Inside ArtScroll Season 2 Episode 13: Interview with Yonoson Rosenblum

[Music] Hello everyone and welcome back to Inside Art Scroll where the books you read and the people who write them come to life. Today we are joined by prolific author renowned writer Yonas and Rosen Bloom who's kind enough to join us from his home in Jerusalem. Thank you Jonas for joining us. So we're here today to discuss a brand new wonderful book of yours called a tap on the shoulder about the life and times of Rabbi Mayor Schuster. Let's start off with your connection to Rabbi Schuster. Did you know Rabbi Schuster during his lifetime and how did you get to write a biography about this legendary Kiru pioneer? Well, I did know Rabbi Schuster. I first uh when my wife and I came to Israel in 1979, we went into Osame. Uh we came expect expecting to only stay for the summer and we came into or uh shortly thereafter they gave us an apartment and shortly after that Rabbi Schustster would uh start calling us and asking us if we could take Shabas guests. I mean we were very new we were very raw ballet chuba but he did ask us to take uh Shabas guest from a very early stage. So, uh, what would happen is on Thursday night he would the phone would ring and my wife or I would pick it up and there'd be absolute silence on the line and I learned to say, "Is that you, Rabbi Schustster?" And then he said, "Oh, yeah, yeah. How many can you take on on uh uh Le Shabas?" And I would think to myself, how could it be that somebody who can't speak and initiate a conversation over the phone with somebody he knows could not could go up to dozens and dozens of complete strangers every day, every single day for 25 years. Uh, and he never really became that much more articulate or that much glibber. He never became more glib in his speech. Now the truth is that's not the first time I met Rabbi Schuster. In 1976 I had finished law school. I was taking a year off before practicing law and I was in Ulan in Jerus Jerusalem's Baka neighborhood. And during lunch break one day the young men and young women were sitting out sunning themselves and conversing. And all of a sudden Rabbi Schustster appears on the scene. And one thing I can assure you is that nobody in that group was terribly interested in having either their sunning or their conversation interrupted by a uh a uh black attired uh individual. And uh they basically this is one thing I learned about Rabbi Schustster early on. You could not insult him. You could not embarrass him. Nothing nothing deterred him and the insults that might have been cast at him. I pray that none of them came from me. I wish I was totally sure on that score. But I do remember that he left with one young man who 20 years later I read in the newspaper was a rabbi on a uh on a moshab in Israel. Within three years of that encounter, my wife and I were already taking shabas guests from him. So I had a an ongoing relationship with Rabbi Schustster for many years. The truth is I always expected to write about Rabbi Schuster. He was always part of a speech I would give about people who changed the world not by virtue of any extraordinary abilities or self-evidently extraordinary abilities but because of their sheer determination or whatever we'll discuss this his siata desmaya they're able to be major historical figures and I had a whole list of people I mean Mike Tress was as was another example of somebody like that but I had been drawing up lists for years of what I thought would be a compilation in which Rabbi Schuster would be 20 pages. Um I wasn't that confident that I could write a whole book uh about him tapping people on the shoulder and saying uh would you like to meet a wise man? Are you Jewish? Would you like to know something more about your Judaism? Would you are you interested in knowing about God? I mean I didn't think I could get a whole book out of it. I will tell you there was my almost my last conversation with uh Ramir Zadoitz. He told me the book has to be at least 250 pages and I said uh Rome I don't know. I mean I'm just I'm just not sure about that. I can't uh it brook hashem the book is much longer than that and it didn't and it wasn't a problem uh because it is also the an the book is really an account of a magical era in chuva that's actually part of the subtitle a magical era of chuva it's one that my wife and I were very much part of so it's it's close to me in a way maybe that nothing else I've ever written has been close to me because I'm writing about my generation, the generation that came into yeshivas between 1972 and the mid 90s things started to taper off a little bit and they were basically killed by the second inifat in 2000. But so many of the people in the book are people that are friends of mine. I've you know we went through the major changes in our lives together right now. Now Reb mayor's reb's foray into Kir began in the early 1970s. He was nifter in 2014. What prompted the writing of the book at this point in time? You mean in 2021 or in 2014? 2021. The book slept a well, the book slept a little bit as my it remarkable how books have tended to take a lot longer to finish. When I did the Rebakov book, my first uh first with art scroll first book at all, it took me nine months and I was totally immersed. Uh today I'm older, lazier and uh and I'm writing a lot of columns at the same time. So I can't immerse myself in the same in the same way. This book started almost immediately after his passing. I don't remember whether I contacted Rebbitson Schustster or she contacted me. But we had both thought about the possibility. It was something that you know arose very quickly. I in fact went out and tried to solicit the first contribution uh of somebody I knew was extremely close to to our mayor and would want such of such a book. So I started thinking about it immediately upon his passing. Uh, and in the end, uh, somebody had to light my feet to the fire when it eventually happened. Like, it was written almost as fast as the Rebako book when we finally put everything together and got going. Now, you referred before to the fact that Reb mayor was not the most charismatic person. The book highlights how he was not necessarily articulate. He wasn't necessarily the most polished tier of activist. And yet, he was able to draw people in. and you recount story after story about how he would tap someone on the shoulder and ask them if they would want to meet a wise man or come to a yeshiva and he'd literally be 10 feet ahead of them and he's running away from them almost. Um, what do you think was his secret despite his lack of polish to become perhaps and and I'd love to hear your opinion on whether he's the greatest contemporary modern-day individual Macarv? Okay, let me answer the last question first. The answer to the last question is no. He he was part nobody and he would have rejected the idea. In any event, part of his greatness is that he had no ego. He had no need to be the one who was going to introduce the whoever he met at the hotel or at the central bus station. He had no need to be the one who was going to be mar of them. He was content to get them to a yeshiva to get them. I mean, it's not that he didn't do other things. He built the heritage house. He created an Israeli program in the 2000s, but he didn't have to be the star. He never made himself a star. He never talked about himself. He never used the word I. He wasn't the He wasn't a marb in the same sense that Rab Noah Weinberg for instance was a marb. Somebody who convinced people to change their lives. He was the he took a specific role did it better than anybody else did. Would you describe him as the facilitator? Yeah, the he was you know getting somebody in he was the catalyst. He getting people into these shiva is perhaps the most difficult step. You know, every day when we were in the Orth Midash, we would see him pull up in a cab. A group of here's suit young men would get out looking quite confused. Where are they? What's happening? And uh and we called him the pied piper. We could not understand. And he'd sometimes show up many times a day. At N Yusha, the largest women's b seminary for Balo Chuva. Um, the head of the beginner's program said, "Every single woman who came in said the same thing." I would never get in a car with a strange man. I would never get in a car with a strange man. And yet they did. And here the secret of his success was his very lack of charisma, his very lack of uh, you know, glib speech. They felt, okay, he's not trying to sell me a line. He's not somebody I have to be worried about. And plus he would race ahead of them by 15 feet. He never walked with them. He walked he raced ahead of them. One time Dove Wallowitz who um who purchased the building for the uh the boys hostel the heritage house boy men's hostel he said to Raf Schlommo Fryfeld Zacra who was his rebi he said I just can't understand how he's successful. He has no charisma whatsoever. And R Fryfeld who was a large and powerful man banged his head down hand his hand down and he said charisma never made anybody fume. Caring makes people f. People understood that he cared about them in a way that no one else had ever cared about him. This was a common statement. I felt he cared about me and my nishama in a way no one else ever had. There's a woman, she was a a road scholar candidate, she was in the steps of the uh of the old city and she saw how painful and difficult it was for him to speak to her and she and she said to herself, I just imagine how much this how important this must be to him that he's willing to talk to me and force himself to speak to me. And then it ca another thought came into her mind if he's willing to put himself through this. She didn't know how many times a day or how many years he never took a vacation. He never uh uh for the first 14 years of his activity never left there at Israel until he had to start doing fundraising. And she said if he's doing this and this poor inarticulate somewhat awkward gangly figure is doing this then he must care about my nishama more than anybody has ever cared about my nishama. Now, I found it fascinating that you mentioned in the book that it was kind of difficult to find out information about Rib Mayor's younger years. Why was that? And how did you come up with the information that you did glean as to Ray's upbringing? Listen, we really know very little about his upbringing. There's only one real interview in the first chapter of the Milwaukee chapter. the I interviewed maybe two or three people who knew him in that period. His best friend Jerry Glazer. The most important interview for that was certainly Rabbi Dr. uh Shia Turski who was his first rebby in uh who ran the afterchool talmura in his father's shaw. He knew Romeor at that age but he was painfully shy at that age as well. We know very little. Then he went to to Chicago to the Hebrew Academy which endormed in the Skooki Yeshiva and again no one remembers him really much. They remember very little about him except his fervor in of his davining that he always learned with a hat on in the base midish. There are more people who remember him from Nar Israel and I was able to find a number of them. Rab Schlommo Porter who actually is from Milwaukee and followed him to Chicago was somewhat younger and then went to Baltimore. um uh Rafaim Cass who was the uh person who who first brought him to the cotel and whom he went on his first visits to the cotel but there was really not much information about his family he never talked about his family he said the only thing he would say is that they were good people but uh it wasn't a religious family had a religious grandmother and uh there wasn't I I glean very little there's you know with Rabbi Tski and uh Rabbi Dr. Turski gave me uh Zacra was able to give me some background on the on the Milwaukee community of that time. So I was able to put him in a context, but I wasn't really I don't know very much about his childhood. And I know that it would have been very interesting either. He's not he was not a person who who reflected about himself or ever talked about himself. Mayor Mayor didn't talk was one of the lines that his wife said. Mayor did not talk. He did not talk about himself. He never used the word I. He didn't discuss his achievements. From reading your descriptions of his years in Israel, he was described as the ultimate Masmid. He was very close to the Rash of Rudman to Rav Chronlass. And anyone who knew him from that period of time would have said, "Okay, here's a man who's going to have a career perhaps in Kyle, right? Is that would you say that's correct? I think in his day in in in Ner Israel that the number of people who went into Kell was very small. It wasn't Kell was not a phenomenon in 1960 when he arrived at Ner Israel. Um he probably he might have tried teaching in some way but it would have been difficult for him. He was artistic. He was artistic and he thought maybe there would be some kind of parnasa in doing handcrafted designed kubot. That was one thing that he thought about. He had a teaching certificate from Torah Masaura, but um it's hard to know. Rabul Bloom, Rabbi Schmoo told me he would certainly have been uh voted the least likely to succeed in his class. Not because he wasn't intelligent, not because of any, you know, any lack of of abilities, but he was he his ability to to connect to people was somewhat limited. He took a tinus dur every shabas and he would sit in the base midrash whenever the other bakr went out to their various rebay. He stayed in the base midrash. He ate and and then went to the base midish and he would pass out stellidora cookies to anybody who would give him a devarator or pass out some dates to anybody who would give him a devartor. But he wouldn't speak he took a tinus dour. Um I don't know how close he was to to Rav Rutderman. He was certainly close to Ravd chron glass. That was certainly the figure who remained the most important figure, the most important model for him throughout his life and certainly the idea that an idea that Rabd spoke about a great deal that everybody has a mission in life. You'll be judged by how well you you fulfill that mission by nothing else. It's not somebody else's mission. It's your mission. Your mission doesn't happen. describe you describe in the book how he was shy at everything except for davening. Apparently when it came to davining whatever inhibited nature he had he let his guard down. Talk about that because you do highlight that several times in the book. He was the least inhibited davener I ever saw. He always davened from the front in the b when he was in a base midteraven from the front because he didn't want people turning around and staring at him. He simply could not contain himself as one person put it. He would look up. He would uh and and when he finished dabbing, if he was dabbing from the um you would look around and you'd expect to see Mashiach coming. You could not ex think that Mashiach wasn't coming. People who hosted him in America on his fundraising trips, even if they were even if they were two floors below, they'd hurt hear him early in the morning stomping and banging and shouting. People said if you didn't see him bench, you never saw benching. I mean, he would clap his hands before he would bench because he was so excited to be able to dab. The hosts talk about their children still dabbing. They still bench the way they saw a mayor bench. It was it was a transformative event. As one young man said upon watching him dabbing, he he said, "I learned two things from Mr. Davin. There's a ribonos alum and this man knows him well. Now people love numbers. They love statistics. Do we have any idea of just how many people Reb Mayor touched and influenced and obviously indirectly influenced? Do we have any idea just to gauge how much of an impact RER had from when he first tapped that first Jew on the shoulder in 1971 like you said when he was brought by Rayim Cass till the early 2000s till he was unable to do it anymore once his final illness set in. Depends on what you mean by influence because let's say he talked to 10 people a day and he talked to many more. You just make a keshbon up until 1984, we're talking about over 50,000 people that he had some contact with. And as he used to say, if they have a better impression of what of a fru that's also an effect, but it's so hard to to break it down to numbers, what Mendel Weinbach, the Roshibet or said, the Bali Chuba institutions as we know them would not exist if it weren't for Ramor Schuster. But if we talk about sheer numbers, we're talking in the tens of thousands. One summer in Heritage House, there were a thousand people who came through the doors, I think, of the women's heritage house. And every one of them went to seminary at some point over the course over the course of that summer. They all experienced the Shabas. How many people did he bring for Shabas? There were sometimes between 50 and 100 people he would be leading as he would disperse them at one house after another on Shabas. But you know then there are the people then there the children of those people and then there's all the people that the the the the uh and then there's the star catches. Let's not ignore the fact that so many of the people that he brought into the yeshiva for the first time went on to be superstars in the in in in our modern Jewish world. I mean Lori Patnik, the founder of the Jewish women's uh renaissance project uh he met her on a night at the hotel. She was fleeing from an Arab hostel. It was raining out a dreary rainy night. Nobody was there. There were no passers by. Why he was standing sentinel at the at the Koto makes no sense whatsoever. But she saw him and she recognized him because her sister had become religious a year before and had invited him when he was in Toronto on a fundraising trip had invited Lori to a Shabaton and she went up to him and said, "Do you remember me? I met you in such and such place." And then he got that night she went to Na Jerusalem eventually ended up at IAT another seminary the Ishur women's seminary I mean just her impact alone but you have Schlomma Goldberg a major Mhanak you have Nakam Braverman who founded HLA which became one of the biggest and most powerful branches of Aish you have authors Shiman Aposdorf who's written for him that have sold 250,000 copies copies. You I mean Artsko can certainly appreciate it what it means to have sold a quarter of a million copies of books like the uh you know his his survivors guide to Roshan or Survivor's Guide to Yum Kipper things that are passed out in in bulk by every almost every Kiru organization. You have a Jeremy Kagan who's won the national book award and is a runs a seminary in Jerusalem. This the number of stars who came through the number of families who became entire families. One person came in and then their siblings came. It's it's you. It's very hard. I say in the pre preface I once was at a a a vort for a vort for a friend of mine Balchuva and somebody who I knew from Kolo came in I knew he wasn't a Balchuva and I knew they could have never learned in the same base Midrush and I asked him I had sat next to this the second person who came in we had sat together at Rabi Kushalvkis for many years and I said Robit how do you come to this he said because the first family that he brought that Gishin came to was us. So many people in Jerusalem date themselves like the first Shabas, the first Shabas host. Who did Ra Mayor bring them to? He was an integral part. When I did the biography of Rab Noah Weinberg, most people skip the first step. They don't even say I was brought to the yeshiva by Rab Noah by by Rab Mayor Schuster. It's like understood. It's like starting the fairy tale once upon a time. You know it already. Everybody was brought by Rab Mayor Schuster. And when Ravnak would talk about the power of one, the power of one person to change the world, his example was always Ra Mayor Schustster. He was the example of one person who could change the world and it had nothing to do with anything any particular natural abilities. As Rab Noah always emphasized, he always would ask his students, "If Hashem were helping you, could you do it? You say you can't do it, but if Hashem were doing it for you or doing it with you, could you do it? So, of course, the answer to to that is yes. The power what he meant by the power of one was the power of one. Ramor Schustster understood that perhaps better than anybody. He believed in siata desmaya. He was sure that he would be the recipient of siata desmaya if he was Moser himself. if he gave his full khos to it and he aligned his purposes with hashem's purposes you know in the there's a project inspire video where he says at the end the most important thing in the world is kiru and that's how he lived his life he lived his life uh with total self-sacrifice but for him it wasn't self-sacrifice he was doing what theonam wanted of him and he was confident of his success in other words the the the amazing thing about This book in my opinion is is what do we learn from Ramire Schustster? And in some ways we learn more from Ramier Schuster than we learn from a a a great figure who we talk about who was born with prednatural abilities who had some unique talents who knew all of Shas at 13 and so forth and so on. From a mayor Shuster you have no you have no excuses. You can't get away from it. Why don't you do more? What's your excuse? You can't say well I wasn't he wasn't born in in a from home. He wasn't a mukas. He wasn't uniquely gifted in some obvious fashion other than his determination. But he shows us how does a person merit siata desmaya because everybody saw that about him. There was once a guy who wanted to start a Spanish branch of heritage house. He would take all the fundraising. He would run the place. So somebody said, so Rab Alber Melstein who ran Heritage House was the director said, "Well, so why do you want to be associated with Heritage House?" He said, "I want to be part of the SIA Desmaya that always attaches to everything that RA mayor does." And I want to add what was so extraordinary about Rebor is you're talking about people having excuses. Many people will say, "I need to be part of an organization. I need to be in charge of some kind of operation in order to draw people in." For the first decade and a half of what Reme was doing, he was merely a feeder to places like a Yeshiva neim. And like you said, so many people when they recounted their life story later on, sometimes they left out that first step because you know, Reme wasn't looking for the accolades. He wasn't looking for the recognition. And that was extraordinary in that he wasn't in charge of any official operation. He was merely the facilitator bringing these people to the door so to speak. Okay. There's sort of a myth about Ramire Schustster which I do want to dispel a little bit which is the myth is that he was a onetrick pony that all the only thing he could do was tap people on the shoulder or you know approach he didn't he didn't tap the women on the shoulder so he had more than that or ask them what if they knew what time it was or something like that. The fact of the matter is that in 1984 he created the heritage house. Two hostels one for men and one for women which had a tremendous impact and this was against most of the Baluva institutions did not want heritage house but he felt there had to be a middle station. And there had to be a middle ground where somebody could attend some classes but not fully enter into a yeshiva or a seminary where they could feel they could feel things out for a little bit before jumping in. And he felt that was important. He created that. He wasn't the only person who thought of the idea of a hostel but he was the only person who went out and raised the money for it uh and and made it happen. And it was an extremely influential uh institution on the entire on the entire uh kiru mo movement. Also in in 2000 he created a whole marit in Israel. He didn't I mean he raised the money for it but he came to rav mestein and he said to him we have to do something for the Israelis. There's nobody else coming. The inifat has closed. There's no traffic at the koto. We have to do something for the Israelis. So Rabbi Edelstein said to him, he said, "Romeire, there's just one problem. You don't speak Hebrew well and I don't speak Hebrew well. But that didn't stop him." So I asked Rabbi Edelstein, "So what did you do?" He said, "I just hitched myself to him like I always did and depended on his sataya that something would would come out of it." And something did come out of it. uh it's less known because it was an it was an Israeli program in 11 different centers or nine to 11 different centers uh in his lifetime and some of them are still going which also had their their impact too. He wasn't he he thought about what he did. He had his ideas. He had his perspective. He fought against he would not allow himself to become subject to any uh institution or board of directors. He wanted to control the situation because he did not want to be dependent upon a slow moving. He liked to do things fast. Rob Edelstein said he couldn't bear to be even at a at a a red light. If he was at a red light, he'd take a right turn and go around the block rather than stop. He couldn't He didn't like to stop. He didn't like to He was always moving. The one of the things that everybody talks about is how fast he moved. There was an all-state basketball player once challenged him to a race in the old city and he and that he was wearing gym the the basketball player was wearing gym gym shoes. He was 20 years younger than Ramire, but Ramire beat him. He also challenged him to a arm wrestling match once. If Rob Mayer wanted to do something, his determination was was sort of unstoppable. Uh I think his sense of urgency was another critical component. There was he once ran into a group of Mexicans at the hotel, the Mexican Jews, Jews vis Jews visiting from Mexico and uh there was a rabbi running a Spanish program in Asia named Rabbender Hakamovich. He's the same one who wanted to start the Spanish speaking heritage house. Ram mayor runs up from the coto, goes up to into the middle of the old city and he finds this revakamovich. He says, "Come quick. Come quick. There's a group at the coto. I can't speak to them. It's Spanish, but you have to come." So Rav Hakamovich said to him, "What do you mean I have to come? They're gone already. You think they waited? You think they're waiting down there?" And Ramire was insistent, "No, you have to come." And he said, "But it's pointless." He finally realized it would be quicker for him to walk down to the hotel and come back than it would be uh to convince Rob Mayor to just leave him alone. So he went down there and the group was still standing there. So uh he asked them, "Why did you wait?" And they said, "We don't know exactly why we waited, but we saw that it was so important to him that we couldn't leave. It was so important to him that we couldn't leave." uh that's he lived his life with a sense of urgency which is he believed in what he was doing. He believed entirely in in what he was doing and uh and that's really the secret of the desay that he had and he really lived for Keshu and to do his to do his routon and he did what he did despite living a life that was not always easy. who was fraught with tremendous challenge whether you allude to some of the financial challenges that he experienced over the years. You have a chapter about the passing of his daughter which is a very trying time. Talk about that as well his beloved daughter who was killed in a in a tragic accident. This is the story that probably the best known story about Rabbi Schustster. It's the one, you know, I talked to friends of mine who were in or at the time, people who preceded me by five or six years and it's the first thing they always mention when they talk about Rabbi Schustster. He his oldest daughter, her nickname was Shotsi, but everybody knew her as Shotsi. She was one woman who was lived in Ezra's Torah where they lived for one summer said everybody on the block knew her. Everybody every she captivated everybody. She said on the way back to America after that summer, the only thing my husband and I talked about on the on the plane was Shhatzi. It was a she was a captivating child on Isra. She asked her mother for a few uh you know for a few lero to go to the mid and buy some gum on Isra and she was hit by a truck Arab Arab driven truck on her way to the makit and uh Rav Schustster was absolutely besided with her. He loved her dearly. But nevertheless, after two days of sitting Shiva, he became extremely agitated. Extremely agitated because he thought of all those people who were going to be at the hotel and that might be their only chance. That visit to the Kotel might be their only chance to find out something about their Yiddish guide. And if he weren't there, the opportunity would be lost. And he sent a shila to Raash sacred saddaka and he said it's picn my being there is picn that surely is da sitting shiva and rabalash didn't didn't say his calculation was wrong he said it was right but he said no one will understand and no one will understand it will hurt you in your subsequent work you can't go it's it' be marus in with respect to everybody everybody else it won't be understood it. And among the people who didn't understand it was his wife. I mean, she told me this is the space of close to 50 years. She told me how much it hurt her. She said, "What? You can't give a week to your to your oldest child?" I mean, she she couldn't understand. You have to understand her situation. and she's a a great lady in her own right, but because Ram mayor didn't brag about anything he did and never talked about it, didn't share stories, she didn't have any of even the vicarious pleasure of knowing that her husband was doing great things. She only began to really know who he was, what he had achieved during the Shiva period. And this book has been you know a tremendous nama for her too to see to you know to know whom she was married to and what her sacrifices were. In many respects I would say her sacrifices were greater because she was had to take on by far the bulk of the parenting in the household. She had to be the figure she was a dominant in in the child rearing. She brought the kids to America to see their grandparents on both sides by herself because he did not leave Erits Israel until he had to for fundraising. And only now is she discovering fully what what his accomplishments were. That didn't happen so much during uh during his during his lifetime. But in any event, um, when Rav Elashv heard this story, urged the question, he was so struck by the person of such purity who could think about going to the Kotel and I I believe he did go to the Kotel on on the Shabas because it was no he so because it wouldn't be morning before and he did go to the Kotel. He just couldn't restrain himself entirely uh from going. But Rabbi Ashv came and made a shiva call and uh and this was something very rare for Rabbi Ashv to leave mashim. He didn't he didn't leave easily and uh it was a not not mak it wasn't a small thing it was a it was a big thing and uh but that you know indicates how he was totally taken aback by the question that ra directed to him. Now, the book has dozens, hundreds perhaps of fascinating stories and anecdotes, but there's one story that you mention was Rabbi Rayor's favorite story about brother Adrien. I don't know how much time we have to go through so many stories, but at least the story of brother Adrien, take a moment and tell us about that because you yourself describe it as Rayor's favorite. It Well, it's the one he did if he ever could be forced to speak at at a fundraising gathering. uh it's the one he often he often told this Adrien the father Adrien was a Catholic seminarian he came to Israel and Rav Romero met him at the Koto and he asked him whether he was Jewish and he thought to himself would he like to go to yeshiva so he thought to himself well that's interesting I'd certainly like to know something more about Judaism it is the the mother religion of in his in his lights so he went to he did very well there. And at some point though, one of his parents became sick. He had to go home. He was happy at Asian. He was and he went to and he went to to say goodbye to Rabb Noah. And he mentioned when he was there uh that he that he was Catholic, that he was a seminarian. Rab Noah blew up. He was furious at him. He said, "You know, I collect money for this yeshiva to bring to for Jewish boys to introduce them to Torah. You stole you. This is this is theft. You had no right to come here under false pretenses." He says, "The only thing that you could possibly do to be Matakan, to correct what you did here, is if you ever come across a a Jewish boy who knows nothing about Torah, and you can share something of what you might have learned here, that might have some benefit." Anyhow, Father Adrien went back to America. He became, I think, the principal of a school in Vermont, and there was a Jewish family nearby. It was a very uh it was a private school, a prep school, a Catholic prep school, but it was known as the academically superior school in that area. So when this young man's parents were looking for a school for him, and they were executives, they were highly educated, they naturally sent him to this Catholic school, and wasn't a problem for him. He was raised in a very reformed home. Um, and as he got through the end of his senior year, I don't think anybody even knew that he wasn't, uh, Catholic, uh, he, the father Adrian called him in. He said, "You only have one credit you need. You don't have to go to classes. Maybe you'll just write a paper on some religious figure." And this young man went to his reformed temple. He went into the library. And he decided to write a paper on Rabbi Aaka. So he came back with his paper on Rabbi Aka. And father Adrien said, "Why did you choose to write about a Jewish figure?" He said, "I'm Jewish." So, Father Adrien remembered his promise to Rabb Noah. Now, this could have been 10 years later. It could have been much later than that. He remembered his promise to to Rabn Noah and he started learning with him. They started learning Mishna. He taught him Rashi script. He taught him a variety of things that he would not otherwise have had. And this young man wanted to go to near Israel. This is how I know that the story is true. I I mean I this is the the the aid the the mccor for this story is the late Rabbi Tendler who was the uh principal of the high school in Ner Israel. I think what happened is that he went to a camp during the summer. He worked in one of the camps and Rebbitson Tendler was the nurse in this camp. Anyhow at some point he told her I want to talk to your husband. I would like to come to Nar Israel as a student as a student there. And Rabbi Tendler met with him and he told him he could come but the boy's parents had no interest whatsoever in his going there. A few years later, Rabbi Tendler was in Israel and he was at the hotel and he met a fy looking young man and he came and introduced himself and he said I'm the same one who couldn't come to parents wouldn't let him go to near Israel but they let me come to Israel and I went to Orsame and so Rav Tedler was able to confirm this whole story he's a source of this now the impact from the time that Rame brought him brought father Adrien into uh into Asia to the time that this young man became came from could have been 15 or 20 years. I mean there's a there could be a major time span. He went from being a seminar father Adrien went from being a a seminarian to being the principal of the school and so forth. That took time but uh as a friend of mine Ravakov Steinberg who is very close to Rav Schuster and he's really the central figure in chapter five of the book when I describe the the historical circumstances within which Rav Schuster worked. He said he believes he told the story because he was showing that there's a spiritual conservation of energy where something is done with pure intent as and his bringing father Adrian to the to Asia it will pay off its benefits sometime down the line we don't know where but it will pay off its benefits so uh when you ask me to des what was his impact can you give us some numbers you don't know the impact on all those that he touched who' never went to yeshiva but they may not have intermarried or they may have started They may have been more open to Shabas or if one of their children decided to go to yeshiva. It wasn't as foreign to them as it would have been if they had never met Rev Rav Shuster. And this was just the spiritual conservation of of energy. What starts with a pure intention has has results. Now you quote in the book the famed ding of suki and ding musical fame where he describes that the well-known song just one chabas composed and sung by David was actually inspired by none other than reb mayor himself talk about that for a [Music] second just one shot is coming with me. Let's sing and dance through the sky with our spirit so high. Well, I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even know the song. So, when I saw this in a Mishbaka article, it sort of was lit up a light in my eye. I know Morai Bened. I know I know Suki. I know I I don't know Ding, but I know Suki. And uh but I really didn't know much about the song. But he describes there that they were in Erit Israel together. He Morai Ben Davidid and and and Ding were in Erit Israel together and they would go down to the Kotel on Friday nights and they would see all the people being lined up and and and and that Ram would then walk with them to their various hosts throughout Jerusalem. He would get home. He himself would not get home till about 10 o'clock at night after having dropped off the all these people at v at various homes throughout between the hotel between the Damascus gate and uh and his neighborhood of Ezra's Torah. So it was uh uh and that's and that inspired the song. But if you expect me to sing the song, I won't be able to because No, that's quite all right. Now, Yonison, you've written biographies on Rabyakov, Rav Destler, Rabbi Mosha Sherer, uh I don't know who I'm leaving out. Lieutenant Bernbound and Mike Tress. Mike Tress, of course, they called him Mike. How was it different writing this book on Rib Mayor uh compared to the others? The truth is every book is different. Um every book is different. And in the introduction to Rabyakov, I I make a point there. I I describe what my theory, my philosophy of Jewish biography was. And Rabyakov was something of a kittish in the world of Jewish biography because it didn't fit. We didn't try to fit him into some mold of what a guttle was. I mean, as I say there in the introduction, the pisqueak that are quoted here are quoted because they were raakos. If he's important enough for a book, he's important enough to have his pisque halaka quoted, but not because they necessarily are the consensus on any issue. Every sing what makes a good Jewish biography of an important Torah leader is that you understand something of his uniqueness. You're able to bring out his uniqueness. So, uh, Rome was not a great Torah scholar. He certainly was a dedicated uh, student of Torah. He always had kuses throughout his life. One time he was in the hospital prepping for a gallbladder operation, was already admitted to the hospital at night and he had his kabusa come over and take him out of the hospital so they could learn together and then snuck him back into snuck himself back into the hospital. So he was dedicated to his learning. That's that's for sure. But um you know again Mike Tres wasn't um Mike Tress also had no yeshiva background. uh the difference everybody is so unique in their way. I once wrote an article about if Rabra Mendelovitz would have come to America when Rabyakov did or Rabakov would have come to America when Ravagra did. So Rabyakov would not have created Torahas but Rav Shraaf would not have been able to lead and already formed to give each one had his particular role in his particular time. So each one is absolutely different. If if you don't feel that you've never met that that RA mayor is different than anybody you've met or any other biography that you've um encountered then I failed then I feel I've failed as an author. That's why it's so I I I'll share with you that when somebody says to me the art scroll biography sometimes I've a friend of mine once in a Jewish observer article wrote about the art scroll biography of Raf Shragoen Fo Mendelovitz and I called him up I got his answering machine I left a very sharp message on the phone I said Rabbari don't ever do that again publishers do not write books authors write books there is no such such thing as I do not write a standardized biography whether it's art scroll or anybody else. These are my books and I don't want them to be called the art scroll biography. They are art scroll biographies and it's you know I'm deeply appreciative certainly with the Rebakov the the uh the ability to partner with Rab Nelson that was my first book and of course because of Rabyakov's prestige in the American yeshiva world our scroll was very careful about the book but it's my book uh it's not only my book but it's my book and uh and I don't like you know I don't like to anybody to to like it seems to me that when you call the art scroll biography you're saying that there's a formula and there are no formulas everyone is now speaking speaking of you for a moment speaking of you who would you say over the course of your life looking back and for many more years you've had a very successful career in writing you've influenced so many people through your books through your wonderful columns who has influenced you most profoundly uh when you look back both on a personal level and also as far as your writing career, a personal level, my father. Well, I'm not sure. It may actually be my mother and I'd like to think it was my father, but they bring very, very different things to the table. Um, and I'm coming out with a collection of essays, many of which are autobiographical, that I've written over the years, and my father is no longer with us. My mother is and still can take a lot of joy in what her children do. I would say in terms of writing in terms of writing my uh high school uh my my AP English teacher in high school and what she did for me was to tell me that I wasn't a very good writer. I mean I remember that the essay that I wrote I thought it was a brilliant discussion of the Gore vidal William Buckley debates in the 1968 convention I think the Republican convention were very vitriolic and I thought I dissected them brilliantly and I sent it off as my essay to Harvard and she flunked me on the paper so and I guess Harvard wasn't that much more impressed either because I didn't get in there either. So, and then I you know she always I I learned from her and I don't know if students today can still get this writing is a skill. It's not a natural gift. I mean my father was a good writer. I'm a good writer. My kids are good writers. There is some inherent you know love of words but it's still a skill. You get better at it. You get better at it by doing it. If she hadn't convinced me I wasn't very good. I brought back my papers from my freshman year of college at the University of Chicago and I was getting straight A's. I gave her a whole pile of papers and she looked at a few of them and she said, "But you don't write any better than you did in high school." So, and uh you know that's by the time I'm a junior five beta cap going to Yale law school and I still didn't impress my my high school English teacher. But you know that is if you get somebody who cares enough about you to make you better. Uh that's important. Uh law school, I think you I did you do pick up some writing skills. I wrote a long article for the Yale Law Journal and that you know there's a certain type of writing. I I wrote a lot. I preferred writing long papers to taking tests. So you do a lot of it and you get better. I hope um and I read a lot. you get better because uh I always was a big big big reader and you begin to see you identify things in certain writers that that are good and then you figure out well how did that work how did they do it and uh lot I used to have a friend who who's written a lot of books but he told me he never read any books I said so don't expect me to read yours because I'm not going to um it's you know it's it I I mean, many of my closest relationships have been formed through writing. Um, I'd say the person who I was probably closest to over many over 20 25 years was Rob Nissen Walpen Zak Labra, the editor of the Jewish Observer and he and Robnelen Sherman from Art Scroll were best friends going back to their days in Toradas along with Rob Mendel Weinbach is the third one of that triumvirate. All of them were superb writers and those relationships with Rev Nusen, with Rev Nissen Walpin. Uh, you know, they're the most precious relationships to me. But I was already a pretty good writer before Rev Nissen got his hands on me and a pretty good writer before you. But but the love of writing, the love of the power of words was something that certainly brought us together. has certainly been responsible for most of the many of the most rewarding relationships in my life. I should say that my mother was a pretty good editor of of letters from camp and my wife is a awfully good editor today and sometimes when she doesn't like a column one this week I I just say well everyone can't be the best. It's a line one of my kids gave me once. Every week can't be the best. She said, "But you knew I wouldn't like this one, and that's why you didn't show it to me." Well, again, we're very grateful to you for your timeless literary contributions to the Jewish world. Uh, you've been an icon of sorts in that sense. So, we thank you for your past contributions. We thank you for this newest book, which we're excited here at Arts Scroll to share with the Jewish world. A book that I'm sure is going to be very wellreceived. Then we want to wish you continued inspiring through the written word. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you so much. [Music]