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From Prince of the Night Club Business To Orthodox Jew. - FULL MOVIE
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In this video, I share my story of how I went from being a prince of the night club business to becoming an Orthodox Jew. I started out in the night club business like most people do. I was successful, but I was also on my way down a dangerous path. I was using drugs, alcohol and women to escape my everyday life and for a time it seemed like everything was going my way.
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Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
Ryan was an amazing amazing little boy
and we only wish she would have stayed
that way but things changed
I grew up
in what they call
a traditional Jewish background
what that means is that we go to
synagogue two times a year
and that's it
[Music]
good
so where were we I decided to keep a
record of every single day I'm just
going to talk a little bit about what
went on in the day what's going through
my mind because I think that you're
going to appreciate this in a few years
I don't know why but
I just have a feeling that you will
when I was growing up
and I saw an orthodox Jew walking on the
street on Shabbat
I used to want to hit them foreign with
my car
[Music]
my parents really they did the best job
that they could do they even sent us to
Jewish school which they did not have
themselves
we had Shabbat Friday night dinner every
Friday night
but on the table for dinner was pork
chops
[Music]
thank you McDonald's
yo yo yo
we love Lobster in this family okay
cheers guys oh boy look at that Lobster
I went to private Jewish schools my
whole life
[Music]
and you have to understand they weren't
religious schools they were Jewish
schools they separated
God
[Music]
from Judaism
I never knew God
[Music]
imagine living a life without knowing
him how lost you would get
how far you could go how confused you
could be how could you blame me
[Music]
growing up my father told me that I grew
up such a nice boy I always played nice
he never
bothered anybody
but the problems all started
when I got into
High School
[Music]
Ryan has some negative influences when
it came to his friends in high school
the principal of his school
told me in the 40 years that the guy was
an educator he never had a more
dysfunctional
group of male students there was a kid
in our grade
whose older brother
was a major drug dealer
and the brother figured that he was able
to funnel drugs into our grade
through his younger brother
so at the age of 13 years old
my friends and I were all strung out
smoking weed day in and day out we would
start smoking once a month and it
started into every two weeks and then it
started every week and then it started
every day and then it became every hour
of every day and a lot of people think
that weed is not a problem let me tell
you something
at 13 years old
weed is a problem
our eyes were red everybody knew what
was going on and nobody
said a word
four five six years ago when he told me
that you I was doing this and I was
doing I said
I I just it took me by surprise I didn't
believe it
I went to Camp I was hired as a
counselor when I was 17 years old
one of my jobs was to do to interview
the incoming Junior counselors the 17
year olds all of a sudden it was Ryan's
interview it's now noon he's still not
there 12 10 12 15. I go okay I don't
think this guy's coming I call him up he
had totally forgotten about the
interview which I was obviously not
impressed with my schooling fell apart
my grades fell apart my class fell apart
my relationships fell apart
and I was left picking up the pieces how
as a young person today supposed to grow
up normal healthy
in a world where there's no creator
where everything is random
you know so many people are hating right
now on the Orthodox Jewish community
you can't tell me nothing
because I've lived in a world without a
community but to be quite honest um he
was a good guy he recognized that there
was other kids in the program that
weren't exactly like him and instead of
him being this macho guy who was like
too cool for school for these kids he
actually brought a few of them under his
wing and made them feel very welcome and
and that was something that really stood
out for us
but one of the things that was a problem
is that we had heard about his
reputation coming into the summer that
he was involved
um you know with drugs and alcohol
already so we're out for dinner
everybody all the counselors of the camp
and I'm buying drinks for everybody I'm
buying pictures of beer for everybody I
was the man
doing kindness
the only problem was I was 17 years old
in Canada the legal drinking age is 18 I
was shy by a month
I Stumble off the bus going back to camp
I see the camp director
and the owner of the camper standing
there with their arms crossed like this
and I knew already what was happening
they said come here
they pulled me into their office and
they shut the door they said you're
drunk I said no you're drunk
I was a little drunk I'm not gonna lie
Ryan clearly was intoxicated and we
actually asked him if he had drank any
alcohol that night which he denied so
the director of the camp looks at me and
says okay Steve
I gotta get this guy out of here he
cannot stay in camp tonight because I
don't know what he's going to do in the
state that he's in they said you're
going home
I was so upset my parents what are they
going to say another failure another
mess Ryan is not happy about being
driven home to Montreal now it's about 1
30 in the morning probably so what does
he do he opens the door and starts
dragging his foot on the road
[Music]
the Israeli staff holds Ryan in to the
car and closes the door from the inside
and the director had to power lock the
door so he wouldn't do that again but
the interesting thing is by the time he
started getting closer to Montreal Ryan
started to sober up he looked at the
director and said
what advice can you give me to talk to
my parents about what happened tonight I
walk up the steps to my house
full of Shame and I knock on my father's
door
he opens up the door with a look on his
face
and it just said
not again
he was always in some sort of trouble he
got thrown out of camp
he got thrown off the Israel trip even
when he ran for student council he ended
up screwing that and ended up getting
thrown out of that too and all this
probably caused by just a negative
attitude so I felt that Ryan was getting
negatively influenced by the kids in his
grade to be honest that was the last I'd
seen Ryan
for at least 12 years after that I came
back to Montreal and it was over
small community here
everybody I knew turned their back on me
so I figured while I'm the bad guy
let me be the baddest guy there is
so I figured let me become a drug dealer
everybody was smoking weed let me Supply
you to them I know
somebody that I could get it from
[Music]
so I started a little bit here a little
bit there and I took and I would sell it
to my friends and it was fun in the
beginning
and then it turned from grams into
ounces
and then the ounces turned into quarter
pounds and then the quarter pounds
turned into pounds and then the pounds
turned into kilos and before I knew it
I was running a whole operation
people are selling under me I quoted him
five grand she didn't sound terribly
shocked
I was starting to gain some respect back
the street was giving me the respect
that I was looking for
there were all kinds of things that were
going on uh you know damage to a car
getting into a fight but there was
always some kind of a story
to go along with it it wasn't a good
thing I wasn't really involved in terms
of knowing exactly what was going on
because he hid it very well but I was
starting to get concerned
one day I got a call from my high school
friend's brother
tells me I have a good deal for you I
have a batch
of weed that got burnt
he says I could sell it to you for half
the price if you come pick it up right
now
what a deal I hop into my car I go grab
it and I walked outside quietly and I
opened the trunk door of my car
and as I'm gently pushing the door
closed out of nowhere
[Music]
they stole my keys they stole the weed
they stole my car
Claire McCollum Med stereo for 109.
[Music]
saying to myself just hang on
[Music]
after they beat me within an inch of my
life I had to do something because I
still owed the money for the drugs
the way that it works is You Get It On
consignment and then you have to go sell
it and you bring the money back to
whoever gave it to you the problem was I
didn't have it but I saw
a guy that was older than me his name
was Steven and Stephen
was in the nightclub business not only
that but he was the man he had the girls
he had the money he had the booze
he was the gatekeeper to the hottest
clubs in the city and I said to myself
whatever this guy knows
I have to know so my first crack at the
nightclub business was me standing on
the corner and I would hand out these
cards and every time somebody came into
the nightclub holding one of my cards
the club would give me five bucks I got
bored of this very quickly I picked up
the phone I said Steven I gotta figure
something else out please teach me what
you know he explained to me how to put
together an event how to Market it how
to strike a deal with the nightclub
owner and within three weeks I had set
up my very first event and a nightclub
downtown a week later I had my first
party there a week later
I remember when Ryan got into the
nightclub business I thought it was very
cool
I didn't know what was going on behind
the scenes
but I just thought that the whole thing
was very cool you know walking around
and everybody's patting them on their
shoulders and it reminded me of when I
was that age and you know the bartender
was your buddy and the doorman let you
walk into the place and you were like a
real big shot so to me when I was
watching that happening I thought it was
a very very cool thing and besides the
fact he was making money at it that year
when I graduated I had 50 000 of cash I
was a kid I was in grade 11. I remember
taking the chunk that I owed to the
dealer when I met up with him and I said
don't ever talk to me again you and I
are through
there is no high like the feeling when
you step into a nightclub
and that base
hitting your body
I needed another gig so I started
looking for nightclubs that I could call
my own my first big hit was a supper
club in Montreal called cafeteria and
the owner's name was Giovanni and I met
Giovanni on the first night that he
bought that Supper Club from the
previous owner and him and I hit it off
Ryan was like a little brother for me so
I tried to Mentor him and I tried to
guide him
even though I mean we were working in
craziness
I mean Ryan was young I was around 30
36 or 35 or 36 years old and Ryan was
barely legal but I mean the fire from
this guy was incredible we got each
other we understood each other he was
like my older brother my first Saturday
night that I went to go promote there I
had about three people that showed up
including myself so we were four people
I was devastated it was terrible but the
week after that I remember I knew this
Italian girl from college
and I told her why don't you come to the
club why don't you come to cafeteria and
when you come I'll give you a free
bottle of champagne for your birthday
between you and I was in Champaign it
was like a seven dollar bottle of
Prosecco but it was champagne so she
comes she comes with 14 of her friends
and whoa
squirrels lit it on fire
Saturday night we had 28 people
the next week after that we had 46 until
it came to a point where there was 150
people inside the club and a hundred and
fifty people outside of the club it was
the hottest place
we're on that Terrace and we killed it
we showed the city that we could go
anywhere that we want and we can make it
hot and we can make it work a legend I
mean this guy blew up my place overnight
I mean a young teenager bringing in so
many people I was like
wow this guy I mean this is incredible
[Music]
[Applause]
what was your wish Solomon that's my
wish
I don't know what my wish is right now
what kind of 20 year old kid says he
doesn't know I was so messed up with all
these girls with all these parties with
all these my heart was so broken I was
so empty but on the outside it looked
like I had everything and I interpreted
this feeling of emptiness as I need a
bigger Club
I need a bigger place I need a bigger
party
so I left cafeteria and started doing
these Mega events at these big
nightclubs in Montreal one of them was
called time Supper Club
there's gonna be one hell of a night
[Music]
figuring out how could I fill this place
up I got a great idea I'm gonna start
bringing celebrities
to the nightclubs
and that's going to attract the people
I'm standing here with my main man DJ
sir DJ shortcut she ain't too short
though he ain't too short he's pretty
tall so I started bringing all these
crazy celebrities as long as you pay
them they'll show up
one of the biggest celebrities that I
brought was a rapper by the name of
Drake now a lot of people watching this
may not know who that is but today he's
the Undisputed biggest rapper on planet
earth born none
[Applause]
the only problem was is that it was
eating into the prophets
every time I had to hire a celebrity I
had to pay them
but I wanted to be the celebrity I
wanted to get paid
so I hired a camera crew to follow me
and my company around everywhere we went
every meeting with the celebrity every
night in the club every time in a hotel
whatever we were doing the camera crew
was there there's more live TV coming at
you live from lot 332 in Toronto
and I was compiling this reality show
and all of a sudden the whole city the
whole Community forgave me for the bad
guy that I used to be
they whitewashed over my past who cares
if he was a bad kid now he's making us
proud
now he's putting us on the map our next
guest Ryan Solomon had his own company
of 20 and uh is starting in his own
reality TV show nothing less how are you
guys
thank you tell me about your more to
life company and I was working hard to
compile all of this footage because
reality shows at that time were very
popular you had Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire you had Survivor the
Kardashians were very popular at that
time and Facebook was just becoming a
Powerhouse so now we had the channel to
distribute the videos and for me it was
good for my business you heard it first
he has new socks
I put together all the footage and I
made a pilot episode I organized a red
carpet event for the premiere with
Paparazzi my parents showed up they were
so proud the entire city showed up to
this event it was supposed to be the
crowning Jewel what I had worked this
whole time for the crescendo of
everything that I was working for I get
up on stage
I addressed the crowd
New Montreal reality show nice
and now
and as the video starts to play I look
at myself on the big screen supposed to
be my time
and I remember
at that moment
I crashed
[Music]
every day I wake up and I'm like burnt
out like I just sometimes just feel like
shutting off my phone and just like
clearly moving away to Mexico I remember
that at the launch of his reality show
nobody could find them
he was there and and then he disappeared
nobody knew where he went
I went through a rough patch there for
uh for a month two months maybe I was
like hold hang on by a string by a
string by a thread
it was not a good time I would just want
to go to sleep I didn't want to see
anyone I felt ashamed
I left the launch of my show because I
was so ashamed
at who I was
I remember I went to a restaurant with
my family a couple days after the launch
of My reality show and I was so
embarrassed I felt like when I walked in
the door people were expecting dollar
bills to be raining from
the ceiling and music to be blasting
I said to myself I have to
figure out a different way to live
because this is not what I want
I have no idea what triggered my son to
start looking for a different way to
live
it was a very big surprise to me
and in my mind
[Music]
Judaism was completely false
because at that time nobody that I knew
in my life
kept kosher
put on to fill in or kept Shabbos
so I began to search
for truth
if anybody knows Ryan he does everything
all the way or no way I went to go visit
a mosque and when I woke up in the
morning before I went it felt as if
somebody took a nail and they hid it
into the center of my forehead happens
to be the place where you pray in the
Moss you put your head down on the
ground
but it also happens to be the place
where you put on your filling I remember
going to the mosque and making all kinds
of new friends and I went to Interfaith
chapels whatever I could find I was
looking I was looking for truth and
where I was holding at that time all of
those things had a little glimmer of
Truth my mother came into my room one
day and she was complaining to me that
there was books everywhere
there was books up to the ceiling you
could not move in my room I was chomping
knowledge I remember when my wife she
found a Quran in his room and she found
some books like from a Jim and Tammy
Faye Baker kind of Evangelistic
religious experience and I started
getting more into these other religions
I started really getting into Buddhism
in a really serious way at one point I
stopped talking I was meditating six
hours a day
one day I came into my mother's room and
told her that I would like to go to a
Buddhist ashram
thought to myself okay like this might
not be a good plan and she said to me
words that changed the course of my life
forever I said let's do this why don't
you go you know to see Rabbi Moses and
hear what he has to say she said before
you go to the Buddhist ashram
go
to synagogue today she says I would have
been better in the Buddhist ashram but
that's a different story for a different
documentary
I think this was the turning point of
Ryan's life so that Shabbat I remember I
dressed up in my nicest suit
and I started walking to synagogue and I
remember on the way something was
different the colors were brighter the
birds were chirping
as I showed up to the synagogue I opened
up the door
and I walk in and I remember hearing
this beautiful music
oh
who is leading the congregation in
prayer
singing so beautifully
when he turned around there was
happiness pouring
out of his face
[Music]
you know people in the world they say
that they're happy they're just enjoying
themselves true happiness from the soul
I had never seen before
I remember I said to myself at that
moment whatever this guy knows
I have to know
and I had a conversation with him and we
hit it off and he invited me next
Shabbat and I went and I started going
almost every day and I would learn Torah
with him
for the rest of my life I want to do
what my Rabbi does he was repressed
lover hasid gets a sect of Judaism
their stick is to go and talk to God
with your own words one day he says to
me you come with me
and then we went
right in the foreign
and in the foreign
I told him what to do
what to do
look up to the sky
look between the trees
and just talk to him
[Music]
because the king is in the field
[Music]
talk to him without books girl you don't
need the books now you don't need the
Hebrew the English the French you don't
need anything
you need your to spill your soul your
heart to him talk to him ask all the
questions scream at him ask him demand
from him
hear from him whatever you want go for
him Solomon I thought the guy was
completely mental I Was Born Into
Darkness and I lived
in darkness
and this guy is telling me to go to the
forest to speak to God
[Music]
so I'd gone into the car I drove to the
forest and for the first time in my life
I opened my heart and I opened my lips
to Hashem
[Music]
cannot transmit it to you but I'm gonna
do my best
it was like speaking to somebody who
already knew
everything about me
foreign
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
named Ronnie fine
would always invite me to his lunch his
kiddish and his synagogue and I would go
and I loved it
I would encourage him to come by to be
involved and engage in Torah Mitzvahs I
recall very clearly sitting at our
Shoppers table the humility
the desire to soak it all in
one day he invited me to go visit the
resting place the oh hell of the labacha
revi
and I went with him and I remember
sitting down
and writing a letter
and pouring out my heart
[Music]
to one of the leaders of the generation
and as I walked in to
[Music]
the place where he was buried I remember
feeling a light
like I never experienced before
[Music]
I was still working in nightclubs at
this point but I had this overwhelming
feeling that I needed to make a real
change a lasting change I remember
speaking to my boss one day Giovanni the
owner of cafeteria the nightclub that I
was working at at the time and I asked
him if I could wear my keepa
to the nightclub I'll never forget
telling Ryan I said Ryan
man you're a Jew
I'm a Catholic Christian
bro if you don't believe how the hell am
I supposed to believe in God's given
faith that we've been taught all our
lives
you wear your little hat he told me
so I started wearing my keepa to the
nightclub and I remember
it just wasn't
I wasn't into it anymore
a few days later Giovanni picks up the
phone and he calls me says Barrel
I know you don't have the the drive
anymore there's something that's driving
you in a different direction when I lost
my job at cafeteria I could have reacted
two ways I could have gotten into
Despair and gotten into depression and
yelled at my friend who took over my job
or yelled at the owner but instead of
that I looked up and this guy said thank
you I don't know why I don't know what
you have planned for me but Baroque
Hashem thank you so much for making me
lose my job at that bar I hung up the
phone I whipped around my car like in a
high-speed chase and I drove straight to
my father's office I said Dad I am ready
to work
The Nightlife business is no longer for
me it's not congruent with my lifestyle
and I'm ready to come and build your
business I sat down at that desk and I
pounded and I built one of the most
successful parts of his business till
this date
today's tour from the office will be
focused on partnership now what I mean
by that is every single even though
things were going great and I was so
successful working with my father I
still had this thirst inside of me
that I could not quench
and I decided that I wanted to go to
Yeshiva we had no idea what Yeshiva was
we thought it was a brainwashing
operation
I remember I was fighting with my family
at this point and we were looking for
cult Busters to literally help us figure
out what was going on inside Ryan's head
there was a tension
I don't blame them they were scared they
didn't know
what it was all about they didn't know
where it was leading to you're making
money you're successful and then you say
I want to go sit in Jerusalem and learn
Torah for a year after a lot of
convincing my parents finally gave me
their blessing to go
[Music]
as human beings we're constantly in uh
in the mode of creation we constantly
want we constantly want to get to the
next level we constantly want to strive
to grow I made a promise myself that I
want to do a video of every day that I'm
here
from the holy city of yushalayim shalom
I'm right now in the holy city of spot
just riding a donkey in the middle of
the Israeli desert happiness happiness
is most important thing on the face of
the Earth there's nothing more important
than happiness
I went
from the worst student in my school
to one of the best students in the
entire Yeshiva
I took advantage of every single second
I ate lunch in the zal that's the room
where you learn Torah I would not leave
you wanted to find Barrel Solomon you
knew where he was
I packed 10 years of learning into one
year of Yeshiva
at the end of the year when I was done
I remember being on the plane going back
to Montreal and I was so embarrassed
about my beard I had left clean shaven
and here I was coming back with a beard
I had a big meeting planned for a week
after I got back and I remember there
was big discussion in the office amongst
some of the executives should we send
him or not he now looks visibly Jewish
maybe he'll offend
the prospective client maybe we
shouldn't send him I said to everybody
in the room I'm going
and there's nothing you could do about
it I went to New Mexico to meet this
prospective client and the person who I
was having the meeting with invites the
CEO to come join us he reached across
the table to shake my hand he says hi
I'm Mike Weinstein at the end of the
meeting I remember being alone in the
room with Mike
and I asked him if he ever put on to
villain before he had no idea what I was
talking about
but he was open for a new experience so
I wrapped up to fill in with him
and I said mazotov you just had your bar
mitzvah we ended up signing a contract
right then and there
for the largest deal in my father's
company history
and I came back home triumphant because
I went as a Jew and I came back as a Jew
prowl
things were going great there was only
one problem
at that time I was probably 23 24 years
old
I was so
lonely
Saturday nights I was used to going out
and here I was alone
virtually no friends
almost no community
I was sad
and it was time for me to start looking
for my wife and I was going to date the
Jewish way
you have to understand I had already
been divorced 20 times if you're in a
relationship with somebody
just because you don't have a piece of
paper it doesn't mean you're not married
to them your heart and your mind is
married to that person every time you
break up
you get divorced how many more is it to
break I know one heart you broke oh
probably she can't get over you so I
made a profile with a picture and I
wrote all the things that I was looking
for and I sent it to matchmakers and I
started getting profiles back
where there was a picture
and the girl had written what she was
looking for in a husband what type of
life she was looking for
I started to go on dates with these
girls and the dating process was so
beautiful and by the time I had been on
a date with one of these girls she saw
my profile she saw my picture she knew
what I was about and she liked me at
least on paper and if it didn't work out
during the date I would tell the
Matchmaker I'm not interested and the
girl would be gently let down and if the
girl was not interested in me the
Matchmaker would call me and I would be
gently let down after a whole bunch of
these dates
I started to get discouraged I felt like
there might not be anybody for me
because I felt like I had seen every
girl that there was on planet Earth to
date at the time and I remember feeling
maybe I wasn't meant to get married
one day I'm sitting in my parents
basement and I hear my phone buzz and I
run over to go pick it up to see if
there was a new profile there and I
opened my email
[Music]
and I start reading
the profile looks great
and as I scroll down
I saw the picture and I remember I said
out loud to myself
[Music]
I think I just saw my wife
we got a profile
from this guy from Canada and I looked
at it
and I read it and I saw Burl's picture
and I thought to myself I think that we
just found eliana's husband
[Music]
all right let's roll
I never in my life imagine that I would
even date somebody from Latin America
let alone get married to them when her
profile came through everything looked
good I went to go tell my mother that
hey I think I found my wife
and my mom said to me great where is she
from
I said she's from Panama my parents
looked at each other like
here we go again I told the Matchmaker
that I was interested Eliana was
interested in me
I said I was ready for it I booked my
flight and I was off to Panama
[Music]
when I landed I'll never forget this for
as long as I live
I had never been to Latin America it was
so foreign to me there was people
running across the highway there was
chickens in the streets and my GPS was
yelling at me in Spanish again I started
thinking to myself what am I doing here
I'm in a strange country so far away
from home everybody told me that I was
crazy to be here then something happened
I grabbed the hole to myself I said you
know what God put me here for a reason
he's not wasting my time if I'm here
there's a purpose I drove over to
eliana's apartment
called her on the phone we spoke for the
first time and I said hi hey hi
[Music]
[Applause]
when I saw him for the first time I
really said wow so basically
update there's no touch there's no
physical contact it's just talking to
each other and seeing if we could have a
relationship for the future we just
clicked I didn't have to try like it
just like that the language didn't
matter anymore we waited a day after
that first date and then we planned
another date and then we had a third
amazing date
after like the fourth date when I saw
him when we got into the car I told him
I missed you hearing those words again
melt me the same way that it melted me
in Panama I was ready right then and
there to get married it was time for a
barrel to go back to Montreal I would
call you and text you all the time to
see if you still liked me I came in the
summer I didn't come in the winter and
it looked really nice I did it on
purpose like that Eliana rafalea I'm so
excited to marry you I love you with all
my heart you're at sedakis I'm the
luckiest man in the world today I'm
going to give you a good life and I
can't wait to be married with you and be
one with you and we're gonna make a nice
life together I love you so much I'll
see you soon
accidents
[Music]
thank you
foreign
[Music]
it wasn't long after we got married that
we had our first son Menachem and he
brought so much joy in our lives
and then Shayna came along first girl
and then Haim came
oh
yeah
[Music]
I feel that he's in he's it he's totally
in the right place and I'm thrilled with
his lifestyle and it couldn't have ended
up better than it ended up
[Music]
but with each other
he has three beautiful children a fourth
child on the way it's it's enlightening
to me how he ended up
and also there are a couple focused on
bringing people back to their Roots back
to Judaism
so a major part of our marriage is all
about reaching out to young people and
helping bring them closer to Judaism
this is what we love we love having
people over and we love helping others
beryl and Ariana
became true partners
to me and my wife it does
work that we do with the teens and the
lobavicy rabbit was very big into this
how could I make the world a better
place through acts of goodness and
kindness so one of the things that I
have the very big privilege of doing is
I get to go to my old high school every
single day and I get to run a minion a
prayer group with some of the best kids
in the world I get to talk to them I get
to hang out with them I listen to their
problems I give them guidance where I
can and I act as the person that I wish
that I had when I was growing up I'm
sure his past has helped to get in touch
with these kids high school kids that
are probably going through hard times
one of my staff mentions
if I am putting film today if I'm
connected to God today you should know
that it's because of Beryl Solomon
[Music]
after working in my family business for
almost a decade I felt that it was
finally time for me to go out on my own
I told him that it's time for him to
start something new
I knew that we would suffer in the
beginning because always starting a new
business there is consequences when you
have a blessing from your wife and she
knows she was going to struggle and she
was okay with that that's what gave me
the strength so I went out there and I
started this video production company
that went further than I ever thought
possible thank God and that led into so
many other things it's what led me to
open up my Executive coaching business I
gained like this talent to help coach
these people to help them really take
their businesses to the next level but
it all started with that confidence that
you gave me to go and start my own
business and that's the power of having
a good woman behind you
one of the things that people would tell
me in the beginning when I was becoming
religious is that because I have a keepa
and a beard and seated that I'm gonna
limit the business opportunities that
would be available to me even though
most of my clients are actually not
Jewish one of the reasons why they want
to work with my firm is because they see
the Jewish people in a beautiful light
that we have a certain type of wisdom so
my Judaism never took away from me
financially it only gave to me in every
single aspect of my life
he is a person that is a giver and he's
using his talents in a way that he's
feeling very accomplished and he's
helping people
and here we are tonight ladies and
gentlemen at the world's largest
LinkedIn Meetup ever in history big
round of applause
[Applause]
if I could leave you guys with one
message it would be this
says that avraham avinu Abraham
his mission was not jest
call out to God but it was to cause
others to call out to God as well I've
been on both sides I've experienced both
worlds and because of that I have unique
Vantage points and I know both sides of
the fence and if I had one wish and one
dream would be
for every Jewish person in the world to
understand the beautiful Heritage the
beautiful gift that we've been given and
to all the non-jewish people out there
they also have a very special gift
called the seven noahide laws which
teaches how to be a good person how to
live in the way of God and how to do the
right thing
when you become a Balto sugar you kind
of leave your past and you become almost
like a different person I remember when
he was davening and was praying he would
just cry in the middle and he would
remember things in the past and he would
be so grateful how he would tell me
Hashem saved me my son's life today
is the life that I had dreamed for him
to have
when he was a kid and for all my kids
foreign
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
no signs of slow when
hurricanes of bursting British and
Nightclub promotion drinking the potion
down his soul inside is crazy
sick and tired of misbehaving cause it's
lonely heart is crying for me it's
wrapped with anxiety
if I didn't have the religious community
I don't think I would be here today I
think I would just fall be somewhere
else be a different complete different
person one of the hardest moments of my
life I was just asking God why me why
should I go through this you really have
to go through Darkness to see light and
now I see more light and darkness when I
was like in college I was very much
influenced by that like okay you could
keep Shabbat but then like Saturday
night like you're going clubbing with
everyone and then I remember I went on
Birthright I came back from Birthright
and saw the value of Judaism when I saw
how many Jewish people didn't have the
opportunity to even learn about Judaism
in their lifetime to have a connection
with with God and for me that really
touched me Vero says do one thing at a
time you know take it easy start by
going to minion every day putting on
feeling at school then once you're
comfortable and you enjoy it and if it's
something that you want to do then do it
at home it's the best part of my day
because I have no one was bothering me I
do it in privately I don't feel the need
to you know telling about him I'm
putting on my phone now something that
you do for yourself
I didn't know that you did that every
day weren't you religious already you
knew there was a God and I said yes I
knew there was a God but now I live with
God and that's the entire core of
Orthodox Judaism
it's your values it's being good to the
world it's doing good for the world
about three years ago my family was
struck with a horrible tragedy I had a
lot of people rally around me including
my brother beryl and his family and they
would make sure that we would like
Shabbat candles every Friday night and
it really gave me a sense of peace and
comfort
and I decided that I would continue
to light those candles
for as long as ever with my children and
keep that tradition going because that's
where I found my comfort and Solace as
you grow up
you learn to understand that the world
ain't pretty and God really provides you
with a sense of guidance and meaning me
personally I'm not religious I'm not
Orthodox but most people don't
understand what religion especially
Judaism has to offer
and they knock it down all the time
if you were to give it a shot you'd
learn to realize that it's
really a beautiful thing
[Music]
oh
the kingdom is waiting you're never too
old
you're part of The Greatest Story Ever
Told
it is worth living your journey is
beginning the Torah and mids are a gift
you've been given no matter where you've
been or what you've done Hashem me loves
you like a lonely song So stand up tall
proud and tell the world what you came
for
[Music]
tell the world
now I'm living always forgiving my
future is waiting the whole world is
singing a lost boy was blessed and
kissed by a shame
foreign
thank you for watching I hope you
enjoyed the film you as the viewer
sitting at home are probably asking
yourself how do I get involved and the
answer is easy I'm going to give you
three Mitzvahs that are probably lying
around your house right now that you
could do that'll strengthen your
connection to your Judaism and here it
goes Mitzvah number one let's fill in
every Jewish man has a Mitzvah to put to
fill in on his arm and on his head every
single day it's an incredible Mitzvah
that attaches you to the Creator above
and you cannot imagine all the blessings
that these things will bring you in your
life
number two Shabbos candles it's a
mitzvah for every Jewish girl to light
Shabbos candles every Friday before
sundown
[Music]
and Mitzvah number three my personal
favorite Sedaka
can't imagine how many blessings come
from giving charity try to give every
single day one coin in your little
Sedaka box
will change your life
and if you're already observant then
reach out to another Jew that was not
privileged to have the same education as
you teach them Torah teach them about
Mitzvahs teach them about the beauty of
Shabbos let's bring all of our brothers
and sisters home where they belong and
let's bring mashiach now
[Music]