CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #121 Rabbi Nachman Seltzer - The Life & Legacy of the Ribnetzer Rebbe ZT"L

it's not about being the rebel the rebel was an old defense Stratosphere he was a closer to an angel than a man the rapper pushed himself light years but everything you do try to do it a little better by watching him you don't have to be the greatest person be the greatest you [Music] Tuesday night program with special guests we have with us tonight all the way from Aries I call this Rabbi nachman Seltzer welcome Rabbi how are you welcome Hashem thank you so much thank you for having me it's a beautiful privilege and pleasure and it's always amazing to to see the rabbi it's been a while since that uh of being in the car together with the rabbi the Stamford Connecticut yes and we're going to be speaking about The Life and Legacy of the ruminator rappers that's how the newest safer book the rabbi nachman Seltzer wrote canine are the 47th book that has been published by Rabbi nazmin it's a big honor to have you on tour talks Rabbi Armin Hagar custom is a little bit background about yourself before we talk about tonight's topic okay my backup grew up in um Flatbush till I was nine Borough Park till I was 14 then we moved her to straw and to a little town in the West Bank called Emmanuel and then I went to Yeshiva benebra and then yushalayim and eventually going back to America to learn Captain America and then back there it's as well the mirror it's the Berkowitz and uh I was in the mirror for 15 years and uh along the way I started writing and at the same time I was I was learning I was also working on the on Books and Music and doing all sorts of things simultaneously to the learning there was also the writing the speaking the teaching and basically that's in a nutshell the history I know it seems like the rabbi has been around a little bit around the block in different places uh but how did it all start with regards to writing you know this is the 47 book like I mentioned before it didn't happen out of nowhere it wasn't in the blood did it come from your grandparents were writers back in the day like how did it all happen um there was a lot of Talent on the family I have to give credit to the to the grandparents but and the parents um I always liked writing I was good at it when I was a kid I won creative writing Awards and as I got older I really tried I would read everything I could get my hands on all the Jewish books and um I and I started feeling like I really should do this myself I could do this I could do this maybe I could do this better you know like I'm feeling the confidence of Youth go for it so uh people would be like yeah sure you can sure you can do it better anyways one day when I was 23 years old I decided I said to my mother-in-laws I was in my I was at my in-law's house I said I want to write a book so she said okay she gave me a pad of paper and a pen and said go for it I sat down and I wrote my first four pages of the first book which we called the edge today the edge what's that about book is about a it was it was a story that a friend of mine it could be you know I'm simonism you know simonism sounds so reminiscent he's married to Vicky anyways so uh Vicky's good friends with your Nick or Janine uh yaakov's wife back in the day they were good friends exactly back in the day anyway so James Simon from England he was learning about recent requests with me and one day he told me a story about a friend of his and I said the story is so incredible that I I should do a fictionalized version of it based on a true story that became the edge it's about a person who finds that he's a he's a manager he's an illegitimate uh Jew now coach a Jew and it's amazing story and uh so I I couldn't write the the way the real story exactly the way it was I had to change certain details but it's based on the true story and eventually it was made into a movie by Brock pearlowitz first real movie he made it was very successful uh Jewish Film and um so that was the first book that's it from there didn't look back we just kept on going so this was when you were 23 years old the last three years you put together 47 years ago you're only 26 right but value very impressive 26 I'm 26. very very impressive so the first book was the edge and the most recent book the latest book is the remnants of rabbits that tell how did that all come along was there anything connection so that came along because okay so years and years ago I started I wanted to write a book called Mr David but I didn't know how to reach him So eventually I put that on the side but then I wrote a book about rabbits of younger eyes and that led to a book about we saw a Gallows called our man in Jerusalem and that led to a book called The Insider about you saw a cat's over and that led to a book called living legend because each of these people knew the next person he saw cancer were called Rabbi Grossman got through him immediately because was interested in the project and we became good friends so this book living legend is one of the most is a very very popular book and a person read this book originally from Queens actually you read this book can't see who he is bad as and he loved the book and he one of the things he loved about it was the part about the cerebral actually spent time McDowell or to Shabbos he went there many many years ago when he came to Texas well after leaving Russia and this person that we cannot gonna say his name I'm just going to give a little hint it has to do with a lion that's the only hint I'm gonna give this person he became close to Grossman he reached out to people who knew him and Robusta came to his house he doesn't live in Queens anymore Eric was when they became close to the doctor relationship and he had an idea he wanted to do something for them but he didn't have any children so he said I want to write a book about the sort of there are other books but I want to do a one with art scroll and he wanted me to be the writer and he has to be Grossman to call me to ask me to to do this and so one day Robert Grossman called me one Thursday afternoon I was shopping for Shabbos and her phone rack and it said Grossman maybe some David and he said I want you to write a book somebody wants you to write a book about the rhythmics rebel because that's how it started wow Hashem so it All Began so it's all part of uh it's a long chain of events but the the last part of it comes from governor the Goblins amazing I I want to mention one thing about reviews this was many years ago kanzi tell me the inspiration that he got from the Ralph is unbelievable and then recently I was married to Israel with a group of balabatim we went to manage was very very inspiring but one of the main guys told me that the biggest uh the fact that he had of being an Heritage trial was when we had the school demerit to go to McDonald emek to meet with Robert Grossman and the work that they do over there is just tremendous amazing and the fact that the rabbit Grossman had a cashier with the ribbon to Rebels that's out and the fact that you he encouraged you to write the surveys very very amazing now the books are already in the stories of what I understand right it just came out yeah if if a person doesn't have a book like for example myself not yet okay my wife is a big fan of Rabbi nachman I told the rabbit before offline I'm gonna say it in public and she's a middle reading the Sarah's half of it she learns with a partner and uh business Jim I want to get the book of that the remnants of red but I want to get a little bit of a of a glimpse or or or a highlight what would it be Rabbi nachman from within this first of all the book is called the rib nutser the other I think the other books called This is called the ribness that's right that's right not to confuse it oh there's so many beautiful elements okay so the rhythmitzer rebel was it sad exotic he was all about love he wasn't like from this world he was like a throwback to the bashantis town he would have been at home in the Versant of circle that's the type of avoidance Hashem did he he would break he lived in Russia in Russia it's freezing cold in the winter there is every day 200 times wow he would break the ice in the river in his hometown or any other town he was visiting to bring visiting as a Mayo or other Mitzvahs and he would break he would go down to the river break the ice go into the river through his 300 plus Thrillers and sometimes the ice would cover would close up on top of his head or he would lose track of the hole and then he would have to get out so sometimes he'll be able to break through sometimes he would have a dashem and he'd find himself on top of the on the under eye lap there were Miracles with the KGB helping him go to make for the Miracles with the Nazis escorting him to mikfa understanding that this is a person you help wow and that's just one element and when the rebel would come out he one time there were kids in the village understood that uh oh look this Rabbi he goes to Nick Funda in the freezing he breaks the ice he goes to Mikvah and he comes out and and they would but they would they understood that if a person let's say uh he would come out here and look at woman so if a woman would pass by he would go back to Mexico he would go back in again so these girls would come as a father they were young girls they would come and play a game they would stand in front of him when he came out so in the beginning you went back in the mid but he saw that they're having fun they're having a lot of fun you know this old Jew they don't understand what he's got they came and they did this thing one day he takes he came out of the river he filled up shoes with freezing cold water and in front of in front of their eyes when they came and stood in front of him he poured freezing cold water all over his shoes in front of them it's like as if he went to Mexico again after they saw that they never did it again that's just one example of of the type of avadis Hashem of service to God that the rhythmics that did but that's just one thing that's just one little point and say he was he was fighting the KGB he was walking through forests he was the Mayo he would go traveling somebody said that he got into one time he needed to drive to somewhere far away and he's the members like how do I get there and they remember you have a car in your backyard the guy said the car doesn't have uh haven't used it in years the river said don't worry again the car and they drive for hours they come back no problem the guy went into he said you know what well if I haven't driven this car many many years but if I really drove it let me check to see what's happening he opens up the car the hood there's no engine wow that's in Russia but I could tell you rehearsal Weber was the founder of atsala in America he lives in Williamsburg he told me personally that he was in a bungalow County driving and he and the rep wanted him to drive him somewhere late one mostly shops he ran out of gas he said rappers no gas in the car the rapper said don't worry about it you have to drive they drive no gas they got the way they needed to get to after that the car stopped and that was the end of the story wow wow I'm telling personal Weber told me this is from Reversal personal this is the rubbing from the rebel this is one person away he was the he was there with the rebel you know he was the rapper's man for a while unbelievable talking about no gas in the uh for the car whenever uh that happens it goes to e right E when I ask people what does it mean they say empty I always tell them no no it means emuna but all seriously that's that's crazy stories as I would say that's that's amazing now there's a tiny there's a complaint that people have that when you read these books it's all about mice and miracles and you know this happens and that happened if it will be something that we could take for the average person a lesson that we could take on right now we are behind us we have Rosh Hashanah in the time of his recording Yom Kippur as well we have Sukkot coming I had one lesson that we could take from the ribbon and Surround but of course the misood Netflix and going above and beyond to Doom Meets World yes if that would if anything's together every page is is a lesson I'll tell you it's not about being the rebel you will not be able to be the rebel okay the rebel was in a whole different space no it's just not reality he was a closer to an angel that I met so it's not like that but when you go through the book I describe the rebels way he served a shell but what he did his avoidal how he David how he created in the show how he ate how he made Brothers how he said sukkah Shabbos fish the Tish between how he's related to fellow Jews look I'll give you one example meaning like this my point was that you can take from this book everything you do try to do it a little better by watching him take that idea that the rapper pushed himself a thousand years away from this world light years I'm not asking you to do that I'm not asking you to do that that's not where we are but we could all push ourselves a little bit do a Mitzvah a little more dive in with a little more cavana Immaculate on what we eat more and how we eat meaning that's a huge lesson you don't have to be the greatest person be the greatest you be the greatest you most sure available now in a coma compared to one another how can we compare motion out motion was the greatest iron was that as good as Moshe censor emotions Einstein because without our Nikon was the greatest hour of code so therefore he's like the greatest motion about him because he was the greatest hymn so if you're the greatest you then you're like 100 100 sir but I will tell you just talking about how he was interpersonal relationships a personal weapon told me he was once in the house and there was the person who came a Russian Jew who came and he was upset about something he started yelling he wants to see the rap but the rebel was eating lunch yes [Music] anyway so this guy doesn't want to go away he's not taking no for an answer he starts banging on the door they're like go away let the rabbit eat lunch the guy doesn't go away he broke down the door wow he literally broke down the door and the rapper said what's going on they said this guy wants to see the real but he's not thinking oh and he booked on the door they were very mad at him said come in come in he lets him in he says what do you do he have to see the rebel so I broke down the door the rabbit said you did well I'm just saying this is an example every paragraph is an example for you to take and apply to your life as far as you can go how long was this book in the works Rabbi the Celtic the last uh half the year I would say I was involved with it on some level unbelievable unbelievable give us a little bit of a background what it takes to put together is it a biography it's his life life the life so what does it take to put together what tell us a little bit in the day of Rabbi nachman Seltzer is it the phone two separate things you want to know how to put together the book or the day and night and that's what sells it well you know both so basically if I'm not learning with my khabarusa or serum or whatever or not teaching then I'm writing okay these are the meeting if I'm not my default setting is right that's what I do when I'm not doing something else that's what I'm doing yeah that's number one that's my that's my day just right now we know how you accomplished to write somebody's phone so a friend of mine who runs renewal one of the people that runs renewal so we were talking once and he said I did a story a few times about oh no so he says to me I want us how do you do this he said how do you do how do you put out I don't know say that afterwards he says I want to send you something a WhatsApp I said I don't have WhatsApp because ah now I know very very powerful everybody hear that that's how we could do it that's how we could do it yeah and you can do it anyway so um so how how did this work so basically I reached out to as many people as I could who knew the rebel I got leads from different places people actually knew the rebel Russians who knew the rubber back in Russia I spoke to people who knew the rebel from all those years ago I spoke to people in my neighbor I spoke to people and you're still alive under the rapper then I spoke to I spoke a lot to his Gaba his main Gabby so much to Berkowitz and he knew him from when he was a young bucker for the rest of his life he knew the rebel to the rest of the river's life he met the rebel in America and he was the rebel he was the longest Gaba I spoke to him many times I spoke to his son his his second rabbit's son uh son-in-law amatus cone for Muncie I and and I also got tremendous amount of information from people who knew other and slowly but surely started coming together and a lot of research a lot of listening to recordings and and looking up things and trying to find articles and leads and and eventually came together it was a bigger volume so can you tell us you mentioned about uh one of the combines that knew the web as a young and then now until the end of his life she tells about the rubbers the rabba's upbringing he was a the rabbit's parents died when he was very young he was very closer of the stuff in in Europe he was he adopted it more or less he became his uh his his father he said you know he called him his nishama is his he was his guy he said you're like the biggest you're the holiest uplifted person he said I picked them out of balls all these people like you he made it clear he was a successor and um so why did it happen from Stephanie's to ribbonage so he so I'm saying this is he was his father was a follower of stefanest and he spent a lot of time there his definition eventually he lived with the realm and he spent as a youngster he devoted himself to learning namish day and nights traditions capathion mountains the daughter of a very important like a dying or a rough and uh he demanded a lot of them and tested him and he was you know he really was tremendous and then he spent a lot of time learning but as the time passed in Russia it was Stalin Russo and uh the Jewish people needed and he was unofficial either cause of a red because of a rabbi that's what they knew him as they call him and he was their spiritual Guardian leader and he stayed in Russia and took care of them and he would walk through the forest and talk about the Wolves and the white bears that he was even he was scared wow and seeing those eyes in the darkness and the malachim that will walk with him as he went through the forest with his Majoris of Markovich his daughter whose daughter I spoke wow and uh tremendous Miracles the KGB coming to his house looking for him and not seeing him just incredible incredible Miracles but he's been serious devotions off the charts off the charts the serious message on every level and then in every Mitzvah and he lived that way until eventually he left us as he left through us so I went there to Israel he stayed there for a few years for not so long very short actually I think a year and a half something like that and then he went to America he stayed in America he did visit us so he went he went a lot of places goodbye and took in different places sometimes because they wanted to deal with the rest and I don't have so many people coming to see him whoever he went really people found out about it he was like uh he was a legend people always tracked him down and want the brushes from him give me a broccoli would say when a guy would come to his house for and come to the Tish and they would beg the red before brockov for his son he would give him a bonus you have a son a babe a bone and here this is a bane or he would say yes he would give him a bite of chicken he said he was a boss a boss English is a bite and they would have a boy or they would have a girl and it it and it's amazing amazing things people came to us dish and in the rep always knew what they would say let's say somebody and he would say before you come to my minion you have to go to mcflo if a person didn't go he would know and he wouldn't want to shake them and there was no fooling him he always knew there was no games let's say that once in show in Seagate they said Rebel we need you know we need a lady and the devil's like there is a lady like there's no lady truly went through the whole school there's no lady says go to the side door open the side door there's a guy waiting in the side door he says are you a lady yes the revenue he was there he's coming he knew he was under different he was operating on a different levels with hundreds of candles and Ashes on his head and sackcloth bent over double and he was diving for hours and hours and cried until the tears mixed with the ashes and the floor was covered with black soot and it was hot and almost fire would break out foreign Park he lived in in uh he was he was in a number of places he first came he was bar pack mainly for a long time in bar Park and then he was in L.A for a while and Seagate for a while but mainly borrowed Park if I'm not mistaking the the crew the the burial spot is at the end of his life the end of his life he was in Muncie that was the end of his life the known Thing by the yard what's the yard today it just coming up right after circus right oh wow my arm is coming up it's a big thing with her that I remember I didn't have this 40 000 people came last year wow I think you know this year it's gonna be even more it's gonna be even more what's the date of the yard side do you know offhand you can look it up one second I'll tell you yeah sure I'll use the art side right now I'm guessing you just pulled out the book I pulled it out right now okay we want to see the cover right I'll show you second for all those that are uh on the podcast and can watch we'll uh make sure you get the art scroll 24th of tishray 24th Edition oh wow okay so that's it passed away 1995. unbelievable this is the cover wow Godless greatness uh Habit descendants rabbi what's that children grandchildren of the rabbi oh no the rabbit didn't have any children wow that's why the person who came to me what one of the reasons he was so motivated to do this because the rabbis said the rabbit you sometimes there was a time the rabbi everyone came to the rabbit for bracos one time the rabbit started crying and he said you all come to me to ask me to now is Ace Russian please dive in for me I have a child and he was talking he married somebody much younger than him his second wife was Deca is younger than me you hope to have a child he didn't have a child with her so this person said like he wants the rabbit said please you know tell the world about or about me share the stories I want people they're ever wanted people to know that was one of the reasons why the person the donor was so he was it felt he was felt weighing it down on him that it has to be done he felt it was a mission he felt it was imperative that the rebels should have a book that he that he wanted a book The Devil will be proud of and uh Imam misspelt it was very important that this should happen and also you should know today is a big school in Muncie with Mama's hundreds and hundreds of children and that's run by people from his family and it's actually located on the on this place where the house he lived in in Muncie and he said one day this will be a huge Jewish neighborhood when it wasn't and he said it will will be very big Jewish neighbor but that's all not the whole story that's in the book also how that happened I feel the energy through the screen of the rabbit the way you're giving it over I could just uh imagine just reading the book how much how much inspiration one could get about me she would never and giving up of yourself for others and foreign enjoying every single minute we have a maniac we have a custom Torah talks which is a final message that a takeaway something that Claudia everyone that's watching and listening could take with them as uh something whether it's from the verbal whether it's from your other man inspiring books whether it's from the sheer or in the classes okay the final message I I would oh today's message I think is is this you need to remember that you're a great person okay every year I'll tell you what I mean what do I mean there's about 16 million years in the world right now about give or take a few hundred thousand out of those 16 million there are about 2 million give or take that are from that make sense is that a right number three million something like that yeah two and three million right right okay you're the Cure of God you know the numbers between two and three million are religious out of the two or three million that are religious I would say again correct me if I'm wrong probably a million and a half of them are really from really religious out of the million and a half that are really from I would say I don't know eight hundred thousand learned Torah on a daily basis maybe a million total so that means if you are listening to this you're one of the people who are part of the cream of the cream of humanity because if you think about it is you are part of the million people who learned Tire every day every week you devote yourself as harmless that's a zero point point whatever percentage of the world's population you are from the royal family one of the few people actually doing what a Sam wants in this world so when I say you need to feel good about yourself I really mean it because your mom is from the from the few of the proud you know you're the one doing the mission you're doing what I said wants but herself created the world should I create you of humans he had you in mind because you're doing what he wants from the world he wants people to keep the turtles you're one of those few people who are doing that do you understand how great that is I'm not I'm not flattering you I'm telling you how it is you are actually great you let's say you're a person who works as a jeweler or as a barber or you have a restaurant or you work as a I don't know whatever you're working you you work in um construction you come every day and you learn an hour you listen to Siri from there from the rabbi you try your best and you have your a kosher home and you're doing mitzvot and you're doing everything you need to do and you have children buy it in your house you understand you're a prince you're a prince can you be better we can all be better but you're a prince of a Jew and you need to feel that you know you got to feel that going into Sukkot going into the rest of the year you need to feel that you are a prince doing that son Hashem doing what Hashem wants from you you need to be proud of that you're a proud you should feel good about yourself look at me look I was always there I married it to be one of the people doing what Hashem wants in this world so feel proud my friend stand straight Stand Tall you're a lucky man wow what a powerful final match what an amazing Torah talk I personally just got so much kizuk so much inspiration from that message and we are very thankful to Robin Ahmad is so busy dad so much going on he made the time to come join us a special thank you for making the Chronicles on the program really appreciate it talks Tuesday nights 8 30 PM Eastern Standard Time with special guests khazak.org live special shout out and thank you to tourney time and all the many podcast players that are hosting our podcast please not only enjoy but please share as well to family and friends and Neighbors about The Life and Legacy of the Rhythm it's a rabbit with Rabbi Nathan and a shout out to dailygiving.org a dollar a day really goes a very far away uh doing amazing work for cloudy to show so many great causes and once again I want to thank everybody Seltzer probably thank you on behalf of all college strong thank you for all your amazing work we really appreciate you so much for having me and said my best regards too and my son okay guys I I'm gonna make sure you you watch this part we really appreciate it and yeah the Torah and wishing everyone a a uh thank you foreign