofu and on both sides of the world as you're hearing on both sides of the world they're doing quite a job uh both of what you've set up in Israel with the amudam Israel saric division which I'm sure continues very strong until this day yeah and with all new work that's being done on this side of the world byi I hope that people take your advice and support amudam tonight as best as they can I hope so too and stay tuned stay tuned that's right thanks for joining us everybody out there it's very simple here's what we have to tell you whether it's by m Roi myself or anybody else that's here tonight and anybody that's been part of the last 34 hours of this 36-hour live stream we need your support it's as simple as that and we are now over 70% of our goal we're over 70 % of our goal but we do need to get to $5 million as spe glck described yesterday morning when we kicked off this live uh live stream I was going to say live radiothon live stream as he said it's a $5 million uh ask it's got to be uh it's got to be attained and it will be a significant part of this year's upcoming amudam budget you can be a big part of that please give give generously and give right now go to unite the heal.com hit the Donate button recommend to your friends and family and anybody who you know would enjoy tonight's content to do the same and hopefully we'll reach that goal by 9:00 tonight daru and some of the things we've been speaking about over the last few minutes are just parts of this incredible amudim Network International Network that's doing so much to help teenagers parents and families out there please give and let amudam do this work all around the world coming up now it's to Solomon Brothers this is something we debuted yesterday the Solomon Brothers and Yehuda Solomon from the sh band it is a cover of the song at to heal keep on giving