Harry Rothenberg | Judaism on Trial | CHAZAQ

[Music] it's always beautiful when we have programs with multiple shs in the community together so I thank RAB kururi and and the Jewish center of Roslin and the kahila for coming together to join us for this morning's Shear with with um with Mr Harry Rothenberg um the second thing is that being that today is a national holiday it's Thanksgiving so the things that we do when we are off technically when we're on vacation when we don't need to be at work those are the things that really Define us those are the things that really tell us what is at our core at our Nisha and the fact that everyone came here this morning on a day off when we all have a lot of things to do today whether you're going to go later to a Thanksgiving suda right whatever you're going to do uh but the fact that you came out to learn Torah on this morning especially with everything going on in the world it should be a for all of us it should be a a merit for all of us and then of course of course we want to thank kazak for arranging it and on that note it is my honor before introducing our speaker for this morning to introduce uh rabi AB of kazak to introduce the program come up here yeah come on Robbie [Applause] yeah thank you Daner we want um on kazak of course um it's another great honor to do another program together many more programs in the future amen um we want to thank of course the Rosen synagogue I think and and of course together together with um with the Jewish center of Roslin RAB RAB kurari and of course also we have the um involved of KH mki who help with with getting project Inspire Jay Inspire of rosin to to be involved and I think that of course this Aus and unity is always it's important but of course right now we know what's going on in arel in in the land of Israel so if if to have to have people of all all backgrounds ashaz different shs organizations all United under under Under One Roof I think it's it's such a beautiful thing and um of of of course um we want want to just give a quick word about the kazak organization which is there's actually three programs going on right now um on this morning there's the program in in Queens and in Brooklyn and of course an amazing event right here in in rosin and we have a um in in in rebic Kari sh we have we even have a Sunday school program for public school students and we have that that Pro um that school program in 15 different locations we're on the Forefront of different Public School Outreach programs to give them a Jewish Education so of course anyone knows of anyone who has children in public school they should reach out to kazak myself or obviously re Daner they can connect us and um of course um we um it's our it's our it's our great let's call back Dan give a round of applause for all the amazing work that's for the community okay I'm just I'm just the uh the MC so save your applause because we have a tremendous opportunity this morning uh with Mr Harry Rothenberg uh who is here Esquire uh I'm just going to read the blurb from the uh from the from the the sign Magna come loud graduate of Harvard Law School Harry is best known for his success in the courtroom on behalf of victims of catastrophic injury Harry is equally passionate about speaking on Jewish topics and sought after lecturer for his crowd-pleasing talks I have to tell you even just preparing for this uh for this uh for this event this morning I had an opportunity to speak to him on the phone for a little bit he's a pleasure to speak to he's very very funny and he's full of Torah content a real something especially on a day off from work uh to be able to see someone who is engaged in the you know in in the in the world of parnasa as a lawyer but also is so so involved in the Torah world and and showing how we can use our Kos our our our our efforts and our Judaism even in the workplace and without further Ado it is my honor and privilege to call Mr Harry Rothenberg to speak this [Applause] morning morning Happy Thanksgiving um thank you to the uh Rabbi uh for the introduction and to the rabbi and the and the sh the shoes um for setting this up and to kazak um Robbie took care of the individual thank yous but I don't want to Echo those and thank you to each of you uh for coming out today I don't take it for granted that you are spending a day off uh to listen to some words so um by way of brief background and biography uh I grew up in Philadelphia um so I apologize if there are any fans of teams that uh you know that that don't like us um if you're a football fan you know why I'm in a good mood this week um we're going for a draft pick exactly good good luck with that okay uh I went to Day School in Philadelphia from 1st to 12th grades Jewish Day School meant as many of you know many of you went through this half the day was secular subjects that was the second half of the day half the day was Hebrew subjects the second half of the day I could not have loved it more I was such a geek such a nerd I loved it I loved English and math and science and social studies the morning not so much I used to sit and I wanted to bag my head against the wall I just was bored you know I I don't know what to tell you I would sit and I would stare at the clock and hope that my I used to read a lot of comic books when I was younger that my Mutant Powers would kick in and I'd be able to like like concentrate and make the the minute hand move closer to recess just so I can get out of there and finally 12th grade I got out of there and that was it for my Jewish studies started my college career at the University of Pennsylvania and that was the last time at least for a while that I saw a folio of the tud or a passage in the Torah um I transferred to Columbia for my junior year and then during my junior year I applied to and was accepted to Harvard Law School and I accepted the acceptance and I said to myself at some point in time during junior year you know I got to figure out this whole Jewish thing because every other area of my life is 110% everything that I'm doing my academic studies and sports and and dating whatever whatever else I'm doing and my Jewish thing is more like Jewish right not Jewish so I got to I got to check this out right and so I decided to defer for a year so I convinced the it wasn't that difficult to convince Harvard Law School to give me a year off no problem went to a place called or in Israel and loved it first time that I was treated like an adult able to make my own decisions or in in in Jerusalem in y I was able to convince Harvard to defer for a second year I spent two years there came back much much more serious about my Judaism um I had uh continued long distance dating a young woman who I had met in college um she was from New York I'm from Philadelphia I took her to a Sixers Nicks game suddenly middle of the first quarter up on the board during a timeout the board the giant board said the screen said Amy will you marry me question mark Harry she turned to me and she said are you serious I said it sure looks like I'm serious and she said yes and thank God you know uh many children and uh and grandchildren later were still going strong you know uh uh 33 years uh plus now so um after we got married I started at law school and then spent uh three years there had our first two kids then deferred my first job for a year uh went back to Israel for a year with our with our first two children came back started working in big firm practice and then after a few years my father convinced me to join the family business uh we represent people who are injured in serious accidents and so I'll warn you in advance that some of my stories involve people getting hurt very badly try to avoid um most of the Gory details but I have to go through some of them in order to tell the stories so now you have my background you can understand the setting you'll understand where I was when I saw and realized that there could be a conflict between My Chosen profession law and my desire now after Yeshiva to be very publicly visibly Jewish in the workplace when I say visibly Jewish in the workplace for me you know I have this fashion accessory notice it's black so it matches any combination of suit tie casual formal I can wear anything with it right but I don't wear it just as a fasion statement I wear it to tell the world you know I'm I'm serious about this whole religious thing like there's a there's a God up above it can mean a lot of different things right for a woman it can mean dressing modestly for a man or a woman it can mean telling somebody this time of year you know it's a Friday need' leave at 2 o'clock 2 o'clock yeah for Shabbat by the way if you leave at 2 o'clock for Shabbat that means you're staying late Thursday night okay you don't get to work 4 and 1/2 days a week what do you mean I'm observing I have to leave early that's great leave early but you got to make up the time if you're supposed to work till 5:00 you left 3 hours early make it up okay so now I have just got married I finished my two years in Israel very serious about my Judaism and now I'm back into my secular career first day first class at Harvard Law School I walk in and the professor says welcome to Harvard Law School he says how many of you have seen the movie or the TV show paper chase every single hand goes in the air he says how many of you have read the books one L by Scott Terrell every hand goes in the air for those who don't remember paper chase famous movie then a TV show about Harvard Law School the star was a professor um and he would he would call on people and then completely humiliate them and it was a very popular movie and show because what's more fun than watching someone else get humiliated right I mean we can admit that guilty pleasure Scott too's first book before he became famous for writing legal Thrillers was 1 L it chronicled his experience as a first year law student Harvard Law School College is fresh person sophomore junior senior law school is 1 L2 L 3 or it's 3 years so 1 L was what it was like when he was there for his first year and during that year he told over he told over some heartwarming moments about how on the first day of class the professor looked at three people he said I want the three of you to look at each other because by the time we get to graduation only one of you was still going to be here okay he used to be like that people would flunk out he says I want you to know there may well have been a time when it was like that here it no longer is we're here not just to educate you at times we may even Entertain You and relax we are not here to intimidate you to embarrass you or to humiliate you and you could like feel in the room like okay that sounds better than what we saw on TV and what we read in the books okay great he says however we are going to use the Socratic method it's named after Socrates I'm going to ask a question then I'm going to call on a guinea pig I mean a volunteer that person's going to give me an answer then I'm going to ask another question okay back and forth back and forth he's okay let's begin now in college for those of you who went you know that the first day of classes is a meet and greet nothing happens okay let's go around the room everybody tell me what you did over the summer and what you want to accomplish this semester let's go through the syllabus nothing okay in law school before your first class you've been assigned 50 60 pages of cases you've been expected to read them and brief them and be ready to answer questions about them I had some other professors I remember one professor in particular she's a little more famous now than she was then she just walked in the class first day and started calling on people okay back then she was Professor Elizabeth now she's Senator we had no idea she was Native American we found that out later by the way phenomenal Professor incredible Professor okay the type of talent that we had there in the law school okay so he say okay let's begin now he's about to ask the first question of my legal career and I say to myself wait a minute I've been in Yeshiva the last two years I have not been in an academic setting in two years and this is Harvard Law School I do not want to be the first guy called on okay so what do I do I'll tell you what I didn't do was I don't make eye contact cuz I'm worried if I make eye contact I might look eager then he might call me so I'm just looking at my notebook there were some students there who I'm sure wanted to be the first person called on there was a guy I used to see playing basketball in the gym he was a 3L when I was a 1l he was a third- year student he was a couple years ahead of me not a bad basketball player stupidly for whatever it was worth I never thought to take my basketball on a Sharpie and ask him do me a favor could you just autograph my basketball if I had I would have had a basketball autographed by a future president of the United States of America I didn't know that that guy bar Obama that he used to see in the gym was going to become president of the US okay that's the type of students you have maybe Obama had his hand up in the air I don't know I do not want to be called on I'm sitting in the second row and I'm looking down at my notebook and for no money am I lifting up my head and he says okay who can tell me what did the Wilson Court say about non-mutual defensive collateral stopple okay for the non- lawyers lawyer mumbo jumbo we know what it meant because we had read the cases okay and I see he has stopped I can see looking down his shadow is over my notebook and I'm thinking this may not end well okay and he says okay how about you Mr Jew je Mr Jew I'm wearing my yamaka and the Earth literally opens up and I fall and I'm like I can't believe it he gave us that whole speech he's not going to embarrass us and he calls me Mr Jew cuz I have a yamuk on my head and isn't that discrimination how's he even allowed to do that I'm thinking like I don't even remember what the question was when all of a sudden thank God the guy sitting directly in front of me starts answering the question an Asian fellow Thomas Jew J now I admit okay quote the passage in the Torah I I confess my sins today during the two seconds it took Tom Jew great guy by the way to clear his throat and start answering the question I absolutely regretted my decision I was thinking to myself why' you have to your yam on the first day you could have worn your Phillies hat your Eagles hat your Sixers hat your Flyers hat why' you have to wear it that was the first and last time that I ever felt that in my career that was the fall of 1990 it's been a while now first and last time I have had countless situations where I'm proud and proud and proud and prouder I remember the very first case I had that settled for many many many millions of dollars I went to a court conference and a very subtle Jewish law issue actually had come up on the case very subtle you have to invite me back to describe it cuz it'll take me too long very nuanced issue and I walk into the courtroom I'm wearing AA the judge is wearing AA very informal in New York State Court the defense attorney is an Irishman the judge looks at me as we approach his bench he says to me you know you have a you have an issue here I said what do you mean he says you know what I mean you know you have did you ask a Shila I said yeah he said what was theak I said M okay the lawyer was look like what is what is going what are they having a private conversation in another language okay he turns to the other lawyer he goes we're just discussing the talet okay we walk out of court after the conference and the lawyer says to me he goes what was up with that between you and the judge I said we were discussing the talet okay he goes I got to tell you something Rothenberg if I had known that the judge was wearing one of those beanies I would have worn one also I said Jim that's the difference between me and you I did my homework on this case why do you think I'm wearing this thing on my head okay so sometimes it could be funny but many many other times you can learn lessons I want to go through with you some cases and some lessons that tease out particularly in situation which we find ourselves today which you know I can tell you and I think we can all agree I certainly haven't lived through I don't think any of us have ever lived through anything like what we're living through today with what's going on in Israel and in the rest of the world so um many years ago I represented I got involved in the following case a woman was taking her evening power walk in Manhattan and note the story because when I tell it over these days people say well what about the cameras there were no cameras this was many many many years ago and the little man turns white which tells her she can now cross the street now remember when the little man turns white that means the light is green so cars parallel to her heading in the same direction can also proceed of course we all know I hope we all know that if you're going to make a left turn make sure there are no pedestrians in the crosswalk what we believe to have been a bust based on an eyewitness makes a left turn so he's coming if you can picture this from over her right shoulder she presumably never sees him makes a leftand turn hits her kills her and keeps going hit and run there's an eyewitness he tells the police officer was a bus yeah who am I suing what bus what was it was it Academy was it Greyhound was it Peter Pan was it the city of New York was it some private company what bus I don't know it was a bus that's it okay let me tell you the difference here's the difference under New York law if we don't find that bus the only thing we can do is they happen to have a car in Manhattan which is rare her and her husband so they had an insurance policy and on their insurance policy they had something called insured SL underinsured motorist coverage go back home today go check your policies you want to buy as much as that as you can afford it's the most important coverage you can buy for this situation so we don't find the bus that's now an uninsured case they could bring a case against their own policy $250,000 worth of coverage not bad but that's it $250,000 worth of coverage okay by the way if we settle it for 250 the way I work as a contingent fee lawyer is I don't build by the hour I work on a third my firm gets onethird fee so interestingly I can divide any any number by three here's what's strange the bigger the number the quicker I can do it I'm not sure why that is it's just you know it is okay so $250,000 my fee is going to be $833 33 I'll do the math for you okay if we find the bus and it's a bus company bus companies have tons of coverage why because they know that when a bus hits a person the bus usually wins right so if I found that bus they're going to have millions and millions of dollars worth of coverage here's what I can ask for I can ask you ladies and gentlemen of the jury to award the following to her husband can ask you to award an amount to comp compensate for her conscious pain and suffering the amount of time she was conscious and in pain wouldn't have been a long time she was dead at the scene but she would have died instantaneously there would have been some hit some extreme pain I can ask you to W in mouth for a husband's loss of Consortium he lost his wife and I can ask you to award pecuniary loss fancy term for loss wages at the time she was working on a street in Manhattan Lower Manhattan you may have heard of called The Wall Street anybody ever he that street trading bonds making a million dollars a year 42 years old so let's just I don't want to be greedy can I ask you for 20 years worth of lost wages forget bonuses forget raises just a million dollars for 20 years does that sound reasonable $20 million and can you add a million dollar to the pain and suffering and the husband's loss of conser very conservatively $21 million what's my fee going to be on that case 7 million bucks anybody want to do that deal okay right let's do the deal you know $83,000 versus $7 million okay I want that $7 million all right all I need is which bus company okay so I send invest out they speak to him he's like I don't know it was a bus now don't you think I could have gone myself to speak to this fellow the eyewitness manto man mono Mano sat down and looked at him in his place you know I represent the husband of the woman whom you saw get killed and you're his only hope you're the only person who could tell us which bus company don't you think I would have been able to convince him the answer is no I sent an X FBI agent to interrogate him he either didn't know or didn't want to cooperate but what if I had sat down with him manto man and said sir isn't there any way that I can refresh your recollection isn't there anything I can do to to help you remember isn't there some way somehow something that would help you you tell me okay the guy did not live in an nice area in in New York right how much would I had to put in an envelope $1,000 three grand five grand 10 grand I guarantee you for 10 grand the guy would have sworn on a stack of Bibles you could have gone into the synagogue and take them out okay it was pick one Academy Bus right so let's do the deal give me 10 grand I give you back 7 million it's not a bad deal very very tempting matter of fact I had a friend fellow lawyer I ran up by him he said you know what I'm thinking let's do the case together I'll go talk to him in other words he'll go shme him right I said you're not going and I'm not going why so I want to tell you why so number one I didn't do that because I knew there's going to be a deposition and at the deposition he's going to be asked so you told the police officer bust and you told Rothenberg Academy what happened right now hopefully he's going to say I remembered right I paid good money for this testimony 10 grand okay but what if he says you know I I just I can't lie Rothenberg gave me 10 grand to sa was Academy what happens okay so number one I have violated a very significant Hala right we are not allowed to lie or pay other people to lie or cheat or steal number two I'm going to get suspended from the practice of law or disbarred number three I'm going to disgrace my firm because they're going to have in there Harry rothberg Rothenberg law firm and number four when they write that article I guarantee you they're not going to have a picture of me wearing my softball uniform on a Sunday morning they're going to have a picture of me that they took this morning with my Talis on and my teillon on maybe even holding a Torah Rothenberg the jewy jewy Jewish lawyer pays somebody to lie okay that's going to be the story and you know that I don't have to show you I can give you a hundred examples of that they're going to find out people sometimes when I tell this over they'll say well so maybe I should hide my instead of wearing my yam maybe I'll I'll hide my you know my mug and do it or my you know Etc they will find out and I'm telling you that right now as I stand here today we have an opportunity to represent the Jewish people like we never have before because you are going to find you're going to sit next to somebody on a plane or on a train you're going to have colleagues Israel is going to come up and you have an opportunity to either shut up and say nothing oh and then say afterwards oh I I I I should have said something okay in French they call that spred the scaler it's literally the whisperings of the of the staircase I me you think of something you could have said or should have said when you're you know afterwards when you're leaving or you could say excuse me let's talk about that okay you have an opportunity to represent and in general anytime you've got that situation we've got an opportunity to do something wrong is going to disgrace the Jewish people it's not just you it's the Jewish people we've got an opportunity to burnish our reputation use the opportunity when I travel on a plane if I'm wearing a baseball cap I'm an obnoxious Philly fan okay when I'm wearing yamaka which is often I almost make an announcement excuse me does anybody need help lifting your bags up on top you know it might be and I'll do that right because it's an opportunity and you see people are so thankful right holding doors just the little things at least convince them you know what there's so the next time when there's the anti-semitic Canard about those genocidal Israelis Etc at least don't know that you know I I did meet that one Jew was very nice today we have constant opportunities to represent the Jewish people in a good way increasing burnishing our reputation bettering our reputation or in a bad way and bringing it down which is the last thing we want to do these days okay next story I represented a woman who was um jogging along the wests side highway on the jogging path and then after she finished her jog she's now going to cross the bicycle path the bicycle path has many different ways that it tells bicyclists to yield to pedestrians it's written on if you've ever ridden on that bike path it's written on the on the sidewalk yield to pedestrians there are signs ending signs then their overhanging signs yield to but they yield to let know there there are people crossing all the time okay she crosses and gets wiped out by a bicyclist full leotard helmet you know goggles Etc okay there's no eyewitness there's what I call an ear witness there's a woman who tells the police officer I heard the sound of her head hitting the uh you know the the asphalt okay she ends up with a mild traumatic brain injury what does that mean no skull fracture her MRIs are negative if you'd meet her you'd say you know she seems okay but she's tries to go back to work and she can't go back to work had a very decent job working on uh building websites she's not able to go back to work young woman in her early 30s and we file a lawsuit against a bicyclist who happens to be wealthy has a lot of insurance coverage and his lawyers send her to their doctors and their doctors as always happens in a mild traumatic brain injury case say she is faking it she is exaggerating she is malingering she is laws suiting to use the slang term meaning she's faking injury in order to try to get money okay and remember the way it happened although he has many signs telling him yel to pedestrians she did cross in front of him right she's going in front of him so why didn't she see him all right and mlov thank you very much she remembers nothing she can't even say anything because she is retrograde amnesia because of the headit right okay so what that means is there is a huge range as the possible outcomes if we go to trial on this case a jury May believe her and give her millions of dollars or jury May believe hurt their his doctors and give her the hole in a bagel give her 50 Grand and let her walk okay so for two years or three years we're litigating this case and the defense attorney is saying to me we will never pay you a nickel your client is a fraud a fake she's crazy I'll give you that but she's absolutely a fraud okay we finally get a trial date after we get a trial date the guy's been telling me for two or three years we'll never pay you a nickel calls me up he says you want to go to mediation go to mediation mediation means you go typically in front of a retired judge who tries to bring both sides together tells me you're too high bring brings me down tells them you're too low brings them up and if you come to a number that matches you have a settle case okay I know that she can never make up her mind I believe because of a brain injury they believe because she's just crazy it's their defense so I spend starting about a month before the mediation I spend time with her you know what let's talk it through because they're going to want an answer at the mediation so I go through the different scenarios and I say to her here's my advice remember you make the decision you're the client my advice is that if they offer you anything under a million dollars I want to walk out if they offer you a mill five my fees is a third put aside cost so was not that complicated you're going to you're going to clear a bad a million dollars I think that's too much to risk I would not take a million dollars and put it on red in Atlantic City or in Las Vegas I think you should take it between a million and a million five whatever you think if you want to take it I'm fine with that if you want to go forward I'm fine with that so just think about it okay I'll think about it I call her a couple days later she say can we go through that again I go through all of it again okay okay let me think about it I call her a week later did you decide can we go through it again I go through it again it's going on for weeks finally it's a few days before I say you know it's coming up in a few days did you decide she says yes I said great what' you decide she says I decided I agree with you I said meaning she says a million5 I'm going to settle my case I said okay and if it's a million four a million three a million two5 million one she say that I don't know okay what am I going to do right got to try to get a million five okay we go into the mediation in front of the retired judge we start at 9:00 in the morning and anybody ever been to SCH and Sim you know what it's like selling AAS right it's kind of similar right 100 looking for 150 150 200 200 do I have 250 250 looking for 3 350 I have 400 475 500 750 800 950 looking for a million we get to the Magic Million Dollar number and we cross it we get to a million one a million2 a million 25 a million 275 a million 3 a million 35 the judge comes in very well-respected judge whom I knew well i' been in front of him quite a few times and he says Harry I got the last number that's it I cannot get another dollar yeah a million four no I said your honor I need a few more dollars he said I can't get another dollar I said can I talk to them he says let me go ask them it's a mediation you know it's up to them he goes in speak to the lawyer and the adjuster is actually more than one adjuster because he had different layers of coverage he says they said they'll talk to you I'm not going to give you another dollar I go in to talk to them so I'm talking to the defense lawyer really I'm really talking to the adjusters but I want to talk to the defense lawyer because he's the one with whom I have a relationship and I say listen we've been litigating against each other for what three years now you told me how many times you'll never pay me this is certainly good faith you made a good faith offer he says oh we sure have we're overpaying great okay I said I want you to understand we both know she can't make up her mind remember when we were deposition she changed her mind 10 different times remember when she showed up with like three different coffee cups one was black one had sugar one had milk she can't make up her mind for the last month I've been working on getting her to a number that will settle the case we are so close okay he's like okay Harry enough what's the number all right so I tell them I'm sorry two two okay I tell him 1 point I tell him 1.6 why did I tell him 1.6 because there is a very famous person in Jewish history the wisest man who ever lived his name was King Solomon and very often in cases when you get to 15 and 14 King Solomon enters room with the story he's like okay where's the baby I'm ready to cut it in half okay so I'm worried if I tell them5 they're going to come back all right 1,450 I need one5 so I tell them six split the baby I got My5 I guess I was convincing they come back in they huddle again for like half an hour they come back in six fantastic okay I walk back in I'm like congratulations CL we're settled she goes well I said 1.6 she says how much time do I have to decide that's it I said one second you told me you're going to settle for 1.5 this is 1.6 it's more than she says I I just want to call my father no problem okay great she say could you excuse me I step out of the room wait about 10 minutes peek my head in I'm on the phone with my brother no problem I wait another 10 minutes I peek my head in okay just talking to my sister like now it's like almost a half an hour I got to go back in right so I walked back in they like Harry we're we're good I said we're good she just she just making a few phone calls like whoa whoa whoa what's going on you told us what I said we're really good she's just making a few phone calls we're fine okay this is going on about 4 4:30 at 5:00 the judge says to us listen guys we've been here since 9:00 a.m. I've done everything I can do I've written up the settlement agreement you could stay all night if you need to if she takes it settle it sign it make copies leave me a copy you each take a copy if she doesn't rip it up okay 5:30 6:00 6:30 at 7:00 I kid you not she's taking a nap she's taking a nap I now have to go in and tell the lawyer and these two adjusters that have been here since 9:00 a.m. that my client is taking a nap okay one of them says something that I cannot repeat in a synagogue or outside of a synagogue okay the other one says maybe she'll wake up refreshed and ready to settle like yeah exactly okay at about 8 or so she wakes up 8:30 she was on the phone again and at 9900 p.m. 12 hours after we started she says I'm going to settle okay great I go into the other room I tell them first and only time in my career I believe I hugged the defensive attorney okay I mean 12 hours musle tub okay we have a settle case I'm driving home I call my wife she say please tell me to settle the case I said I settle the case he's still have dinners you go it's cold but I can heat it up okay great all right while I'm driving home I say to myself the following you never know why something happens to you we do not ever know why ever know why God does something we don't know okay you want proof of this go to the Milla when m is trying to convince Esther to go into the king he says to her and who knows maybe this is why you're the queen who knows she's the queen she's Jewish her husband the King has signed the death warrant for the Jews who knows Mor is telling us you never know 100% why God's doing something okay on the other hand to the extent you can learn a lesson try to learn a lesson I said to myself you know I could have the case settled at 4:00 why did it spend another 5 hours maybe God was sending me a message I said to myself you know I know what the message is I know exactly what the message is okay every morning you can come over to my house and you can see this in action okay not that I'm bragging it's just you know I'm very proud of this ability I go to prayers after prayers I have my Tomic study session afterwards I come back home and I open the kitchen cabinet the pantry and we always have six or seven boxes of cereal they're all open because my kids will open every single box they can't ever finish one then go to the next one you should see how quickly I make decisions I don't know how I do it I walk in Honey Nut Cheerios today the next day corn flakes the next day regular cheerers okay instantaneous decisions maybe God was telling me you know what you take it for granted you can make make decisions look at her she can't make a decision okay that's my lesson great I feel good about that very nice hakara satov gratitude to God I got my lesson I go to sleep that night I wake up the next morning and my first thought is you are such a coward talking to myself I'm like really really that's the lesson I have an office full of people who have lost sight lost the ability to walk lost the ability to eat lost the ability to think that's the lesson okay my dear friend and colleague Howard and I are here we worked on a Case together where a woman lost all four limbs okay two arms and two legs that's the lesson be thankful you can choose your Cheerios maybe the lesson was the exact opposite and I didn't want to admit it maybe the lesson was this okay every one of us you'll tell me no I'm not so religious you're more religious we're all religious people say to me like what do you mean we're all religious I'm like we're all religious okay did you murder anybody today no did you drink blood today no okay well that's in the Torah we observe that okay maybe I observe a couple more things right right but every one of us whatever our level is we always have moral dilemmas should I give my 10% or more to charity or if I'm giv my 10% should I give more the rabbi said you could give up to 20% okay should I put on my Fillin today should I have a Shabbat meal today should I should I sign up to study an hour of Torah if I'm already studying an hour should I study an hour a day instead of an hour a week we all have these moral you know I usually try to keep Shabbat not drive but I got Rolling Stones tickets okay whatever it is okay we all have our dilemmas when that dma happens right and I've got them also I do you know I I once had a conversation with a with a uh with a with a friend you know was not observant said to me you know I'm so jealous of you I said why because you don't have you don't have you know any any uh you know desires like what are you talking about like what what well you know you're religious I said you know it's funny you mention that because you should just realize you shouldn't be jealous because it's so tough for me to go to sleep at night why I said you know cuz since I'm an angel I have these wings and so like I can't sleep on my back I can't sleep on my side okay I was like what are you talking I got the same desires anybody has right got to work on it we all have desires when that happens and you got a desire to do something you know you shouldn't do or not to do something you know you shouldn't do and that voice the little devil starts right I'm not going to mention the movie okay starts whispering in your ear maybe I'm supposed to not say oh I'm glad I'm not like her maybe God's saying be more like her say to that little voice little devil how much time do I have to decide no I need to know right now do it do it do it do it do it or don't do it don't do it no no no I just want to call my dad don't you don't need to call your dad excuse me can you step out of the room I gotta call my dad did you make your decision yet I need to know now I gotta call my sister I gotta call my brother I gotta call my friend I gotta call my Rabbi maybe that was the lesson maybe the lesson was be more like her okay stop think don't rush into it when you're rushing you'll notice that sometimes when you're doing something wrong you're in a rush to do it that's that voice right I need did know right now right now right now right now let's go let's go let's go let's go no you don't need to know right now it's okay you know what maybe I'll do that in tomorrow maybe I'm not going to do it today okay and if there was a time a month or so ago you know right after it happened the Shabbat after it happened after massacr and the kidnappings my uh the rabbi um in the synagogue where I the Sho where I pray Shabbat mornings um he got up and he said um did anybody lose a uh a loved one last week nobody raised their hand he said did anybody um have a relative um kidnapped nobody raised their hand he said does anybody have a relative who's uh in the Army you know who's ready to go into Gaza few people ra raise their hands I raise my hand um he says you know what the problem is he says the problem is every single one of you should have raised your hand for all three questions we say call Bas you he says you don't think it'll make a difference in your prayers if you think of the hostages as your brothers your sisters your mothers your fathers your sons and your daughters okay my wife's first cousin with whom she's very close her son two days ago just finished basic training went into Gaza okay I mean these are our whether you have a family relationship or not you have a family relationship and that's the time you know what I don't usually fill in the blanks I don't always like Shabbat candles you know what I'm going to do it let maybe it'll be a it'll be some help in heaven to protect the soldiers I don't always put on the fill and I got that pair you know from my Bitz I don't usually of course I put all my to fill in but I don't always make it to synagogue you know I don't usually study any any Jewish topics do something and have in mind you know and by the way he gets it and it counts when you say that there's no better time to pray God you know how badly I want to do do this sin God you know how barely I don't want to give this charity okay I'm doing it and I want this to be a a a merit for the people who need it the captives the wounded people mourning and the soldiers okay let's think about that last story it's difficult one to tell over um back in the 1970s there was this radical group in Philadelphia called move they were I think counter revolutionaries I don't know what the Revolution was I don't know what they were countering but they basically took over a neighborhood in Philadelphia and they would walk around and like combat fatigues they had assault rifles and wouldn't let anybody in or out of their this this apartment building that they had um and they were terrorizing the neighborhood they had megaphones all hours of the day and night shouting obscenities Italian mayor in Philadelphia Frank Rizzo was like what is this give me a break just send in the SWAT team sent in the SWAT team kicked in the front door you know couple of uh broken bones maybe there's some police brutality lawsuits but that was it they're gone 10 years later they're back move to who it was that saw this and said oh this is a really good idea we're going to do this okay now same thing terrorizing the neighborhood new mayor Wilson good and the neighborhood is in the middle of one of his voting blocks it's an African-American neighborhood and he's like you know what I didn't like that the last time I don't like the Optics mostly white SWAT guys and mostly African-Americans you know in the other side just come up with a different plan I'm not sending in a SWAT team to this day no one will take ownership of Whose idea this was or who blessed it but someone came up with the idea and someone blessed it the city of Philadelphia sent a police helicopter came down just over the roof dropped military explosives on the roof in order to start a fire they started a fire the police started a fire in the building why so that they would run out of the building because it's much easier to arrest people who are running out of a burning building than it is to go into the building get into hand toand combat with people who are armed it works perfectly fire they run out of the building except for the five people who were burned alive inside and the fire didn't get the memo burns down 60 adjoining structures right so the city of the mayor and the Poli Police Department of Philadelphia burnt down a neighborhood in Philadelphia in the mid 80s okay we start getting phone calls I remember if we had a death case I know we had injury cases and we start getting phone calls my father's office my my firm in Philadelphia this is long before I'm I'm in the firm and but I remember the story well and many of the calls are for property damage now we never ever handle property damage somebody calls up I got rear ended and I got 10 grand in damage and Geo won't pay like I I can't help you out there's an injury that's different of course I'll help you out as a by the way but I can't get evolved in property damage my father says wait a second we're already taking the injury cases we got like like 50 calls for property damage it's all one lawsuit it's just a matter of adding additional names as the as the plaintiffs and if each case that one's worth five that one's worth 10 that one's worth 25 that one's worth 100 they add up might as well take the property damage cases for the first and only time in our firm's history we take the property damage cases we love all of our clients some we love even more one of the clients say Ernest Bostic lost all of his possessions in his girlfriend's apartment he's a client the property damage cases get assigned to a young lawyer in the firm named David happened to be an observant Jew just as a by the way and so his job is to put together the property damage cases right you can't just say Okay um I lost a vase yeah what kind of vase um I'm pretty sure it was from the Ming Dynasty it was worth like 4 million okay like I mean where's your receipt from Bed Bath and beond like you got to show what you lose pictures receipts Etc so he's putting together the property damage cases okay Ernest is calling him once every week to two weeks when am I going to get my money David says listen Ernest okay we have like 50 cases of our own there another 200 cases it's going to take a few years you got to be patient okay city of Philadelphia that's not fast like we filed the lawsuit it's going to take time okay the next week when am I getting my money Ernest I told you last week you got to sit and be patient when am I getting my money one day Ernest calls he says okay Dave I settle my case what are you talking about he goes I spoke to the assistant City David says the assistant city solicitor someone so says his name he goes yeah I spoke to him I settle my case for 10 large $10,000 get me my money Dave says you spoke to yeah okay calls him up he says hey it's Dave from rothberg's office he goes did you speak to my client Ernest bosted gu's like oh no he says what he says Dave I messed up he goes he called me directly so I assume that he was prosay okay Pros is a Latin word the literal translation means knucklehead okay I'm kidding Pros means self-represented that's the person who says you know what I went to Home Depot and I built my own shed so I can represent myself at a lawsuit don't do that okay but you're allowed to do it you can represent yourself Pro he says I assumed he was self-represented cuz he called me directly I should have checked the list everybody who's ever watched TV show knows you can't talk to somebody as a lawyer if they have a lawyer can't talk to you you should have said wait a minute you're a Roth Amer client I can't talk to you he say I'm so sorry I made a mistake David says listen honest mistake says he told me he settled his case with you what are you talking I didn't settle the case he goes he said he settle his case with you he told me he settle his case with you for $10,000 can I send you a release he says I did not settle the case he goes oh no what now he says whenever I have a prosay person a self-represented litig and call me I always asked them how much are you looking for so I can mark it on my file so I guess I asked them how much are you looking for I marked it down David says listen okay you should not have spoken to him and not only did you speak to him you miscommunication he thinks he settled the case with you can I send you a release for 10 grand for this one case he goes Dave I'm sitting here in City Hall I got like seven levels of bureaucracy above me I wouldn't even know where to go impossible absolutely impossible there's no way you can make an exception onek goes no possible way goes you know in two years we'll sit down before Excel spreadsheets we'll have a graph we'll have a chart okay we'll we we'll figure it out right says there's nothing I can do okay Dave has to give Bostic the bad news he calls him up Ernest there was a miscommunication he just wanted to mark his file the case is not settled you have to be patient okay Ernest hangs up the phone and says well in that case I'm going to go to City Hall and kill the lawyer so he buys a gun with a sought off serial number and he shows up in City Hall the cops later have the sign in sheet at City Hall Ernest Bostic in 1210 p.m. he sits in the waiting room for 20 minutes out 12:30 p.m. as he later told the cops he got impatient you know where is he was out to lunch so he said you know what I'll bet my lawyers in cahoots with him I'll go kill him instead so he comes to our office he knows which floor of David's on and it just so happens that as the elevator opens David's walking by and they make eye contact they recognize each other because Ernest had met him before when he came in to sign up the first time and Ernest pulls the gun and David turns and starts to run and Ernest empties the gun shoots him six times six entry wounds in his back six Exit Wounds in his front the police ared before the paramedics my father is in the back of the police Patty wagon holding David's head so it doesn't hit the metal floor of the van they Rush him into surgery with the chief trauma surgeon in Philadelphia in the closest Trauma Center who does 14 hours worth of surgery and saves his life saves his life he's to this day this is going back to the 80s he is still alive and kicking and fine okay at the time I'm around 18 or so I not yet going to Yeshiva I'm not really serious about my Judaism so it wasn't like I said there's a mitzvah of Beaker visiting the sick I was like you know the guy took Six Bullets I met him a couple times in my parents fir it's a nice thing though I'm going to go to visit him so I go to visit him I get there the only people there are his parents like Harry was so nice did you come do you mind if we run out just to get some food I'm like no problem so I'm just sitting it's me and David he's very very weak this is two days after taking Six Bullets he says um I have to tell you a story I have to like pull up a chair close just to even hear him okay I said no no just rest I'm just hear it Vis he goes no I have to tell you a story I'm like okay he says um yesterday the Doctor Who Saved My Life came to visit me and introduced my myself and I said to him like what do I say to the person who saved my life he says I'm just doing my job he said but I want you to understand I never do this he said what do you mean he says I never visit anyone he says all I do are trauma surgery sometimes the person doesn't make it they go to the morg sometimes they survive and they're followed by another doctor like you're being followed by my colleague doctor so and so right yes he goes but I had to make an exception I had to come talk to you says I don't know if you heard all the details yet you took Six Bullets one of them grazed your spinal cord one of them grazed your heart if they were any closer you would have been paralyzed or you would have been dead if you had moved differently if you were wearing different clothing anything would have changed the trajectory and you'd have been dead or paralyzed Six Bullets so I just want you to know young man you had a guardian angel watching over you yesterday and by the way you're going to be fine and he was needed counseling but physically fine okay David's like thank you I'm like wow unbelievable story okay David says he left there was more to the story but I didn't tell it to him because he's not Jewish but I want I want you to hear it like yeah he says that morning I got into my car okay I sometimes have to explain this for younger audience but you'll know this right he goes and I put the key in remember when you used to actually have to put a key into a car you couldn't just like turn it on from your phone or by thinking okay he say and I turned the ignition on and I put it in in drive and I was about to pull away and all of a sudden I said to myself wait a minute did I put my tizes on today he goes I went like this and I was like I don't believe it I didn't put my tizes on today he says so I said to myself Dave you can go to work one day without your tites on come on okay so again I put my phone on the acceler and then I said said to myself Dave how can you go to work without your SAS on say I put the car in park I turned the K turned it off I took my seat Bel off I went back into my house I took my suit jacket off I took my tie off I took my shirt off I put on my heavy wool pair of SE SE I put my shirt back on my tie back on my suit jacket back on and I went to work he goes Harry the doctor said I was like I got it I got it I heard the story I know what the doctor said any change in your clothing okay I'm going to tell you two things had you at that time when heard the story come over to me and D the rabbis used to do in Day School hey Hershel how you doing and give like the fake you know like like Little Neck squeeze when they were really checking to see if I was wearing my titas they would do that all the time drove me absolutely crazy could you please get your hands off me I believe it's my decision it's between me and God okay you would not have found any tis there's no question yamaka depending on the day and whether or not I had a date or who I was dating or was going to a frat party maybe it was on maybe I had done the flip it it wasn't on but sitzes there's no way I was wearing sitzes after you know after I it was mandatory in Day School no way since I heard that story you can come check you come right now hey hersel okay and they're on unless I'm in the swimming pool or I'm in the shower okay now this is an extremely dangerous story why two reasons number one there are women in the room okay who might be feeling what why can't we get the Kevlar body armor like can we start wearing CIS all right number two there are men in the room who are like you know um I'm pretty sure there were some people killed like real recently in Israel who were wearing SE SE okay they by the way you know they say no atheists in the Foxhole they can't make enough seat seed for the shoulders for the soldiers now everybody wants a pair all right so there have been people killed previously in Terror attacks Tree of Life synagogue it was during the services T Talis there in harno there was a massacre people were wearing not just TI not just tal but their filling were on so I'm not telling you that if you wear it tises your Superman you could just stand in front of bullets okay you could take at least six right I'm not telling you that what I'm telling you is that to David it was clear that that morning he did something extra for God and God did something extra for him in my mind's eye what I imagine is God saying to the angels like Mike Gabe Rafe did did you see what that guy just did that guy just got undressed and redressed for me I got his back today um God he's uh he's on the list he he's supposed to take six blls today guys I got his back today okay here's this doctor telling him not Jewish doctor young man you had a guardian angel watching over you okay and I ask you and I'll finish with this is it crazy to think that God may work that way okay let's imagine the following all right I do a lot of travel so I got my phone and I got my wheelie bag that's what I got when I'm walking to the airport okay and I'm on my phone which I shouldn't be I should be looking where I'm going but like you know most of humanity we're not we're on our phones and I'm checking the gate I'm checking for my boarding P whatever it is okay and so imagine I'm on my phone I'm Wheeling my bag and there's somebody else on his phone Wheeling his bag coming towards me but his bag is coming right at me right and he hits me with his bag and I go flying now I get up I turn around and the guy looks at me goes you got a problem no I don't I know what it's like in Roslin I have no idea I'm from Philly that is a fist fight okay that guy's getting hit in the face all right like will you knock me down and you give me lip Okay now imagine after I take care of him I get on my flight I get off my flight I'm walking in my arrival airport again on my phone and I'm Wheeling my bag okay and some other Knuckleheads not paying attention hits me and I go flying I'm thinking like what is going on today except this time before I even get up I got my fists ready but this time the guy turns you like I'm so sorry I'm such a clutz I feel terrible let me help you up what am I going to do I'm not going to hit him at most maybe I'm going to say just be more careful next time now if you're watching those two scenes in a silent movie there's no sound you see me get knocked down pound the guy then you see me get knocked down again hey man no problem you're like schizophrenia like what is going on what bipolar what is the answer is that I'm mirroring the first guy was aching for a breaking cruising for a bruising I gave it to him the second guy acted appropriately so I mirrored his action so why is it crazy to think that when God sees right look what that guy look what that woman just did for me I'm doing something extra for them versus I always wonder about this I have clients most of the time when they get to me they've already had one surgery two surgeries and I'll be there you know for surgeries 3 four 5 six seven once guy 23 and often clients will say to me Jewish non-jewish you're religious right yes okay you know I'm having a big surgery tomorrow next week can you pray for me absolutely if they're Jewish asked for the Hebrew name and I'll say to them you should pray also and often they'll say you know I I I don't pray I don't know how to pray I don't pray just you just pray like you God I'm sure I have a good authority he speaks every language okay just pray but I wonder when that person prays for the first time you know they they're 50 years old and God's like hey have we met before I'm not sure do I know you're that doesn't mean God's not going to answer right but why is it crazy to think that if we do something anything whatever it is there are so many different areas where we can do something extra that's not why we should do it we should do it because he told us to but again I have it on good authority we do do something extra for God who'll do something extra for us and especially if ever there was a time in our lives to think about taking on something extra now is the time I will tell you that this was this had great resonance for me my son is in Yeshiva and I was speaking to the Head Yeshiva of his Yeshiva and he said to me I spoke to the rosh Yeshiva in pic there's a there's a very very well-known rosh Yeshiva and he said and I said to him rashash you know who's it's his re my son's Reb's rebi what should I do should I talk to the guys it what do I tell them and he said don't say a word to them they should see it in you that there's a difference in other words every kid in that ishiba should see now the rabbi is already a pretty holy guy like what more can he do is he supposed to put on extra pair of tis should he put on extra pair of filling he understood what it meant it meant that he should see an extra level of seriousness okay and I will tell you myself that I almost feel like I I I I this is like a new person I'm married to okay I've never ever seen my wife like this before before her her her cousins you know kid winning okay every extra minute she's saying sitting and saying the helm and saying the hel and saying the helm okay you don't have to be a rabbi you could be anybody it could be tum it could be Sedaka it could be canding it could be a Friday night meal with your kids it could be some extra Toral learning it could be extra charity there are endless the types of things that we can do and so let's all think about that take something on and God willing we'll have very good news soon not just the release of the the upcoming release of the hostages but all of them and hopefully the soldiers will be successful and come back safe thank you very much for listening if you enjoy this I do a short weekly video it's on the total portion of the week par shua or on the holidays it's easy to find just go on YouTube put in Harry's video blog and I hope you enjoy that it's only 3 minutes long you don't have to sit this long and thanks again for coming and Happy [Applause] Thanksgiving