7. Emet Partner Interview

[Music] okay I'm behind the desk right now with Alex banov this is very very exciting we met exactly 12 years ago I'd say on a May shabbaton the first shabbaton ever in pic New Jersey Alex was a St John's or Lau student Liu student it was a big shab 90 people two coach buses coming to pic it was like uh sort of my wife and I's emit triy out and that was it we never look back it's been you know it it's really been an amazing 12 years and Alex you've really been with us for the whole time been with you guys since day one you really have okay what I like to say before we start with Alex is we have we need to thank some people cuz at EMT everyone's been you know we we need to thank someone first of all we need to thank all our donors we are approaching the 800,000 Mark I think at about uh once we get to 700,000 we have to start dancing that's going to be great um we yesterday if anyone was watching and I know a lot of people are watching we had an amazing version of HQ whatever that is but we had our version with EQ with Johnny salanov and we had a lot of sponsors so first and foremost before I thank all the sponsors I want to thank one of the sponsors that's also been doing a lot two of our students uh really uh are very involved with the restaurant it's called Ghan Ori the israela family it they are in a beautiful Rego Park it's delicious food and during the pandemic when the restaurants could not be as open they were very busy delivering food to hospitals to First Responders and a times just told me that any first responder any essential worker or any emit student that comes there once they open up again automatically gets 10% off so thank you thank you for the love and thank you for being there for us we also want to thank the hotspot Barbecue and Grill Cafe Muscat Elite Cafe BH burgers and Co pizza Professor Mama schnitzel Fortune small smart RX not small smart Rx Pharmacy Dream Baby dreamers pristine wigs upper cross Jerusalem Bagles Ivy Butler direct designs villis accounting and and others that helped support our uh the cards for the EQ game thank you and of course thank you for our SP sponsors caring professionals uh rys drips Leah thank you so much for our sponsors for our donors for our students for alumni for everyone together that's making this possible for us to bashem make this campaign a reality this dream a reality okay now that we got that settled I want to concentrate on our very own Alex banov so Alex What attracted you how this was 12 years ago how old were you 12 years ago 20 20 21 2021 What attracted you to EMT being in being in Liu well um I think uh for a lot of us myself included so sorry so sorry I will speak up in the mic I apologize uh for a lot of us really the especially the ones of us who did not go to Yeshiva I myself did go to Yeshiva for the primary years up until fourth grade but up until fourth grade you must have learned a lot I learned uh how to read Hebrew thank God but uh there was still so much that I missed out on in the uh High School junior high school years the middle middle school years and I think um one of the things that attracted myself to a met was you know the word I met truth that uh you know in the end of the day our families have all come here to America to give us a better life they worked very hard 7 days a week 6 days a week and sometimes 8 days a week to really uh make sure that we can uh have a better future and I think especially now it's uh our role and responsibility to you know really prolong that and move it forward and EMT is one of the Premier organizations within the community especially that uh I'm involved with with many people uh much like myself who are young professionals business owners you know and people who not only donate because of guilt but donate because of a passion for the cause um I know that uh yesterday they there was many speakers and one of which said that uh AED is not just a cure of organization Amed is a family um I know myself personally I have um I mean I I I've known Rabbi Rabbi ruberg from the beginning and being part of one of the first learning sessions the first shabbatones the first pic trip there were there were so many things that that EMT adds value to one's life and structure and guidance and really a path you know where uh you know I have an 18-year-old brother and you know being thank you and being the Elder Statesman now and uh he's going through EMT now he also went to public school and he's going through the program now and getting an appreciation for Judaism for the community for the families you know where you know I can always call Rabbi Rutenberg and like hey how's he doing um where's the growth pattern where where's the progress you know Rabbi kigle as well I think the beautiful thing about Ed is you know all the rabbis who've who've gone through AED all the students that have gone through AED they've built such relationships where I can always call Rabbi rberg and be like listen uh me and my wife we had this argument what do you think can you be the mediator and can you come and help you know especially with his background and whatnot and I think that's for all the students in a where it's not just that uh they're here for you they're actually here for you you know like 12:00 in the morning 1:00 in the morning you call he'll answer you know you ask he'll answer and really that's they don't have to do that they don't have to they don't have to take away from their family time to help us build our family time you know and how many weddings have through over the years have been with EMT where couples met while they were taking the EMT classes you know and for most people it starts out the same I want to go to Israel you know but then they go through the classes and they're like you know uh I remember Grandpa talking about this at the Shabbat table one point or another or at the pesak Seder and whatnot and I think that it's our duty and it's our responsibility to continue you know not only with our time for those of us that can't afford to donate but also with our money for those of us that can because realistically speaking there's always going to be people in this world that are financially going to be able to donate but then there's also people in this world that need to donate with their time and with their energy and you know all the rabbis here they have uh many children and they have yeshivas and even still they find the time and the energy and the money in order to facilitate that aspect of their life and um you know be here for all of us as well I think uh for you know every year we do a fundraiser and we we have a goal and this year because of Corona virus and because of the global pandemic it was uh it was very challenging and we had many conversations and I'll say that one of the one of the things that's that I really I really admire about the leadership of a is that they they're they're very forward thinking they're not of the mindset where I'm older I know better you know they will listen to the 18-year-old who comes into the program just as much as to listen to the you know 30 or 40 something year olds of us who have gone through the program and and take our opinions to heart and ask us you know what's the mindset of the of the of the masses you know even though they have those relationships themselves they always uh they always want to know more on a deeper level on a personal level you know from somebody else's perspective from somebody else's vantage point and that's that's truly invaluable especially when building an organization of this of this capacity and I think that if not us then who you know I myself uh I don't want my children to wake up 20 years from now or 30 years from now or 70 years from now and say I'm a descendant of baharian Jews I want them to wake up and be proud and say I am a baharian Jew you know it's just as important to be an American Jew but it's also important to know where your where your ancestors came from what were their Customs what were their cultures to try to maintain it to the best of your ability and to really know who you are because you know especially with technology and with the way that the world is going if you don't know where you came from you don't know who you are so I think uh having two ashkanazi rabbis starting an organization to help bharian youth really know who they are you know says something and uh if they can feel so passionately about us then we should as well that that is very well said you're like an emx EMT spokesperson so you know it's very clear from everyone I've been interviewing that got interviewed yesterday that and whenever we talk to students like EMT really comes off not as like this organization but really as a family and one of the things that we really we really enjoy about EMT is seeing people Bond and become EMT friends have do you have like people that you met when you were younger through EMT that you're like still friendly with today oh yeah plenty I remember when we went on uh the first Pathways trip with Israel that that was organized and you know everybody goes on Birthright and Birthright is this you know it's this you know Israeli smack in the face of party learn culture history and not you have 2 three hours of sleep if you're lucky and you know and then after the trip you go you come back and you really have to you know reminisce on the 10day experience that you had but you know with with EMT and with Pathways the collaboration we really had such a spiritual uplifting experience and it's just it's it's it's next level it's really Next Level and it can't really be put into words and I I I can say that from all of us that were on that trip and on many of the trips after that that you know EMT adds a certain a certain flare to each trip where you just you come you come back a different person you know you're a little more self-aware you're a little closer to Hashem you're a little more confident and really you build these relationships I mean you know a lot of the guys that I went with uh were also pharmacists some from St John's also and we became we became some of the best friends and you know it's uh it's about putting yourself out there it's so amazing it's so beautiful to see just being a part of it like sometimes when you're in the inside you can't see the outside so it's great to hear what all you have to say and it's just it's just wonderful to see like Rabbi craft rudenberg really set them at Baya they set the cast for the EM organization and everyone who's joined us has really been able to it's just it's like natural like we were talking about with the aniv it's not we're not trying to be a family we're not trying to be sham sh we're just we're just being you know and it's just we really have the we feel like we have the greatest students and it's such a privilege to work with with everybody and just you know seeing your brother's like what 10 11 years younger than you so even 15 15 years younger than you just seeing you know seeing him and spending the last year with him and seeing him on the shabbatones and thei trip and him and his friends growing and bonding and just remembering that's that's how you were also and it's beautiful it's like you see a 12year progression and we hope it continues and we're really we we are not planning on stopping with hashem's help until msia comes or until everyone in Queens is is themselves running a yiva so am I want to thank you very much I want to thank you for your time your support and most importantly your friendship I wish I could give you the biggest hug right now but we're going to do a uh some sort of elbow bash CU we're still in Corona we're trying to social distance and uh if you before we let you go and then we switch to a little bit of uh beautiful music if you can uh if you could give one piece of advice for everyone watching today and really for the for the Youth for the for the Queen's youth if you can give one piece of advice for them what would you say one piece of advice that I would give would be you can do anything that you want to do and you can do anything that you put your mind on and the specific thing that I'm talking about when I say that now is for a lot of people it's hard to donate it's not easy it's a muscle you have to train it every day have a tadaka box in your house and put at least a quarter a penny a nickel into it every day put it in every day for those of us that have children teach your child to put it in every day because when you give Hashem gives you 10 times more in return and as hard as it may be to give that first scent God willing it'll add up and it'll accumulate and in hashem's books it'll really it'll exponentially grow what you have down here cuz down here what we have is only a fraction of what we can have up there so if you train yourself with time to give a little by a little by a little we can all be fighting one another to give the most so let uh besides plugging for the ma major donation thing that we're doing right now I'm not even talking about you weren't talking about that that's what I'm saying you're not making a plug for that I I asked you could you give one piece of advice and you said train yourself to give correct because when you become a giver right when you become a giver that is when you're connecting to Hashem that's when everything's flowing back to you and when we see we have $700,000 with one hour left to get the next 100,000 with hashem's help and see all our students coming together at the last minute for us is so heartwarming and we're really besides creating we're really fostering and enabling people to become givers and thank you so much it's a brilliant Point Hashem should continue to bless you and your entire family and you your children should be grow up to be and mared [Music]