CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #164 Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky - Creating A Path Within The Kamenetzky Family

there's a picture of my grandfather in a drugstore who was must been in the winter with his coat and his hat wearing gloves and he's hugging a Jew you don't see the Jew's face but an old Jew obviously not a someone wearing you could tell he was a simple Jew hugging him and and someone asked me what's the story behind this picture and I said that's the story I don't know if he even met this person before it was amazing that he was able to relate of all spectrums of Judaism religious traditionalish satmer Zionist anti-religious I was walking with him by scheller which is today Apartments but then it was still an army base and there were soldiers outside he stopped each Soldier gave him a hug and he wrote down their name he says want to DAV for you he was always looking to do something always looking to do for the cloud he loved [Music] everyone and welcome to Tor talks kazak's program with special guest we have with us all the way from Lakewood welcome thank you thank you so much doing very good pleas us amazing and we've had the to have your great uncle over here we've had the mar to have your father over here and we're going to be discussing the creating a path within the konety Legacy and uh if you get a little bit backing about yourself and the great work involv thank you so much you really I'm fascinating by fascinated by kazak you know I've seen around so many times but actually to be here and to see you can't hear seeing how many people are actually here busy working and what you're doing is like well you know this is a real place is really so keep up the good work really we want to do more with God's what a tremendous you know it's funny you mentioned my great uncle SCH ketki and you know I get it all the time I think there's only four SCH kamis in the world maybe five but I get all the time oh you look young and all that and you know I started saying recently we're named after the same great-grandfather so it's uh also used to make the same joke to me it's your name SCH KY but yeah so I guess you I have a Torah talk with SH ketki like really how's he feeling yeah I mean it is the the elephant in the room you know sh ketki right away people think you I one time you know before I speak myself just one cute anecdote to start off um when I was in col Lakewood it's probably going back 15 years ago there's a uh very nice program that was in one of the shoes called lunch and learn where there was a m and then after M there was a 15-minute chair and then and then there was a box lunch and people took it and went home and I would fill in I would be like a substitute once in a while so I guess there was a text that goes out to the members like who Sayang the share that day so I guess the text said I guess it said that ketki saying the share so I came to said the was on I remember and after the Shar people started leaving one of two people stayed around to ask a few questions and I'm about to leave and someone comes running up the steps sweating and panting he walks into the room and he's like is is Riva still here is still here and I wasn't thinking I was like R who he's like rki and I realized what happened I was like know okay sorry for misunderstanding I don't know it's me I don't know if I can help you but that isar okay so about myself I was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania my father was in col over there he was learning in Lakewood and started at in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania that's where I was born but shortly after that uh my parents moved to the five towns where my father uh started the M it's today May mov and then he joined and that's where I grew up grew up in in Woodmere and Woodmere 30 something years ago 40 years ago was not what it is now it's it was relatively well unknown I remember going to camp and people would say Woodburn you live in Woodburn the whole year and like today it's a different story there's tremendous growth and tremendous amount of of shs gas uh there's so much going on it's an entirely different landscape you know I look at my kids way they're growing up actually in Lakewood but I didn't have the amount of of community that that that they have today but it was good so I grew up windir I learned to actually for high school I went to s for elementary and for mfta high school I went to tela in Chicago it's my mother's uncle or so I end up over there and I I actually used to eat by him every sh for a number of years and I gained a lot a lot from him and for the holy Shiva afterwards I lived in brisk for a few years I got married I went back to brisk I was in K in Lakewood for a number years I was in the big Yeshiva for one year then it was a smaller k for a few years and then I got a phone call from my father one winter it was probably about um 11 12 years ago and he tells me that there's a sixth grade rebi in Yeshiva s who was there for like 40 years he was actually my rebi and he's going there to swell for his grandson wedding for a week and he's retiring at the end of the year and do I want to sub for a week and if I do a good job then I could take over his class so I said you know I don't know about taking over his class but yeah I'll sub for a week so I went and I subed for a week and did a very good job and the next year I found myself te uh filling the shoes of my sixth grade revi and and and I taught sixth grade I ended up going back to Lakewood I taught sixth grade in Lakewood ker and I was uh teaching for five years I loved it I loved every minute of it just watching the kids come in the first day of the year and and there's something Angelic about sixth graders uh but there's also something mischievous about sixth graders and it was a very very it's it's a challenge to to to to mold them and to have them you know the goal would be to have them eating out of your hands and I think it did a good job and at the end of the year what's what's fascinating is you see how how how that that connection that you built with those kids is is something something incredible um and then there came a point where you know as my years of teaching uh were were moving on and I was supplementing my ponosa with other things you know with side businesses I was involved a little bit I was like dabbling in mortgages and you know e-commerce whatever was and and um I started realizing that that my heart really was was in the greater Yeshiva system and the greater helping CL Isel system right I I was going to ask you what was the turning point of when you were learning in teaching to getting more involved with claw work which is something uh that I know you're very much involved with so I think the turning point was that I was um you know a great kid a great tet in a class anyone could be the Reby and anyone could be a great Reby it's a challenging kids that a good Reby is is able to turn those kids into into into great kids and it needs a lot of focus it needs a lot of attention and when I found myself thinking much more of wow could I I really want to make this this General Yeshiva into a better Yeshiva or we could do so much more for all these types of kids and I just found my my thoughts in my heart drifting much more into the the bigger picture rather than the kid in front of me and I said you know what this is probably not the right thing for me to be here working with these kids who need a lot of focus it's probably time for me to step out and and move on to to something broader I want to say bigger because the biggest thing really is to teach Tyra to to sixth graders or whatever it is but something broader and uh then my father was mentioning a few times it was after my grandfather yki passed away and he was the founding Riva and Visionary and and and and he was just the founds founder of the five towns the Larger than Life figure of the five towns he started the first Young Israel woodmar started in his house the first old boy yes I mean so much we'll talk about him probably over the course of this conversation but he was nft my father it was hinting a few times that he loved for me to come in and I and I made the jump and I I left the classroom and I went and tell my father and I'm still there as the associate of Yesa SAR so filling the shoes of your holy grandfather which you mention bamin ketki living up to the legacy of your family the konety dynasty Legacy how is it to uh to to to to to have that so it's interesting question I I used to get this question asked you know much younger and generally I was a good kid growing up but the once in a while that I would make trouble and I was in my grandfather's Yeshiva and I was making trouble whatever it was and I remember I had a sixth grade English teacher who was not Jewish but you know she was a very nice teacher and she would say I remember I remember her telling me one time what were your grandfather say to that and I realized that you know people are always going to be judging me after my father my grandfather and it is it is hard but it but it's it's easy it's a responsibility but it it it also gives you a a a a head start in life so the challenge would be and that's how I see myself what what my role is why Hashem put me here is is to continue the legacy of and my father and but to create my own path use my own use my own I remember talking to rebell Bry one time and I was talking about who's been here at the kazak headquarters very close to kazak yeah and and he told me something he said you know you're not your father I'll tell you why because you also have your mother and your mother's whole side my mother's father my mother's grandfather thein and Li is also ra from from K of Massachusetts my grandfather was his own God and his own right and he said you have your own jeans and your your own and and I that's really when I realized that yeah but but everyone really it's not only me but it's it's it's everyone out there of course you have where you come from but you also have your own and you have to use your own to to to form your path within the legacy of your and your parents and your and your family I remember there was uh I believe it was R I think it was him but when he began the rash punov they're nay like everything else in you know that happens and like who's like who's this and that with understand if family wasn't and stff like that but understand with what I hear what I read was that he says it's Starts Now starts here so those that don't have the the line is amazing and should continue mhia but if there isn't then we could start you could start somewhere you could be the first two two stories one with Rak kamki my great grandfather one with my grandfather ofak liit who was the who was a r man and he was he had a kasis organization he was the president of the U kasis division for a while yeah a long time ago um so we'll start with Rea ketki was one time um he had great grandfather my great-grandfather was rash andas he said he said a I think it was I don't know exactly it was I wasn't there but he said a there was and he prepared meticulously for a it was one night that he went to a wedding or whatever it was and wasn't able to prepare and he came the next day and he he he wung it he winged it whatever he said and the Tom them were fascinated and they came to after us they said Reby wow that was an amazing Shear they said I'll tell you the truth I didn't prepare but I think he told someone afterwards that he realized that the what I took out of the story is that he was preparing his whole life for this year he just let out from his from his heart without he let out he he he he told him over whatever he was thinking whatever he was whatever he remembered he said over the loved it that's one story with and tell you another story of my grandfather of Y who was the towards the latter part of his life he was involved in kasas he was a sh he was P he he was a Daran and mainly his nin to five was he had a cashous organization and he would get many calls from all over the world people call for everything and a woman who didn't know called him up and said Rabbi what's the this and this and this so he said here's this is the so she said how long have you been a rabbi so he says Mrs I have been a rabbi for 400 years that's because he comes from a dynasty of ra his great-grandfather wasit was the Secretary of Inspector who was the he came for 400 years worth of of r insector as we mentioned the and in in Europe and they had that direct lineage from there so every person it's not only someone with the name ketki or the name liit or the name line but it's every person is a grandchild of his grandfather of of his everyone is able to take their are so many Rim leaders today who are people who who answered the call of their parents and their rabim and and they came they're they're they've been rabim for 400 years yes 100% very very inspiring so now that you're involved more with the claw St in a sense what projects have you been involved with lately so the the project I'm very proud of is this project which I mentioned earlier and that is this the saer [Music] your grandfather this is the the safer from that I I put out from my grandfather's writings my grandfather by ketki uh those of you who to KN to know him founded Yesa s in 1956 he moved from East New York to the five Town's famous story he was living in East New York he was a rebi in yes in East New York and there was a kid who came from CED Hurst every day to East New York and the parents of the kid kept on asking my grandfather to come visit we have to start a Yeshiva here and long story short he went to visit and he said you know let me think about this and he asked Yakov ketki his father should I move to Woodmere which was then unknown it was a waspi neighborhood anti-semitic very high-end you know think of like the lawren Country Country Club then that's what it was it was uh you know very wealthy white upper class Gentiles but should I move there and and start a Yeshiva and herak told him the tah was given in the desert is a desert and if you go to the desert the Torah will grow wow so so he went and he did it and and he was just a larger than life figure he was an embodiment of T and the same day he could have been conversing with with who he came from my grandmother was a was from a dynasty my grandfather could have been in the morning morning in bar Park talking to and the afternoon by a a a completely assimilated Jew trying to convince him to send his kids to Yesa and he was like that his entire life and when he was nft about seven eight years ago uh we found my father found notebooks and notebooks and notebooks of Torah of speeches of some that he wrote in his days inel which was during World War II in the late 30s he wrote down shim um some of it was when he was in K and most of it was his drush that he gave at bar mitzvas at weddings he wrote everything down but it was completely scattered and disorganized and spent a few years and raised a lot of money and we hired a team of professionals and we worked with them and after a few years we we uh I was to put put out the saer of his life's work and uh after I published a safer so we started translating it in English and sending out a weekly email ofor with a story in English right did that for a few years and then I realized there was so much that that the safer emak from rakov ketki my great-grandfather uh so much in that safer so I started doing a weekly five minute weekly video share of a piece of from the msov in addition to that I started also a a Batum weekly a weekly video share also so we have now the Ms and the b in addition to the archives of the of the English and that was something that my grandfather would would con bring down the Batum and pull out lessons from the Batum fascinating a lot of great feedback and everyone is welcome to join 100% how does one join how does um it's a what right now it's a WhatsApp group hopefully we'll get on to to to t any time if you can help me with that definitely you could send to you but text 917-6968 3 or email SK rbk legacy. org that's 91769 6443 or SK rbk Legacy .org what's We'll add you ony and we'll add you on to the groups amazing I see the picture it gives me so many fun memories of seeing your father I had a meeting in his house about the work of kazak I I'll never forget this how not only did the RV give encouragement gave his full support but he pulls out a checkbook from his pocket and he writes a check to kazak for all the work that we do so so that was and that we were young back then it was the beginning stage can I tell everyone to do the same thing 100% we could definitely use it be forever appreciative and grateful I actually have a picture of that checked somewhere in the files but besides for that he had a very close CER with my cousins and family members and Uncle who now live in Arizona but they had a CER with with with the r and he he came to the to the wedding I remember and to different and always you know the the r was a magnet people would see they were all crowd around him and he he gave us a lot of lot of yeah and a lot of the DOR were written um on on various receipts or stationaries of hotels that he would stay in by W and there was a few from Phoenix Arizona yeah there a bakery or something from Phoenix they have some very written um one one tidbit about about my grandfather um I I um I was interviewing a friend of his someone by the name of Schulman who has since passed away who was with him together in in Yesa in Isel and he about at Baltimore in the late 30s and 40s and he was talking about my grandfather as a baker that he was always involved and everything I think he told me that he went to the rabbis March he snug out Yesa as a b went to the famous Rab's March in Washington but he said he had a radio uh that he he always want to know the news he always want to know how he could help and and you know so even as a young man um there's a picture that that was going around I think I I I might have sent it around of of my grandfather in a drugstore with his it was must been in the winter with his coat and his hat wearing gloves and he's hugging a Jew you don't see the Jew's face but an old Jew obviously not a some wearing you could tell he was a simple Jew hugging him and and someone asked me what's the story behind this picture and I said that's the story I don't know if there was a story I don't know if he even met this person before but that's the story he was someone who loved old Jews and everyone respected him so much and it it was amazing that he was able to relate to people to who on all sides of the aisle of all spectrums of Judaism religious traditional anti-religious uh s Zionist everything I was with him in in is in the later years of his life and I was walking with him by schneller which is today Apartments but then it was still an army base and there were soldiers outside he stopped each Soldier gave him a hug and he wrote down their name he says want to DAV for you he wrote down the names and he told me I have this great idea we're going to have an organization I still remember he said we're going to call it and we're going to have names of soldiers the boys wav he was always looking to do something always looking to do for the cloud and he loved everyone but what's fascinating is that when we saw these notes and we saw this D Torah and we were looking at them and we my father said we have to put out the safer the show clo that you can't just be a non-thinking Jew and just love everyone it has to be rooted in something and in the saer is really where I I took a lot of inspiration because this saer has in it Torah that he said he was mades himself he he he developed this Torah himself a lot of it is from Rebus who who he got to know through through his father-in-law who is the uster of kalash of the Bronx um a lot of it is from the brisk a lot of it is from the GM of of of America some RHA Feinstein he quotes ation that he had of hner he quotes and there's so many son of the and I'm saying the all these and interesting tidbit or FYI is that is older than R yes is older than that's right yeah in fact in in these notebooks we found letters also there is a there is a fascinating letter that which speaks about R wrote it toak I'm sorry it's rakov letter back to to Philadelphia to yeah but but it was before he's in Philadelphia this is when was a b inel oh wow and R came to learn in my grandfather was there first and apparently there was some sibling rivalry my grandfather was older he was there first and then R came and R whatever the dynamic was R complained to my grandfather to rakov about that Dynamic oh wow and this is a letter back from rakov to to tell him how to be nice to my grandfather even though he's coming in or whatever it was I think I think he references the story that that they were learning together and and and a boy came to talk to them learning and he was talking to the whole time and not toam was asking ryak how to deal with that yakob wrote back to how he should you know fascinating things then I have a lot of other letters just what what today we would text how brothers would text then there were letters um R left n went to learn in philadelph it led to learn in Lakewood and my grandfather in well then I don't know if it was called BMG back then Buton Cutler yeah and my grandfather it wasn't BMG it was BMG but I think the the the terminology the slang of BMG came later yeah but yeah BMG and um my grandfather was learning in AR and then my grandfather got married and was living in the Bronx for a little bit and there's letters back and forth um you know about oh I left my coat can you be my coat how much does he owe me I brought him those for I laid out the money how much like things that today we would text wow and I have I have a lot of these letters just regular correspondences but then there's other correspondences also with with Rabon and they're talking about um you know ravaka famously moved to Toronto so they talking about the Canadian visas and you know there so many fasc and you have you you have hold of all these I have those letters unbelievable very same phrase available in all Juda stories should be yeah should be okay if not we have to speak the distributor to get more but everyone is encouraged to check it out we have AUST Rabbi ketki a final message for our broad audience okay final message so um it's tough there's so so many messages I could just imagine we can go on and on so besides for the Yeshiva I've been involved also in in Ina s Consulting for many organizations nonprofits and fundraising and and and building and and P and and and so many organiz hopefully and through these I've gotten meet and and deal with a spectrum you know across a spectrum of Jews and and what what i realiz is that some people that they have a passion for some causes obviously not even I mean obviously wealthy people they want to give they want to want to be philanthropists to certain causes and some people don't certain causes don't talk to them but but each person can have an impact he obviously he has his mission and his legacy that he wants to leave but but you're part of an entire clol and and someone comes to for a Yeshiva and it's not your son's Yeshiva but but stop there's there's an entire there's a Torah the Torah has has Torah there's there's there's there's there's there's there's so many facets so even though you may be focused on one but but stop and think and absorb what can I learn from this person what can I learn from this organization and and it doesn't it doesn't have to be your life's Mission but it's someone else's life's Mission and that person is part of krol and you're part of that krol have that heart and and give them that time give them the consideration and realize that that that importance of where they fit into and when you do that you become beloved 100% become beloved by everyone and and may I'll leave a a story there was a a woman who I met out of out of the five towns a woman looked like a rabbitson like a complete imagine rabbitson that's who she looked like and she says are you kamki from sore yes and she almost starts crying and she says her grandchildren are in sore and I know the grandchildren they didn't look like they matched up to this grandmother but she said that her son was in Yesa that was very much a box and he didn't fit in and he had a very hard childhood and it always bothered her that he never really became who he could have become but then when you my grandchildren are in Southshore she says I have now I have a comfort seeing my grandchildren appreciate for who they are and and now that they're sing they're growing in their own way and that with that hug that I spoke about earlier with my grandfather that's what we do in Yesa sore there's no box obviously school is a school right it's a framework you have you have to you have to conform to the framework but within that framework it's so Broad and we there's so many different types of juice and they're all good they're all great and they each have a role of clol can we be better as as a as a nation yes can we be better as individuals yes but but to have that accept to embrace one another doesn't mean you have to become them you could still stay who you are create your own path which within your legacy but there's 12 stay in your your sh but to have that heart and to realize where you fit into the entire clol and where someone else also fits into the entire CL amazing say inspiration a legacy an amazing Legacy where bamin your father should continue giv him and strength we had the to have a Torah talk on the life Legacy of kki with there some over there I believe and we want to remind everyone every single Tuesday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time kazak T talks with special guests special thank you to all the various platforms that are hosting our Torah talks podcast we get tremendous feedback and we really appreciate it special shout out to our friends at Torah anytime and also to daily giving a dollar deutag goes a very very far away we're very appreciative of their support to kazak and thank you to Natan bear the media director of kazak beond the camera doing an amazing job with the video and editing thank you to the entire staff and board members and supporters and everyone that's involved we really appreciate it with only only goodness thank you so much [Music]