Moti Ben-Moshe and food security

[Music] tonight I want to Spotlight one transformative historical accomplishment that truly stands out and that is the national project for food Security on the bik Food Bank of Israel it began as a modest initiative s maon Distributing food food crates it has grown into a life-changing program a partnership sh with the government of Israel in 2024 we helped 26,000 families each month in 2025 we plan to double that reaching nearly 50,000 families each month this initiative is the brainchild of a Visionary partner M mos in collaboration with K empowered by the generosity of countless supporters who share our mission and values it as my great honor to introduce the Visionary a man who has invested hundreds of millions of shekels to make this project to reality please join me in welcoming M bosha thank you rabman allow me to begin with a story as a child I knew an old Jew who shared a haunting memory from his youth his family was so poor that his mother would boil water with salt and spices and call it soup sometimes she didn't even have the spices just plain boiling water The Tears In Her Eyes the shame and the Heartbreak left an indelible mark on this young child when this child grew up and became a relatively successful businessman in his village he devoted his extra time and every bit of surplus money to One mission feeding others feeding feeding others wasn't just just a charity it was his passion his love his inspiration was forever edged in his memory the face of a heartbroken mother trying to feed feed their children is something is something he carried throughout his life that young child grew up in a post World War I communist Kashi Georgia that young child was my great-grandfather I proudly carry his name and even more so I'm trying to carry his [Applause] legacy thank you his resources were smaller his Rich was smaller but the passion we share is the same now let me share another pivotal moment in my life El the 18th day of Elo also a unique place in our hearts it's the birthday of both the holy bmov founder of theic movement and the alter re the first kabad rebbe and founder of K kabad but for me it is deeply personal let me explain 22 years ago the year was 2003 I was a young businessman with big guys and big Ambitions setting up a telecom company in Germany just finishing an 18 month setup process and we were in a pivotal phase of the business a six months launch period I've put all the money I had into that business I was reselling phone minutes in Germany a business today's kids would probably find impossible to understand we needed to sell 100 million minutes a month to stay in business but in reality two weeks after we launched I was only selling 20,000 minutes a day that's monthly going rate of about 600,000 minutes a month nowhere near the 100 million minutes we needed less than 1% it was it was much worse than I had planned we were going bust then came K it was Thursday night and I was at the friend wedding in Jerusalem it was a joyous occasion but I was carrying a heavy heart that night three different people approached me each telling me a heartbreaking story asking me for help I offered what I could they needed more but I could not do more after the third request I couldn't take it anymore I left the wedding feeling completely distraught I left the wedding jumped into the car driving back to the hotel started talking to God I said dear Lord I understand there are those that you choose to be channels for charity and there are those who don't I really want you to be one of the ones who use the channel I understand that this is not what you have in mind for me I understand the message I will close the business in Germany and come back to Israel and look for a job day later Friday morning I woke up R the reports of the previous day and the value of the minutes was of 3 million minutes I was sure that that was a mistake I wrote an email to the technical people to check if there was a mistake the numbers did not make any sense Mo Shabbat I received a response from the IT department we are sorry to tell you it's not a mistake sorry to tell me that was unbelievable I looked above and said dear God is this a test in that case I'm up for the challenge that night I decided to open a new business but I also decided that I want to take a new partner new partners actually onto the business almighty God and the alter reab as the change started in K I thought they would be my perfect Partners the following Sunday morning I reached out to Mandy blo head of K kabad in Israel we met in L and I told him kabat represents the alter Reb I want you as my partner at that moment I was almost broke € 141,000 that's all I had left enough for one month but with new found faith I contacted a friend and took out a loan own for 1 million shekels with that money I started the new business which you know as the national food security program someone very close to me asked MTI you had one good day and now you're borrowing a million shekels I smiled and replied no I had two good days by the way that person was my father my dear friends fellow business people and entrepreneurs many times I'm being asked M give us a tip where to invest well success in business often comes down to the right Partners almighty God will always is always the right partner the alter re is always the right partner and kabad thank you and K kabad was a good choice for a partner for me that R sha through our partnership we distributed that was the first year 2500 food crates salazon to families in need within a few months in the older business we were selling over a billion minutes of a month our company had captured 5% of the the entire German telephone Market within less than a year business was ringing but as much as my business was growing I wanted more inspired by my great-grandfather's legacy I had an ambition not just for my business but for charity as well I wanted to change the lives of people understanding people don't need to be re remembered only before the main holidays Rashana Passover they need food security throughout the year they also need guidance hence I put some guidelines to call kabad number one consist consistency people don't only eat on holidays or Shabbat they eat every day I wanted our support to be ongoing for that kabad is the perfect partner empowerment families need more than food they need tools to break the cycle of poverty for that kabad is the perfect partner inclusivity the project add to serve all Israel is secular religious not yet religious drw and others alike for that K kabad is the perfect partner fourth dignity distribution must be discreet preserving the pride of those we help for that Kad is the perfect partner let us all remember and understand what a channel means Channel means you're zero in the beginning you're are zero at the end if you forget that then you don't understand what it means to be a channel in charity because everything is coming from God well as they say the rest is history salazon evolved into the food card and eventually became the national project of food security I promised to give generously but I also knew we needed to scale we needed more partners with the support of people like President Isaac OK Rabil exin of blessed memory his daughter Y exin which is doing an unbelievable job lennik Isaac mesv and each and every one of you here it took over 20 years it grew and grew and grew together we have built something extraordinary in 2024 the national project of food security fed over 100,000 children 100,000 children each and every single day inclusively consistently and with dignity just as my great-grandfather Moria did in Kashi Georgia my dear friends Israel is at a Crossroads since October 7th there has been a significant economic slowdown and the need has grown family struggling from food security insecurity went from 130,000 families up to 230,000 families that is over a million people we need to redouble our efforts once again we need to dream again I hereby commit for the upcoming year to donate at least $1.8 million but we need to do this together let's dream of a day when no child in Israel goes hungry not someday today together we can make this dream reality I want to conclude with a letter that was included in each food box each salazon that first year we gave out salazon it was written by my dear friend the the former Chief Rabbi Rabbi David Lao the letter said the following in life great will sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down today you're receiving help tomorrow we hope you'll be in a position to give others here I say when we are in the position to give let us all give give give and may Hashem always keep us only in that position to give thank you for standing with us together we will overcome any challenge I'm is Kai thank you wow wow wow wow thank you your sons can come up thank thank you very much thank you very much wow thank you mty we're so grateful dear friends let's give him another round of applause