Rabbi Binyomin Pruzansky — Stories that Inspire Greatness

[music] >> Welcome to Inside ArtScroll, where the books that we read and the people that write them come to life. It is a personal pleasure and a to welcome Rabbi Benjamin Prusansky shlita to ArtScroll studios. >> The pleasure's all mine. What a what a schus it is for me to be here with you, Rabbi Landau. Rabbi Prusansky, this is like your 15th book. >> Yeah, hey, listen. Time flies when you're having fun. >> Mazel tov. Stories that inspire greatness. A beautiful cover actually, by the way. I'm sure you did it yourself. >> Thank you Rabbi Eli Kroen and everybody else. >> He's unbelievable. >> Um did you when you wrote your first first book, you thought that you'd be having a conversation about your 15th book? >> No, never dreamed. Never dreamed. >> Okay, so take us back all the way to that point and then we're going to jump right back into Stories that Inspire Greatness. Why did you write your first book? What did What happened? >> Okay. Well, you know, I I always wanted to inspire on some level. Actually, my first attempt at writing a book, I was writing a mussar sefer. And I thought maybe that would inspire people. And I actually sent it in to ArtScroll. >> In English? It was in English? >> It was in English. And they told me they don't want to hear mussar. I said, "What do they want to hear?" "They want stories." So, I said, "Hey, stories." And it got me thinking, you know, there are stories out there that could inspire even better sometimes than a mussar sefer. >> Because it brings the lessons to life. And that's really what got me started. I started searching for stories. And with siyata d'Shmaya, little by little, we started uncovering the godliness, the greatness of every Yid. Sometimes great Yidden, sometimes average Yidden who are really great. >> That's beautiful. At what point did you realize you had enough stories to write your first book? >> It was a process, but once you have a goal in mind and you know you want to you want to do it, nothing gets in the way. Ain over I'm over the Hudson. So I had a Hudson to put out a book. I started collecting the stories and like I said it was the Shamaya and I started practicing the stories at the Shabbos table and friends and before you knew it we realized we're getting we're getting this. >> something. >> We have something here and let's go for it. Let's go for the gold. And Baruch Hashem it turned into my first book. It was called Stories for the Jewish Heart and then it evolved after that once I was in the book industry of writing stories people started to tell me their stories and little by little it just began. >> Let's jump ahead to this book, Stories that Inspire Greatness. What's different about this book than your previous 14? >> That's a great question. >> I know. >> [laughter] >> On this book I was looking for, you know, something specific. Other books, you know, every book has its theme. And in this book I tried to bring out what I what the title's about, greatness. Can we bring out the greatness of people? And really it's something that spoke to me because I feel in our door we're all looking for something. We're looking at the stars, we're looking at the Gedoilem. We're looking at different things that are going to try to inspire us. And really what we're seeking is greatness and how do I get there? And I tried to put it into print. Stories that would inspire you to recognize your own greatness. >> What's what is greatness? >> Greatness in Hebrew is Godless, is greatness. I think greatness is you know, it's that inner feeling when someone is feeling a little lost and he doesn't know can I do it or maybe I can't and he starts to say oh no I can't and then there's an inner spark. It's his neshama calling out to him telling him you could do it. Come on, I know you have it in you. You have the godliness and that's what we have a neshama. A neshama is a neshama that Hashem gives us and we thank Hashem every day. Hashem gave you gave me a neshama. Modani lifnecha. Thank you Hashem for giving me life. Now what are you going to do every day? And I believe Hashem is sort of rooting for us every day. When you get up, he gave you a neshama and now he woke you up, he gave you life. What are you going to do with your life? And it's as if Hashem is a boskol saying go for it. I believe in you. I know you could do it. Bring out your greatness today in so many different ways. When I say a great person what's the first person that comes into your mind? >> Besides your wife. >> A great person comes to mind a godol, a godol hador like a Rav Moshe Feinstein. >> Mhm. >> A godol who you look up to. That's that's someone who, you know, we all look up to the argedolim. But then there are argedolim in our in our lives as well. You you look up to your father, your mother, your rebbe. I look at my rebbe and gain inspiration from my rebbe. That's a great person. >> I know you had a particular relationship with Rav Dovid Kviat, right? >> Yes, yes. >> That's greatness. >> That was greatness. >> Where did you Where did you get a shiyur there? How did that happen? >> So this is, you know, part of what really made me who I am and actually I write about it in the book. >> I >> [laughter] >> I spent summers in camp. There was a camp called Camp Manovu. It's no longer around but a fellow author of Yechiel Spira was the head counselor of Camp Manovu and perhaps that's where I got my training in stories cuz he's a he's an amazing storyteller. >> Beautiful. >> And in that camp, the rosh yeshiva of the camp was Rav Dov Be'er Fiat. And I used to watch him in silence as he would, you know, quietly be this great godol sitting there, learning Torah under a tree, undisturbed, just writing. And later in life, he was actually typing because his handwriting got a little shaky, so he started to type. He learned how to type when he was almost 80 years old because he realized, you know, I can't put out my Torah because people can't read my writing. So, someone told him, "If If you learn how to type, then you could put out more sefarim." And he ended up putting out 10 more sefarim from his typing abilities. And that's where I gained the >> That's greatness. Yeah, that's greatness. >> He pushed himself. >> Yeah. >> Against all odds because he And he type You know how he typed? Like this. One, two. Very slow, but diligent and hours. >> And I would ask him questions. And I realized, "Wow, this is something special." And I would start taking walks with him. And he answered my questions. There was a particular time in my life when I wasn't yet dedicated 100% to learning Torah and spreading Torah. I was 19 years old when I first met him. And really that took me on trajectory of learning Torah, of seeking my own godliness, and learning Torah, and becoming as great as I can be. >> Do people come over to you and share stories of greatness? >> They come over all the time. And sometimes in unexpected ways. You know, someone will meet me in the coffee room in a shul and say, "You know, I know you like stories. I have a story to share." And they'll they'll tell me a story. And sometimes, you know, it will fall flat because I don't feel like It might be inspiring to you, but will everyone feel like this is a story that's going to change my life? And what I like to do is, you know, when I hear a story, I love every story I hear, you know, and I I thank the person for sharing the story with me. But when it comes to actually putting out a book, I although I maybe only published or wrote up 95 stories in this particular book, but there are 100 stories that I heard and I didn't put in a lot of those stories cuz I put in the stories that I felt would make an impact. >> It's really interesting. You live in Westgate in in >> Yes, I do. >> I was there for a kiddush recently and nice kiddush and I'm walking out and like a 13-year-old kid comes over to me and he says, "You like stories, right?" I said, "Of course." He said, "Can I share a story with you?" I said, "Of course." And he shared me I'm not going to say the story here. You have to buy my third book at my tisch. He shared me a story that was off the charts. >> There you go. >> And like you could you could could get your story you people you think someone's going to have the best story, you're not sure. And then a random 13-year-old recently bar mitzvah kid is was still in one piece. >> [laughter] >> He shares with me a story which was hit it out of the park. >> Right, right. These are stories that happen all the time. I live in Westgate. I have a shul in Westgate. >> Right. >> And oh actually I I say a lot of the stories on Friday night we have a beautiful minyan and I often speak and then I'll share the latest stories. Hashem sends these interesting stories. And sometimes the stories happen in Westgate and I'll hear the story from someone and it happens right there and then and I feel inspired. I share with the oilam and you feel like you you tapped into something, a certain godliness that so many people around us have this inner greatness and maybe it's bottled in they didn't share if he wouldn't have shared that story with you, you wouldn't be able to share it with the world. So I always encourage people say your stories, not only say your stories, write them down and then share at your Shabbos table and let your kids hear about the stories and they could be inspired and then let them share their stories and and your your whole Shabbos table changes. >> For sure. Do you ever have this that people come over to you like Friday night they're like, "Oh my god, I didn't have a chance to to get a story. Can you share me a story? Tell me stories I can share at my Shabbos table." I don't know if you ever have that. I have that a lot of times. >> It happens. I I try to say, you know, I'm not a you know, throwing a quarter >> A story machine. [laughter] >> a story, but I'll try to help them. I'll I'll ask them what what do you want a story on? If it's on the parasha, you know, you usually have a story on that parasha, something that I spoke about, but but it happens, you know, and we and we try to give them the story that's going to help them in their particular situation, but everything I see filled with stories, I'm sure you see this as well, >> Sure. >> that every story talks to different people. Sometimes you put in a story you don't think it's so great, and then someone says, "You know, that story changed my life." >> Namaste. Literally. And by the way, if anyone's really looking for a story, every single week ArtScroll puts out a beautiful weekly thing which is in a lot of the shuls, and there's always great stories in there, and just a little uh spoiler alert, as soon as this book hits the shelves, there will be stories from your book in it. And then people could could get a get a taste, but I'm giving a warning that if they taste it they're going to want to buy the book, so be careful. >> It's a good warning. How long did it take you to write this book? >> This is uh when did you start? >> It's It's about a year process of you know, it's it's first finding the stories, listening to stories, hearing other speakers even say stories that I might be inspired by, and whatever inspired me, and then I share it with my uh uh shul often or friends, and I feel like that's inspiring I share with my family, and we say, "Wow, that's a great story, you know, that should be in a book." And little by little, piece by piece, story by story, day by day, inspiration by inspiration, little by little we have that story forming until we have what we have in front of us, a book full of these stories that inspire greatness. >> What's the hardest part about writing a book, about being an author? >> I think I think it's finding the right story. Sometimes it's finding that story that's really going to resonate, then it's writing it up in a way that you feel it's going to connect and tell the whole story. Now, we try to keep it short right? Because today's day and age, who could read very long stories? It's hard. It's hard. It came harder. So, in a way, our job became a little harder because we have to pack it all in in a smaller package, but to give the person that that flash of inspiration. I think that's one of your books. >> It is. >> Okay, we're pushing the book over there. >> Thank you. >> That flash of inspiration or that flash of greatness, we want to we want to give them a bite-size piece of that, so it impacted them in some way. And what I tried doing this book actually is not just give you a story, but I want you to take away something. Take it with you and actually let that story sit with you that day. Maybe you'll be inspired to find your inner greatness as well. >> I noticed that in the book. It's such a nice feature that at the end of every single story, you did Have you ever done that before? >> I didn't do it in this way. >> This way. In this way, I really I I I took that story and I and I I milked it for all the inspiration that it has. And I said, "Here, I want the reader to take this inspiration." Now, I know a lot of times readers want to come out on their own with their inspiration. Why have to feed it to them? But I I I felt that if I could give you the inspiration that inspired me and I could put it into writing in a short way, and you could take that nugget, you could take it and and really change because of it for the better and be inspired, be driving better, learn better, be a better husband, be a better friend. And really have a greater connection with that guy. >> Wonderful. >> Just a little selfishly, one of the things that I think this book is great at is I'm going to take it to my Shabbos table or take a look at it on Friday and have Shabbos and take a story and I don't have to think if I don't have time to think through, so what's cuz I'm a big believer that after you say a story, you need to unpack it. You have to unpack it or else it's just it's just noise. >> But you unpacked it for us. >> Thank thank you. >> Hopefully we'll we'll gain from it, Rabbi Zansky. >> Right. Right. You know, listen, whoever packs it, you know, or unpacks it, the main thing is that they get the message. Sometimes for for children, you want to paint the message. You know, and a parent could say, you know, this is the message I took out, but I'll take out what I thought was the message of the story. >> Um I noticed also there's pictures. Is this your first book with pictures or you've had? >> I've always had some pictures, but I always feel, especially in today's day and age, when with so many pictures and videos screaming at you and you know, you you need pictures today in order to feel that connection to the story and to be inspired. So, I I tried to find as many pictures that I could of some of the good dialogue, some of the things happening and some of the great photographers out there that Remes are mission and Glenn who shared some of these amazing pictures. >> I also noticed something very nice about the pictures, they're extremely clear. >> Yeah. >> They're like lifelike. Like they you'd think that on a regular page of a non-colored book, you know, we're used to what we had when we were children. This is a different level. It's 4K. It's like it's very sharp. It's nice, too. >> It's right. It's right. >> noticed another interesting thing. I don't know if you noticed this, that sometimes the pictures are at the end of the story. >> Okay. >> I like that cuz like you read the story and then you're like, oh, this is the person. And it drives it home cuz we learn visually. >> It's true. It's true. Cuz I didn't want to give it away in the beginning [clears throat] maybe who the story was about. So, you you wait till the end and you see, oh, this is who it is. Wow. He's an inspiration. >> Can you share like I don't want to say the whole book, but like you share like one story about a story or one particular episode or something that's in this book that people could get a little taste so that they should just go out there and buy it as soon as they can? >> You got it. >> You know, honestly, I just want to I love when you talk say stories. I just want to hear a story. >> [laughter] >> And I'll put it in my book. >> We'll do our best. You could write it. You know, listen, the idea is to to spread it. Spread the inspiration. Write the story. Tell the story. But, you know, one of the most inspiring individuals I think you'll agree with me in the last in our times at least was Reb Zechariah Wallerstein. >> For sure. Hands down. >> He had a way of delivering and getting the message across and I always used to talk to him and call him about stories. And still I'm being inspired from his stories that he said and through Artscroll anytime you get to see some of these stories come to life. And he was such an amazing individual. So, in this book I have I have several stories of him and I'll I'll share with you one of them that I thought was was great. It really shows you greatness. So, Reb Zechariah, as you know, had this great organization called Ohr Naava among many other organizations that he that that he was involved in. And he has a seminary and high school, so he was all over. Besides inspiration for everyone for for going after the cloud because he became a a cloud individual. So, one year he was making the Ohr Naava dinner, which is their highlight and that is really how they raise the money, the funds to keep Ohr Naava and all its other institutions going. Problem was that the dinner was a few weeks away and only 75 people signed up. Now, he had booked the whole Prospect Hall. It was fit for a thousand people. They were expecting a thousand people. They have 75 people, a few weeks to go, and the secretary says, "Rabbi Wallerstein, what should we do? What What are we going to do?" And he's like, "I don't know. Should we cancel the event?" And they don't want to lose their money, you know, there's a lot of money involved in in in making a dinner as as you can understand. So, he wasn't sure what to do, but they had to do something. He said, "Listen, I'm going to go daven Mincha and I'll daven Mincha and after Mincha maybe we'll have siyata d'Shmaya we'll we'll talk about it then." He goes to Shomrei Shabbos in Borough Park and he davens, "Hashem, send me siyata d'Shmaya. What should I do? Should I make the dinner? SHOULD I CANCEL THE DINNER?" And then as he goes outside, he meets Reb Simcha Soloveitchik. And Reb Soloveitchik says to him, "Wallerstein, you look down. What's what's going on?" And he says, "I'll tell you the truth." And he told him, "It's brown. We're having this dinner, and I don't know what to do." He says, "Don't cancel the dinner. Hear this story first." And he tells him a story. It's a story in a story. And he tells him there was once a farmer. His name was Yankel the farmer. And Yankel the farmer goes out to his farm one day and he sees this 25-ton boulder that was always there. And all of a sudden he hears a bass call that says, "Yankel." >> It was a voice from heaven THAT SAID, "YANKEL." HE LOOKS UP. "PUSH THE ROCK. PUSH THE ROCK." HE'S LIKE, "OKAY." He heard Hashem tell him push the rock. So, he goes over to this 25-ton boulder and he he tries pushing it and he thought maybe miraculously it's going to push and it's going to roll and nothing happens. And the next day he goes out and he hears THE BASS GO, "YANKEL, PUSH THE ROCK." AND THEN AGAIN, HE'S TRYING TO PUSH THE ROCK AND nothing Day after day, this goes on for several months. And one day he goes out there and the Yaitzer Hara is there and the Yaitzer Hara says, "YANKEL, WHO YOU KIDDING? YOU KNOW you can't push this rock. It's not happening. You are morning entertainment. We watch you every day from heaven seeing you try to do this. You know it's not going to happen. Just forget it." And he's a little distressed. He's down. Next day he comes out and he hears the bass call ONE MORE TIME. "YANKEL, PUSH THE ROCK." AND HE'S LIKE, "HASHEM, YOU KNOW I CAN'T PUSH THE ROCK. IT'S not going to happen." "Yankel," the bass call comes out AND SAYS, "YOUR JOB IS TO PUSH THE ROCK. My job is to move the rock. Yankel, you keep pushing CUZ YOU'RE THE BEST ROCK PUSHER there is." And that's what Yankel did every day. One day he's walking into town and he hears a cry and they say, "OH NO, SAVE MY HUSBAND. MY HUSBAND FELL UNDER THE WAGON. HIS WHEEL WENT OUT AND HE'S STUCK. WE NEED 10 men to move this pick up the wagon to save him. Young girl says, "One second." He runs in there, he lifts him up because now he has the strength of 10 men CUZ EVERY DAY HE was pushing that rock. He developed his struggle muscle, and he was able to pick him up only because he was the greatest rock pusher. Said Rabbi Zilberstein to RABBI WALLACHSTEIN, "YOUR JOB is to MAKE THE DINNER. YOUR JOB IS TO KEEP PUSHING, and Hashem's job is to make it a success and bring you the money that you need." And Rabbi Wallachstein took that lesson. He told his secretary, "We're making the dinner." And it was the most successful dinner that he ever had. Over 900 people attended. And Rabbi Wallachstein brought out the lesson. You got to work on your struggle muscle. Keep on pushing every day. Hashem wants us to push, and he'll do the rest. He'll remove the rocks in the way of your life and give you what you need. >> What unbelievable, beautiful. So happy I asked you to say something. >> [laughter] >> What a story. >> Now the Landau family has something to share at 5 Towns In-Motion. >> That's right. Problem is that I think we have your book maybe or we're going to get it, so um also Tati wants to say the story is not the kids. What's next? >> What's next is we have to keep coming up with ways to inspire our youth, you know. We we we we have to find ways in whether it's through speeches or speaking or or writing. I think that's our our goal. That's our goal. That's your goal. That's my goal. We have to inspire the next generation. And now more than ever, it's up to us writers to put out content, the stories through the written content or whether it's through videos to try to keep our next generation inspired on what the real goal is, and that's kavod shamayim. That's becoming a a ben Torah, closer to Hashem, uh working on their emunah, their bitachon. And so, bezrat Hashem, I plan on keeping going strong, keep on putting out more books, and doing whatever it takes to inspire that greatness. >> Did the Did you ever think of maybe writing a book that's specific for the youth? I'm not talking about a children's book. A book like for teenagers, bachurim, girls. >> Yeah, I I actually did. And and it it it sort of inspired this work because I I I wanted to put out something that would inspire our the teenage boys and the teenage girls. But it needs its own focus, I think, and it's it's It's actually harder than writing a story book. But I think it's a great idea, you know what I mean? >> Let's Let's work on it. Let's cover it. Okay. >> Prus [laughter] and >> I think it's a great idea. >> and Landa. Prusansky and Landa. How does that sound? >> I don't know if it'll fit on the cover, you know, to have so many names on. But yes, the more the merrier. But the bottom line is, that's what we have to do. I think I think it's up to us to do our best to try to inspire, and that's why we see these events happening in Clai So, at the area Torah event, you know, thousands of people going into a stadium, tens of thousands. >> Tens of thousands. And you know what I noticed when I was there, and you were there as well. >> Sure. So many children. >> It was so beautiful. >> So beautiful little little children and they're dancing with shach, they're singing songs, Torah is a simcha to me more. And that's all that they're looking up to the gedolim. And the gedolim were calling out to them, "You're our next generation. You're the next Adire Torah." I think that was their message over there. I think that's our message as authors. We are looking to inspire the next generation, and we'll do whatever it takes. And with the help of ArtScroll, of course. >> And the Ribono shel Olam. >> And the Ribono shel Olam making it happen. He's the one who pushes the rock. He's the one who moves the rock. >> Right. >> He's the one who makes it happen, the siyata d'Shmaya, that if we give it our all, and we try our best, and that's really the message of this book. You try your best, and Hashem will do the rest. >> Rabbi Prusansky, it was so gishmak to talk to you. Very refreshing. The book is beautiful. I highly encourage everyone to go out there and buy it. And you should continue to inspire the next Sidor one person at a time and experience the the joy, the simcha that it brings. >> And that is the greatest joy. The greatest joy in life is when you can inspire yourself to become as great as you can be. >> Thank you so much for your time. Shkoyach. >> [music] [music]