CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #219 Rabbi Peretz Eichler - Rich Returns

And my grandfather had uh my grandfather of Shalom. I remember him giving me a pair of fillin and [music] saying we do this when we are mitzvah. So I took him to the reformed rabbi and he looked at [music] them a scance with tremendous skepticism, cynicism. He looked at me and he said, "We don't do this." And I said, "But my grandfather says, we do [music] do this." I said, "Um, is there any reason why I shouldn't do it?" He says, "Well, it's a vestage of the past." And little did I realize that [music] it was going to be a a vestage of the future. They were a vestage of the past. And the poor tend [music] of the future was those people who put on film. Today's episode is sponsored by Borism Tax Planning and Advisory. Schedule your free tax strategy session online and get started now. Call us at 212-430-6881 to learn more. >> Welcome everyone to today's very special program, Kazak Torah Talks, where we have every single week an amazing guest, an amazing speaker. Um, tonight we're a great great honor to call upon Rabbi Parrot. Welcome, Rabbi. You're actually a returning guest Roashm. We had uh we had you in the past and you gave such amazing words of inspiration. So, we're great. We're greatly honored to have you again once again. It's great to be here. Thank you. >> Of course. So, before we um uh we jump into um tonight's special topic called Rich Returns. It's a very catchy title and we're going to dive into that topic. But Rabbi, if you guys you can start us off about um some of your background and some of the great things that you're involved with. >> That's a very meaningful question considering that knowing where a person comes from is important. You know, like that fellow who was in a auditorium and he was sprawled out over the um the seats and he was making all sorts of weird noises. And one of the um the stewards comes over and says to him, "Uh, sir, you can't do that. You're disturbing the whole audience of speakers coming on." He says, "Sir, where did you come from?" He says, "The balcony." >> Um, having a frame of reference where somebody comes from is is very, very important. In fact, the title, which you said, it's nice to have you returning. >> Oh, Rich returns. >> Right. So I I don't know if that was a Freudian slip or >> um but it was definitely on target because rich returns is a double entandra meaning my English name is rich and the um the third part third of Miles Sharam talks about a person who will do a spiritual accounting on their own life. Where are they going? Where where do they want to get to? What are their objectives? What can they fix up? What do they need to fix up? >> Yeah. >> Just like a businessman will do it on his um on his business. what's improved, what needs to be improved, what's profit, what's making profit, what's what's not. He says it's to it yields literally rich returns. So my being back here is um is really more than symbolic. It's literal and symbolic the same way. And not only that, but the fact we're in Queens is also not by accident because I grew up not far from here in a place called Jamaica State's Holliswoods. In fact, the um the mosque which is now on uh 188th Street between Union and uh and Hillside used to be a reformed temple where I was bar misfit. >> And it was in that in that neighborhood where I was bar misfit. I won't tell you how many years ago, but it was long enough to remember when sushi was just called bait. You know where they [snorts] used to feed other fish. And my grandfather had uh a grandfather Shalom who I recently discovered. But I didn't realize that he was a Ley. But on his mat, I saw that it was Moshe Ben Perro's Haley. So I was named after my grandfather and Parrot's birth, my uh my real name, my Jewish name. But I remember him giving me a parrot fillin and saying, "We do this when we are mitzvah." Now I don't remember them being particularly religious. I mean, I knew that they'd come from VNA and and, you know, come to America, but I don't remember anything particularly religious about it. So, this was like unusual for me that he would be giving me a a parent's filling. He says, "We put this on our mitzvah." >> So, I took them to the reformed rabbi and he looked at them as scans with tremendous skepticism, cynicism, and those were those are the good things that he did. He looked at me and he said, "We don't do this." And I said, "But my grandfather says,"We do do this?" I said, "Um, is there any reason why I shouldn't do it?" Says, "Well, it's a vestage of the past." And little did I realize that it was going to be a a vestage of the future. They were a vestage of the past. And the portend of the future was those people who put on fillin. And I spoke at a bar misa a number of years ago at the young Israel across from that mosque which uh took over the reformed temple because they wouldn't sell it to uh an Orthodox group affiliated group. And there was a a small exhibit barb wire a yellow star that said Jude on it and a parrot film that had been recovered. And I thought to myself, wow, who's the vestage of the past? who's the portend of the future and I told that to the bar mitzvah boy but I grew up here in Hollywood Queens went to Queens Village where we go 109 and Jamaica High School and then from there um I went on to college I was at St. John's University um they admitted me with open arms the dean had told me said don't worry nobody's going to have to know that you're only one of three Jewish students on campus first day I walk in and none is giving an English literature class she says oh Mr. likely you must be the new Jewish student. So I knew that even though I wasn't religious or wearing a yarmaka that somehow your your Jewishness becomes known, you might as well be proud of it. >> I transferred after um two years and went to a place called the University of Hartford where most of my professors were Ivy League trained, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Colombia, although that's not a considered very uh praiseworthy today, but yeah. >> Uh and they they were top of the line. And I studied both psychology and speech and drama. I figured if I was going into show business, um, knowing how to deal with crazy people would would be >> would be right in line. >> Would be would be right in line. So, I went to graduate school uh, after that and it was the year during the Kent State riots. So, I guess that does date me. And I decided, you know, up until the point where I was about to get my masters, I said, I don't know if this is, you know, I don't think the academic course is where I want to go. My treatise was on a radio personality by the name of Fred Allen. The book that I wrote was called Treadmill to Oblivion. not very encouraging, which meant he looked at show business as a way that he could make a lot of money, but it was just going nowhere. But it wasn't indigenous only to to show business. It could be a real estate executive. It could be somebody who's in nursing homes, could be somebody who's fabulously wealthy, but without meaning, value, and purpose in life, it doesn't mean very very much. >> So, how does how how does the how does how does the topic today relate to your background? You know, remind me some somebody asked my wife. She said, "Hus your your husband's a speaker. What topic does he speak on?" She said, "He doesn't need a topic." [laughter] But but fortunately, the book does have a topic. Stories to inspire the thinking Jewish man and woman and everyone else. And not just inspiration, but motivation. things which I've written about things which I've experienced my own background coming from this reform background and then coming up which is a story in and of itself u which I think we talked about once before but very kitser I was um on my way to er Israel it turned out to be the yamkip war I was caught in the middle of the war and um the last day of the war we were volunteering to take um to get on a truck we'd worked on a kabutz we were helping bringing in the crops. And on the back of the truck, it was so romantic, meaning you could see the clear blue skies and you could feel this the smell of victory in the air. And the war had just been won. And I'm sifting through some sand under the back of the truck. And I told the story many times and it was damp. I knew we just came from a kibutz. And I looked at I said, "Oh, it's fresh strawberries." And I hear somebody say, this for the funerals of young soldiers that had just been [clears throat] been mortally wounded during the war [clears throat] and it was their blood and I felt it run through my fingertips. I said, you know, that's enough of having a gil and eating falafel. There's got to be more tok than this. But I didn't know what it was. >> Yeah. So, I came back a year later after having done a two-year stint as a television producer. Two, three-ear stint New York, trained with a top karate expert, a martial arts expert who's getting me ready to go into the army. Um, and before I knew it, when I got to Israel, somebody told me, you know, they're looking for producers and American actors to act in an English language theater company, and um, you'd be great. Why don't you go and do audition? So they said, "Well, we have enough producers, but we need really good actors." And they auditioned me. So the first part that I got was in um a play called All My Sons by Arthur Miller. It was a tragedy. But somehow they thought that lighter fair would be more preferred. And we did a Neil Simon play called Come Blow Your Horn. And little did I know, Robbie, that that title was going to be also meaningful. [clears throat] Little did I know it was going to be Shmayam bringing me home toward rich returns. >> That was rich returns. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, um all of us I'm saying we we all we all see but if you if you look at um if uh if somebody passes they're they're um they're seeing their emails, they see it maybe be a billboard. What what what does everyone say? They're all saying okay fine. They're saying not rich the name but they want to become rich. They want to become successful. So what what what would you say is the the proper mindset um to get us on the right path towards maybe rich quote unquote or maybe to life of success? That's what that's what everyone's uh that's what they're that's what they're spending their time with. >> That's right. Success and happiness, but just give me the success and don't that's all I care about is is money money. So um having worked with many gear multi- millionaires, billionaires, um I didn't find that their lives were excessively happy. They they had everything they wanted monetarily. But as that story that I heard about from Robert Golinsky when he came to a certain town he spoke and a year told him here's my bank account. I have $12 million there. Half of it is yours if you bring my son back to Yiddish. He says you think I'm only worth $6 million. That's only worth $6 million. He says it's worth everything I have rabbi if you can do it. He calls his wife. He says Adel or whatever the reb's name was. I'm sorry. I don't know what it was. He said, "Where's Yankee?" She said, "He's giving a shir now. And where's Mati?" And Mati is a rush kabur giving a shir in Benbra. She went down all the kids. He said, "Do you realize we're a millionaire?" She said, "What are you talking about? They're all having trouble paying their mortgage." Said, "I somebody offered me $6 million. If they could just be anywhere near where they are." So money is obviously important. It's a it's a tool that a person can use, but it's not going to >> come up in >> it's not going to it's not going to fill a void. And what we have in terms of being observant Jews, we have something that other people are envious of. Even those people who are Jewish who say, "Ah, you you guys you think you know everything, you know, yeah, you you know, you have your your laws and I I keep it my way, you keep it your way." But there's a slight envy there. We have to realize and recognize who we are. There was a story about Salvation of the of uh of Brisk [snorts] and um he had a Talmud that was at the Kisel. This is going back a number of years ago. And this Talmud um sees what is apparently a a non-Jewish person. He identified himself. He says, "Uh I'm I'm not Jewish." And I heard it from Rabbi Dian from Dr. Dian Dian Dunner in Benro Peoly. And he so he knows the story firsthand. And he he said, "Um, I'm not Jewish, but I I'd like to pray at the wall. Can can you help me?" And he asked somebody. And the Sparker was standing right there. They handed him a cardboard yam. He went up to the wall and he writes a he says, "I can write a note." Yes. He writes a note on the wall into the wall and then he leaves. This bucker was very curious. So, and he took the note out of the wall and he looked at it and he began to laugh and it read something like this. Dear Lord, my name is Alec. I know that you can do anything. Could you please send your messenger to me and tell me something which is important to me? Who was going to win the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys game tomorrow? We don't seem to get that news over here. Could you please send your messenger to me? informed me of that. My name is Alec. I'm at the Plaza Hotel suite 324. Sincerely, Alec. So, this bucker is looking at this and he's laughing down his sleeve. He's one of these guys and what? He calls up his father. He says, "Thought to ask you to do me a favor." So, sure. What is it? He says, "These let me know who wins the New York Giants Dallas Cowboy game tomorrow." He said, "What? That's what you're you're in Brisk. What are you talking about? to help me understand why I'm not going to bother with nourishment like that. Why you bother? He said, "Th somebody I know it's very important to them. It would mean a lot to them." All right, I'll call you back tomorrow morning. Calls him back. He says, "Dallas Cowboys 21 to 17 over the Giants." Says, "Thanks, Tom. I'll get right back to learning." Jumps in the cab, goes to the Plaza Hotel, rings the bell, 223, the name of the room. Gets up there. Somebody says, "Yes, who is it?" He says, "It's a messenger of the Lord." Says, [snorts] "What?" And opens the door, guys dressed, you know, to the to the hill. He says, and he looks like a messenger of Hashem. He's a yeshiva guy. He's got, you know, that sits out in the man with a beard and everything. What is it? What's the message? The message is Dallas Cowboys 21 to 17 over the New York Giants. What? I can't believe it. Thank you so much. goes to his shirt pocket, takes out his checkbook, and writes out a check for $2,000, which was worth a lot more then. Go says, "Thank you." Thank you. Goes back to the yeshiva and they're making they're laughing all over the place. Oh, there's now is it is it gel aim? Is it is it stealing from somebody that's not Jewish? Is it stealing the clown? Does they have to return the money? They're all sort of they're going back and forth and they're laughing. Meanwhile, Rud say good time walks by. He says, "I heard everything." Says, "You're all laughing at him because you think he asked for something nourish and ridiculous and he was bamboozled into thinking that it was a messenger of the Lord. Do you realize that you were the messenger of Hashem for him?" as nourish as what he asked for. Hashem answered him through you because this person valued the power of the what it meant and in all sincerity he was answered. We who have the in our hands and we don't make use of it properly not to ask for nourisher things. You can ask you can ask should ask that you should be a shaman that you be able to support yeshiva and learning that could fill what we have meaning value and purpose. >> Yeah, I remember I heard a story once. It reminds me of story Franti said once that that like many years ago back in the back in the old the old towns over there that um that there was once that there was there was these kids and they really wanted I forgot like they wanted like I don't know maybe like uh brownies or cookies or whatever it is like candy whatever. So what happens like they couldn't get it. So what happens the the one of the kids who had like let's just say like I don't know 10 rubles said like was like negotiating with them trying to make a deal. So what happens? Person says the kid says if you give me if you give me um if you give me your haba um then then uh then then I'll give you like the the 10 rubles and and then then made the deal and everything like that and then like so one way you could take the story is you could say what do you mean? Oh, they the kids they didn't value Haba this and that and the the way Rabbi Fran said it was that this kid to him Olaba was worth like the world. So, so it was so valuable that they actually put a value to olh but to to like to like reward and this and that. Sometimes when people they might think okay fine like like okay fine like I I do actions and that is the reward and these to these kids they're like eight year olds they actually value what what what um what what reward and what what Torah and Mitsvas are. >> Absolutely. >> And um so I guess what would you say practically? Okay, fine. Maybe maybe rich returns. Maybe it does maybe it's not what we originally thought in like Okay, fine. Just just um happiness and success is just how many um how many numbers are in my bank account? How how do how do we how do we how do we practically take an action step? >> How about Okay, that's a great question. How how about how about a practical example that and also remind me to tell you the story about cats don't fly. Okay, that one closes. [clears throat] Um number of years ago there was a fellow that was giving hushka kosher hushka to um the bakery department at a major food food uh emporium. It was I think it was called um food town somewhere in in in northern Jersey about no southern Jersey. It was right maybe half an hour from Lakewood. And he said, "Could you do hushkaku for me like, you know, once a week or once every couple of weeks on the bakery there and make sure that all the products have my certification on it and that there's nothing that's not kosher in the freezer or or anywhere anywhere else in the in that part of the section of the bakery." So I said, "Okay, what's the time available? What are you paying?" So yeah, I think I can do it. He said, "And the best thing is if you can do a surprise visit." So I made a surprise visit one Mos Shabs Kesh. It was just when the weather was changing and it was still cold so I wore a coat and wore a cap. Didn't have a cell phone. Um, and I went at about 11:30 at night. There were two people in the store. Those were the two cashiers up front. The freezer was deep way in the back, a good hundred yards away. And in back of the bakery section, there was a freezer which had the frozen goods which I had to inspect. And the freezer had a safety lock on it which was guaranteed that it would open all the time. And um I went in, saw the two cashiers, and nobody else was in the store. Not not a single person. It was about 11:30 at night and um the store was going to close relatively soon. People wouldn't be in until about 7:00 in the morning. Okay, nobody's going to bother me. I open the door, shut the freezer door. I know it's got a safety lock on it. I start looking around, but something didn't sound right. Instead of going click, it went made like a glitchy type of sound. I said, "Come on, don't let imagination run away. Everything's fine." But I felt the need to hurry up, a sense of uh urgency. And I started checking the blueberries and they were frozen solid. And I was starting to get a little cold myself. I said, "I think I'm just going to hurry this along a little bit." And I checked everything out and I said, "I think uh that'll call it a night. I think it's good enough for now." And I kind of like ran to the door and I said, "Come on, take it easy." Pull on the lock. Gently it's going to open right up. Pull the lock and the whole locking mechanism comes off in my hand. And now I'm looking at a solid steel block of metal. No way to open it. >> Mhm. >> And the hole wasn't big enough to speak through. You just It's just a gaping hole with further metal enemy. I'm thinking, "Nobody's coming until 7:00 tomorrow morning." I threw my full 140 750 lbs boom into the door. Come on, you can do this. That door's got to open. >> Yeah. >> And I realized that door wasn't open. And I got down. I saw a little sliver, a little sliver of an opening under the door. I started yelling, "Help! Help! I don't hear anybody coming." I said, "Hashem, I don't want to die here. Give me another chance. I said, "If it's not here, my wife is going to kill me for not calling her." Of course, I said, "Don't let it end this way. Give me another give me another chance." I said, "I've talked about Amuna. I've talked about believing in you. There's nobody else who can say, "Please, Hashem, don't let me die. Give me Give me a way out. I'll be good. I'll be better." I don't know how long it was. It couldn't have been more than a moment or two. Could have been 10 minutes because time was it was just out at out of sink. All of a sudden, the door flies open. I look up. Two young men there. They maybe were 30, 35. Deep southern accent. Rabbi, let me give y'all a hand out there. We heard y'all yelling. We just come running right over. said, "What?" He said, "Yeah, we were on our way back down to Kentucky and we were on a trip and we just wanted to stop off for a little bit of what you all call nosh some snacks and we stopped off in the big reception and as we're walking out, we hear you all yelling. I'm sure glad we're able to give you a hand, Rabbi." Said, "Let me help you out." I said, "Tell me where you guys were from. You were down from Kentucky. We're headed back." And the guy looks at me and he says to me, he says, there's a passage in Psalms. It says, 'The one who trusts in the Lord, kindness surrounds him. It's 32. Yeah, it's number 32. You'll find it right up on there. The one who trust in the Lord, kindness surrounds him. So, you must trust in the Lord, Rabbi. We're we're happy to help you out. The only thing we change numbers and stuff like that. Okay, now this story is in the book, right? I went back. I looked it up. The one who trust in Hashem kindly surrounds him. Okay. I went back maybe 6 months later. The company that um hired me wanted me to stay on, but the supermarket wasn't thrilled about having a rabbi caught the freezer and making a to-do about it. So, I went back and I asked two workers there. I said, "Can you just come to the freezer section when you hear me yelling? just stay right over here. This is where they would have been like outside the freezer section by the counters. I get in there. This time I made sure the lock opened up. Um and I shut it and I started yelling, "Help, help, help." 5 minutes go by. I said, "That's long enough." I go out said, "Why don't you guys come?" I said, "We couldn't hear you." Said, "But this is where these guys were standing and they could hear me." Said, "Rabbi, nobody could hear you from here." who is a nace bace. Mhm. >> Now rich returns a I had my life. Other rich returns I meet a fellow three years later. He says Rabbi Igler he said you know I became observant because of that story that was printed in visions of greatness and which I re re recounted and added disconnect to it in rich returns. He said yeah I had some interest in in Chicago. I was taking some courses, but I really didn't know where to turn and I wasn't really motivated. So I went to a Jewish bookstore in Lakewood and I started looking around and I'm leaning on a shelf like this and all of a sudden the book kind of like just rolls that off the shelf and it was called visions of greatness by Yassi Weiss out of the book and the first thing I opened up to is this story chilled out or chilled in the freezer and I said when I read that that these two non-Jewish men opened the door for me was obviously from and taught you a puss that you had learned many times before and he brought it home passages of venom. I started taking courses and today I've got from kids that are in yeshiva said I want to thank you I would call that rich returns >> that's amazing can I want to uh powerful powerful messages if you could just leave us off with your your story you wanted to say that about um you had a powerful story about the cats can't fly. Yeah, it's interesting. Around this time of year, I had a mic where I thought I I thought I had hit a deer, but I wasn't sure. And it wasn't until I came back eight hours later and found the the sprigs of hair in my license plate that I stopped feeling like a fugitive and realized Burkasha was a deer. But those messages only come to people if you're willing to listen to your messages, as Rabbi Fran would say. This message about cats don't fly has a lot to do with, well, you know, why why should I buy into this? Why should I look into it? If I'm from I'm from enough and I'm not from what you who says you have a copyright on the truth. So there's a story about two guys Ruben and Schum walking down the street and they see something on the roof. I said, "Hey, look at that cat." And he says, "No, that's not a cat. That that's a bird." No, it can't be. I'll tell you I I'll bet you can a coke. Not that you were allowed to wager, but I'll bet you can't a coke that you know it's uh that's that's a cat, not a bird. He says, "No. They throw something at it, takes off like a shot, flaps its wings, and he looks at me, he says, "Man, first time I ever saw a cat fly." Now, how could that be? We know that cats don't fly, but psychologists call it a confirmation bias. Person takes the outcome of what they want. They want the conclusion to be a certain way and therefore they >> they're gonna view it. They want that that that's the reality. >> Guy came up to me. He says, "Oh, you're orthodox." He says, "I'm conservative." And he says, he says, "You believe what you I'm Sha Mashabas also. I drive to SH, but I'm show Mashabas." I said, "Listen, you want to tell me you're not Sha Mashabas? I understand it. But how do you tell me that?" And he said, "Well, you believe what you want. We believe, no, we don't believe what we want. We believe because it's em." And how we know it's em all you got to do is look in the face of an anybody ever saw Ramosha Feinstein or Rabbi Rutderman or Rebner or today any of the gadiro. You see a real Tom look at Rebar Feldman. You look at the kakim here in Queens in Brooklyn in Erit Israel. You look at their face and then you go look at the face of the reformed rabbi that look like a standup comic, you know, wearing a wearing a wig, you know, and you don't or the reformed rabbi told me that we don't do this. You don't put on fillin. Um, you don't see very much varity there. You don't see even a hint of it. What you see is a confirmation bias. If you knew who the villagon was, if you just trace it back, as Ram Schiller used to say, look at who our we're getting the misor from. Cats don't fly. The truth is the emis [clears throat] because it's the emis. And if you look her like silver and cold, you'll get rich returns in ways that you never even imagined. >> Amazing. >> Wife, family, kids, children, grandchildren, the greatest in the world. $6 million couldn't buy it. No money in the world can buy that. I wish everybody has great pornos and you have money to spend and spare and use it for good things. But you want your life to be enriched. Start learning. Increase your learning. Ano all the the principles that we learn and we walk the walk and we talk the talk into principle. You'll see rich returns beyond measure. Everyone everyone's looking for the the get rich quick scheme, the quick trick. So maybe I guess if you could tell us where we can get rich returns where where where where people can pick up a copy or find out more info about this amazing new save for this new amazing book that just came out. >> There's a books the bookstore is in Queens here should be carrying Sephora. >> Yeah, Safra around Saffra a few blocks away from here. >> Gift World I think should be carrying it. Um, it's distributed by Levitz and we have a promotion going on if you just email me at echle media. ei [email protected]. Um, just send me a note and we'll get you the promotional discount. I'll tell you how you can make an easy payment through zel or somebody else. Just send me out. Yes, I would like a copy or yes, I would like free copies. However many you want to send me an email, ei [email protected]. just send me your contact information, uh your phone number, and then we'll give you the way that you can easy access payment and as many copies as you would like. And I hope you'll enjoy it and get rich returns to the show. >> Amen. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. Take two. This is your second time joining us. We appreciate taking the time joining us all the way um taking the the far journey over here in Queens with us. Of course, everyone should join us every Tuesday night for the Torah Talks program or each week. There's um amazing guests like Rabbi Eler who join us and give us such amazing information and inspiration and transformation each week. Of course, everyone we thank our our our friends that were at Tory Time for for um for for partnering and and of course um you can watch all the previous episodes on Torney Time on all the different podcast players on all the different Kazak platforms. I want to thank Natan Bahar behind the camera over here Kazak's media director for always putting together all the amazing um programs and media and for Kazak and I want to thank our friends at daily giving of course sign up for daily giving amazing Kazak is part of it over 75 different organizations are part of it give a dollar a day and of course it's a great great marriage for you and your family and um thank you everyone for joining