Light to Unite EP4 | Rabbi Menachem Schmidt, Joshua Landes, Tuvia Sablosky | CHAZAQ

[Music] good evening everybody Welcome to our fourth podcast in the podcast series of light to unite which is a program we've developed it's a movement for the unification of American jewry to bring together all the observant Jews with the non-observant Jews for the purpose of really the survival of American yish kite and yish kite around the world um as we've seen over the last year even before that the amount of anti-Semitism that's been going on in the United States has been over the top a lot of this has been created by the war that we're having right now in Israel with Hamas Iran Hezbollah and all their different proxies um our objective is to have five podcasts and on Sunday September 29th at 8 o'clock will be the time to have all the Jews light for the people that have passed away both the soldiers uh the innocent people the civilians during this war but also for the people that have been killed outside of Israel because they've been Jewish so the objective is for us to unite around lighting uh the candles and why do we light we light as Jews we light for many different things we light for Hanukkah we light for beginning of chabas we light for the end of chabas for abdalah we light yards side candles lighting is a big part of our Lives my wife and I we light candles every morning for different sadik and family members so our podcast are bringing on uh prominent rabbis prominent businessmen and today we have the opportunity to welcome Rabbi manakum Schmidt who I met uh before I gotten married about 12 years ago we were guests of his in Philadelphia through my wife's daughter uh Debbie sswi and we went to him for shabas it was beautiful and I've been contacting him ever since and how we can collaborate and do things to strengthen CLA surel uh Joshua Landis um I also met around that same time I met right before uh I was introduced to him because we shared things in common we were both born in Philadelphia uh we lived actually 10 minutes from each other he was a big fan of real estate and real estate deals so he had actually heard about me and uh I'd always wanted to go to Israel I traveled all around the world but I'd never been to Israel I got as close to Egypt down the Nile but didn't go into Egypt for because at that point I grew up as an American Jew in Philadelphia with no yish kite I started becoming a Zer one was 50 at that time and over the last 15 years the big change for me is going from being an American Jew to being a proud Jewish American and this is really about being proud Jewish Americans and Josh is definitely that type of person um so we're going to start with uh Mr with Rabbi Schmidt first in just a few introductory marks uh Josh will do the same and then we're gonna have a three-way conversation between the the three of us Rabbi Schmid please okay so I just wanted to kind of start off with an image and the image is that uh you know I'm little so I'll quote a little Tanya if you don't mind so then tan the end of the very very end of Tanya there there's an an image which is a very common image in the Torah that talks about the H that the relationship between God and the world in a certain sense goes to the Jewish people and the way that God's energy comes into the world comes through Jewish unity and the imagery that's used is that in a body in order for the the heart to pump the blood into the body and for the body to be healthy all the limbs of the body have to complement each other and work in in concert with each other and that that image and that metaphor that mush is is is represents Jewish unity and that's and you know and that tells us the power of Jewish unity in terms of trans bringing God's energy and bringing Holiness and goodness into the world that's the importance not no less than kind of connecting God to the world you know comes through our connecting with each other beautiful thank you Josh an opening statement or comment as a proud fellow Jew you know to be a Jew y to give thanks and uh it is so appropriate tuvia for me to give thanks to you to give me to give thanks to mam Schmid you are both role models to me in yah and minam I've been privileged to know for decades uh he and my parents had a report I met him through a beautiful Stucker uh that I'm still involved with that he so ay leads uh Jewish Heritage program bringing uh privileged Jewish kids uh awareness of the gift that is their yahadut and tuvia you inspired me when we had lunch together uh some 12 years ago and you were one of the most well-traveled people I had ever met who had never dka been to Israel and that uh as we were speaking I literally was going the next week you were able to uh piggyback on many of the adventures that we had and that was really an exceptional uh trip uh Israel aircraft Industries uh being flown to a a military base being at the border with uh unfortunately where so many much of the tragedy of the last um February 7th excuse me um October 7th took place you and I were there at uh Kum Shalom as I recall uh Etc but uh to see what how you are choosing to spend your life and uh that impactful experience uh and how uh you are uh paying it forward it gives me great Hana eyes I'm sure gives Rabbi Schmidt great Hana to see and I'm not here to stroke you I'm here to encourage you uh I do not Define my love of yahadut through Jew hatred uh nothing I'm proud of but I'm I'm a wimp I wouldn't have the guts that some of these uh uh leaders on campuses and on battlefields and uh in the media do uh I couldn't stand in the middle of ramala and say that I am a proud Jew but in the comfort of a of an ordered society which is the United States in which I grew up I can and thank God do do that and uh I just say that uh uh the the craziness the Jew hatred is part of the system Hashem has a plan and uh you know it isn't something we did don't go out of our way to be uh agitators and be uh uh uh the uh culprits of why it happened that's not why it happens any Medina any state that has its Jewish population that its Jewish population is a gift to that country and let universities earn their Jews let countries earn their Jews we with uh uh in Israel with thank God seven million Jews in it today with uh uh one of the strongest standing armies in the world uh today uh uh we thank God are not uh in the mats the situation that our people were in some 80 years ago it's not pretty it doesn't feel good but uh the Jewish world is more of a factor you pick up any paper any news source uh you would think there are two billion Jews on Earth for all the ink and all the air time we occupy and uh with hashem's help and with the accretive energy of wonderful Jews Like A tuvia and aam Schmid uh May CLA Israel be United may we be stronger through our unity and may Hashem bless us uh as we start uh our new uh uh Jewish New Year here in the uh month of elul thank you again for this opportunity great so one of the things I'm curious about Rabbi Schmidt if you could maybe address um is what happened what happened to the college campuses what happened to the University of Pennsylvania in particular where I went what happened what is happening and what do you think may happen and what can we we do to help strengthen the Y kite and help help these students what happens I mean everybody knows what happened what's been happening first of all everybody should read uh an article by Gary Wexler if you know want to know what happened it's called how the Palestinians took over the world it's a Jewish Journal article from um I think September of it was from a while ago how the Jews took over the world just Google Gary Wexler Jewish journal and he gives you over there chapter and verse about how um after the second in there was this was um this was a real tactic which uh these people used it was very deliberate it's um compared in some ways it's compared to Birthright even in terms of lining up uh lining up support and organizing amongst the youth but uh I I don't I think it's a very complex situation but there's a few things to mention in terms of Campus first of all there are a hundred the Jewish funders Network determined that there are 170 organizations fighting anti-Semitism in America 170 and one of the Miracles I think of that besides it might not be the best uh use of resources to have so many different ones but the fact is that what we're really playing is a very sophisticated game of whack-a-mole but the thing that's interesting and the thing which is actually good is that the thing that these 170 organizations are not doing is they're not fighting with each other and it's really amongst these organizations I found that people that are not um that are not normally working together or you know or so much interested in working with each other whatever are whether they work together or not are complimenting each other or kind of getting out out of each other's way because really when it comes to there are so many parts of this situation you know at pen the main thing from my perspective a lot of these things were building for many years I mean Josh I'm sure remember it's Edward S at Columbia University you know that he was he wasn't that that was the old story you know there's uh you know when ammed dad came to Colombia there was there's been when lisis faran came to Penn in the 80s you know these this these things are not entirely new there there's a level of mobilization which we haven't seen but the the responses of the UN when the Jewish Community is Unified and works together or at least has regard for each other in terms of this is very very important and and the other thing which is really important besides all of the different speakers about you know informing kids about bringing survivors and speakers and soldiers and all these other things which everybody's doing is to strengthen the student population on campus themselves because in the end what do these people want the encamp ments are there to intimidate you and when the Jewish students don't feel intimidated I'll just tell you this is kind of a ridiculous statement but I was sitting with a bunch of kids a few weeks ago no as at the end of last semester was we're talking about the encampment and I was very happy to hear that they they told me that these kids smell why do I care if what why why was I happy to hear that I was happy to hear they smell as a matter of fact there's a very large very diverse group there and we're you know we're familiar with them and some and been involved many of us have been involved and engaging with some Etc but the main thing is to H to look at the encampment as something which is not uh which doesn't intimidate is very important you know there's been there have been a bunch of activists kids from pen have have testified in Congress kids from Harvard I mean it's it's great but the in the end besides legislation and other things that can make that can prevent people from doing things outwardly the Jewish Community has to be strung in inwardly and and all the different ways that we have to do that together are are of tantamount importance Josh any comments from your perspective growing up and watching you went to college you you saw what went on did did you experience anti-Semitism growing up did you did you have any of this going on in your life I was very sheltered I was very uh fortunate I never really felt any uh uh Jew uh uncomfortableness uh by the way raising my own children I would hear certain people with a different attitude of oh uh try to have as broad uh upbringing as possible I was all for being sheltered as long as can be and uh have one's Roots be as strong as they can be recognizing that you have your whole life to grow up and see unfortunate things uh I never really encountered uh anti-Semitism to this day I really haven't because I have spent I've been off of a campus for 40 years now uh uh in my uh I'm attracted I'm attracted to uh people who have God in their life whether that be in the Jewish Community or in the Christian uh community and uh in general when one sees God uh uh one uh it's been my experience that one is more sensitive to people of faith and that that is a unifier uh so uh something that my my wife uh legitimately uh has challenged me on I was sort of ambivalent about my kids academic uh post high school education uh I was hoping that they uh would be centered in in uh ultimately youa University which is where two of my three children have gone one is at uh baroo which is here in the New York area but uh where uh less of a campus setting more of a a community setting and um I am pleased as I walk around and see buildings named repeatedly hospitals named repeatedly museums named repeatedly by generous productive competent uh gifted Jews let a community know that uh they have a gift in their Jewish community and let these universities let these hospitals let these cultural institutions earn earn the generosity of their Jewish donors and let those Jewish donors have enough self-respect to participate and be involved where they are respected where they are appreciated where they are acknowledged uh for being themselves and not taking uh uh a backseat and a a passive uh a role and one of the uh consequences of the unfortunate uh October 7th um date is that more commonly you are seeing you are seeing uh large uh Jewish leaders rise to the occasion so uh batem May that continue I'm glad you mentioned that because as I've been following this before October 7th you know for many years to me the Jews have given a huge amount of money and tuition to these universities and colleges and huge amounts of money has been donated to these various and for the way they've handled the Jews in the past year and even before it seems to me it's a big misallocation misappropriation of the funds that have been given to allow this to occur it's a misappropriation of Jewish funds it's misappropriation of state and federal funds and I think these universities got a much bigger problem coming behind than just the students suing them right now there's a misappropriation of the funds and there's a and they take funds from all these countries who were at war with so they're taking in funds from countries they shouldn't be taking money from and there's a question how they disclose it and how they get taxed by it so I think there's big issues that they're not being addressed and we haven't seen it yet that very important that the students go and they go ahead and they they sue for their rights but there's a history of Decades of money that's been funnel into these places and in my opinion it's been misappropriated something's got to be done with that and also all the foreign funds coming into them from from Saudi Arabia Iran it's it's many of those many of those 170 organizations are involved with exact doing exactly what you're talking about so yes I want to give a call out to Elise stonic and others in Congress who recently have taken leadership roles in this area and are putting some teeth ultimate the ultimate teeth will be the federal funding for these universities Columbia University enjoyed $1 billion of federal funding as she said last week at the Republican Jewish Coalition $1 billion if their tax uh uh uh ID number were questioned if uh uh Federal uh regulation did not allow that title 6 Etc others for uh for every uh woke uh speech on earth except against the Jew uh that would uh that would bring great uh teeth and uh hopeful uh solution uh in that direction by the way just you asked about pen just wouldn't be fair to not this week they they implemented a p a new um new gu sets of set of guidelines to stop anti-Semitism and anti-muslim uh Speech and uh expression uh we'll see how it goes you know it's there's a lot of there's a lot of Regulation a lot we'll see how it goes it's um it's taken a lot of time and and I I have no comment I just want to say that it's there's some effort being made so just I want to recognize that and uh and later and we'll see where it ends up that's all they came out with the whole Study last week with uh with Columbia um of all the things that were going on and it's outrageous well I mean yeah that well col well Colombia is a look this is a longer story and this is we're this is a discussion of Jewish Unity so the history of Colombia is an interesting history anyway but I think let's stick with the the other stuff I'm just going to address why we're doing this podcast so again on as I mentioned on September 29th will be our light to unite unification American Jewelry we're doing a series of podcasts creating momentum leading up to to that we'll have one more next week batem blater and then the actual lighting as we continue the program continues to expand so on Friday night the 27th is the chabas before Russia Shana and we are inviting we're actually requesting all women to light shabas candles so people who are observant they light um it's really the non-observant at this point about 15 to 20% of the Jews in America are observant so I would assume or think that many of those people are lighting shabus candles it's really for the other 75 to 80% to light chabus candles for the first time maybe um I never even heard of shabus I never even had my first shabas since I was over 50 so part of our Outreach is to make as much noise to get as many people to hear what is going on and go ahead and listen to this so when we heard about a week ago more than a week ago that six Jews were killed in Israel my guess of the five to six million Jews in America off of Wikipedia stats at least half of those 50% heard they knew that the Jews had been killed so probably much more than that so they're hearing they're listening our objective and when they hear that that creates darkness and the Darkness creates depression anxiety anger all negative emotions and what the rabbi had done uh for many years he wanted to bring lightness I know shabas candle lighting was a big thing for the rebi the B it still is it still is a very big thing they're Distributing hundreds of probably hundreds of thousands of shabas kennels and uh many women and just one thing is that what however you define observance you know Mitzvah anybody can do a Mitzvah and and lighting a shabas candle and saying a br is is an easy one and it's one which you know I've also been involved right after October 7th in campaigns to do this and you know people are are very very responsive it's a beautiful thing and uh it's good the shabas before rashash it's also good the shabas after rashash it's good the whole year long and a lot of people you know and it's and one Mitzvah brings another Mitzvah so that's can start with that so little light dispels Darkness so that's like you said it's very important so we want to really get that am me we want to get that message out over the next two weeks so any people that have contacts that can introduce us to the networks to uh social media the more that because this is a viral this is going it's a virtual event and our objective is to have at least a million Jews in North America light this day on Sunday starting with chabas get as many people that don't like to get to light on chabas and then the program will start uh with first a college program college and university program we'll have five speakers there'll be an hour program there'll be a second program with ladies five ladies prominent Jewish ladies talking about the history of the Jewish women and the importance of the Jewish women and how they've showed up in so many inst instances starting with Sara and our founding mothers Rifka Roco Leia going on with Miriam Esther and we have many great ones out there now we need them to rise to the occasion and push the men to do what we have to do to fight all this anti-Semitism so there'll be a college program addressing this some very well-known people ladies program and then the actual lighting at 8 o'clock at night and we're encouraging all communities to do this we're reaching out to many communities in the United States to uh join us on this process and that's the beginning and then there is a followup afterwards the shabas project will be doing their Global shabas on the 15th of November we want all Jews to join in that also and in just looking at the United States we have many different observant groups of people but from my side it looks fragmented and part of what we're doing is joining different groups aish Lish spartic to come together right now to do this and for them to be able to reach out and for us to reach out to the non-observant to have a platform to feel comfortable to start to do things so that we can really come together unify and better fight anti-semitism and the challenges that we have here in the United States so uh we're going to wrap up in a couple minutes so both of you I'd like to have another comment regarding what we're doing and the impact that we can do and and your thoughts about this Josh you can go first makum personifies this as theia in that Judaism is not about anti-Semitism it's about positive it's about wonderful living it is about Community is about family is about Mez fol and uh you know when uh over the years when asked about anti-Semitism Holocaust museums Etc I said I do not Define my Judaism through uh that lens uh I'm blessed I'm blessed to have a positive uh family friend uh Community centered yahadut which is uh filled with so many good things and um you know that is how uh I think uh again seeing young people wanting to wear menen David uh aai uh uh put on fillan people who are more outspoken people YouTu who volunteer you literally never had Shabbat until you were 50 years old I mean it's a yeah it's it's staggering it's staggering um so um you know that is uh that is our future that is our hope and this other stuff is mood music and possibly it's Hashem working through the world because it's it's you know it's not all natural all this stuff going on it's uh we're in Prem Messianic wild times but the good part of it is forcing us uh one way or the other together putting us together putting our Collective energies together our our our uh mishak together so um I again applaud what you are doing as one of the other um hooks in that effort on uh the 29th of uh September kak cavod kak cavod thank you for this opportunity for uh participation thank you and also to you and uh and to all those that are involved and we should all try as hard as we can to bring the Jewish people together just wanted to just mention one other thing which is um just you mention before the rebba so the rebba me the rebba in a certain talk one one of the points is you know this what you're what we are remembering happened on Sim and hopefully on Sim Torah you know people will also memorialize and I'm sure they will um all of theim those people that died Alem they died because they were Jewish and for no other reason whatever they were whatever they were before they they they this is the reason why they died but it's interesting if you look at Sim Tor speaking about Unity so what do we do on Sim Tor we we usually Torah is something which which we learn and when you learn there's a difference between somebody who knows a lot and somebody who doesn't know so much somebody who started learning and somebody who never really learned there somebody who can read Hebrew and some of you can't read Hebrew when you get in the leite but onim Torah we take the Torah as it wrapped up in a mantle and we dance with it and there's no difference between a person who knows who just finished sh for the fifth time and somebody who can't read Hebrew because when it comes to moving your feet with the Torah it's all the same the message of s Torah is is that message the message of sim Torah is the unity of the Jewish people and how we're the feet of the Torah and the importance of that unity and hopefully we'll go from the you know the day of of this lighting to memorialize them with joy on hopefully by that time even way before all of this the hostages will be free and and uh and and will be Victorious and we should hear very very unbelievably good news from Israel right away but uh those are just some other things to think about thank you beautiful so so Rabbi since I became observant I didn't really hear of the rabbi before I've been searching for who are our Jewish leaders and I haven't seen one since you know because the rebi is still here in many ways and I learned Tanya every week for the last eight years with Dr sheckman Who's from our local habad with Rabbi holtzberg here but I keep searching where are the Jewish leaders where are they um and we need someone like the the Reby to step up uh because I keep looking and we have to go back to the leaders I'd love to know where the current leaders are um same thing in America for our leadership but uh it's really about the Jewish people yeah we but it's really important to find them and and for me the habad system and to learn has been very very powerful very very grounding and and really appreciate the opportunity that you and I were able to do something together with our dear friend Josh Landis this is this is a real Philadelphia podcast and uh Philadelphia is a very important place because that's where the the whole Reform movement started in the United States back around the Civil War back in the 1860s and that's how I grew up as a reform no affiliation Josh you grew up as as conservative and uh beautiful Temple that your father had been the uh the rebi for and I looked at his bio again that he was the highest ranking chaplain in the US Navy um so that the upbringing exposure you had to move forward but but you went from being conservative to observant so that's interesting had that had that transpire that you went to the One Direction instead of the other direction well you know I I always Lov the Jewish people and I must say in uh the conservative movement of the 1970s was uh you know so many uh American Jews were part of that movement much of it was centered in Philadelphia uh it was quite vibrant it was uh uh and I grew up in a shabas home even though we were conservative if you will but uh Hashem gave me the the gift of wanting to be a little more observant and fortunately uh uh I had in the most important decision in life that one makes who one's partner is I was blessed to marry Brina from monreal who was raised also as a rabbi's daughter a little more observant than I and and uh I I was attracted to that and uh together we've been Z we've been blessed to uh to raise a family who we hope walks in that direction as well and two months ago we were blessed with our first child to get married and her selection of spouse suggests that she is doing just that so uh it is uh all the big decisions all the big decisions I very much feel the kados God's presence and involvement and this mood music around us and granted Shalom if you are a a hostage if you are killed uh you know it very much affects you and in the Jewish family we all know we're all one degree separated one degree separated from all these situations uh and I have to pinch myself and Shalom never minimize somebody else's pain which uh I have not firsthand felt but uh one degree separated through them you know have to empathize with uh but um please God uh it's in every generation it's in our liturgy and it's fact in every generation we are challenged in every generation the Jews land on their feet and in every uh Millennium those who challenged us and tried to destroy us are not there anymore they're not you know no more Babylonians no more Romans Italy's a lovely country it's had Jews for 2500 years who are doing just fine Hashem has a sense of of humor the president of Mexico is a Jewish woman uh for better for worse wild stuff uh the president of Ukraine the most uh the most blood soaked Nation on Earth for Jews you know has a Jew running the country I mean is this is this wild stuff if one is you know where is God wherever you let him in if you look at some of these wild things going on uh uh you know uh uh God is in our lives God is in our lives and he has a bigger plan and he is pledged that the Jewish people will always be here unfortunately there'll be individual Corban who won't be here but our Nish will be here because we believe and we uh we know there's another world and uh uh it's all in God's hands and there is a plan I I wanted to just and just mention one other thing if you don't mind just um especially during this time because it's a very very opportune time the the Sages tell us actually how it works is that this is the time of I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me basically that during this time the 13 attributes of Mercy are revealed so one of the 13 attributes of Mercy revealed Anders but the question is if the 13 attributes of Mercy are revealed during because and it's a whole thing about the power of this time why isn't it a y ver and we all know every tradition teaches us that it's a time of to make a special accounting and to come close and to work a little harder but the fact is that in this month the king is in the field as opposed to that in Tish when you have to go to the palace and there's so much so many details and laws and and and rituals during this time all the the the ticket the the ticket of admission to be able to connect is just to want so each one of of us by lighting that candle by lighting the shabas candle the memorial candle adding a little bit in Torah Etc and connecting with each other and encouraging each other just remember that God is giving us an extra boost during this month so it's very appropriate that this is happening now to get this little extra boost when the king is in the field agreed so everybody a happy and healthy New Year that's really why we picked the 29th we didn't Pi pick the following week when it actually happened lots of people are doing things we pick the 29th because it's coming into the new year and in the month of el and to get that shabas to be part of it so Rabbi habad had big impact on me I want to have an even bigger impact on me I think Philadelphia is a market where we're focusing a lot in the next two weeks I want every Jew in Philadelphia to know this this is going on really want every Jew in America to know but really the Philadelphia where we're from and that whole Boston into Washington Carter this is where the majority of the Jews are it's where the universities are it's where the anti-Semitism is the worst and this is the message we want to get out there and uh we appreciate your help and support and uh hope we can do more with you and again to everybody watching Everybody uh thank you so much and uh We're Off to the Races and I want to also thank the hazak organization because they've been an amazing partner uh we have other partners coming on now the shabas project uh project Inspire the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce and we're looking for more and more collaborators uh to get it out and from different organizations saric ashkanazi you know we need to blend and we have to show that one face together one Jewish face together here in America and unite that with Israel so thank you everybody for joining us and be well have a good evening