The 7th Yahrtzeit of Mendy Klein Z”L

[Music] I joined Amuin uh in the states uh about 5 years ago when we realized that it was a problem with um child abuse, sexual abuse of children and uh it was a real mafa that really nobody was addressing it and it was basically swept under the rug. But now it's also expanding uh into other areas. It's not just sexual abuse. It's uh alcoholism. It's gambling. It's uh [Music] suicide. So I had an opportunity to introduce him to Tvi and uh the more he learned about this subject from Tvi, he was more deeply troubled by it and he was more determined uh to do something about it. Mendy gave me wings. For many years I've been involved in public service before Rammud and before Men deci Klein. Mendy saw something in me that I didn't see in me. Mendy believed in me and Meny paved the way that I should transform from being gluck to an organization with so many employees and offices and helping thousands of people. Mendy had that vision long before any of us did. The Torm conference was about five or six weeks ago in West Palm and Su Bloom came over to me on the phone and told me that we're having a a session on sexual abuse and child molestation at the Torum conference which was unheard of. My an answer to immediately he was on the spot. He says we're having a session. I want you on the panel. Says you don't want me on the panel. You know I'm not a diplomat. you know, I don't know how to I say what I feel and I don't think you want me on that panel. Says, I want you on the panel. Ash Kaminski was at the session was at the conference over there. The night before the session, I went over to ask tomorrow there's going to be a session on child molestation, child abuse. I'm on the panel. What should I not talk about? without hesitation came across to me and says Meni say whatever is on your mind which I did. Speedlock sent out an email um letting us know that there was a girl who attempted to commit suicide and thank God was not successful and the cost of a rehabilitation center was $100,000. 30 seconds later, Mendy sends out an email to everybody and he said, "I'm putting up the first 25,000. Everybody else put up 50 and I'll put up the additional 25,000." But this was Mendy on a daily basis. It was every single time he was just a driving force of and through his passion for this organization, this is what he lived for. I don't know anyone on the planet that has spent more time, more sleepless nights for the benefit of youngsters and teenagers dealing with this horrible issue than men [Music] decline. The mere fact that somebody can pick up the phone or somebody can come in and talk to somebody and they know that this person cares. they know that this person has no ulterior motive besides helping them. That is success. And when I see the numbers that come in of the number of calls that come in uh on a daily basis, uh it makes me feel [Music] good. Mindy Klein was passionate about the concept of stucker. Meny was Mendy was passionate about helping another Jew, help guiding him and taking away some of the pain that's in their heart. He understood that it's important to deal and to uh intervene when the problem was going on. He also understood the importance of early intervention and dealing with kids before it becomes big problems. You know, he always complained about the fact that we don't do enough prevention. You know, we've opened the can of worms. We've opened the floodgates. We need to help people, but we need to stop it before it happens. If Mendy was here today, I'm sure he would say to me, "Don't stop what you're doing, but bring prevention into the mix. It's very important." It's a problem in Cleveland, in Chicago, in Detroit, Los Angeles, Monty, Lakewood, Kirasio, everywhere you go. We have a serious serious mafoa on our hands. It wasn't just about what Mendy donated. It was about what he got others to do. He would call me up sometimes in a joking way, and obviously clearly he wasn't joking. And he says, "Mich how can we make more money? We got to give so many places." I I think that's the message that Mendy would give us today. We need to give more. We need to do more. We need to help more. That's what Mendy was about. And that's what he would want from us. Sadly, in this field, it's always needed. And if people can help step up and help continue Men's legacy in supporting Amu so we can save the lives we saved, I think it would be a tremendous for Meni [Music] Nishama. This is in my opinion the worst case of that you can have. When you kill a person, the person is dead. That's it. He's dead. When you abuse a child, your child keeps on living. And what you've done is excuse me. What you've done is you've put in life in this child's heart and killed that child and the child keeps on living for the rest of his life. It's worse than we still have a long way to go, but we have the Dtora. We have what it needs. We have all the tools to deal with this. Let's deal with it. Let's eradicate this from our children. Thank you. Heat. Heat. [Music]