Complete Grand Convention Presentation - Project Inspire Convention 2025

what if you held the key the key to unlocking your true potential the key to unlocking your connection to cloudy roll the key to changing the world one Soul at a time too often we stand at the door I'm sure waiting for everyone else to turn the key but what if that's someone was [Applause] you because when you unlock yourself you unlock others this weekend you have a choice stay behind the door or step forward and say Count Me In the key is in your hands are you ready to turn it well you've come to the right place welcome to the project Inspire [Music] [Applause] convention wow a good V everyone what can we say about shabas let's give it let's give shabas around of Applause we for some reason for some reason I felt that like last night like chabas was over it was just like it was just amazing and everyone was walking on air and blown away and inspired and here we are continuing that inspiration andem turning that into action good everyone it is my pleasure to welcome you to the mat shabas segment of the 16th annual project Inspire convention historically the SE this segment of the project inpire convention has been a journey and tonight is no different before we go further I want to let you know that tonight's program will be 91 minutes I assure you that it will be inspiring and uplifting and I urge you all to stay for its entirety the malava Mala will open after this segment finishes before we go further I would like to dedicate tonight's session as well as the inspiration that will come out of it to be a foral for and Tino we spent last night being inspired and being moved by the chief Rabbi of Russia RAB bar Lazar we heard from David gresen we were riveted by RAB Spiro today and of course from Steve gar we spent the entire shab is figuring out how we're going to raise our hands and get involved and saying Count Me In tonight is about turning that inspiration into action without further Ado I'd like to reintroduce to you the founding director of project Inspire RAB Kim Samson [Applause] oh wow good to work everybody did you have a good chabas we did as well thanks to you and while we're on the subject of thanks I'd just like to take a moment just to thank a few people but first and foremost my team headed by rasi fredman and let's just have a round of applause for rasi unbelievable what this one man and do it's amazing it's amazing but just thanks to the whole team and just a few names to thank rakov giner Lauren levit Rabbi morai trop Rabbi Yoni zakutinsky Mrs Kaya AA M Kayla lasy M TOA Cohen Daniela Hass amongst many many others of course we thank our founding director Stuart Heyman and Andrea who's not here but we thank her as well thank you for everything that you do you know on my travels around this interesting country the United States of America I've had occasion recently to spend a few dings sessions at a at a at a sh in Kingston happens to be no no coincidences here aabad Shel a really wonderful place and I happen to have D there a few times recently and when I was ding there recently at the end of Marv there's a fellow who all of a sudden burst out crying I had no idea why and it turns out this fellow's name is moris Schneider he lost his sister and brother-in-law October 7th and he was crying because his niece and great nephews were still hostages and he didn't know what was going to be with them he came back recently after the kavur in erit Israel Shiri and her sons and he came and he was in Shaw and I went over to him and I gave him a hug and I said Maurice I don't know you so well but I love you like a brother and I try to feel a little bit of your pain and if there's anything I can do for you I'm here for you and he said to meim that means so much to me and I'm going to take a little bit of my heart a little bit of my heart and I'm going to put it in yours and then we embraced and that was a feeling of love and closeness that we had for each other but ladies and gentlemen we know that what happened in erit Israel it started because there was infighting between the left and the right the religious and non-religious and Hashem said if you're going to fight I'm going to send you to the front lines but I'm not going to let you fight brother to brother sister to sister that just can't happen and the question is did we get the message are we coming out of all of this after all this time realizing that we have to love one another after and more than just loving each other but I think we learned from Steve G today that your love has to be so burning that you'll be prepared to run towards the enemy because you love the Jewish people so much but for us it's much easier we have to run toward WS our brothers and sisters who we love and just show them a little care a little warmth a little friendship the ability to listen to be there to share the beauty of what we have with our fellow Jew you know I was walking with my son recently and he asked me ABA what do we learn from a puzzle and I said don't you know it's 48 ways number 22 take as he would say conquer frustration and as R Noah used to say that you know what stands between you and greatness frustration the ability to take frustration stands between you and greatness and he said you know we the way to take frustration is to enjoy it to enjoy it enjoy frustration and he would say each one of us has bought a little box of frustration that we've enjoyed what is that a puzzle and when you buy a puzzle if it's just got three pieces there's no point to it if it's 20 100 maybe it's a thousand pieces now that's going to be a lot of frustration but you're going to enjoy it what's the pleasure the pleasure is the creativity the pleasure is in the clues the Discovery the Kish that's the pleasure it's the pleasure really of meaning sometimes life is that puzzle and sometimes it can be hard but some maybe that's just a clue if it's hard there's a lot of real pleasure and growth and development of ourselves and hearing in that and he would say a further step that there's two types of puzzles there's a puzzle that you don't know if you can solve imagine having a r Rubik's Cube and you just don't know if it really comes together would you really give it a shot and then there's there's a b type frustration which is a puzzle that you know if you know the Rubik's Cube can really work you'll give it a shot and you'll enjoy it R used to teach us that anything that he asks us to do to do is the Fright is a Beat type frustration that we know we can solve ladies and gentlemen we've learned together we spent shamas together we know we have to share the beauty of what we have with all our brothers and sisters we have to unite we have to love we have to be in as the chief Rabbi of Russia told us Rabbi Lazar amain we have to say amain I'm in we have to be in we have to take action we have to run towards our friends our our the Jewish people and do something ladies and Gentlemen let's do that let's together it's difficult there it's a puzzle but bezem let's with unity run together let's all of us in this room take that action together with arus let's build the picture the beautiful picture let's create it together of all of the Jewish people coming together with Aris Israel understanding the beauty of the Torah that we have and the tremendous love that has for us and we will see the I'd like to introduce a partner you may have heard him a little bit over the weekend but a partner who has has has incorporated the lessons that we've given over and brought it into his life and he said has said I'm in I don't want to take his words away from you but without any further Ado please I welcome Josh [Applause] Brody oh that was a little awkward good as uh my Samson mentioned my name is Josh Brody and for those of you I who did not get a chance to meet over shabis while my day job I'm a uh a lawyer um what I spend most of my time actually doing sometimes to the Chagrin of my partners and clients is being involved with project Inspire particularly in in Long Island and the truth is I never ever thought it was going to go this way I grew up like a regular from kid I was in out of town in Chicago and and you know went to Yeshiva got married learned in coell and you know was living my life the way you would expect a regular from balabas to live working trying to be ktim spending time with my family and frankly had you asked me 12 years ago I would have said that life was great everything was great and then one shabus my wife in that way that only firm women can subtly suggested that maybe we should consider going to the project Inspire convention and I responded in that way that only from husband can respond that sounds very interesting dear of course I'm thinking to myself I wonder if I can potentially schedule a root canal for that shavis but of course like I a good husband I went and in reality something just clicked for me over that shabus hearing about the things that we heard about over this shabus the importance of connecting to throughout the world whever wherever they happen to be and something about it just sort of spoke to me and it started a chain reaction and over time I found that as I was spending more and more time reaching out to other Jews what happened was the most cliche thing in the world I found I was getting more out of it and over that time as my wife and I were were teaching more and what ended up happening was it wasn't just impacting me it's impacting my entire family because the truth is I I write and speak for a living it is very hard to put into words what it feels like to spend time with somebody who has a thirst for Torah because they didn't grow up with it it has an impact I just can't put it into words and over this time it impacted my entire family and while I know my kids are about to roll their eyes really really hard I know that they know that they've gained from it and so my wife and I have done a number of trips to to and as we came back from these trips we started teaching a lot it became a major part of our lives this point I'm teaching I think three times a week and what ends up happening is we start building these beautiful relationships with people who had you asked me 12 years ago I would say I would never have imagined knowing them and these are people who become some of our closest friends and there are two people in particular two of whom you actually just saw that my wife and I have developed a very close relationship with that's our very David and Lauren moss and Mark and Michelle Mandan and we have experienced with them incredible growth and we've seen them grow and grown with them but things went to a whole new level this past summer so we did a my wife and I together with by Steve Berg and his wife Rachel Berg we did a trip to ER stol with 10 couples something we had never done before it was really an outgrowth of a project that my wife and Mrs berd have been working on together for now I don't know at least five six years and as we're getting ready and preparing for this trip to Tool the mosses and the mandans who I would think it's easy to say are two of the most loving and happiest couples that we know they told us that they kind of recognized they were missing one thing in their relationships with each other and that was they had never gotten married kadas mosha V and well who doesn't love planning a wedding this guy but with some help from the incredible staff at asator who offered up their you know iconic rooftop overlooking the cotel on a Friday afternoon we had what has to be one of the most unique and beautiful weddings we've ever experienced [Music] we're talking about two wonderful couples I want to thank everybody for coming today it's amazing that we're having this in yam when a couple gets married it's rebuilding the Bas of mos rebuilding the temple right over there Stone throws away maalo the members of the kahila member of the Comm members of the community will bestow Bar's blessings that we ask Hashem to give the this young couple much health happiness prosperity and uh Nas Nas for the for the children and Nas for CLA for the Jewish people [Music] [Applause] again [Applause] wow that was something else wasn't it it was like a dream thank you thank you all look at this crowd simply remarkable truly truly I'm so grateful to be here my wife Lauren my dearest friends Mark and Michelle my name is David and um we had an Inc incredible experience last summer shivu to I'll share a little bit about our experience with all of you it's coming from the heart so um I hope that you receive it the way I'm giving it uh Laura and I are both humbled and honored to be here with you it would be impossible to put into words our heartfelt appreciation for to project Inspire for all that they have done to enable us over the past few years most of all we want to thank you in this room today day in and day day in and day out it is you who actually support tremendous growth and inspiration to all of us and others truth is I am not someone you would easily call an easy cell but I am openminded and for some reason a very easily inspired Jew I feel connected to Judaism in a way that I can't even express in words and always did in that sense I'm easy give me something meaningful and I'm in simple I was inspired from the get-go because the project Inspire the genie was now out of the bottle better yet the truth the beauty Eternal beauty of Torah was really revealed to me and my wife Lauren and I think I could speak for Mark and Michelle my wife Lauren didn't necessarily feel as I did but we supported each other on this journey I couldn't have gotten here without her but there was certainly more than a bit of friction in the early years I remember after I came back from my very first trip my my internal candle was lit it was literally on fire and I come home from this trip and I walk in the door at like 7 o'clock in the morning and immediately Laurence saw fire what is what is someone doing They See Fire they pour cold water all over it literally and of course there was it was so it was my emotion was just so strong that you know the fire kept burning it became a blaze and Lauren of course got more Ro you know what could you do but try to try to put it out but nothing was working so needless to say our enthusiasms our enthusiasms differed a little bit eventually she saw that I experienced something profound literally changed my life and that she needed to find her own path Lauren began her own journey and eventually she went on a trip Kicking and Screaming to Israel but she went on the trip and she got involved after the trip with project Inspire and a and it was the sincerity and kindness of Lauren's first Kusa that took Lauren to a new level of growth finally we continue to grow individually and now as a couple that's what brought us here today Mark over the years you and I with a with the help of a few bottles of scotch would share our experiences you know because we kind of were running a little bit of parallel lives there Mark can you please just give everyone a glimpse as to what was happening in the Mandan house thank you David well actually for us it was actually the exact opposite of your story because my wife Michelle has been very involved in growing jewishly since uh going on her first project Inspire momentum women's trip to Israel in 2014 we've always identified very strongly as Jews but we were living a very secular lifestyle at first when Michelle was eagerly taking classes and learning more and more my Approach was okay well this is good for you but just leave me out of it I didn't want to I didn't want to be involved but somehow I don't know Shalom bias or whatever it is uh power of of a an ases um Michelle subtly very subtly pulled me along and now have our lives have been completely transformed we D at a kabad where we can walk to shul we fully observe shabis I've had a weekly study partner for a few years one of whom is sitting right there and I am continuously learning and and studying uh the beauty of of the traditions of the Jewish people in Torah but yes [Applause] we but yes we support each other totally and it has been an incredible improvement in our lives and the lives of our children wow yeah you know interestingly you know I spend most of my time during the day working okay but that's not my real job my real job is actually prospecting for juice wherever I turn I'm looking for a fellow Jew whether it's in the office whether it's in the airport whether it's in my local town I'm always prospering Jews and things I hear are things like it's not for me literally I hear it all the time and that's how I know I'm really working at it because I hear it all the time it's not for me but every once in a while somebody's interested and they want to learn more and they want to get involved and it's it's it's amazing when you see something some that something like that happen right before your eyes what's really true is that Torah is really for everyone anyone can get involved at their own pace and on their own schedule yes well it was actually you David that sort of started that transformation for me you invited me to a uh weekly project Inspire lunch and learn in New York City and I really didn't want to go but I felt uncomfortable saying no to you so I ended up going and I ended up going to a Shear that was being given by Rabbi Samson Rabbi Kim Samson and what I heard at that sheer was just unbelievable I had never heard a a form of Judaism like this before the the beauty and complexity of Torah was being revealed to me in a way that I I just couldn't even I didn't even know existed and that really just started me off on that Journey so it was just that one suggestion that you made to me to come to a lunch and learn and I just sort of overcame my resistance and and here we are today amazing you know Mark I could feel your your love for Judaism and I love my Judaism as well it's it's it's beautiful I love chabas I love the holidays I'm grateful now to be jewishly married great we we have to get that message out there and we have to just keep on trying to reach out to more and more people my learning with project Inspire has opened me up to this this incredible beauty of Judaism and it's so important that we all work together to continue supporting project Inspire and organizations like it to reach out to less connected Jews and educate them and make sure that they are able to have the opportunity to be exposed to the beauty that that Torah and Judaism can [Applause] provide absolutely Mark and that's why I am personally so thankful to project Inspire for being that bridge for men like me to meet fellow Jews like Josh and with the help of his Hashem together we we will grow build and build community and break down those barriers I thank you all mazeltov and enjoy the rest of this fantastic experience [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] people I meet up project Inspire programs are so amazing uh first of all in terms of the leadership and the staff their dedication is unbelievable the detail that they put into everything is is incredible when it comes to the attendees I I feel like people are looking through a lot of the same things that I'm looking for whether it's a deeper connection C or anything like that and I feel like I'm able to connect to a lot of people because of that the Jewish Unity I feel with project Inspire is very different from my childhood when I thought that the Orthodox Jews didn't respect me as a real Jewish person now here I am with Jews of all different denominations feeling completely comfortable and accepting and happy with my faith [Music] amazing ma ma to DAV and la and Ma to Mark and Michelle beautiful Sim and it's our Sim and by the way it's all of our Sim in this room because without us and the people that we reach out to many people would not have the connection that they have today and that's been the theme and the lesson of the shabas now without further Ado because this shab the shabas is all about you everyone here in this room I want to join some of you in the crowd and get to know some of you a little bit better if you don't mind would you be able to hear of course not okay um okay follow me over here on this journey here okay if you don't mind I don't mind joining you in the crowd over here okay okay I'm going to take a seat over here in front of these two little sadim over here you want to tell me your name sadic you want to tell me your name yeah what's your name Z Yakov Yakov how you doing Yakov how old are you seven Yakov is 7 years old let's give a big hand to yakob who's seven years old what's your name little T David what a z guy David how old are you David five David is five years old do you live where do you live Yakov in havra havestraw havestraw is near Muny for those in Tom's Rim who no idea where that is hav stws in M right near M and do you go to Yago yeah you go to what grade are you in first in first grade what grade are you in David 31a David is in Pre one wow did you guys have a good time here at the shabas yeah wow what about you David yeah amazing oh I'm just going to sit here the rest of the time this is so amazing I'm sitting here y yakob you want to tell me tell me what does your tati do what does your ABA do he learns to oh y ABA learns Torah amazing does y does Yaba learn Torah or does he even teach Torah he teaches Torah wow yak's yak and one second is this your first time at the project Inspire convention D yeah Wow Wow Wow first time but do you know something you know something you know something David it might be your first time at the project Inspire convention but you know that your ABA was once at the project Inspire convention do you know that yeah you do know that well someone someone spilled the beans then sh do you want me to show you that your Abba was once at the project Inspire convention yeah wow should we play the video you want to see a video of your ABA at the project Inspire convention yeah what about you yakob you want to see it yeah amazing okay let's go to the video tape and let's see the ABA of Yakov and David at the project Inspire convention I've been asked few weeks ago to say a few words about my journey in the last two years sir moving from Tel Aviv to jerus from City of opportunities to my door with three roommates and from the audition room to the big mid Rush what was I thinking I grew up in hia I went to acting school went straight to the theater it looked like a great place to be I got the opportunity to shoot an advertisement in New York and on the plane I saw that religious scary lady say you rer and I was with that lady for 11 hours and we started to talk I asked CS of questions she just came that some this well some physic Mission Project Inspire but I got to say that her answers were pretty good and she was very honest to say you know what eie I don't have all the answers but I promise you that I'm going to ask for the answer I appreciated the honesty to say I don't know she was big enough to see past my behavior past my mistakes they really saw the potential in F and she did it with one simple sentence will you come for shabis that's it it came on Friday morning and I went to her house and going for shabis in bbar you know it's not Disney land okay I opened the door I saw the strain and the white socks and The Funny Pants it was like I told myself f are you going to be here for 25 hours and I told myself give it a chance you know it's one chabus turn off the phone take it the whole way and it wasn't shabus of Miracles and big Productions it was a Jewish shice with a lot of food of course I wanted to compliment around the food and I said wow so many curses and then I realized that the word that I was trying to use is chuses ches I went to Bab of show people were shaking my hands and welcoming smiling and these people are so kind and warm and they made me feel like home and they were singing they were dancing they took me a part of it you know they they felt so special and at that moment I realized that I want to keep shouts [Music] ladies and gentlemen it is my great honor to reintroduce to you Fran [Applause] BB um so first of all I want to thank the biggest host which is the for hosting us this shabas every shabas every [Music] day he deserves the and also for project Inspire RAB Samson and also rosi fredman for have such love and care for cl Israel and also for me all these years so this video that you just watched that was 12 years ago but really the story started almost 15 years ago uh it's interesting to to see how koshu has a plan you have your own plan you're thinking that you're coming to New York you want to conquer the world you want a conquered Broadway and a want you to cross path with a very interesting kidish lady very scary one miss rifer and her precious [Applause] family and again that chabus I mentioned it was an amazing chabus incredible chabus and I kept I I was trying to find the words to thank them for this amazing chabas and instead of saying I kept saying sh shet shets and I'm not talking about drinking theim which was also embarrassing but it was an incredible shabus we learned from our mistakes right and after that chabis I decided that I'm going to make a change a small change as you can see it was very small next convention I'm coming with a shal and uhem it's amazing I'm grateful to the Kosh to have normal life you know people are dreaming about normal life not perfect but normal wife and kids and learning and teaching and I'm about to finish my soon and being busy with being busy with k with am Isel and you know just being like doing the regular things that people dream to do in life like just finish ging and coming back home and taking the kids to school and driving with one hand and eating with another hand and feeding your baby with your leg you know just just be busy with life and one of the things that I keep reminding myself during this 15 years is that one key to do care of is a thing that we need to learn from the riers which is that they didn't try to wow me with Amazing Ideas you should be answer huh they didn't try to wow me with Big Ideas they didn't have like this tremendous uh about yish they just they kept it very simple and I I read a m that is very from from saer it's a short Mas but gives M for us it talks about a king that went with his pamala to hunt and he felt during his hunting that something is I don't know something is uh biting his shoulder and he thought that really it's nothing went back to the palace and he felt that it's very itchy and suddenly he started to have fever and he wasn't able to walk and he wasn't able to stand and he fell and the doctors were trying to to take care of him and trying to find something to give him nothing and The Gardener of the palace remembered that there was one one person that was always busy with like health and uh natural medicines that never helps and he decided to call him and this guy came this pit guy came and started to mix few herbs together and after few minutes that he gave gave it to the king few minutes after the king opened his eyes and was able to move his hands half an hour after he was standing 3 hours after he was able to walk and he was healthy says seph people are busy to save themselves with tremendous things they trying to be so creative with what to do with our lives in order to save ourselves what do we really need few herbs that's what we need what are the herbs that rifer offered chabas y Hanah candles PES simple things not Big Ideas I'm coming back home Thursday night and I look at the shabas table which is already set B hasem and the candles and I tell myself wow I have a Jewish home I'm learning with my sons their Sid party and their parha party and aim and I see the spark in their eyes of yish kite of learning and I tell myself what would happen without that plain ride without that simple question will you come for shabas we're here to inspire one another and we don't need too much things just few herbs that we all have in our pocket so I encourage you to do it to use whatever we have have to affect of Jews that are not aspired yet we should to bring and to see the of mikash very soon Co [Applause] [Music] too project Inspire what's amazing is the similarities between everyone and that's kind of what warms my heart it's all about building a connection and what's beautiful is that when you're able to connect in the form of talking about life talking about family talking about spirituality talking about your background talking about your fears your challenges that's a different type of connection everyone has like a Jewish soul and project Inspire is about inspiring that soul and whether you're a teacher you're a learner you're a grower and every single person is growing and that's why project are so meaningful for me [Music] thank you R frim and family and Yakov and David thank you for being here you guys you little guys are an inspiration for all of usak amazing amazing what a joy I had the opportunity last week to be in ref fram's home with his family what a joy and again once again our accomplishment our to all of you I also want to acknowledge who you saw in the video who was here at the project expire convention when that happened he's here with us tonight a special shout out to a dear friend and Mentor Rabbi yakob Solomon who is in the house [Applause] tonight I remember I remember filming that video on the 95 degree heat on the rooftop of Asa Torah I just don't know who was burnt worth but thank you for that ladies and gentlemen we reached the part of the evening that we've all looked forward to over the weekend we started this weekend off with the messaging of we need to raise our hands we need to count you need to count us all in for the initiatives that project Inspire is offering once again as a raia mentioned and has been mentioned here reaching out to Jews to become come across with is already simple stuff for us but now many of you are sitting in the room and saying maybe I'm not that scary lady on the plane maybe I'm not able to do that maybe I don't have the ability as a lawyer as a firm lawyer to change my entire life around and to take trips with less Affiliated Jews to Israel maybe you're not and we're not capable of doing that but we have to think about what we are capable of doing and I want to mention a few initiatives now and by tomorrow morning our goal is when I stand up at this podium that we sign up 100% of the people in this room everyone here can do something and even if I go through an initiative that's not for you for whatever reason tell us what your initiative is tell us what you can offer tell us what you can get involved in our first initiative which you will see out in the hallway is conference connections there are dozens if not hundreds of students students in the area in our area who need a place to meet up with in a conference room in a place in your office many of you work in offices and even if you're not a cir of magician or a cir of professional but you have a space to offer raise your hand offer your space just this past few weeks Josh Brody Eric yankevich DOI Wier just to name a few open up their conference rooms a project Inspire for students from universities around around the New York area and have inspired dozens of students the next initiative was what we're calling leaders Hub there are Professionals in this room there might even be Prof uh retired Professionals in this room who would like to interact to inspire to connect with students you're a lawyer you're a doctor you're an accountant you're an interior designer there are students there are families there are people who are looking to interact with you and even if you heaven forbid don't know what to say or speak to to a less religious Jew can you offer your services for the purpose of Outreach and for the purpose of kirv this is our leaders Hub if you're in this category raise your hand and maybe you're not even that and maybe you don't have a profession and maybe you don't you you don't have that space to offer but maybe you could come on the road with project Inspire maybe you could join us in many campuses and communities let's go to the next slide on the road with project Inspire I was sitting at a table today where a couple was discussing the initiatives I mean maybe they W in heart of sight and it was actually right in front of their faces over shabas I said what a great idea our kids are older we all we would love to interact with students we've reached a point of our life we can get away for a shabas or two spend the time a shabas or two or three in a community in an University somewhere where you could use your shabas or your time to inspire Jews on the road and maybe you're not even that and you don't have the ability to travel on the road maybe you're scared of flying or you're scared of driving but maybe you can be a community in Ambassador can we rely on you as we run initiatives from our office and as you recommend initiatives to us to be a point person for the community Ambassador maybe you're a woman at home who's maybe not working in an office with a boardroom and maybe you're not a professional by trade and maybe you're not ready to go on the road but can we rely on you to be a community ambassador to inspire others in your community to get involved with our initiatives and maybe you're not even that I don't have access to my sh WhatsApp groups and I'm not on the n and I hope they never call me about the Nay but maybe I could just be a host maybe I could open up my home to host someone for shabas just this past week let's go to the next slide just this next uh I we good sorry maybe I you could open your home in this room the barracks family T barracks and his family opened up their home even on a moment's notice we got a call from University that's running a program we went to our database which we're trying to grow and we found people in that area who are ready to host and we were able to inspire students by hosting maybe you can't host for a chabas you can host for a kalalake in your house and maybe you can host students to show them how to cook for shabas but if you could be a host on any level we need you as part of our army to be able to service all the needs of the community and maybe you're not even that you're homeless jobless conference roomless you don't have a car and you're scared of flying can you learn one on-one with a Kusa on the phone is there anyone here without a phone can we sign up and raise our hand and say I can learn with someone a half hour a week I can do that ladies and gentlemen we're here this entire weekend we've heard from Rabbi loic about the need in the greater cure of community we've been contacted by dozens of programs and communities and we're looking for people who want to raise their hand and get involved so that we can use our office and our staff and our resources to get all of you involved ladies and gentlemen in the hallway tonight you will see and you will be be approached by our staff to sign up Don't Be Afraid sign up we won't call no we will call you and we will involve you because this is not only our mission this is your mission this is our responsibility I urge you all of you that tomorrow morning I can announce that 100% of us raised our hand to get involved in the project Inspire initiatives thank you for over three decades one man has stood at the Forefront of Jewish life in Russia leading with unwavering commitment courage and Faith Rabbi barl Lazar Chief Rabbi of Russia has not only revitalized Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union but has also been a global Ambassador for the Jewish people from rebuilding shoes and schools to ensuring that every every Jew no matter where they are has access to their Heritage Rabbi lazar's leadership has been a beacon of light in times of Challenge and Triumph his work extends far beyond Russia's borders whether standing before world leaders advocating for Jewish rights or bringing Torah and Yiddish kite to the farthest corners of the earth Rabbi Lazar embodies the responsibility of CLA yisroel caring for every Jew in every place tonight we are honored to welcome a leader a Visionary and a true servant of the Jewish people please welcome the chief Rabbi of Russia Rabbi barl Lazar [Applause] a good first of all great great great being here I think for each one of us but especially for me so I think it's a eyeopener for me everything that I saw here the shabas and I'm sure each one of the participants feels the same we're empowered to go out and bring mhia how how do we do that so just imagine that somebody will tell you you can save the bias's children what are you ready to do to save them I can promise you that if you turn to any Jew anywhere in the world and you tell them these words you're going to say am in I'm ready I'm ready to do whatever is needed to save these children so you know what the rambam it's a big issue but the rambam says there a Jew that is out there that is not part of project Inspire doesn't go to kabar house doesn't join a minion every day he is a he's a child that was captivated he's being held hostage by non-jews he's actually maybe living in the Free World but deep inside what is going on with him he's a hostage he's in Gaza he's suffering he's hurting and you are the one that can save him and this is really what we have to realize that these Jews that say no I heard tonight somebody says you want to learn and he says no I always say oh you are my client those that say yes somebody else will take care of them they don't need me when somebody says no I say oh wow that's who I was looking for and let's start talking and invite him for shabas send him some send a a book Put oning on him make a small change this will trigger bigger changes bigger changes if a shabas meal can bring this beautiful family to be of others it's like Herbal Life I don't know it's called you know it it goes and goes and it grows and and the at the end of the day we are the ones that get thear from his B and his B and his b trues but people say people are not interested in listening I look at them in their eyes they don't want to talk to me so let me share with you a very famous a person goes over to shamai and he says teach me the whole T while I'm standing on one foot shamai takes his steak and starts running after him I don't know if he hit him or didn't hit him but he managed to run away and he ended up by H and he tells the same story again can you teach me the whole tah while I'm standing on one foot so first of all how long was he planning on standing on one foot if you ask a person how long can you stand on one fo foot will'll tell you I don't know try it try it at home see how long you can stand on one foot every person stands a different time if he's a good Sportsman he could stand longer if he's not so balanced less what kind of time limit is while I'm standing on one foot say I have five minutes I'm running late to a meeting what's on one foot and also he says teach me the whole Torah what is he stupid he thinks he could learn the whole Torah on one foot and what does he answer him oh he has a good trick don't do to him what you don't want somebody else to do to you to you that's the whole tah the rest is commentary now go learn oh you tricked me you said you're going to teach the whole tah and then you tell me go learn so you didn't teach me the whole tah so what is going on over here there many many many perim I want to share a thought that I had this person is telling him I'm standing on one foot what does sham I see he sees somebody mocking T laughing at us you guys are learning T every day you learn what are you learning you can do it all in one second sh gets angry starts hitting him say why Mak he goes to h what does he will say what does he see he sees somebody picking up his foot and he's ready to take one step that's why he's standing on one foot he wants to take one step he says tell me can I do one step is that going to be enough or you're planning to turn me into somebody with a black hat Black Beard or white beard what do you tell me the truth what do you want from me and you tell me you know what I want you to do one Mitzvah one Mitzvah don't hurt one person you know who you're not going to hurt your friend why does he say it in the negative way because he's telling him even though he hurt you he did something against you he's your competition he built a business right next door he did something to hurt you this person is terrible he was your friend and look what he did to you exactly what he did to you don't do to him you can't stand it how could he do such a bad thing to you and you say you know what I'm going to do it back to him no exactly the opposite now go learn and you're going to take a second step a third step a fourth steps you can already imagine what this person became and who he was if the tells us this whole story around a year and a half ago after October 7th all of a sudden I got a phone call we heard you're traveling to Israel there's somebody that wants to see you and I always say the answer is always going to be yes and who's nuding me this time oh it's actually a lady that was a hostage she thinks you can help I said listen I don't know if I can help but to meet anyone I'm always ready and I'm in Israel with my wife and this Elena trufanova comes with with her future daughter-in-law and they come to meet us and they asked me to do things that are not too realistic but I tell them you know what we're going to do it we're going to do it together whatever it's going to take we're going to do it don't worry your son Alexander is going to come out of captivity I promise you let's go to the queso anyways I don't know if that was the first first time that she was by the CLE but when she came there she decided on the spot that she's going to start keeping shabas now to understand how far this family was from idish her husband that was murdered was not Jewish her son that was at that time in captivity was far from idish K as far as you can go zero connection when I say zero it's zero and you know you all heard the story of sapir Ken the way she was traing the perim and the whole there was also she started ding a month before s there was no connection even though our parents are from from family and this Elena was completely disconnected far forward all of a sudden she's keeping shabas she's daving three times a day with every little detail and she has questions am I supposed to say this way or that way and tell me here and tell me there she says still him every shabas takes a four and a half hours to say till him and then during the week again she says till him and the question she asked on till him she understand what she's saying and I'm telling her don't worry I promise you one thing first of all good good think it's going to be okay you'll see it's going to be okay positivity you have to and the MIT they are doing the feel L it's for sure going to help and throughout the whole time after I promise her everything's going to be okay she has one question she says you know my problem real problem I start believing you that it's going to come out but once he sees what happened to me what happened to his girlfriend he's going to think that we went crazy why he's going to keep shabas are you crazy do you know what this guy is going to see when he sees us keeping shabus it's going to be terrible I have nothing to answer her but I tell you you know what if you're going to DAV while you DAV you should come out of you should also DAV that you should be strong over there and that zun should come back anyways they came to MCA to visit just you should understand how close we got to them my wife who's here tonight and the whole shabas thanked her for bringing me here you can applaud her my wife became her sister Kip every single day they're on the phone their future daughter-in-law became a daughter's sister and they're on the phone every day and they became really family and this is really the connection you have to have with every single Jew they are family and you soon see how family works anyways barem you all heard the news that he came out but let me tell you one interesting point we've been telling them not only is he going to come out we'll be there to greet him when he comes out we promise you we'll be there in Israel and they ask us how do you know how well you're going to move to Israel how do you know you're going to be in Israel said listen we are also daving we want to see him as much as you want to see him he's our brother he's our son we want to see him and we're going to be there and you all heard the story of the wedding barem Friday all of a sudden we find out the wedding was on Wednesday Friday we found out there is on the list coming out on chabas and Elena trova calls me up and she says I'm keeping sh chabas what should I do am I allowed to go meet my son by the border or I have to keep shabas trust me it's a tough question and I answered it that she's allowed but she made sure that no news will take any pictures or nothing to be they shouldn't publish anything until say shabas but the whole time she's telling me on Friday already when she already heard that he's coming out he says you know what I'm really worried about when he's going to see your hat and your beard he's going to run away so I I'm not so scary you know like the lady on the plane she was scary I'm not so scary and I tell her don't worry we'll figure out I'll be nice don't worry I'm not so terrible anyways M shabas the first phone call that he asked to make was he called our family while we were still in the middle of sh we all said the m and he was Thanking us for helping his mother and helping his girlfriend and being connected to the family and he's actually he saw me with a had and beard and he wasn't so shocked but I still didn't know he knew that we helped him he found out but I didn't know what he was going to do actually he was going to see me you know face to face anyways I'm supposed to go to him at say shabas and they tell me it's still not going to work tomorrow morning okay how do we get there they tell us they allow in the hospital only very close family members so this Elena told them actually their family it's not just you know friends rabbis it's our family these are our family that's my sister and that's my brother-in-law and that's uh so we came there as family we come there to the hospital they look at us they can't figure out what kind of family are with with them but we pass the face control and we're standing there by the door and they say how many are you so we say we're actually six we came with our daughters because they're also sisters and whatever they all brothers and sisters and they say six people maximum they allow one or two people for maximum 5 to 10 minutes and no phones so I'm already hiding my phone I have two phones one phone goes here one phone this is my phone I'm already thinking how am I going to take a picture I want a picture with him they don't allow phones they don't allow to go in for more than five minutes and at a certain point they ask how many are you and my wife says we are actually one and that statement we are actually one broke the I and he said if that's the case we're going to make you meet them not in the hospital there's a cour outside and we're going to open it for you that you should be able to sit with him there anyways able to go down to the courtyard and wait for him every second felt like a million years and when he came out of that door and he saw me and he came over to me to hug me I can't describe what happened at that moment I broke down I couldn't believe it such a special Nish hugging me holding me tight and we able to be there for an hour and a half with our phones and with the filling and I put on filling on him and I keep on saying and I'm going to repeat it again and again if once in at my lifetime ater I'm going to be at the D this Alexander Ben Lea was when he put on fing the way he was ding went to the core of my I was so touched I was so in a different I was in ecstasy I couldn't believe it this is the boy that they were saying they going to be afraid of a hat and a beard this is the holiest Jew that I ever met I'm not going to repeat what happened in an hour and a half I'm not going to repeat all the discussion that we had from then from here we're flying to Israel to sit down with him to plan a mitz hasem their future life but I want to just share one small story he came out and he tells his mother that every hostage in Gaza had to have a nickname a nickname a name in according to the Muslim tradition so you can choose Muhammad or I don't know all the names and they gave him a whole bunch of a list of names to choose from and he crossed it all out this not good that's not good I don't like it I don't like it and at certain point he chose a name and he tells his mother the name that I chose you know who I became I became Yousef and when she heard that she said oh my gosh when she was in the most hard moment in this whole history when she was giving up hope she decided she's going to open upes and see what is the message the t is telling her and what did she open thees on the G the story of yadik being in the pit and everybody gave up gave up on him his brother his brothers his father and you can think that there's no future to this boy and he saved the Jewish people he saved the world and she said that's what my son is going to do this is the message I'm not giving up he's going to come out it's going to change the world you have no idea how many messages I got of people that decided to put on Fillin because they saw Sasha Tran of putting on Fillin this boy is going to change the world and each one of us could be the yfik Yos fredman you are the yadik [Music] [Applause] I have a lot more to tell you I'm afraid he's going to fire me on the spot y you better buy me a watch anyways I'm I'm going to stop right now even though believe me I could go on forever I want to just share one bakha yes yesterday there's a beautiful safer that one of the first F the Reb gave out it's called y every day has a message yesterday the message was that every single Jew is a some people know aah metah every Jew is a each one of us is the from to go out to every single Jew and every single Jew is a SAS that we think he's so far away he's so scared of us we don't bite we actually are idden that care for each other and when we see somebody that is missing the beauty of idish kite that we barem are able to celebrate it's not fair not to share it with them so we have to do it with a smile we have to show them how beautiful it is how special it is to be a yid to be a Jew to be involved to help other Jews to get involved and have no doubt that this shab and what's going to come out of the shabas is going to be a big big step not only a reg one big step that we're all going to take to [Music] go project inspires creating leaders by Leading by example they put so much effort into giving us this experience to show us that action makes change and every one of us can make action can do [Music] actions good evening in shivu atov my name is Mike Monty I grew up in a small town in Rhode Island a place far removed from any Jewish life there were no synagogues or and very few Jews in the town I grew up in I'm not even sure if there's a single family there that's not intermarried I have two amazing parents my father's Catholic my mother's Jewish growing up I was raised Catholic I didn't particularly identify as Jewish if someone asked maybe I'd say I'm half Jewish despite my mother telling me I was Jewish I never learned about any holidays or Customs my only Jewish experience was lighting a Hanukkah manora a few years during my childhood I had heard of a holiday called Passover I had absolutely no idea what it was I went on to study in University and work in the commercial real estate industry in Boer Aton and I was very passionate about my job and thank God successful exactly two years ago from this day I had the opportunity to work on a deal that would change my life [Music] forever my name is Michael Monty I grew up in a small town called North Kingstown I went to Public Schools I had a pretty normal secular upbringing my father was not Jewish my mother was Jewish and uh my father and his family really did not want us to be raised Jewish so we were brought up with more Christian Catholic tradition we'd go to church sometimes we'd celebrate Christmas Easter all the big Christian holidays the only thing I did Growing Up in terms of being Jewish was B we FL the Hanukah candles some years when my mother's grandparents would come over I graduated from University in 2021 and I got into commercial real estate I grew up in Lakewood I married a girl from South Florida from North Miami Beach and after we learned a year in Israel we came to live in South Florida I worked in the mortgage industry and eventually we started getting more into the lending business as the company started doing Bridge loans we got a deal from K's which is a mortgage broker from a broker named Mike Monty Mike Monty I never met before I never heard of him and the deal was a sizable deal I told him we don't do RV parks we're not RV lenders he responded back did you read the full email did you see how strong the sponsor is I convinced them it would it would be a good deal he ended up deciding to put out a term sheet and from there I got it in front of the buyer and they were like oh wow where did this come from uh it's actually good terms we ended up signing up the deal but in real estate always something comes up and we had a pretty major hiccup towards the end of closing part of information of the deal though is not disclosed to the lender not disclosed to us and when it was disclosed it was a big problem it jeopardized for us to do the deal when I called Mike up and so Mike this information was just given to us by the attorney he couldn't believe it he was surprised himself he did not know this piece of information and in the end of the call I'll never forget the words he said Joe don't worry it's off above any out it will all work out so my husband turned to me he said you think he has a Jewish nshama his name is Mike Monty he doesn't sound Jewish but you never know so I said it doesn't hurt to ask they spoke the next day and my husband called him up and said are you Jewish he said well my mom's Jewish I think that I think you guys consider that being Jewish so my husband said yeah it does it was right before pesak time after that yoseph called me and he said what are you doing for pesak and I said nothing I mean I'd never done anything for pesak in my life I knew nothing about it so he invited me to his family's house before I left to go down to Florida my mother gave me this this bag I had no idea what it was it had a had a star David on it for no reason she just she just gave me this this bag and the to take down to Florida with me and I remember when I went to yos for the first time he wrapped me with the Fillin and that was the beginning of his journey wearing to fillan coming to our house meeting our family now he's part of my family they know him in the neighborhood other people in the neighborhood became close to him everyone loves having Mike around they even nicknamed him brother Mike I was going to ysf for about a year and I was still living in Del Beach and just things in business just kept getting slower the market really took a turn interest rates were going up ysep suggested I go to a and in July of 2024 that's when I came to [Music] as I'm sure ysep wasn't expecting me to go to Yeshiva he just wanted to do his obligation as a Jew to be friends with every Jew and treat them like family and it can really change lives it changed my life it changed my siblings life it changed my family's life and has given us a new perspective on Judaism and you don't have to be a rabbi to do this you just need to be a friend [Music] [Applause] good you met Mike and you heard his story and I'm honored to have a small part in his amazing journey and growth I'm honored to have him part of our family and my entire family is honored to have him as our close friend growing up in a home that put an emphasis on MOS and caring for others it was natural to get involved when the opportunity arose but working with other people and teaching great friends like Mike who didn't have the advantage of the growing up with the Yiddish Kai and seeing how impactful it is to their life made me realize and my entire family realize how really impactful Yiddish Kai really is it's like a delicious ice cream cone on a hot Beach you don't need to sell it it sells itself being a mench and a Torah observant Jew anyone around you will want to lick out that ice cream the life of an is the best ice cream out there and it sells itself and that's what my parents taught us growing up Mike has personally transformed my entire life the life of my children my Al that's here and my Abie that's here in the room tonight can remember the s had with Mike with my younger and older son sitting side by side Mike showing him what is telling him what was how we got out how we're going to get out of this Gus it was just words can't describe was it a little scary when I first reached out and having M come for a meal here or there yes but look at the reward and it was really worth it [Applause] there's more to this story Mike is very liked and we're so honored to have his brother Nick here tonight we're even honored to have his brother Mark here tonight and his sister Jen is learning in the in the city because Mike is a real role model not just to me and my family to his siblings before I finish I want to read you a message that I received on Wednesday morning good morning I just wanted to send you good wishes for your upcoming event and thank you for bringing Judaism to all my beautiful children in their own special ways it is really quite inspiring I will forever be grateful to you and your beautiful family enjoy your time in Connecticut thank you from the bottom of my heart Lori Monty my Nick Jen and Mark's [Applause] mom ysep I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you've done for me you inspired me to learn at ASA Torah you've inspired my entire family and none of this would ever have been possible if you didn't decide to invite us secular Jew who knew nothing to a pesx Sader thank you for having the courage to welcome me into your home thank [Applause] you I want to thank thank Mike for coming all the way from Mar Israel special for this weekend leaving AA Torah making sure he can get back as soon as possible to continue learning thank you for being an inspiration to all of us ladies and gentlemen many of you know that every year project Inspire produces a Tish video an inspiring film with our message that you heard here this weekend about all of us inspiring Jews that we come in contact with this past summer was an extremely painful experience I had the opportunity to sit down with the family of Omar shemtov and the family of Sasha trufanov as I joined them Sasha's mother on the lawn of a burnt near o kibuts and omm's family in their home which seem so empty without their son Omar to spend time with them to feel their pain to share their message their amuna and their hope that their children would one day come home it was an experience like no other especially not knowing what the end would be here's a short clip of that Tisha video [Music] for [Music] fore for [Music] Fore for [Music] for for [Music] spee [Music] spee spee spe [Music] om [Music] as you're about to see in the video Maya and itai regev returning home to safety here in herzelia after spending a few days in the hospital [Music] for [Music] for [Music] for [Music] for I want to be perfectly honest with you when we made this film it was hard to see how their release was even possible we hoped we prayed but in those dark moments when they were still in captivity it fell so far away and yet here we are Hashem has his ways and both of them have been released in the last three weeks nothing short nothing short of a miracle I was in touch with shelle Shmo this week Omar's mother I told her how much we wanted Omar to join us unfortunately he is simply just not up to it yet she told me how how much it meant to her to know that people she never met people in this room were daving for her son crying for him fighting for him she wanted me to tell you thank you thank you for standing with them thank you for believing that they would come home and they did but they didn't just come home they came back changed closer to Hashem closer to their people this is isn't just their story this is our story the Jewish story we go through darkness and somehow we come out with more light and once again we get to witness that light to continue to shine no [Music] spe [Music] never been and a yid never gives up in the night a yid perseveres through the deepest despairs his amuna strengthens him for the fight and the ye understand that hasem has a plan and that's all it to make it through his that's [Music] what cuz a y never breaks and a y never bends and a ye never gives up in the night a ye per through the deepest despair is strength him for the fight and yet understands that I sh has the plan and that's all it takes to make it through he T and love that's what [Music] I hold thank you for joining us being served outside thank you very [Music] much hey like [Music] you no we [Music] la [Music] love let's [Music] go one more time [Music] shall hey [Music] I so [Music] spee [Music] I the we'll see you all very soon