Unite to Heal 36 hours Live Stream Event

foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] we are here to discuss an issue that brims under the surface of every Pulpit sermon and every kiddish conversation across the Jewish world today that is in a day and age in which not only is there a Jewish state but for the first time a governing Coalition which collectively espouses Torah values where should the focus of a Torah Jew be does it remain in the realm of the personal of character development self-actualization in God's image and smiras hamitzvos or has it shifted to the public domain in the realm of politics Collective action and Society we are joined by two esteemed guests who will discuss and debate this topic Rabbi Michael Levy has championed a person-centered approach to Jewish practice in his work as a rabbi disability Advocate and public servant for over 50 years Rabbi Levy received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary and has served as a board member at Yad hakazaka where he supported making Jewish experiences and texts available to Jews with disabilities he worked as director of travel training at MTA New York City Transit until his retirement in 2018. Rabbi Levy and his wife Javi williglevy are active members of aish kodesh and enjoy music hosting and spending time with their grandchildren Rabbi Adam Winston is a lawyer and Rabbi in Richmond Virginia he received Smith from the chief rabbit of Israel and his JD from the University of Richmond School of Law he works as a law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia and currently serves as the president of knesseth Beth Israel in Richmond Rabbi Winston believes that Torah Judaism has throughout history articulated itself in a voice that speaks to the times in a hyper political environment a Torah that Retreats from these issues is destined to be less relevant to that end he is the founder and director of Torah Town Hall an organization that researches and explores issues of civics government and high politics Through The Eyes of the navi khazal and the Jewish literary tradition thank you Rabbi Levy and Rabbi Winston for being here and helping our viewers think about Jewish meaning in thank you nothing Siegel that's uh it's uh pretty cool uh that nakam Siegel is introducing me I'm Adam Winston I uh am a rabbi and a lawyer uh my day job is working for a judge and my passion project really is an organization that I recently started in Richmond Virginia called Torah Town Hall um and the idea behind Terror town hall is pretty simple I think that uh people Jews especially and people in this generation are more educated are brighter more inquisitive and more Curious than they ever have been before and that power and that potential coupled with the fact that opportunity is limited is making a lot of people feel very sad and Powerless and I thought that empowering Jews with a Torah that speaks to high politics that speaks to the issues that are pervasive in the news and in the media and in society and at people's kitchen tables I'm giving them uh a vantage point of power of knowledge and understanding an agency really uh tying their Jewish identity to the things that they're thinking about most of the day um treating them like educated and and and knowledgeable people because they really are um so turret Town Hall was born and basically what we did is we started learning and giving talks and discussing the issues of the day the politics of the day in in minute detail but looking to tell resources to do that so that's my passion project I really truly believe um that the future of the Jewish people is an integration of Torah and the public policy issues of the day in any given time I really truly believe um that that's the path forward that that's the way to cinch uh Jewish National unity and that's really the position that I wanna that I want to try to put forward today and maybe convince a few people of if I can thank you Malcolm for your introduction and I'm Michael Levy president of yada kozaka the Jewish disability Empowerment Center and Adam you couldn't have given me a better opening because is all about empowerment how do we all work together those of us with disabilities and our fellow travelers to make sure that people with disabilities are integrated fully into their Jewish communities and I'm a straight shooter here I need to tell you from the outset from the start from the get-go that one out of 17 people with uh one out of 17 Americans actually 1 out of 17 Americans cannot access cannot access Torah town hall because they can't use they can't go online either they have no computers or they don't have the money to buy a computer or they don't have the money to buy the adaptive equipment and get the training they need as you can see I'm a blind person here on Zoom a lot of people just don't have the money a lot of people aren't even aware that they could use a computer there's even experts even people who call themselves big experts in the disability Community don't know what I just told you that there is a way for people to get online so we'll see about um where we stand in terms of values but here's here's a project that I'd like to see for ahmedim and Torah Town Hall when December 1st 2023 arrives how many more people with disabilities will be able to access what you are offering there are ways to do it I'm willing to work with anybody to do it so let's see what happens by that date now if I may continue here's what happens if you are a Jew with a disability who can't access Torah you go looking somewhere else for values and maybe not that's not the best place for values and you may choose to opt out of Judaism which doesn't seem very welcoming if you can't access it so that's the downside but we'll get back to the up I'm sure as you continue Adam well I I look that didn't sound like you took uh an oppositional stance to me there Michael so I love if I can try to maybe tie in what you said with um with what I said I think even if you saw the accessibility maybe after the question of accessibility I 100 agree with you um that uh accessibility for to physical spaces and accessibility to uh digital spaces is something that has to be corrected for for Jews and all people with disabilities I I don't think anybody can argue with that but even after let's if if we move if we move beyond the question of accessibility what exactly is it that people are accessing and what is it that people are lacking and that is really the question that I'm trying to solve because frankly and I don't know if this has been your experience and you and feel free to push back if it hasn't been but my experience has been that the Torah that is being offered the accessible Terror the people that that people are able to consume focus is almost exclusively on either or some form of character development Meadows development some sort and even if it whether it has a muscle flavor whether it has a Casitas flavor but that those are the two main thrusts and still amudim's doors are being knocked down now I'm not a clinician I there's lots of reasons for that but I'm I'm someone who has experienced and seen substance abuse and mood disorders and anxiety and depression up close and I can tell you that they're experienced with the same frequency the things that amudim is here to help correct our experience with the same frequency by people who have access to all of these things there's something about the approach that we're taking that is still missing people even the people that have access and I agree with you 100 that accessibility for people with disabilities is a problem but what I'm focused on is even after we give them that access there seems to be a Lacuna in their spiritual World in their emotional world something is missing and ironically enough what I am trying to suggest is that the solution could be that we're not thinking big enough in our Torah we are approaching and the the founders of hasida said this we our souls are bigger than ever said our soul we are we are business generation we like to poke fun at ourselves and call ourselves and small people but the truth is that the average Jew walking on the street today is a common clock um awesome ode compared to what was going on before in the world we know so much and we're most of us are not able to employ that in any way a political Torah what I want it putting Torah on the same plane that everyone is operating on anyway to me seems to me a possible solution to the problem that we have which is that it's we're missing the marks them out okay I'm gonna say a couple of things which you will see will tie in okay first of all and I I actually go back to my parents who weren't religious okay but Torah was important to them doing facet was important to them on as high a level as they caught possibly could go they would go out of their way to help people we'll get to the politics in a minute but they were there when something was needed they were there and from that value system comes the idea that as as long as you're doing it personally helping people you gradually gradually expand that and make your family bigger until the family is the world and that's how you help somebody climb the steps of the stage to get political acts you know at the access that you're asking for the other thing and I'm going to say this with some emotion is that I think that a lot of places are coming up with the idea of saying oh we're gonna bring you a person who is a Torah observant Jew or a values Torah and look what a great American he can be he can be Sandy Koufax he can be a millionaire a billionaire and he still values Torah what I say is choose first thigh on America America is great but you're but why are you why are you making America the criteria by which you measure Jewish success concentrate on the Judaism make Judaism a Boiling Pot then go to America I and I and I on this point I think we agree because I'll tell you what what I really mean when I say that we have to elevate the Torah to a political plane is that there is a valence of Torah that informs what politics should be so I agree with you I'm not speaking necessarily or or even at all about Jews certainly being obsessed with American politics but even Israeli politics which I think is closer to something that we should be focused on isn't really the thrust of what I'm talking about let me I'll give you an example so when I first heard the story of guidon from the Book of Judges from shofden this is the way it was told to me gidon defeated the midianites and the Jewish people wanted to reward him for Sate for being their Savior and they asked him and his sons and his progeny after them to rule over them as a king and gidon says no I don't want I'm not going to be your king my children aren't going to be your king hashem's going to be your king and khazal venerate gidon for his humility it's an incredibly humble act it's the lahav deal he's the Cincinnatus of Jewish history the George Washington of Jewish history right but I'm I say it tongue-in-cheek but I'm serious because when you learn that there's an older Jewish root to the apocryphal story of George Washington never telling a lie or not wanting the power and saying and and and and and not claiming the a Perpetual throne for himself I think it adds a Jewish valence to these things I think it's incredibly powerful I agree with you but what I would say is George Washington is the gidon of American history in other words don't make George Washington first make gidon first maybe George Washington although he didn't talk about kedon maybe he was influenced by the Bible that he learned okay again it's not a debate it's a question of of or maybe it is a debate but um it'll be a debate soon because I I have I'm gonna go further okay um look at this very portion that we're reading today about oh this is phiasara whenever this comes out but we're looking at um the struggle of who is going to be king after King David and you've got a younger generation trying to so to speak usurp David's Rule and go against what he promised bathsheva and there's a lot of usurpers in in the world today and we have to touch on that um maybe you want to be king but maybe what the Torah says about not usurping power even if you think you'd be a better kid maybe you should maybe you have to stand down but where where is the point of application for the average Jew so at Target Town Hall this is what we would say yes it's true that humility is a personal virtue that you should learn from gidon you should learn to question your own capabilities that's a beautiful thing and we will make the world a better place if people do that but what I would say is we should add a layer of application and and where is that layer of application is we should apply the lessons of guidon to the political realm as an act of Jewish avoda in other words you have an agenda you're an educated Town Hall Jew Torah Town holds you you want that agenda to be up on the political stage well maybe it's not time for that maybe it's not time for your party to take the stage maybe it's time for you to swallow the bitter pill and realize either my time is over I have to do something else we've got a president who is 80 years old and has to decide whether he's going to run for president or not ah very good what would it what would the Torah say about that what were the two Jewish televalians say you're making my point for me Michael if you're if you're Joe Biden and you're then the point of application and the personal and the political point of application are the same because you are in the game but for but for the average person who's not in the game I wanna I my claim is that there's still a political point of application that is a valid form of a votes Hashem and what does that look like you take the message from gidon that you want a leader and yo Tom stands up after abimelech has crowned King and he says and he lambasts the ballet for choosing Avi Melech as a king and he says why are you picking someone who's running after power the person who runs after power is going to end up destroying you and themselves that lesson can be used by the average Jew to put to to put their kishkas in to a a cause that aligns with those values and then every single door they knock on if they're going if they're supporting a gidon if we Elevate the guidonium of the world to want to serve and Jews can feel a part of a political movement that's infused with Torah I think that is something that treats the average Jew like the educated citizen that they are I I'm just worried that the limiting terrorist application to the personal and not accepting the political valence of Torah is is dooming us to second to secondary importance basically in the minds of a lot of people I'll tell you a point that you mean maybe you don't I maybe I hope you disagree with me because then we have a debate but how many people don't even want to get in again how many people say I I don't need a game I I I wait let me finish I'm working I have a job I'm a good boy I'm a good girl I do what I need to do I I don't I don't need a game you know like I'm kind of like an ostrich I put my head in the in the sand you know we can't do that now so you have to be in some game because the world is everybody's in the climate Club okay it isn't just Joe Biden who's gonna feel the impact if the climate doesn't if we don't do something about the climate everybody's in the um gun violence game because eventually it's going to hit somebody that you know or that you care about it everybody is in the coved pandemic game it's not a game but it's still around it's not going away and if you don't get involved somehow if you don't make sure that people pay attention and do what they're supposed to well or what at least take a sense you're in that game these are World issues okay then we can talk about well what does Judaism say about the covet game the climate him you have to be in a game otherwise if you're not in a game you're contributing to the world's downfall uh yeah I think I think that's right let me I I if I understood let me kind of restate part of what you said and you'll tell me if I got it right um you know I think that there is uh there's a Torah that I heard once in the name of the piazzetsna that really stuck with me when he's speaking about educating young kids he has a line that you have to show kids the beauty of Torah before they see a Rembrandt otherwise they're going to think that beauty is REM is the Rembrandt their whole lives and Torah is going to be playing catch-up for the rest of their lives and I think in in this realm it's something very similar we are I you're almost making my point for me that that people are living in the world and they're seeing these issues and they're of burning importance whether it's because the media sells things as a dumpster fire so that they can get clicks and subscriptions or whether the the problems really are that dire you probably have to look at each issue individually but regardless people are feeling like they have to be involved in something or the world's falling apart but the problem is that the views that they are are that they're offered On Any Given issue tend to not be informed by Torah because our education doesn't focus on what I I call entire town hall Jewish Civics which is basically these fundamental ideas of separation of powers and and you know oftentimes liberal lowercase L ideals classical liberal ideals that really have their roots in in Torah in the navient and if we knew that we would be an empowered sophisticated Jewish citizenry that's really what we're after I think and then go and take over the climate movement but do it in a way that's informed by kavana Tava whatever whatever Torah ideal you can pluck out of our tradition and there's a lot to pluck out in mind that is it's never been mined for this before in any systematic way it's an open Frontier okay I want to go back to something that the P that you quoted with the PS that's not about fine Beauty and Torah how do you find how do you get a kid to find beauty and Torah okay there is a famous story about review Oshua I think that his mother took him to the hall of study just to hear Torah being learned that's Beauty okay um I'm going to start very very young let's go to what children aren't exposed to Jewish children you got all these interactive toys Welcome to our Learning Farm there's so much to do and that they listen to that for an hour you know and then they want to hear the learning form there's nothing Jewish about that we need Jewish uh you know toys like that to show Welcome to our Torah Farm there's so much to learn yes and who is the receptacle who is the conveyor of that Jewish Beauty it's whoever the primary caregiver is I'm not agreeing on gender but it's usually the mother so if there's something we can do to support the caregivers that's when you plant the seed that's when they that's when they won't run after Rembrandt they'll run after the Lula of the escrow will run after Kiddush Kiddush is beautiful for a kid I I um it's amazing you ever seen a like a one-year-old elbowing his way over to the challenge they know what to do that's you know beauty is food come on let's be real that's domestication right there yeah whatever you want to call it okay but it's worth for generations and generations um and the rambam talks about that he has a whole education system um you reward kids with prizes not forgetting an A and going to Harvard for Pew for raising money for Jewish quizzes you bring them up to the front of the room and shalomi he he got 100 people to sign up for whatever and we're giving him whatever candy whatever it is um we don't do that enough if the client is interested in us following through we're here every step of the way up until the very end for some clients there is no very end they just want us checking in to make sure everything is going smoothly if they want a change of a therapist if they want anything like that if we're sending a client to a treatment center we're speaking to her therapist and her whole team at the treatment center if there are any issues where the first person they called to kind of figure out what we can do to make the situation better to speak with them to make her experience at treatment the best possible [Music] there's no questions and we live in a very complicated world today the world of technology as great as it is has caused a lot of turmoil out there and there are a lot of kids struggling out there with it and um ahmudim is always there they are always there for us it's I don't know what we would do without it today we have a community of close to 80 000 people today and when you're going to have a community that large from right to left yeah you're gonna have problems the problems are out there and there are hundreds of these problems maybe even in the thousands from our community alone that we have brought to ahmudum's door and they're there for us foreign [Music] support the people who can bring Beauty the give reward mauras and rebbies who do well in who are able to inspire kids in Nursery School kindergarten pre-1a make them you know and those people do deserve it they get they get bubbkas for a salary and they they're on their feet they're dancing around they they're they're losing their voices you know from talking all day start with them make them the purveyors of the beauty and then your kid will never run after a Rembrandt never so I I don't just and I don't wanna I would never discount the importance of a personal touch and and the significance of uh of a good ready and a good parent I try to be a good parent and I've been influenced by by rebbies my entire life I owe a lot of what I have and what I am to them but um it's not scalable that that if we want to impact a whole class of people which is not just one Jewish child which I think is probably the focus of most most is the Jewish child that's in front of them but if you're looking at Enterprise solutions to uh frankly a a Torah that's getting drowned out by the news cycle we had the satma ready just one of the Sama Reb is just the other day blasted the Jewish Community for getting infected by trumpism without commenting on the specifics of that phenomenon I do think that one of the reasons that that that that that to the extent that he's right and I think we all it got so much attention because everybody realizes that there's an element of it that's correct um the reason that it happened is because there's no alternative they're being that that is the that's the discourse across every medium that that every resident of this country pays attention to and Judaism has never shied away from cultural trends right that's what the environmental basically says that is what the good gimmel ikram of the rambam were was a cultural Trend people were concerned the other faiths were consolidating their their their doctrines into pithy statements of faith and that was really getting people's attention the same way that clickbait is getting our attention today and what Judaism did is it adapted with the rambam said we've never set we've never committed a set of principles of Faith to writing before but we have to now or we're gonna get left behind and I think the same thing is true the samurai says don't the Jews have been infected by trumpism they should really be focused on what what Jews have traditionally been focused on I'm saying no the reason that we were they were infected with the trumpism is because that is what they were focused on if they had a Jewish politics alternative if gidon if that's what people were shouting the trumpism would fall away in a second he wouldn't hold a candle he wouldn't hold a candle he would have he would be he would be nobody I'm going to go to a surprising vantage point and that is the Bible Belt I'm not talking about the Bible Belt that's going after that that's following Trump I'm talking about uh and I know a Mormon who's a very wonderful person but she and her church their very Bible oriented and they do take a stand when they need to take a stand but their stand is find a way to do good and do it and if you can model it on a Biblical figure then do that and they do um she actually scared me sometimes she would say in the morning she'd say um I talked to God today and he told me so and so so I would say like oh could we try to get that font a little smaller so that we can get it on the same page but God was very present in her thinking just like Joseph God never spoke to Joseph he never said a word to Joseph but Joseph was very God oriented and maybe that's the kind of uh then then Joseph can say well what about the wife of codaphor what do I do with this value what I do what do I do about paro's dreams it's all comes from and again this is a Christian kind of aphorism what would God say in this situation how would God apply himself to politics to these politics I'm not saying to say that God is going to say somebody's right and somebody's wrong I'm saying God is saying how are you going to look at it and it's not you know um there used to be a joke that Jay Leno said that uh God can't be Democratic because he makes mistakes and God can't be Republican because he's kind and gentle but many of these things are on our ongoing struggles but at least struggle with a Divine um crown on top of your struggle okay um and I'm going to apply this to disability don't say oh I know all about disability I read a book about Helen Keller I read a book about uh Louis Braille um no what what do we get from God values when we look at disability one of them that's very important to God is the Dignity of every human being not because they're smart not because because they're created in the image of God how would it change our political views if we kept emphasizing that we are created in God's image yes yes exactly that's not I don't hear that a lot in synagogues I don't hear that a lot on any debates about God's image what values come from God's from being created in God's image and it changes because as you mature your ability to exhibit that image of God should grow and let me if I could Michael let me let me put a point on what you're saying I think that there's two ways that you can anchor a belief in a political belief in Torah there's two ways that you can enter the Public's Arena and try to put forward a tougher idea one I would call sort of like uh a meta application and the other maybe a specific application and you know that has a beautiful Torah he says why is it that the sages always try to find the smackdas uh for for the halachos even if they don't really need them right they they could a smack the bomb a general reference to a verse in the Torah doesn't really do anything for the weight of the authority so why is it that they do it and the answer is because you always try to bring the light of Terror into things that's what I've said and kazal were legislators at bottom they were they governed and then we don't think of them that way but they were Governors they they were they were mahoka Kim they they had legislation they were also judges and even in pre-colonial America um and in and in British mandate Palestine there was uh a mixture an ad mixture of the Judiciary and the legislature that is foreign to most Americans and and Israelis now but I but but the point is that um one way you can do it is a General application I'm not necessarily I I think it could be at present that's what we should really be focusing on not on implementing very specific policy positions that are necessarily Guided by very nuanced Terror positions but applying even sukim getting very tied to God's revelation in politics I think has the ability to ignite a Jewish Pride that I think has been lacking and really Infuse people with a sense of purpose that transcends their Humanity in a real way um one of the things that Tara town hall and you can see this I have a little clip at Tara townhall.com you can see this video that one of the things that we discovered is that there's a reading of the the hate of adamarisham that sees his mistake as a legislative error that really what happened the the mishna Navas to rabinasan says is that Adam arishon told kavi you're not supposed to touch the tree that's not what God said he and he enacted a piece of legislation the law said you're not allowed to touch the tree and the mishna in in Abu Nissan says why is it that Adama rishan decided to enact a piece of legislation on top of God's legislation because he didn't like what God said that's really what the mishnah says and that's not a reason to legislate so in one reading of the cinema of adamarishan the original sin of man was poor legislation what we would call in modern American jurisprudence arbitrary and capricious legislation it was the regulatory state was the that's what happened we over-regulated gun Aiden and we got kicked out that was a little bit facetious but you know what I'm saying it's a powerful way to think about it I I want to add something uh and I'm sorry you should forgive me I forget his first name Rabbi Robinson from Lincoln Square synagogue did a whole semester's worth so to speak on that very topic of judgment and kingship and what happened when they overlapped um there's also a perfect example you know Jewish history it's not Jewish history is another great source of application it's not just um uh alafa look at The Maccabees you know happy Hanukkah to everyone and I'm you know I'm going to eat vodkas just like everybody else but the Maccabees decided that not only they didn't stay kohanim they decided we want to be leaders also they they took a they took a stance they took a position in Judaism that they really shouldn't have taken let the davidic dynasty continue the kingship and you support them in with your teaching and your whatever you can okay it's to the point now where if somebody says that they're a Maccabee they're a descendant of a Maccabee you don't believe them there are no Maccabees left except for the pizza but the point is that was a huge mistake in uh taking over um or or maybe it wasn't a mistake to take over but they they stayed overstayed their welcome right and I'm gonna I'm gonna say something else um there is a and this has to be infused somehow there is a Jewish almost racial longing for the Messiah okay this is from a lecture I heard by Rabbi Gerson Cohen uh in 1972. um people went crazy when shop type 3 was declared the Messiah by many people um because in in the Jewish soul there's we have to fix this we have to do something why is it that so many Jews are in the new causes socialism communism um Buddhism all the isms it's because if we can't have Messiah we're going to find an ism to replace it uh some forms of Zionism are like that I'm not condemning them but let's take our ISM longing and find good outlets for it by the way I'll mention there is a word ableism uh I have my isms too ableism means thing that will people with disabilities have to adjust to society the way it is no Society has to change so that we can be integrated now I'm going to ask what if every organization including amadim including Richmond town hall or town hall said we are going to abide by the Americans with Disabilities Act because it is the law of the land nobody's doing it or very few people are doing it they don't have to in other words religion religious organizations are exempt from it but it is the it is the law okay so that's my point if you're going to have an ism learn how to apply it look at look at David hamillev he he did a terrible thing well there's a debate whether he did a terrible thing with butcheva or not but he saw that he was wrong what if you called there was something called rightism meaning anything I do is right okay um what about the idea that you could be wrong what about that as a Jewish value you could be wrong you might think you're not wrong but you have to always be open to the possibility you politicians you Torah Town Hall that you or your family or your tribe could be wrong if we had people entering the political scene like that they wouldn't jump to conclusions they would stop they would look before they left and say I might be wrong I I think Michael um one of the other re I I hear I hear I and and I think a a trepidation that we are not ready [Music] um that we have to be worthy uh as Torah Jews before we step on to a public stage I think holds a lot of people back I think a lot of people know the mishnah in avos that you're supposed to stay far away from rabonis I think people know that I think there are certain platitudes in Judaism you know gershom Shalom the the mysticism professor at Hebrew University famously said in reaction that the Hasidic movement in a reaction to shabbat SV effectively killed political messianism in Judaism and casidos basically said we're going to focus on the internal um I I think that in PR uh de facto he might be right but du jour I don't think that he that he necessarily has to be right I think that in an educated sophisticated person today who is inspired by Torah can very easily and before they are a perfect Mala be motivated to take that knowledge base and that passion and that motivation to the political Arena not only can they I think they have to because I as the recent elections in Israel have shown the the religious world needs to be ready to govern now because the religious World in Israel is about to govern okay and I think I'm I'm optimistic that that the people in that government will feel the harada will feel the trepidation and the weightiness of their responsibility um as they should but it would help a lot if we were simultaneously and concurrently developing Doctrine around them so they have a political Theory to draw on that is that that's sophisticated I have there's I have books on my shelf about the history of political Zionism religious political Zionism as it were and the books are very thin and the ideology is all over the place the truth is that we should have been doing this a long time ago but if you want a rallying point for all Jews I really think in a world where the Jews are obsessed with pilate where the world is obsessed with politics voter turnout across democracies is up all over the world people are tuning in to politics 24 7. it has become For Better or Worse a lot for better and a lot for worse a lot for Worse a reality TV show for most people rather than shying away from it we should be sanctifying it I'm I'm confident that's what the rom-bombs of the world would be doing if we had them and I think we do have them we have very talented people everything is everything you're saying has its roots in Torah okay we just have to teach it one of the one of the um which has to be applied very carefully but there's a famous statement your Torah is being destroyed you have to get out there and do something okay you're not perfect well guess what there's no perfect you look through the whole tunnel let's stay with the Torah is there anybody perfect in Torah no but they did what they needed to do at least you know avraham he wanted to include Ishmael in more things he he was too tender towards his smile um Yitzhak um you talk like asaph okay it backfired on him yaakov yaakov maybe could have done things um I don't I don't want to comment on the other but the point is that nobody was perfect and it caused us but but if we had done nothing again you have to do something um now as far as I I wanted to comment on this also yes we have a religious uh Israeli government but hey you Israeli government religious people that we uh are looking up to what Torah values are you going to emphasize that's a that's another question especially are you going to say that people with disabilities should reach their Max potential or are you going to say no just let them be as they always have been um what values there is a that by the way there is a Val there is a rabbinic value yaphat if you have Torah you also have to have an occupation you have to many many rabbis uh many scholars were we're workmen also are you going to say that everybody who wants to learn should learn and not be allowed and not have to work and not have to pull their own weight what are you going to say about that failure okay um so pick you know you new religious coalition what values are you going to pick and and maybe you just need to struggle with them and you know before we wholeheartedly run to what we think are the best values I think that that is what that that is how the the achievement of the the achievement of a religious government turns into a sanctification of God's name but more than that it can be a refuge in a Haven for Jews who feel lost it can be a way for people to plug in in in other words in other words I think that there is a there is a world in which the placement of a a religious government in a position to to ferret out these positions from the from the Yamaha talmud from the sea of Torah is an opportunity to engage countless Jews in deep meaningful to our learning that also ties in with the things that they care about and I agree with you 100 you could imagine just just imagine if the resources were were put in place to develop a hurray coherent theory that supported a policy of adaptation and integration of infrastructure to increase accessibility for disabled people it would do a few things at the same time it would achieve a policy objective which is it would it would change zoning it would change things on the ground and it would also be a place for people to expand their spiritual Horizons and when you combine those two things that's I think that's mikdash I think that is that's what in my mind whether I'm right or wrong something like that is what the the Jewish world was like during the first place I I agree with you but I would say this every initiative that you do every initiative accepting nothing leads Lea left out of what I'm saying whatever you do whether it's bringing galuch Judaism back into touch with um which they are doing I think they want to reach 700 000 people in the galloup every initiative at some point the question has to be built into the plan how are we going to make this work for people with disabilities and if you're going to do that then you have to have people with disabilities at the table not under the table at the table as equal Partners just like women have achieved in many circles equal partnership um um I don't agree with all the gender things but they want equal partnership we want equal partnership not trickle-down partnership and it it's not easy it takes resources but think what you lose if you don't involve us so yes I think we agree I think where we disagree or not disagree but where we struggle is how much and where is the money going to be spent do you want okay Jewish values new Israeli government are you going to support a camp just for people with disabilities or are you going to support a camp for everybody where you where you bring in the support that a person with a disability needs don't assume that we want to stay with our own kind and that's done a lot you know as well as I do you've got and I'm sorry um they do a lot of good things and I'm happy that they're doing it you've got ask you've got a high Lifeline you've got yard Beyond you've got a lot of these organizations you've got kids of courage well why not just funnel your resources to the mainstream and give us people with disabilities campers students bring us in with the support that we need beautiful I think I think we're I think we're wrapping up soon it's a I we've come to what seems like a a logical stopping place I just I want to say um one thing in closing um in support of Terror town hall and amudim at the same time um I in my experience with the types of struggles that Amo deems um target audience deals with uh a lot of it is rooted in a fear a lot of the substance abuse problems I think that people deal with um in my experience stem from not feeling like there's a really good chance that your dreams are going to come true um I have seen how people who are given a flicker of Hope can be lit on fire and brought back to life um I'm not saying that it's that simple or that it's ever simple for anyone or that it's that simple for everyone but I think that the services that amodeen provides saves lives and after those lives are saved and they're looking to plug into something bigger I think when they look at the world around them um frankly we need more materials that plug Jews in to the big issues of the day along with Torah that they get spirituality and sustenance and economic success in the same place that their Jewish lives and their in real life lives and their digital lives are all integrated and if we don't meet people where they are I'm afraid we'll leave a lot of them behind and there's a lot of promise and opportunity may I conclude even that everything you're saying has something in Torah that says it and I'll tell you what worked for me every day three times a day four on Shabbos we say that God revives the dead correct they're asking you is that correct yeah okay if God can revive the dead then he can certainly revive people who feel dead people who feel they have no dream he can do that and so and that is a that's also a great miracle but just as he can revive the dead so he can revive the living yeah I think that's a beautiful thing thank you amadeem this was really great thank you Michael for being here thank you again for giving both of us this opportunity [Music] we are sometimes approached by parents for assistance and one of the ways in which we can provide assistance very often is by referral to an organization like amudim because nowadays the number of families in our in our community in our world who need the kind of help that Amazon provides is grown exponentially and from all backgrounds from the best homes as they say it's important for Wolf college so to be aware of the services that are available through our modem hopefully none of them will ever need it but in fact quite a few of them will and of course recognizing how urgent the problem of raising healthy families and then today's very challenging world it is worthy of cause as there is out there to support an organization like which does such wonderful work in this area [Music] if we can show that we have unlimited patience and unlimited love 4. a certain child a person in a hard time so then it demands from God to also be patient with us this is what I see in a Muslim sit with the staff I hear their talk every day they hear tragedy upon tragedy upon tragedy and guess what they come back they renew themselves they re-inject positivity they give hope they give life to people there are many great organizations out there but we're living in a Time that the challenges that before has never existed maybe it has but it's never been publicized this is why I think this is a preferred sadaka it's because these children and these young adults that are being challenged they are victims themselves and the majority of civilizations said that his Michigan write them off and we're coming and saying we're going to give you unconditional love and for those that are investing don't we all want a little bit more love so we know the world Works merits for merit we invest into unconditional infinitive love God willing we should receive it [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] unites to heal the website is unitedheal.com I was just informed last year we had over 1 million people watching the programming throughout the entire day and a half of program I mean so we definitely want to see if we can do a lot better than that they raised six million dollars now if the lottery just the other night can go from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand to 1.9 million and Jews can raise six million so we definitely have to see if we can do a lot more than that so head over to unite to heal.com and please support everything all the amazing work that our moon is doing welcome back to our show we had a program last year called off the record with some amazing producers or Rangers this year we decided to take it up a notch it is my privilege to be here in the studio and bring this to you guys some of the biggest names back when there weren't singers every other day dropping albums there was more Heaven David there was Alvin freed it was a guy called Karbach maybe a few other groups but individuals there was very few and we are fortunate to have with us some of the first individuals Superstar singers who grew up in choirs back in the day launched their own solo careers first off we have surely williger with me we have shlemy Dax I'm sure all of you know pleasure to be here and the composer producer and arranger and choir leader yitzy Wald what an honor so I mean the fact that I'm here in the room with you really speak spell is I had each and every one of your cassettes now you produced Bundy walls albums as well as Ira Heller and many other singers so I had Mendy's first album which I'm sure was probably your first big production at that point right albums before that uh uh Sully and surely's album who clout I had except for that is real first yeah the voice of a new it was the voice of a new generation before the Millennia and then uh one day at a time that big striking pink cover with that clock over there it was for slimy or Mendy I actually think you were first no no who was after my after I came out with after you I think might have been Mandy and then Mandy so I think we I have all the albums you worked on Mindy wald's album I believe that was probably your first big production and the world was my first big production but I worked with slowly and slimy prior to that uh so yeah he was involved in the album I composed I believe six to seven songs at home I found it today swirlies of course the voice of a new generation right I said of course that will Claw on there and tap there and now your voices probably have a new generation no no has it changed after you reached that thing next level in life and uh slimy's one day at a time that strikingly pink cover with that alarm clock on it Kamal and one day at a time of course crazy and and yeah so yitzy produced Mendy's album and yet he was a new producer at that time your Camille produced your album you were or his name was on the production correct and your Camille was you were the first solo act that he produced at that time correct and Yogi was a new producer at that time he really did yeah we're talking about we're seven to eight years before shwaki even releases debut album uh more than seven eight years yeah I'm talking about the time the album came out this album came out in 94 I think Truckee came out in 2001. Jacob grew up on our music that's true we all grew up on your music pretty amazing it's pretty funny when you talk to singers nowadays you know you meet Benny Friedman Ellie Marcus Shapiro they they grew up on everything that you guys sing it's actually humbling when I meet a lot of them and they tell me that they grew up and were inspired by us Paving the way for entertainers to who have talent to put out their music it's very humbling and it's it's a wonderful feeling it really is so recording an album As We Know is a very big expense even today that's right 2000 and 22 2023 it is a big expense how big was it for the two of you and then we'll come back to ESC but how big of an expense was it for you guys to even consider you know getting the money together to record an album right so even what is it 27 years ago about 20 years ago it was still in the 60 70 000 range to produce an album because that's even before you put away money for advertising you were looking at a it wasn't a 25 000 story and you didn't have that proof that oh I I can make it back by performances not at all because it didn't exist yet correct shall I mean so I had a very unique story where right when I was coming out somebody knew entered the business and changed the entire business a game changer his name is Izzy talba Feld all of a Shalom Distributors and Yohi put me in contact with him we had a meeting the three of us at kids on Levine studio and we met and he was such a special person and Yogi and I basically convinced him that I might be the next big thing and he was looking for a new guy to put out and believe it or not he did something that was unprecedented he had he wrote me out a check that covered the entire expense of the album yeah and in in in my in with in and he in return printed I think 10 000 CDs or then it was cassettes and and then then and um we hoped that he would run out of them and then order more and the rest is history and it was such a relaxing to know that you didn't lose money and you already had your money up front it was unprecedented but albums were a fortune like surely said 75 80 000 of course even then I still remember I came to Borough Park from Montreal for Hanukkah I ran to 13th Avenue grab a cover country Ulster magazine and the skinny guy is sitting there on the cover smiling at me with my big tinted glasses that's right surely so you you didn't obviously didn't have the right connections then it was again it was a few years before then because when when is the tablet did come into the business but so I we I had the same thing but I was I put out one or two albums before you make it right or not it was I'm not sure which album but it was cover you know the expenses and obviously did make back the money it was a decent investment at that time as well so there was one there was one advantage back then yes um there was a lot less copying in terms of uh yeah you have to get a double cassette recorder right buy a blanket set and put it in yeah press record and play at the same time let it play itself out then flip them over and do it again and it's interesting that you're bringing that up the difference between today and and yesteryear I tell that to performers I said I tell them on one hand we were very few and we were we were busy and we were all over the place today you have many many more entertainers many more singers but today it's a different world the only way a song Who cloud or any song of mine hamalach got became famous was only if somebody we got the distributed went to the store in Chicago or or Minneapolis bought the CD and listened to it otherwise there was no there's no even places there was no internet there was no Spotify there was nothing there was no Instagram there was nothing that you could immediately today the minute a song is done it could it could on the other hand there's so much more copying and people downloading and you you make it it's hard to make a living it's an expensive business card today to put out a CD but it's uh the different world instance today we didn't have that people people then I mean and I was at the in the business at that time people then could literally could make a CD and if Mark Hassan was successful let's say it sold 25 000 copies or 30 000 copies which was doable back then if it was a very successful album you could actually make a living from a CD you didn't really have to sing a Hassan at night pretty much okay like you could literally make 150 000 worth of sales of an album um and and that's a decent partner for uh for for you know back then and because of all that copying now the performers have to rely more on performances to actually make their living weddings and concerts I remember how Romy gurari told me that once people started copying at that time he says the whole business changed and now everybody has to perform each night to actually make a living when you could have made us a living off a CD and truthfully all that Geneva was incorrect it wasn't right and of course the singer to have to work a lot harder in the performance and rather than just be a solo singer on a CD album and sometimes find a business to support his family right so by the way if you think that's pretty funny that you you guys are selling albums that today's biggest singers don't touch the numbers I mean I'm from freedom warham and David are not selling 25 30 000 albums anymore the average listener doesn't know that the average album barely breaks 10. it depends on that we don't notice a spot in a different you're right we don't know the streaming numbers this is streaming is not owning can't accuse everybody so my first couple of albums it was before the it was when CDs came out was when the real real copying started escapes were very hard right it was when the CDs came out is that's when the real uh copying thing started for a good few years that's when we win Mortal Kombat David I'm afraid they all made promos about if you remember back in the day sure please like they were begging people not to do it so that was a kufa like my three fourth like number three four five album it was like like Jackie Mason said everyone no one sells uh Sweet and Low everyone just takes it from the you know the restaurant yeah my songs were everywhere but no one bought an album it's like rabelski my Revenue I mean he was one of the few that came out strong would anybody go into a grocery store and just take a box of cereal or milk out of the store he felt literally he's taking you're taking from the if you copy it you bought a CD it's very nice so there are ethereum you know in the family make an extra one for your family I have this discussion with get on Levine by the way many years ago I wanted another copy of Best of the Best and we had a Charlotte and we asked people remember Camp star with that sorry Bluth was there I remember shlomi said that uh I think we asked him a camp one year and he said uh if you have one at home and you want one for the car then that would be okay because you paid for one to use the family you can't use in both locations but even when I asked Guido and he's like I would still appreciate a phone call or an email or a snail mail ask me can I make a copy for my car so I will tell you a great story I had a child an eighth grader call me once from St Louis and asking me permission you hear his mother in the background tell slimy that's you love his music and you'd like to use it make a copy of his of his cassette I think it was uh or maybe it was a CD and he said to me can I have permission so I said you know what put your mother on the phone I call his mother I get his mother on the phone and I said give me your address I'm Gonna Mail him one so she says no no I didn't want a free one I didn't want you to mail it I said let me just mail him one he someone who has such pain to call me to ask me if I say yes on the phone then he'll tell all his friends oh let me Zach said it's okay to copy my CV so I said let me mail him one with a little note thank you enjoy my music and now I didn't tell you you could go copy it but you deserve a beautiful and autograph CD and I sent him one but it's it took to change the whole business it really really did so the fact that you guys ruled the 90s and 2000s is amazing but all of your careers started a lot earlier than that you were all child soloists you were all in choirs as kids we have Shalom Shirley williger as as the shmuelberg put out a a few years back always it's superstars of yesteryear I'm from free sorely williger bendy Wald et cetera et cetera slimy was in silver of course I don't know how I had the time I thank my mother for for doing this and a bunch of years later was the assistant principal regular right and he says the same thing real thing you know I guess and I was I was thinking back then seven eight years old nine years old was it something your parents have to think a lot about um my father Oliver Shalom was very mockbit on certain things um he did not let me perform meaning there's no live performance even silver right it was no never live performance I don't know really but they were in for choirs yeah not for I never performed uh in the mudish age I never performed silver zemer oh Department of recordings and the rehearsals Hashem Boys Choir The neither recordings yeah we did by mid by end of arms and it's the first time ever that I gotta check I got paid to do it anybody else they paid by the way I don't know I saw most the music they redid the graphics for 6 13 they put it on one like one album I don't know if it's a USB or a CD but they read and this is after what like 40 years that was yeah that was six years that I remember yesterday's top I don't remember but I remember a song from 30 years not so easy slime your gimmer wasn't that bad don't worry about it and and to yasi's credit yossi is involved also very much in getting singers to put some of their older albums back on Spotify and other things you got that 49 cents the other day PayPal yes Stampers with more than the Jack actually your parents remarkable about you being in choirs and Performing or not really no and uh they they allowed me they felt it was it's always a catch-22 I have parents even today that call me should I send my kid my child to to be part of a choir or not and you have to know your child um it could be the greatest opportunity you you gain confidence by the time I was by Mitzvah I could Lane in front of a thousand people I was very confident it was very good for me my mother and my father they wanted me to I went to Polanco Mexico with your ahmil I went with slovazamera all over the place we went and there was a very very good experience Brooklyn College was uh very much easier local but I I did perform but you have to know your child if it's right for them you didn't sing live but were you on any of the album covers your picture or not um I was the gorilla in that movie that's that six foot two at eight years old nah um no done with the picture one with a double album that opened up yeah the one that I was on that me me and shlomiana from correct English let me and I whatever we had that album got disappeared after like a year or two shopping we stumped him he doesn't know that was the other one before this one had a problem I think solo I think duet would have run freed and even those days in technology we didn't even have to be in the studio together wow really yeah in the in the early 80s so the One Solo that I also did whatever he was still about her he was still single but he was still much older than us I don't know how much older I never saw him in the studio even then never even saw him it's so interesting how they do it I don't remember which I don't know which song it was it was I think of so he put that on a uh Schmo Burger put that on that um and yet see you I was in silver Zimmer now your parents are strict about you being oh they loved it it was great were you playing accordion by the time you were in the choir I was playing according for two years prior today is that crazy nine years old playing accordion my mother some was very into me playing accordion it was really cool I remember the teacher Miss loner so she she would come every Friday and teach me like new songs from these books and uh I play like a Beethoven piece and she give me these notes and she said practice for the weekend at the end of the next week she'd come like upset down after the lesson say to my mother she'd say uh I don't understand he's like he's changing all the notes of the Beethoven piece who does he think he's he thinks he's a composer or something that's where my mother she's really funny it was very funny in that at that time I was it was playing around with songs I still remember my first song and uh I saw I showed my second song Brazil when I was 11. wow and then uh after that I started composing many many songs but I still remembered silver zemer I was in Camp David ass which slowed me actually slim is probably the one from all of you that I go back the most with because he was a staff member when I was a camper 91. does he look a little older yeah we're not the show isn't about me it's about you guys it was 91 and there were a couple campers uh there was a guy Stein from Muncie and he was a so it was there a boy right and a few years later that's the 17 seconds my cousin y'all see some of them was a camper of yours I remember slimy showing Avon Rosenberg some recordings this one with the double cassettes the two cassettes one after the next or even separate tape recorders and slimy would record himself singing on one tape recorder and then harmonize himself and take a second tape recorder and record that one this before double cassette and he would play it from from Rosenberg choir practices I still remember I didn't take one song of it even yeah he ended up buying four songs to me uh around Rosenberg eventually which ones one of them slugged me sang it was called at that time it's called and he changed it to eight and it worked it's volume six it was there but I had a great time in silver Zemmer uh I was so low I never got I never got to sell those but uh but that's why yitzy is good now as a choir leader because now that he has his own choir he's like I gotta give each kid a solo like I I didn't have so much I gotta give each kid a solo the fourth son of a summer he was a different choir do you know that um my father let me perform really yeah I'm not sure if it was still this Hashem okay so I think okay I saw a little bird as well and added a blue I'll tell you a cute thing about 10 years ago all of a sudden I get in the mail a beautiful big picture of me as a 10 or 11 year old getting kaiso bracha from the labama really and you see I remember Elizabeth in the back and we performed at one time we had that evening in Crown Heights you know how long for you Mom that was it great so he's saying that for the so basically everybody was in the choir and and got bit by the music bug and said hey let me see let me see if I can actually all right so supportive I had such fun in silverzone was really amazing we went to so many concerts we performed with Mordechai Ben David by the way I'm sorry for interrupting sober Zimmer was in Montreal in in late 80s early 90s they came for like a Hanukkah thing and I was like until December like I never even heard so Zimmer coming to a small back town then it was back then but like my Yahoo mail came in 91 or 92 and like yitzy spinner was there when Eric golden I was like oh my gosh right like it was like a monster Shabbos on this amazing uh concert hall on top of a hill but growing up I didn't have concerts like you guys had Around the Clock here in the tri-state area it was once in a blue moon somebody came and you were lucky enough if you were allowed to go though we didn't have to worry about you she was amazing where'd you go last night okay you're suspended get out of here so who cloud debut album voice of a new generation how old were you silly I was I think 25 or 26 and you were married already Yes because my my damn said don't put out an album till you're married you waited I came out with Hanukkah after I got married I got married in June Hanukkah my album was uh was out you're that young 25. you reported songs before that I mean you did coincidence albums you sang pistoly at the first concert the Miami experience one you sang it at that both of you sangamammy experience yeah I sing get my experience before who clocked I I think I said yeah yeah a year before that's amazing I remember when the Miami experience one came out the double album with the gold cover over there we camped out with us and it was like slimy Dax show me that because the counselor the thing is about me and surely I look I look back now color War when I became when I was older as a staff member and we're picking teams and you're looking for who you want to who's going to be the the best baseball hitter who's going to be they used to flip for us who's going to be he's on one team and his kids because they're the only campers that were picks the question is did one of you win more than I was picked all the time but did your team win my team won every time but he says okay it's like Rabbi nothing to me I heard from the judges that we won call Awards what do we want slimy what do you want come on amazing thing to be picked for choirs and we we flips okay you are civilians it was nice like looking back you know that's amazing do you remember Eleazar benowitz in Canada with us or not sure sure sure was a Fame Miami Boys Choir soloist he was in the main experience too he's saying my zaidi father and his father was the camp Rabbi the camper of that year and he was this shy kid and we tried to coach him into choirs he was very reluctant he was starting he's starting to break in now he wants to sing at weddings I know what he does for a living he came to my house to take care of me but uh he gives voice lessons yeah I'm serious well he has Rubino it's amazing advice so you're 25 and you're putting all this money into your debut album and I just found out something that I never knew uh oh I found out that you almost had a different producer on your album oh yeah supposedly somebody wrote six songs and and you guys were like working together is that true for sure an original originally slowly approached me and we almost saw in the contract to work together I remember that his father was there overlooking the contract we were I was young and so he was uh I think I definitely put down some of the Clauses and then his father was reviewing it and we were ready to sign and solely got back to me and rightfully so and I I still would say I still get it he said at that time and he thought about he thought about it he said you'd see you you only produced music but you don't put people on stage you've you've never really done that right so he decided to go to the the master of people who make shows producer of shows and he he went with him because he felt that as a producer he's also going to get him on shows I wouldn't get him on shows and he got him on the show Before You album even came out look at that so that's that's what happened so which which six songs Do You Remember well though you Russo we we put together in the basement I think slowly you found the words found the words it's uh from zaira 25 years old [Laughter] but uh it's words that fit to the song it was a nigging I thought we needed words and uh that's it he would come over to me in basement between you know between this month of course the regular guys sitting and learning it you weren't married but I wasn't I wasn't Carlos okay so that's one yeah we have Hookah by the way it's beautiful nobody caught it and it's on the album to this day wow and you know nobody quoted me I don't say fish I don't do uh foreign I would say that ahmudim is vital to the mental health of the entire Jewish Community I know it sounds like a really like a grand statement but the fact is that you know I get phone calls all the time you know people need all different types of help that are not necessarily what we deal with and uh you know the answer could almost always just be call mudum and they're going to help you amudum is like The Missing Link the key to a lot of the gaps in the services that are being offered in the Jewish Community there are a lot of amazing organizations out there doing a lot of amazing work and they're all kind of all over the place I moved him kind of centralizes all of them and is a tremendous resource that gives people that are struggling with almost anything access to a resource and they will point you in the right direction to be able to really support you to get to the kind of help that you need and if you want to be somebody who's involved with that and if that's something that's important to you then this is a place where you should be supporting I remember back in 1998 I got a phone call from a friend of mine who's learning Montreal his name is yassi Newman Mazel Tov his son got engaged the other night I don't know if you're here and uh he says I have to be in the lookout for two things what okay one this new guy coming out with an album his name is Ellie gerstner Ellie my kind of the name is what's next I have a song on an album coming out with you sir with certainly really good I say you do he says yeah sure enough we can make it right comes out and and he had one of the songs on there really I don't you know which one it was yes I think it's uh okay I'll look it up I'll look on the uh you have the album here I don't have that [Music] guys talking about the uh Cloud album yes so we were pretty much done and then yitzy comes over and we went and uh we had 10 songs already with another song oh my God you don't understand wow what no and then we got it got it in his mind two years later that's crazy wow yeah it was a thousand dollars it's probably too expensive remember we went to Liam in the back over there yeah over there of course yeah you listen to it so so yeah surely willinger almost sad by the way when did it change for me to throw out the story I'm very confused about this um about the fifth album right after desire all right when did it change from walliger to williger right he's found he wanted to make sure the checks didn't bounce no it's just better for the I w-i-l-l but my name is when you met me the first time I we I introduced Aaron zotler so Aaron zotler heard it you played in the demo that I made and came through with us and we recorded on our double cassette album right I recorded the music and you added your voice on top of it and remember you played thousands all arms says I know you're welcome let me show it to him he calls me up when I was maybe 16 years old 17 years old at the time he says to me you know you're 20 years ahead of your time this is not typical Jewish music uh but we'll we'll see if we can find some way to get it out and eventually you sang it at the moment thank you no no no yeah actually he was he introduced the song and who do I think should sing it at the Miami experience I mentioned your name as the as a single question but you said you had a connection when did you get to Miami I was an alumni as years earlier but I guess Mr Miami was was the hundred men choir one I always thought that was slimy's introduction to Miami it was Miami Boys Choir I was in Miami I did not sing the opposite of what he did I did not sing on any album right I did the solos give me some songs I don't remember oh come on that's the other song that was one of my songs that I loved and I did but I I went to Polanco Mexico with him I we went we went to Midwest we went I actually you're right I never sang on a Miami album really but I uh so remember if that I sing one song I wasn't in the choir foreign and all of a sudden shlomi starts to sing you don't hear anything really and my heart drops my first one being oh my friend nobody hears this song right they didn't hear this voice and he didn't he spotlights on him he's not here well you usually don't cry and nothing's going on and finally he gets it somebody gets his attention that his voice is not being heard like 20 seconds into the song and uh and uh uh she let me turns around I couldn't believe that he had the guts to do this he stolen is leaning as a big Orchestra and she let me goes stop and he stops the whole thing he stops the music they gave you a new mic and he restarted again you're talking about that I had a story with uh only many years later I was singing in Brooklyn College had just come out composed by yitzy bold third album I come I come onto stage and in the front row you if you've ever been on a stage you really can't see a second you could see the person one first throw second row you know the big The Big Spenders in the first row usually it's the giver rim and everything anyway and their kids and all of a sudden they're screaming and they're cheering and I'm feeling like a million bucks they're going crazy and I'm thinking wow this is and then I realized about a minute or two into the song that the reason why they were going like this they were trying to get my attention when I had run onto stage my yamaka had fell off and they were trying to get my attention that your yamuka is not on there was some kind of cable coming down and I hit it and then I realized so you're not just a star yeah yeah I'm pretty embarrassing so you Debbie debut album came out and you're newly married you're what held 20 Gonna Be 25. I was a little younger than 25 when I got married same age yeah were you were you nervous that Izzy put all this money into you and you have no idea what's going to be I was very nervous because um you still want to make money number one you want to do this you want him to come back you want to do a second one eventually I already had songs people are throwing songs at me at that point and um and you want to you want to be successful and you want him to not to lose money and now you're talking about yenum's money so he so it was it was it was a big pressure but it's all the one above and uh Hashem like if she said I had many Etsy songs absolutely um and the the hit of that album uh it was definitely arav um uh hamalak which was composed by Israel Baraka who also today is uh is on that album come episculi already but I waited so I waited for the second that's why my guess I wanted to wait maybe you sang in 1989 on a Chev album right which sold I think like 11 or 12 copies maybe 11 as well yeah but no I actually arranged that song in pierment the studio wow my first arrangement I was a teenager and Rick Cutler was playing the drums there and slimy came to sang a pimental studio in the basement over there talking about Arrangements if I could give you two yitzy's horn what's amazing about yitzy is that the first few albums that I did only my last album right only my last album was like 95 yitzy and his Arrangements right you did some music you added one album after right about everyone right now thanks to yitzy I actually have show me Dax seeing some acapella on that on that Aveeno album that's the only acapella I have from slummy Dax ever recorded that's true but anyway what I was saying was he was a guy who made up songs and he gave it to you with his arrangements so I went to lamb lamb was my arranger and I played him which was ahead of its time and lamb took his arrangement and made it into an arrangement but it was yitzy's Arrangement and you'd see you know was way ahead of his time I mean so two 25 year old new singers in the morning by the way did you guys realize your debut albums both had English titles voice of a new generation one day at a time I mean and that's not one thing two will be left behind that's what they were doing time is now yeah yeah I think it was then the end thing to do mayor Sherman wow you know what the next album did he put out letter to mashiach was returned for postage insufficient then right then the the albums were named did you guys have a say in the song selection or or what the title track was or not really no certainly really then but I did um and you know you when you take when you hire a producer you you want to make sure you want their trust tips I would sit with Yoki with every single song this one no goodness and there were songs that I regretted that I didn't take like you know it happens it happens no let's go no you never heard of them I mean that I wish nobody ever recorded that or not one of them I really can't say oh I I would love to but one thing that I had you took that I wanted that that you ended up taking which one cabarama that was also Akiva hamnik it was like the problem I wanted for so for some reason what I was working with at the time I guess didn't want it and I loved it it's all see Anthony it's a nozzle hear this song composed by having free do you know that yes yeah meaning it's a song that he did it he wasn't didn't make it on one but it was his own song so I took the whole package you have another free composition right there that's something stormy doesn't have yeah true how old were you when you were working on Mendy Wall's first album your first production you were meant they were what late teens early 20s no 25 24 25. it was around the time when I lost my mother and it was a very I I was mixing samayak I I I still remember we were mixing shifri which was one of the songs on Mandy Wall's album and I got the phone call from my brother come to NYU Hospital because my mother had had been out of work already three four months and uh I found out at that time that she was you know in a very bad situation and she passed away a year three months later but so we put out that album Samir while she was sick and I used to bring the album to her in the hospital and she loved it it was really fascinating then after she passed away nine months later we put out luchaim were you not nervous what uh you're in charge of writing Arrangements you've never written arrangements for how did you even write the arrangements back then you know how to write music or not uh I do I do know notes I learned like I said I learned by uh accordions I learned I had my formula but I mean you have to Envision a symphony you know the brass is doing this the drums that you guys know how this work and your first album you probably didn't have a clue but after the hours were recorded you go who did the notations for you who did so I didn't know I did actually do the notations now I I wasn't perfect that I remember Jim Hines was like in the studios like that note is way above what a trumpet could actually do and he's like he was telling me like he's giving me criticism but it was fine I learned from it I really I ended up learning a lot from the musicians who told me change this change that but I the truth is I mean it's not too many people know I actually arranged an album prior to Mandy wolves copy L vogans right and it didn't come out till if there was down but I I had arranged it already it's a great album so I was arranging title tracks great right so I was arranging a lot you did notation I said because the rest of the world use of emigration was the biggest notation the biggest thing back then you want to hear funny now there's there's a producer there's more than one producer I can tell you now um who doesn't know how to write music and he tells the guy okay okay take your instrument go and this guy but this guy's directing musicians like you know and you're like yeah we know who it is but the people want to know if we break eight million dollars I'll tell you next year now anybody who gives a hundred thousand or more I will tell you who that is private message no so yeah we we were writing we were writing notes and we wrote luchaim uh nine months later that album was that album was unbelievable was was very very special again and again it was a very emotional wait someone told me there's a good story behind smile again it's well it's unbelievable I mean I I've heard I've heard many stories after it came out people will tell me this helped me got me through this situation but small again was written together myself and and uh you feel zagelbam Ziggy was a color War writer of words so he helped me formulate the words that I wanted to write about my mother this is literally right after she passed away and um interesting the album was supposed to be called khazak but when I was going to to the to the funeral of my mother in eritizawl of rumfried was on that flight and he was he was calming me down you know because he heard that I I just lost my mother and we were talking with schmoozing and he's saying I asked him what are you working on now he says well I'm putting out an album in a month I asked him what's what's the album called he says kazak and I I knew that we had a great song khazak on Mandy world's upcoming album so we have to change it we changed it into lecheim but on that album was this song called smile again and and what happened was is that one time I mean uh slimy knows and he slowly knows and Mandy Wald knows there was a woman in the community unfortunately I believe at age 44 that was paralyzed and the um the doctors didn't know if she can actually uh respond or understand anything after a couple weeks they saw that she was blinking her eye her left eye and uh people used to come and and visit her and this lady at the razor she communicated with her left eye and when I came in the first time they said okay read line a and it has a b c d next to it so blink at the line to show you which letter she's trying because I think it's the Horowitz works the same way nowadays and Mandy Ward was there in the room I I still remember this we were called to perform for this at the race a lot of singers were called and I remember it took me five minutes just for her to say the word welcome I ran out of the house and I was crying I couldn't believe that wow what a person has to do just to communicate one one word and when we started singing she actually told us she wants us to sing smile again and remember this lady can only blink her left it's like a 15-minute conversation of hitting all the letters correct and she said please I didn't even know if she knew this song and we get up to the iPod in the blink of an eye hola suffering could end and I'll never forget tears were streaming from her eye her left eye when we said in the blink of an Iola suffering can end wow so that's how she was able to communicate that's amazing I know that was so meaningful to her she asked us to play it every single time we came here that's another whole angle that I'll speak from on behalf of everyone all singers how we can think for granted life and we as singers have that unbelievable opportunity um to to to go to hospitals and to sing for people and anybody else would I believe if someone called an accountant during the day hey come visit someone at NYU or something they would go but you're not calling an account so we get lucky anybody would do it we're not great sir but we have that afternoon conversation and we have the conversation it's special we get to go and we get to be mahasik people we take for granted that we can walk we could talk every bracket we make that people so sick and we have that lucky amazing sauce in addition to Hashem giving us a talent that we can go and be mahasa can bring smiles to people it's an incredible thing and and and we don't take it for granted we know how special that is many invitations of Social and we also got with an inscription that you promised that I had a moment last year from 25 years ago a boy got married recently that it's well now that said that he was a little kid when I sang for him and a note came in and attacked and the guys the guy sent me a screenshot of what I wrote in the hospital that America when you get married I wrote that once and I'm going to come sing at you when I get my shrimp to a girl in Memorial Sloan Kettering and she calls me up and my house phone those days I should I want you to come sing at my wedding when you're still listed where's the wedding in Italy wow so I called up Joseph life from Travelers Choice and he gave me a ticket and I went wow yeah it was there was a 10 year old kid Mordechai and David called me up against me to play music in Boro Park I remember going up the stairwell and he had cries like Pius this little kid and when we got to his hospital bed loleno he had no hair on nothing and I I still remember um we started singing songs and what was funny is at the at that bedside unfortunately the boy didn't make it piss his mom said they asked me to play by the bar mitzvah to two three weeks before he passed away but what happened prior to that was telling me he's flying to Israel the next day and he's recording an album with Mona rosenbum in a much money Rosen room in the studio and he's missing this kishmaker song and at that kid's bedside I started singing in front of Mordechai and David a song that I never heard before he loved it we started singing for the kid 100 times I'm exaggerating but a lot of times and he took out his little recorder whatever how much yeah fat mouth he took he I think you paid me a little quicker but he paid me and what's funny is he said he took the recording he brought it to Israel now monster models I'm talking about greater Rangers he's incredible his Arrangements 50 years ahead of his time he was like not normal and he goes ahead he uh he shows him this so much in Monroe's room he liked it so much much Simona Rosenberg in the studio the next day he more happened they told me he started writing the notes on tissue papers right there he made the whole Arrangement on tissue papers and they played it that day in the studio with the intro that's yours no no that's much more all put together in one within 24 hours recorded recorded crazy and that's that's part of what we were saying how it's amazingly songs I could tell you stories where I came from schwecky he got late late into the album and he and not only that he put it at song number seven or eight on the album he didn't think it usually he put it the second song or right away in the beginning so we don't know what songs are gonna make it and what's wrong is it so we can be here true we can be here for hours three hours we got a few minutes left so you're making your album you think every single song is a hit is that really no that's when I went with yasi green and for you we're gonna go fast okay um voice lessons do are they true do you need them give me some funny stuff you do to get ready from back in the day well if voice lessons is a must and it's it's you have to have the foundation I mean you can't create a voice I don't know you have to have a voice my mommy says I sing well myself if your mommy says you sing well you should take voices and the main thing of voice lessons is what I think is before he one of my voice stations was Canton nuts and Glick a very famous voice teacher um is when you're not feeling well and you have to get your voice I always thought it was when you're objecting when you're that's there's 50 things it's 50 fast it's the voice lessons but I find voice lessons is when you do have that little cold when you do a little horse when you are a little down vocally that's where you really you know go back into your voice lesson mode and say I gotta do this so who car comes out you got a big you got a big gig or a big concert what are you doing tomorrow to warm up like now in front of everybody yeah you only have a couple of minutes left but there's things you know loosen up yeah let's see come on chewing you serious yeah some crazy stuff whatever it's like you know no no no let's keep going let's keep going you know loosen up your left stuff like that go from falsetto to regular [Music] good sleep and just to drink room temperature water not very hot sleep before you perform a few nights before Rosh Hashanah Yom Kipper you don't just wait you go to sleep sleep is the best thing for me some tricks give me some tricks give me give me some exercises no tricks I I go to canter Einhorn for many many years I went to Canada Einhorn wherever I'm feed goes and today let me dascal goes and uh people tell me what do you need voice lessons you're a professional already what is Derek Jeter what are batting coaches need what do these guys need you need someone watching what you're doing and like like surely said when you're not feeling well that's that's when the pressure's on to get it properly over the cold and be able to perform you can't just cancel Roshana plays basketball a few times a week to keep in shape actually tell me he has potato cocoa before he's such a lubricate in 2001 2002 the year prior and David next year I got everyone free to come tagoda for a very good price and he comes to campagoda and he he calls me up an hour before the show he says I I gotta cancel I have 102 fever I said I mean the whole Camp is wait a few minutes he comes in to the best to the to the gym and with 102 fever he goes to the half court Line running in he picks up a basketball in the gym he gets the half court shot in the first time I just I just said I just saw a video I don't know if it was from that yeah no it was incredible but he said he's from NBA guy instead of the other guy apparently he believes in the exercising and keeping in shape like slimy mentioned and this late in your careers is is it still important and how often they're supposed to go even very even more important really absolutely really interesting just breath that you're not out of breath when you're singing especially I do weddings you know the next stage of Our Lives now I'm no I'm doing now weddings and I'm performing and you have to you can add in the studio you could do it 25 times so it's perfect right opening with AIDS doesn't apply to voice and for you do you have to you know keep rehearsing with your fingers I practice a lot I practice a lot in the basement and is he still writing you know said it right the choirs really give the confidence to the kids I had a kid from a very from school who typically schools not all schools want this but the parents made a decision and they said that it's we they felt it was very good for the kid a very shy kid he was like second third grader he stayed in my choir for four or five years started leaning started diving through the Ahmed he started answering questions in class really brought out a tremendous so I only I only have good things to say about the I mean you were in a choir and now you lead a choir so definitely that's important schlimy has a slimy Dax Orchestra which is funny because you kind of had an orchestra back in the day yeah sometime now one guy added away a little bit so it was funny I try to book him for the after the wedding which slimy opened the orchestra people were really skeptical they're like there's the Gina there's the shama you're a singer you can't open Orchestra and now we're what almost 20 years later so let me Dax Orchestra is still a contender and then and then we have silly williger is not only a singer a cowbox singer a comsitz guy a stickle Canter it's a good time by the way and now he's doing English did you hear this amazing brilliant English well you were at one of them I was at one of them and I was surprised and people think oh well a big deal you know how much preparation is about I thought I'd hate it but I actually liked it it was actually pretty good thank you but I think it's more your personality than your Rhymes yeah true I'm just saying thank you everybody on behalf first of all thank you you'd see shloime and Shirley um you can find their music online pretty much anywhere if you can't message me for free that's right don't steal their music please support the amazing work that I'm with them does help head over to unitedheal.com please support this amazing cause and we hope to see you next year thank you for having us thank you great thank you so much thank you [Music] before a modem existed I didn't even know what to turn which therapy which rehab as cholesterol is growing there are more situations to deal with and we need to deal emergency with helping victims educating the younger generation so we don't have victims and we're doing much better the past years with that and then with addiction and many other mental health issues and it's the most basic component of a vibrant and healthy Community we love Cloud Israel we love our community and the only way we could make sure that our children and our grandchildren our nieces our nephews our siblings now friends when there is a struggle they should get the resources there is a gap that only a modem is fill in and let's make sure that that continues stronger with more resources so we can help everyone [Music] the victories at amudim we don't always have the privilege of hearing them a lot of times by the time they're done with amudim they move on they continue with their therapeutic work but we don't always see them two and three years down the line but when we get those Victory stories it's a real celebration it's it's phenomenal it is a feeling I don't even know how I could possibly explain I guess you'd put it as a high to be cliche it's the most phenomenal High to know that you really made a difference in someone's life we want to know that we're being effective we want to know that this is making a difference it's it nurtures us you know we speak to most people by phone but we can we can we can see the smile through the phone we can hear we can see that little bit of hope that they start to experience and that that's motivation that that fuels us foreign is there they're the first ones there they're always there they're there for everyone and frankly I think we have to be there for them I think that we have to dig very very deep into our pockets I think we have to support this organization it's the type of organization that they're so modest they're just they're just always there for us and they're not thinking about the costs and all but we have to think about the cause we have to think about the fact that we need our mood and we have to think about the fact that how how much weaker the Jewish people would be without an organization like amudim and I would ask everyone to please give generously give often give a lot whatever you think you can give give more and this is really frankly what the almighty wants he wants us to look out for each other no one looks out for each other more than a Buddha please please help support them foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] Baum Davis and we're here for the third annual unite to heal event raising money for a mudim an international organization dedicated to serving community members in times of crisis a modem assists individuals and families impacted by mental health sexual abuse neglect addiction as well as other crisis related matters your support is appreciated I'm joined today by Dan Luxembourg Rachel Kastner and Montana Tucker I worked with these three incredibly talented people on a project we'd like to tell you a little bit more about Rachel kick us off you're the granddaughter of survivors and this is not your first Holocaust related production tell us about this project and what made it different than the others you've worked on sure thank you Daniela and hi glad to be here my name is Rachel I am the granddaughter of three Holocaust Survivors and how to never forget is an incredibly unique project there have been many Holocaust Survivor projects documentaries films interviews testimonies of which I've worked on a few different projects this project is unique because it reaches Millions uh how to never forget is a holocaust docu-series made specifically for social media with the amazing Montana Tucker who we have here today and it traces her journey as she goes back to Poland to learn about the Holocaust and her grandparents survival and she brings her millions of followers with her on the journey to learn about it and I think there are a few unique um identifiers that make this project just amazing and I'm so honored to be a part of it and I encourage everybody to go and watch it number one is that the documentaries that have been made in the past they feature survivors but rarely feature young people as well so audience members who watch it maybe aren't feeling as connected right they're not seeing people they're in their own age group uh on screen with them and I think it makes it much more relatable when you have an amazing young energetic vibrant positive person like Montana taking you on that Journey it's super relatable and then the second is just that it's micro bite-sized Clips so anyone can watch them wherever they are it's coming at you on the screen on your phone where you are in your regular day and where most of gen Z and Millennials are spending a lot of time so I think that that's two of the main identifiers so Montana obviously there is no project here without Montana does Montana Tucker how to never forget project so tell us a little bit is this the kind of content you typically post on your channels and what made you want to embark on something like this yeah so first of all I'm so honored to be here and of course all of this project wouldn't have happened without all of you guys so thank you for being here um I think the content that people usually see from me is very uplifting mostly posting fun dance videos um collaborating with a lot of fun different people um I have posted my grandparents slightly in the past um and I've shared that they're Holocaust Survivors but I've never really gone into depth about their story ever and again what I have posted my grandparents it has been pretty light-hearted so for me to do something like this was completely probably left field for my for my followers to see that um you know I've always been extremely close to my grandparents my whole life and I've always known their stories but it wasn't until I you know became an adult that I really felt that I wanted to learn more about their history um and my great friend Israel schachter asked me if I have ever been to Poland and and if I'd want to go and I said yes and uh then he connected me with Rachel and then connected me with you guys in the rest of History honestly and um everyone kind of told me before going on the trip about how hard it was going to be but nothing can prepare you for that moment until you're physically there and I have seen hundreds of Holocaust documentaries I have learned about it in school but I think that me physically being there um just changed me forever and I hope that people watching this feel changed forever as well and I hope that they feel that of course it's edited but I hope they feel that it's raw and they feel like they're actually there with me and it's not just like them learning from a history book so Montana in the first 24 hours after you posted this project you had more than a million people viewing it for context um the U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum gets an average of 1.6 million visitors a year wow um tell us a little bit about how that feels just all of a sudden to be the person reaching the people that most need to be educated about this issue well first of all I did not know that at all so that is a crazy stat but I had no idea um I think just when talking in millions like I don't remember who posted it but somebody posted the other day about how many Jews are in America the U.S is number one with the most Jews and Israel is number two right and then France is number three I think in Canada is number four I could be doing this wrong we should check the check the facts for sure you're either right or very close to right okay you're very close to reacting Israel just passed so I have more followers on Tick Tock than there are Jews in the US which is such an insane concept and then the person who I don't even want to name really that recently came out has way more followers than I think the amount of Jews in the world right um so that's also an insane um insane concept to me and you know I was very nervous about posting this because in the past when I have posted about my grandparents when I when like I said it's been very light-hearted of what I've posted in the past I've had thousands of people unfollow me I've had people write um like you know the Holocaust never existed they've written really negative comments towards me so I was really nervous about posting this um and especially given the crazy time that we're in again which again we always had it planned to release these dates and then of course everything started happening in the world again um but I'm really shocked and honestly happy because this is exactly what I wanted that people are opening their eyes to this in a different way and I have so many followers that either didn't know about this or a didn't know about my family's history but B didn't really know about the Holocaust because they're not really being taught it so the the messages that I've received from posting um have been I don't want to use the word positive but that it's they've been like grateful and thankful that I've posted this versus negative I mean of course there were that handful of negative comments but there was also something that I thought was really powerful in the comments somebody commented something negative and then they started becoming a discussion and a few other people started going in on it and and commenting back and forth to each other and by the end the person who wrote the negative comment ended up saying like I apologize kind of wow and so I thought that was powerful because I think the whole point of this is to like open people's minds right it's not we're not going to tell somebody how they should feel but at least open their minds and maybe see it from a different perspective yeah so Dan unlike Rachel Montana and myself you are the one person on this call that is not the grandchild of survivors which I think makes your involvement in a project like this all the more important and all the more inspirational because it's very obvious it's very easy to see where the passion for the three of us comes from right we grew up on these stories we feel this familial and National obligation to retelling them tell us a little bit about why you felt this was an important project to embark on and how you think we can activate other people descendants of survivors and not to to commit equally to sharing these stories that's a great question um the reason why I'm taking it back is because it's so funny to me I I don't I didn't I never even second guessed it it's as important to me as as anything else and having lived in and been fully immersed in LA and the Hollywood scene I've been a part of so many conversations with legendary Executives and directors and screenwriters about how do we you know how do we get what's the next Schindler's List like that was you know that was that's where people are looking to and and even since Ava Stories the uh the social media scripted series that came out a few a few years ago um people have been wondering you know what's the next story to tell every every Jew in Hollywood has the um urge to tell the next great Holocaust story and I always had a different feeling towards it um I always had the what's what's the way we could um educate young kids about the Holocaust and it's you know one of the many reasons Rachel and I are friends because we we've been discussing this for years really um about the Holocaust about Israel Etc and when this opportunity came knocking you know the Israel the Rachel uh Montana Daniela it wasn't even a question you know Soul Shop a bit of background we are a faith driven Studio reaching young and diverse audiences of Faith um the majority of our projects are focused on on Young and diverse Christian audiences when this project came it wasn't even a question if we were going to do it or not it was how can we make this the best possible vertical short form doc series that has ever been ever been distributed across social media and amongst the plethora of positive feedback that we've all gotten one of the most um the only the only comment that actually made me speechless and for those of you that know me um mainly Rachel probably the most I've never rendered speechless but for someone to say that this project has changed the future of Holocaust Education period uh touched me in a way that I never thought I could be touched um outside of like my son being born the Holocaust for for someone who isn't a grandchild of survivors is I can speak for myself at least personally there's no greater there's no greater awareness campaign I want to be a part of if I can if I can articulate it through the lens of like a for-profit venture um this is the most important campaign to raise awareness for and I'll never stop trying to innovate and disrupt and educate and you know my wife pointed this out to me um even though I knew it but I don't think anyone had articulated it the fact that Montana is basically doing a one-week takeover of her channels is so so important and we all need to take one second to like applause or whatever however anyone's watching Montana really you're a hero I'm not even kidding um and so I'm so eternally grateful for what you're doing for this project one of the things that I think is really important to break apart and kind of exactly what you raised Dan in terms of audience segmentation is is as follows so um one of my many hats before producing in the Jewish space was working at The View on ABC and one of the reason that politicians in particular are so eager to come on shows like the view is that they know the audience they're reaching is the audience that they actually have the potential to sway right you're talking to primarily women that are home at 11 A.M watching TV these are not you know crazy political pundits who are um already decided on every issue these are people that are actually open to changing their mind when I think about the Montana project and why her audience is so important here I think about this statistic in particular and there are unfortunately a lot to choose from but this is the one that really sticks with me according to the claims conference 20 of Millennials and gen Z in New York think that Jews caused the Holocaust now we can talk about the number of Jews of the number of Americans that don't know the word Auschwitz that don't know um how many people were killed in the Holocaust I can't name a single concentration camp and those are all astounding statistics on their own but the idea that you could have 20 of an age group walking around thinking that Jews themselves cause the Holocaust tells me we need to focus our efforts on that population now why I think Montana is you know arguably the most important person to come into Holocaust Education in the last I don't know entire time we've been educating on the Holocaust is because her audience is exactly that universe that needs that education so Montana tell me a little bit about this your audience you've built up over the years right this wouldn't have worked if you hadn't come out and said hey guys I'm Montana Tucker no one's ever heard of me and I'm producing this project now many a time when we work with influencers celebrities other people that you know we hope will share stories or partner on projects like these the first question we get is what is it going to do to my brand so talk a little bit about that how does it feel to put yourself out there on something like this and do you have any words of wisdom and encouragement to other influencers in this space who maybe have things to do here as well but need a little nudge and a little a little love to feel like this is a project worth doing yes so I actually have a few friends who are in the industry who are Jewish and behind the scenes are very pro-jewish and do everything in their community and celebrate the holidays and and a part of Jewish organizations and then when it comes to social media don't post anything about it but they post about every other issue going on in the world which should be done as well of course but for some reason when it comes to like something that actually applies to her or him in general they they have not done it and I asked them I was like curious because I've had friends who get really upset over it and you know so why are you posing I can't believe you post you're not doing this but I calmly just said hi just I'm curious why why you're not doing this and they've said that they're scared it's going to ruin their brand and that people might unfollow them or might not want to work with them because of that and for me I feel again like I said I when in the past what I have posted on my girlfriends I have had people unfollow me but for me I'm like if I'm gonna have these people on follow me I don't want them following me if they're gonna follow me because I'm posting about my grandparents are posting about being Jewish then I don't want those followers and if it comes to business too if someone's not going to do business with you because you're Jewish then you don't want to do business with them I don't care what the deal is I don't care how much money it could make you you should not want to do business with somebody because they shouldn't want that from you either they shouldn't want you not wanting to do business with them because they're a person of color a person of A different race or a different sexual preference so I think that that should never be the case of not wanting to be friends with someone not wanting to be associated with somebody not wanting to do business without wanting to follow just because of that now if they're a bad person that's a different story but based on just their religion their ethnicity their sexual preference absolutely not so for me doing this of course in the in the back of my mind I said okay I'm probably going to get some backlash I'm probably going to get people to unfollow me but to me I don't I don't care because it's more important to get this message out and it's more important for people to come along this journey with me that are worrying about if people are going to unfollow me so I think that's incredibly true when apt and I hope that there are a lot of other people in your space watching this and thinking to themselves okay you know I have I have the cover I have the inspiration I have the ability now to do this as well Rachel one of the things that you mentioned earlier is how much of this project depended on the kind of precise editing that could take the many hours I think we had over 100 of footage and distill them into these you know tiny bites um and you know that were shareable on social one of the places that I feel like there's a disconnect between the people in our community that sometimes have the resources to make projects happening the projects like this happen and the people doing the work that you know actually enable projects like this happen I find there's often a disconnect where we'll go out and we'll say we have this idea we have a Creator like Montana willing to use their platform we have the story we want to do something by the way it needs to be under two minutes and you'll get feedback from people definitely in a certain generation we'll say tick tock's terrible Instagram's terrible you know we just need these people to watch the three-hour story how do you respond to that and how do we go out there and convince the generation of people that is empowered to make more projects like this happen that Tick Tock and Instagram are tools to be used not you know necessarily um industries that are ripe for disruption in our space so my first feature documentary was a full-length 55-minute documentary about the Holocaust about my grandfather's Survival Story and for the past few years I've been bringing it to schools and showing it to high schoolers middle schoolers some universities um it's typically the school takes an hour long break during programming related to Holocaust Remembrance Day yamashoa or Chris Knox and we'll do the 55 minute uh film and then we'll have maybe like 5 to 15 minutes if they extend it for Q a and what I was noticing over time was that kids are getting like kids are getting bored like attention spans are not long enough to watch a 55-minute documentary and if you can't get your point across in a shorter amount of time if we're not innovating the way that we tell our stories along with the way that people are learning to consume stories we're just going to lose interest so I think that the most powerful thing I mean Montana and I every day after an episode goes up have been looking at like the comments sending each other the best ones I've sent some to you send some to Dan like I think that that the response the numbers are just going to speak for themselves to have a project go viral with over a million views and so many thousands of comments and shares and reposts within such a short amount of time for the comments to be so meaningful and powerful and so people like spilling their souls and emotions in these comments saying you really moved me I'm going to learn more about the Holocaust or I once met a Jew like those words mean a lot and to me that is the proof like the proof is in the pudding the proof is out there this was a pilot this was a test of can we tell these kinds of stories on this platform and to me already with episode one it was a huge success and I'm sure with the next few uh we're just gonna see it more and more so collecting kind of those comments seeing how this project lives on they're not going anywhere so it's only going to grow with time uh that's that's how we're gonna continue to make projects like this in the future and I hope that uh everyone telling stories will gravitate towards kind of more conventional bites because a 55 minute documentary sitting on a shelf is not going to do any impact my name is Yehuda Greenberg I grew up in a very from Orthodox household I went to goodieshiva's good schools you know I had good grades you know I was going to be the next guadaladar the next RAV and then over the years things you know started to to fall apart I didn't feel in place I felt out of place whether it be in Social settings in family settings School settings I just wanted to be okay with myself I wanted to be okay with my family who at that point our relationship was strained obviously they wanted a path for me that I didn't want for myself or didn't know what I wanted for myself but I knew that I wasn't comfortable with what I was doing so I started smoking weed and you know I was accepted into a new social setting amongst peers that smoked weed and we had fun and over time that then likes other you know drugs substances over time I had developed a habit of taking prescription medications that were unprescribed and included opiates benzodiazepines and along with that came a lot of alcohol one thing led to the next and the drug usage got worse over time until I developed an addiction both physical and mentally but the most important thing about it was that it it made me feel okay and I would forget the day come night time and come to morning time I had something to look forward to emotionally I think it was the best word to describe it was numbness there was no emotions it was just me living in this alternate universe that uh there wasn't emotions it was so empty it was just there was nothing there I still remember vividly it was a Friday night it was at a friend's house eating Shabbos dinner and a gentleman that was part of my father's he sat me down he said maybe you should think about getting some help and for the first time I felt it was somebody wanted to help me somebody understood what I was going through it was eye-opening to me and I said sure come Sunday he called me said I spoke to an organization on your behalf it happened to be a mudim and he said you know we record a treatment center that you could go get help and he said this is when your flight is do you want somebody to fly with you I was in shock I was nervous fearful anxious I said no I'm okay I was a big boy I said I'll fly by myself it was in California I went to Chabad Treatment Center I went not knowing what to expect and it was the best experience I ever had it was a place where I belonged there was no judgment that for me was the most important thing it was feeling that I was a part of something that I never felt before and throughout all this the healing emotionally began and a lot of it started with the community but a lot of it was being okay and comfortable with who I was and who I wanted to be when I got out out of treatment I then started a case management work at a hospital detox and that's really where things started coming together for me my job was to talk to people and get them to treatment that was my job having those conversations and just opening their eyes to like what life can be and also leaning on my past experiences it just made it a lot easier seeing somebody go from point A in their lives even to point B it doesn't have to be a to z but gay I'm into treatment is like the most drastic thing I can do to help somebody just like somebody did it for me it's something I love doing and I built my self-confidence and people started to lean on me for and whether it was a ride to work or whatever it was people leaned on me for for something and and now I got married which is my biggest dream and God willing starting a family and my parents I am forever grateful I think they're very proud of what I've done I don't think I would have been on this path or Journey had an organization like a mood and not existed the second day got that call there was no obstacle there was no how much is it you know when is it let's get an help I think that was one of the biggest things that mudum did for me was giving me that ability to say you know what I'm ready I want to get help and the rest was taken care of I'm forever grateful for I'm with them for what they provided me and the the impact that they made on my life will stand with me forever wherever I go and in fact that they make on other people's lives and I see it on a daily basis it's it's instrumental and helping people get better and helping our communities really get better [Music] the impact just to just to piggyback off of that for just a moment because Rachel's spot spot on um the message to get across to those to those folks Daniella is those three hour PBS documentaries shouldn't go anywhere they're actually great once you get once you once you wet your appetite right viewing habits consumption habits have changed that's just statistic it's facts people are going from Network to streaming and streaming to social it's just like every single you know every single graph will show you that and for for the folks that are not not taking short form content social distribution channels folks like Montana seriously um they're doing a disservice because for the 1400 people they're gonna watch their documentary that they can Pat themselves on the back because they made a nice three-hour documentary they're they're just putting impact aside and the fact that you have these Heroes not using another word like Montana that are willing to share their story um With Their audience is not something to take for granted it's not something to scoff at it's not something to think about right you have an unbelievable team here right here so honored to be a part of this team um we're willing to tell I mean you can put this on Netflix and people will still watch it it's it's Netflix quality content we just chose a better distribution Channel now Montana some people go to the camp spots and it's more than enough for a lifetime um Zach who viewers will see in future episodes has been there I don't know well over a hundred times I would guess um which is an incredible undertaking in and of itself I'm not sure emotionally I can handle that my question to you is would you ever go back do you think seeing the success of this project um you would want to yourself become the educator who brings people from your industry back who shows them the experience for the first time who sees other people um being hit with that experience for the first time or is your is your position on this as mine is by the way so very much okay if it is I've been there I'm not sure I can handle it again and you know I have the video now so we can go back that's a a crazy question because no one's asked me that yet um but it's interesting because being there I mean we have there's so much other footage that we didn't get to fit into to these 10 episodes from me going to Auschwitz because the whole trip was you know for sure leading up to Auschwitz and obviously you know knowing my grandma's stories so exact and like standing in those exact spots um you know it was extremely hard and and I mean Zach is an angel on Earth literally he's just I mean unreal I we still like talk all the time on WhatsApp he's the best but um I asked him how many trips he's gone on since since going with me I think he said four more trips and we got back not that long ago like three or four more trips he's been on with different groups of people um so that being said it being you know the hardest experience in my life if there was an opportunity to go back or if it would influence people to go back if if that was the reason why people would want to go for if I would be to be there with them then I would do it if if that's the reason why people would want to go see it and exp and to experience it with them because if that means that that more people are going to experience it and know it then yes absolutely but again it was extremely hard um but I think now after going I think I know maybe how to prepare myself a bit more after physically being there versus before I just heard the stories and I did actually physically go there um so yeah so I maybe share Daniella a unique moment from on set that Montana just reminded me of please so we actually had a we had a full uh production crew with us uh with Montana myself and her mom on set everyone except for Montana myself her mom and Zach were not Jewish and had never been some had little knowledge of the Holocaust some had more but obviously nothing from what you hear before prepares you to be in Auschwitz and we went to auschitz on our last day of production and there are a few different places without Auschwitz that really really stand out one is a specific part that feels more like a museum most it's an open-air Museum right you're walking around the actual Barracks the actual areas where Montana's grandmother was where my grandfather was where so many other Jews were and there are many places that you can go that stand out when you're looking through the book of names to find your family members or when you're walking through the barracks or the bathrooms there's one area that really feels like a museum that has several rooms filled with artifacts so one room has specifically glasses like the million maybe thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of glasses that were stolen from those who came into the camp another has the suitcases another has the hair of the men and women that were shaved and that building is unlike other any other place on Earth um and I it's really really really really really really difficult to walk through that building um this was my I've been there twice now shooting and a few other times and I felt almost like I was a little numb walking through it and when we walked out of the building Montana was with her mom walking ahead I was already walking with Zach to the next location I turned around and I saw our crew like taking a break like they were all separated standing like five feet away from each other facing outwards outside of the camp and I like called them over I thought that they were just giving us a minute and when they turned around they were all they just were all crying each one of them was completely red in the face crying one after another and I realized in that moment like I thought they were giving maybe me and Montana and Zach a moment but that they were taking a moment because it was so impactful and obviously it was that is like a place that really like drives home like really the horrors of what happened there and it was so special to make that project with a team of survivors Jews and also non-jews who are learning about the Holocaust in depth for the first time when most of their projects are not nothing about this topic and I think like not everybody's going to get to go there in person and have the experience that that crew did but the millions of people watching on Montana's channel will now get to even get a taste of it and I just think that that story is like stands out to me as one of the most impactful moments of that whole production yeah um look I think something else that we haven't gotten into yet is where responsibility comes in and I think to your point about bringing in non-jews into telling this conversation the story um it's a huge part of it you know everyone on this call is under 30. and we all talk about or the last generation and the survivors are dying out and this is your last chance but now that's really true I'm working on a separate project right now and it's been really really difficult to Source a certain number of survivors that are able to speak both exclusively that are physically able to get to a studio and and that you know have enough memories of their story to share and even five or seven years ago that wouldn't have been the case um so I think we're coming into a different part of this conversation which is we really are at that point now where the mantle has to be passed where survivors are not really able at least going forward going to be able to be the ones sharing their stories so Rachel Dan Montana really this goes out to anyone what does that sort of kick in the gut that not only is this something you know each of us obviously feels is important but this kick in the gut that there's no choice if we care about sharing these stories there's no choice anymore to not be the ones taking it on because we really are the last generation who has experienced relationships with survivors in real time yeah I think I think for me um both my grandparents always you know as far as I can remember always went around to all the schools we're from Florida and always go around to all the schools and share their stories um my zadie especially he always made sure everyone knew he was a Survivor he would meet anyone and he would let them know that he was a holocaust Survivor and he'd wear a pin that said never forget and never again he would never take this pin off and it was really like his mission and goal was to educate you know kids and and people from around the world to to never forget um my grandma as well and then my grandma now suffers from Alzheimer's over 14 years um so my zadie passed away three years ago my grandma is still alive now but she cannot share the stories at all um and so that's why more than ever I feel like both my mom and I feel it's both of our responsibilities um but especially me as a grandchild and having this platform I feel like it's more of a responsibility than ever um to share these and I know that again like I said it was always my Sadie's goal was to keep these stories alive and it's interesting that that's like the slogan we kind of say it enough is considered a slogan but like at the end of each episode share they used to keep these stories alive um because it's that was extremely important to him and both my grandparents I think that that really hits the that hits the nail in my head um like we mentioned earlier I'm not the I'm not the grand son of any survivors um but being in these conversations with folks that are that work at all these organizations that are trying to teach younger Generations about the Holocaust either how to how to equip them to continue educating their friends or how to just educate either young Jews young nanjus Etc um we don't have time we don't have time to waste we don't have time to argue about whether or not social media is um is an effective tool it is um kids aren't going to to sit in movie theaters they're not seeking Holocaust related content on the traditional streaming platforms but folks that aren't looking for Holocaust related content follow Montana and so that she's posting it and giving and and you know I'm a new parent relatively new um I have to give my kid medicine but he doesn't want it and that's kind of that's kind of it we're just dressing up the medicine to taste really good because the content's really good unbelievable storytelling and it's this sense of um we are the last generation we don't have time to waste we have to continue innovating telling the story being on the front lines penetrating news feeds with content that is true with content that is effective and with content that's that can educate everybody Rachel from a production standpoint from a creative standpoint what selfishly for those of us on the panel do we want to tell the people watching this what do we need to make this happen 10 more times 20 more times I think first and foremost we need Brave influencers celebrities songwriters actors Etc who are willing to tell these stories not only of their grandparents of grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors although that's made this specific one so impactful that we got to care from Montana about her own grandmother's survival and learn about that with her so that's the first most important thing is that this is their project right we're created we created this with Montana to tell Montana's story and the way that like is authentic to her and that her audience is already loving connecting to her about so that's like the most important thing it has to remain genuine and authentic and therefore it has to be Creator LED that's like the most important thing right it's really easy to try to turn it into something that it's not a documentary or branding or whatever we see out there we see lots of content out there that's trying that's aligned that's trying to tell the Jewish story The Holocaust story um Etc but if it's branded as a big Jewish organization and it's not being created for a content for a Content Creator's platform they'll smell it right people love Montana because she's authentic and genuine and inspiring and so we had that was something that Dan and I worked really hard on in the editing creative process was to make sure that it was edited but it still felt like Montana right it still feels like Montana is telling the story not anyone else is telling it for her and placed her here and told her what to say and it really wasn't like it's the most genuine we went there with a plan of where to go and wanting to tell the story of the journey but we told exactly as it happened so keeping it as genuine and as genuine as possible and the second is completely leaning into the platform right again we can't make a documentary and then cut it into short slices for tick tock that wouldn't have worked uh this is working because we built it based on what we know is true which is that there certain types of content that do really really well on Instagram and Tick Tock and we're going to lean into that so even in coming up with a title Dan and I were like we have to come up with something and the title totally came from Dan like we had to come up with something that sounded like a Tick-Tock Trend uh so we were like spitballing there and even I'm not a huge tick tocker right so like and that's where Dan beats me in the Gen Z game so I'm obsessed with Tick Tock we came up with a title that really felt like that then it was also about the creative so like as I was coming up with creative with our editors it was like how do we make sure that it looks like any other Tick Tock when you're scrolling right so that it doesn't it doesn't I don't want to pass over it it looks exactly like something else that I might watch on Montana's feed or in my feed um so like every every every every single detail was planned and I think that like the last piece is like trust creators and Trust young people right like the fact that we're all under 30 we're the ones that are making this like were the ones that know the platforms were the ones that have been waiting to tell stories like this in this medium and like we're gonna we're gonna do it right because we have that kick in the gut and that responsibility um to do so look I think one of the reasons that we on the production side were so excited to work with you is you bring the proof of concept you bring the deliverables you bring the ROI before the project starts right we see how your videos do we see the engagement you have we see the respect your followers have for mail for you and so the ability to work with someone with your audience with your platform who genuinely has the story this connection and wants to use it for good to share it is already kind of makes our job very easy right we we didn't really have to do very much um I think what's been so heartening from for us to see is you can see the ROI it's tangible you can see the number of people again like 1.6 million people visit the Holocaust Museum a year one million people watched your first episode in its first 24 hours then you talk about reaching beyond that audience you know Good Morning America was so excited to have you on and your your conversation with them I thought was so important because it Bridges the Gap it shows people that using tiktok as a platform primarily is important because it reaches the young gen Z and also like the weird interstitial space between Jen Alpha and gen Z but it also has the ability to then translate to this more mainstream older audience it's resonant with people um obviously your bite on GMA you know really made it go viral on a whole different level so to close us off I just want to say a huge thank you to you and to ask you going back when you first agreed to do this project when you first kind of iterated and created it in your head has it turned out the way you expected and what would you say to yourself about a year ago if you could about what this experience would be like ah well first of all thank you for saying all that um I think again I've always like I said I've always um been so close to my grandparents and known that I had to like do something I don't think I knew in the capacity of what it what it would come to and I think again we had so many conference uh um conversations yeah like a year ago about about us going and about us doing this so for it to finally happen and even after getting the edits I mean I've watched it a million times I still cry every single time and over every single episode and I have watched it literally a million times um but to see other people have that same reaction from it is I think what's what's most special about it because of course I can feel it because it's my story and my family but for other people who either are Jewish to be so grateful about this but again for them for people who are not Jewish who genuinely have zero attachment to this project whatsoever for them to have these reactions I think is just so incredible and I think that's kind of the point of this all it's yes this is for the Jewish people absolutely but this is also for everyone so that this can never we that everyone can never allow this to happen again for the Jewish people yes but also for every other ethnicity as well and race and religion and so this is something that is shown because again the Holocaust is something that I definitely want to add because I feel like I haven't shared this as much wasn't just the Jewish people if you were a person of color if you were a person like if you were just someone that was different than what the Nazis imagine you were also a part of this so that's something that needs to also be shared and I feel like we didn't really share that enough so the fact that all different groups of people are really like feeling moved from this project I think is all we could have all Ever Wanted um and like you know we all need this is only the beginning we have a lot more to come so well Dan Rachel and especially Montana thank you all so much thanks to everyone watching and thank you for your continued support of a modem thank you so much [Music] foreign [Music] locations where people work in Europe and Israel or even throughout the United States or what divisions they're in the common denominator is one thing heart everybody in amudum is doing so with their heart and that's what makes this so special [Music] foreign is an emergency stop for people that feel alone in the world that are dealing with problems that they're embarrassed to deal with that they've been keeping private for years and they're suffering inside and they're comfortable to know that we're here to help them 24 7 for whatever they need we are here and we'll always be here to help them and they should never ever feel alone and never embarrassed any problem that they have a Buddha has their back for mental health [Music] there are people that have said to me at times you know you're like a firefighter all your staff you're dealing with the emergencies yeah that's true we are currently firefighters however at the same time we need to focus on the prevention aspect and the awareness aspect so that a we can try to avoid having these issues come to us later on or getting earlier help early detection early treatment education and teaching kids you know what's okay what's not okay is the best prevention for getting them into something you know when they're faced with something that they've never seen before it's very difficult to uh you know to know how to handle it and this peer pressure and a million other things that are going on but if you give the child the tools to know how to deal with something when that issue comes up you know whether it's abuse or drug abuse or any other thing that can be going on when when it's something that they've heard about before then they know how to deal with it when when the issue comes up the example we always use is if you had a ledge and people were falling off the ledge so you you built a hospital at the bottom that's very nice you're going to take care of them but why don't you just build a gate before anyone falls off catch them before they fall prevention is a crucial piece in Human Service when we want to help people what we call we want to first and foremost be able to prevent the worst things from happening in the first place everyone's going to deal with challenges but we want to mitigate how intense and difficult those challenges are anyone here at amudum is familiar with this they realize that if the children are our future then healthy children equal a healthy future this is it's not an overstatement to say that this is about the future of college so this is about having healthy well-adjusted students to bring the next part the Next Generation moving forward we really haven't able to get so many students help whether it was bringing them to the school guidance team whether it was referring them for outside help over the years there probably have been thousands of students that we have gotten into help for whatever they're dealing with probably much faster than they would have gotten up otherwise we mitigate those intense difficulties from happening that can sometimes rip at the fabric of what we believe healthy and Humane Society should be of what we believe Jewish Community should be we're here for the end goal of creating a better world for everybody [Music] is the oxygen of clause we could we we couldn't exist without amudim from my perspective ahmudim deals with all of the things that you don't really want to know about in society I think a lot of people are confused you know what does zamuda mean what do they do they really take care of a lot of underlying problems that a lot of folks don't want to talk about and that's the beauty of ahmudim it's sort of a clearing house for any type of problem particularly very sensitive problems relating to abuse and addiction foreign staff so amazing is just the drive the drive to help we're talking about issues which are not popular no one else wants to deal with we're talking about issues which communities often are not as welcoming to talk about it to deal with and there's a lot of challenges in trying to be the people who are helping address these issues and despite all the challenges despite all the roadblocks the staff they don't give up keep plugging away the fundraising is absolutely crucial as far as those in the trenches no one's in it for the money but at the end of the day our work has costs and we need your help in order to keep doing what we do [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] and unite to heal my name is pesop Lerner and I am founder and chairman of the Aaron psychologist party in the Israel's National institutions our special special guest tonight is my dear friend my brother Jonathan Palmer I have known Jonathan Pollard for over 30 years we have shared difficult times better times good times sad times and happy times I believe I visited Jonathan in prison probably close to 100 times Jonathan I was there when you were released from prison was by your side during estrog Sherman's illness at the Shiva and recently Borg Hashem I walked you down the Hooper a few recent marriage to Rifka so you and I go back go back and go deep so it's always an honor to be with you okay and you're now in Arizona you're living you're working you're contributing to air to so you know what's going on you're part of what's going unfortunately yeah and the question is can you share your thoughts your vision of Greater heirs Israel Aliyah anything you're there you fought for this country you were imprisoned for this country now share with us your feelings your visions I think one of the biggest surprises I had when I returned was how different the country was the whole notion of the Jewish identity of the state was up in the air and for those of us who are what's generally called the religious zionists um it was pretty frightening where we were going now with the uh results of the new election having more or less been confirmed and we're in the middle of forming the government the struggle for the identity of the state has taken on new meaning because now we have an opportunity to actually create a Jewish state two of the greatest myths of this country are that we are democratic and Jewish unfortunately we're neither part of that is because of the outsized role and the responsible role of the high court which kind of renders the knesset moot so that's as far as the Democratic process is concerned and hopefully with the override Clause we'll we'll try to amend that and as far as the Jewish identity of the state is concerned which is something I'm primarily interested in uh with the appointment of uh um and his party I think will be in a position to do some major healing one of the first things we have to do is change the law of return just so that it reflects and not the Nazi Nuremberg Laws unfortunately there were people back during the days of the sovietalia that we're very happy to bring in a lot of people whose Jewish legitimacy was well it wasn't questionable it was non-existent and the same thing is continuing to this day this is dangerous because it's diluting the um so hopefully if we can amend the law of return to reflect to reflect uh halafah this will stem the slide that we're on right now into deluding the Jewish character demographically of the state okay the other issue as far as Jewish identity is concerned has to do of course with the role of the rabbanoes and there's been a big push here to dilute the rule of the role of the rabbanut mostly by leftists uh the reform movement the conservatives and you know it's funny but our we never had a problem here before really with the rubber load until the leadership of the American Reform movement sensing their ship was sinking in the United States after they had basically knocked enough holes in it when they realized this and they came here it's a setup shop like if you'll excuse me I've used this expression publicly before rats deserting a ship suddenly the kotel became an issue suddenly Kash Roots became an issue suddenly Garrosh became an issue suddenly Shabbat became an issue it wasn't an issue for the vast majority of American Jews who came here for example to visit Dakota they understood the role of a mahitsu and they respected it suddenly when these I call them these uh rabble Rouses from the reform movement and conservative movement showed up Suddenly there was an issue suddenly there was a problem yeah for them and for the local leftists They seized upon these people as a means of gaining a legitimacy that they had lost at the polls in the same way that they basically gained try to gain legitimacy and power through a high court by gods that they largely controlled so this is this is another issue in the fight for the ident Jewish identity of the state basically trying to reduce if not eliminate the irresponsible and unjustified intrusion into our society of the American Reform movement and and their conservative brothers and sisters as well foreign as far as the Jewish identity of the state is concerned there's the issue of the Ministry of Education a lot of people don't understand what's been happening with that Ministry basically as long as the children that were turned out by the secular school system here were ignoramuses that was fine as far as Jewish Education was concerned because there was a possibility of educating them later unfortunately the role of organizations like the Shalom Hartman Institute and the reform movement have illegally intruded into the operations of the education Ministry and I say illegally because they've been the beneficiaries of non-competitive uh grants and access to our educational system which which is illegal we now have an opportunity to turnout educate jewishly educated children from the secular school system so in the event hospital they want to leave or turn away from or abandon Judaism at least normative Judaism at least they'll know what they're walking away from what I'm afraid of is what we've been turning out because of the the unethical influence of the left in the educational system religious educational system because people who have been misled who have been lied to and have been Miss I I would call it miseducated as to what Jewish uh law and tradition and history actually actually are um so hopefully depending on who the minister of education is which party gets control of it will be able to at least rebalance the quality of Jewish Education that our secular students are receiving and again as I said this is not a question of brainwashing what we're doing is presenting them the opportunity to learn what normative Judaism is so if they care and wish to practice normative Judaism fine if they don't well at least they know what they're walking away from and hopefully hopefully over the years we'll be able to bring them back right now I'm putting together a Jewish Educational Center for Children in Tel Aviv it's named after my late wife Esther we're starting a fun drive now to build the permanent building right now we have between five to six hundred formally Colony children at the gun level kindergarten level who are now learning about Jewish traditions and Heritage and history and practice when I talked at the dedication of the school to several of the parents in the presence of our chairman of the board of the chief Ashkenazi rabbi I asked them these parents why are you sending your children here this is a religious school and you're definitely not religious or observant rather and the answer was the same from all of them they said our parents refused or declined for one reason or another to teach us anything about what Judaism was we hope that our children being educated here will teach us so I looked at the Rob and I said because we learn uh in our tradition that part of the giula will be represented by the children foreign so there it is and you know I'm I'm starting this children were very important for Esther and myself we never were allowed to to have children and unfortunately Upon Our return to uh Els Israel um her health deteriorated and she and she died she passed and so we never had an opportunity to have children so this school is her Legacy with these children she was a teacher by training so I hope that as she's looking down on us that she appreciates uh what we're trying to do in her name is [Music] so this is pretty much what I'm doing right now apart from my business activities was they're keeping me up till two or three o'clock in the morning Jonathan I know that since you came to Israel with Estella and now with with you're traveling a lot you visited Judea Samaria the Golan Catherine excuse me Kevin you're safe can you talk to us about your feelings of being in the UW Swim World in the Golan and Kevin you're saying if you're going to the places that in my opinion I know your opinion are part of the areas of Israel that God gave us it's not it's not just part it's the core it's the core of erasakodes I think one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life came when I I gave a speech at Hari Bob which is where the tribes the sevatim really came together to form a nation under Yeshua and one of the points that I was trying to make to people there in my speech was that if anybody wants to call into question our right to this land here's our refutation here's our proof it isn't just that we bought it isn't just Kevin yourself that was bought it isn't just yerushalayim that was conquered and and became our our major Capital after February this place just like the mishkan in Shiloh represents the the epitome if you will of our claim to the land so it was like coming real it was really like coming home for me and when I stood on that mountain overlooking valleys that our people had used in the conquest of the land it just hit me very hard that I'm home finally and for many people who come here from from the United States or from Europe or forever in the galloup they come from I don't mention diaspora I don't use that word I use the word galot because that's what it is um when they actually go to places like Shiloh and they see the Mishka or where the mishkan was or they go to the mahara fella and they actually look at the tombs of our imoholds and and people like I mean all of these it's real there it is you can actually go up and put your hands on these canvas then they suddenly realize this is where they belong there's an expression that Esther used to tell me all the time and she said it when she died she said you know it's very easy to take a Jew out of government and bring him to erasakodesh but it's very very hard to get the galoot out of the Jews mind well one of the major ways of doing that is to come here and live to make Aliyah to recognize that it's not natural it's unnatural for Jews to live in galut while there is an opportunity to live in Arizona there are some people I mean this is my opinion now there are some people who feel that they can't uh start this journey back until they're waiting for moshia well I ask them another question maybe just maybe come in soon is waiting for us from waiting for us to come home so in in the possibility with the possibility that this could be the case come home because you might be accelerating the timing of Music he's waiting for us it isn't just our middle to our Miss World or our our observance General observance it's our presence here in the land the in gathering so it's very important to come and to be a part of this Society this evolving society and to help defend and promote the Jewish identity of this country certainly when you look at all of the lands in Yehuda and shamron and Benjamin you look at all these lands it and you read Tanakh you read the the Naveen the the prophets it's here you can actually look at it you can stand on it you can breathe the same air that our our prophets breathe it's the most awe-inspiring and uplifting experience you could imagine is are there problems oh yes there are there are a lot there are a lot of problems but they are our problems and we can solve them you know there's an old expression that Alia is a process of pushing and pulling the pull of the land the pull of the heart the pull of the soul the nashama to come home and also the push of bad developments in the galot right now I think it's pretty obvious that the galloup is closing down and I have to you know tell people yes this includes the United States as well nothing that I've seen nothing that I've read nothing that I've heard would suggest otherwise so it would be good for people to come now while you can in an orderly way before you you have to come and you have to come in whatever Condition You Are so come get a place to stay bring your children bring your relatives but come home and yes you can start a business here it's a little difficult yes you can eventually put up with the bureaucracy which is uh a granted mind-numbing but you know it's something that we can change um and it's here that you can really live the life that God intended for us to live because there are certain uh Miss vote they can only be performed here only here so why not come home and practice all of them rather than just some of it Jonathan I've had the opportunity to walk the streets of Jerusalem with you and every time I do whether people are walking or driving they stop they honk they comment they're happy to see you they prayed for you they're you're their hero what what goes through your mind when when this happens I remember I remember once in New York that you were walking down somewhere in one of the streets and all of a sudden a bus stops and off that bus came highly and higher old soldiers who were in America for wrestling relaxation they had they had been hurt they had been heard in the awards in the battle and again they stopped came off the bus in the middle of Manhattan around you instead of dancing I see that in Jerusalem when we walk together people stop they honk they get out of their cars uh what feeling do you have when you realize that the Jewish people and Jewish