Begun Interview From the Project Inspire Convention 2021

we have amazing guests with us here from florida we have uh grandma grandma joan and aunt linny from florida two sisters um we're very familiar with project inspire with the two of you of course because um tova and jay begun are very involved with us and so uh this is jay's mom and jay's aunt jane tova's aunt joan and lily if i can ask you both you know just first to give me an idea of the your background where you grew up where you're from give us an idea jewishly how you grew up okay sure basically we grew up in brooklyn we called it flatbush but it was not the it was not the orthodox flatbush that everybody knows my father was was very very jewishly oriented in every which way he used to give bar mitzvah lessons he was very very versed in in torah believe it or not even though we didn't keep specifically a kosher home but we we didn't eat traf either i don't think as far as i can remember anyway he always we always had jewish music you know in the house you know and obviously you know we would listen to it you know that that was really part of our upbringing talk to me uh joan a little bit about jay uh his journey a little bit in terms of you know him going off to yeshiva et cetera give me an idea of jay growing up etc yeah well basically jay's journey started his jewish journey i should say started uh at the university of pennsylvania he would bring boys home to our house for shabbos because i guess for some reason i was having a friday night meal when he was in college so these boys that he brought home i thought were oh ultra ultra religious i said what are you getting yourself into jay i would say that these boys were so religious but the rest is history these were only conservative boys and i thought they were religious but they were wonderful kids and that's that's his journey it started there at u of p he would go to the hill ale and it was not stimulating enough for him and he worked his way up into orthodox talk to me a little bit about uh the last year um you know specifically tovah and jay have been involved in project inspire for a long time they're one of the most special couples that i know and you should certainly be very proud both of you talk to me about what it means to you what it meant to you over the years to see their involvement and their openness to being able to spread jewish values so far and wide i thought it was just a wonderful thing that they're so involved with that and they they certainly are knowledgeable both of them are very intellectual people and they they did they did what they had to do to make to spread judaism to people who were not really so involved and i thought it was it was beautiful they they opened their home to everybody i mean it was like a revolving door you know every shabbos and young there were always people sitting at the table people sitting at the table besides you know project inspires message is not only that it's important to to to spread judaism to individuals who weren't you know as connected or didn't grow up with that much of a background but not not only that but even to give over the sense to people that they too can and should share tidbits because so many jews are really interested and they might not be connected and somewhat of a connection to judaism might do a lot for them how important specifically in these days do you think that message is i think it's very important like i try to to give you know people that are in my where i live you know the project inspired for the shabbat show you know i don't i know i've given a few people that you know the link you know tell them to to tune in you know i think it's very important and there's really always room for everybody to grow i think that the and project inspired does inspire people and they live up to their name of project inspire they are doing that all over the world no matter what your background is you could be orthodox conservative reformed whatever you know they open their hearts to everybody oh there he is busy boy hello jay how are we doing over there jay i i appreciate you joining us here together with together with that with your mom and your aunt i asked your mom how important it is to her that you embraced your background and used that to grow from to continue to be connected to and to be able to spread judaism you know how important was it to grow up with those values and to take them further to what you're doing today oh my mother and my father oliver shalom taught me and my brother very strong family jewish values and so it would be only natural to want to bring them into the growth that i had experienced in yiddishkai so it was really a you know very easy decision to make to embrace them as they embrace me for so many years and bring them along for the ride so to speak and not only have they come along for the ride but they've taken their individual strengths and have been a vehicle amongst their community and their friends to spread yiddish kite and spread knowledge and and and jewish values and it's only natural that people will come in and embrace it and want to be part of it the message that i would have is just you're never too old to learn and i've been learning for so many years and i hope god willing i will continue to learn as long as i can and have everybody by my side and inspiring me especially project inspire they're wonderful people every one of them anyone no matter what level no matter what background avail yourselves of the resources of project inspire there's always a learning partner available to to be involved in your life there's always a shabbos program a shabbos experience now virtual experiences throughout the week and you know open yourself up don't be afraid we don't bite that's that's the idea that that that just if you give a little if you open your heart you open your mind a little i think seeing the message of project inspire and seeing the message of what the ambassadors of asia torah and all the individual people in our communities throughout the united states throughout eretz israel people are there they want to teach they want to share the message and they want to get people involved and they want to share the beauty of our religion and our heritage so joan and and grandma joan and aunt linny out in florida and dr j begun i want to thank you so much for for joining us here and hopefully you'll continue all of you will continue to inspire many many people and for you there for many many years to come thank you thank you very much foreign