Full Interview With Rabbi YY Jacobson About His Career Of Inspiring Millions, Jewish Culture & More

[Music] Welcome back to another Thursday night live here on the Jewish platform. Few times in my life have I ever been so aruck by just being in the presence of such a great man as our guest that we have tonight. And never have I had the privilege or opportunity to interview someone on this caliber. Let's welcome the amazing Rabbi Y Jacobson. Rabbi Y, how are you? Wonderful, thank you. And I'm really pleased and privileged to be here with you. Thank you for your passion and enthusiasm. Now you give dozens of Shirum weekly to thousands of people and few people if anyone gives as many Shurim on on and inspiration anywhere near the amount that you give. Now, we know it didn't start all of a sudden in 2020. There's a Rabbi Y. Uh, we have a picture actually going back to when you were 15 years old. I'm assuming in the 1980s. I know I forgot what they called it, but you used to sit and listen to the sher of the Reb and the Rebi. The Reb. And you had to memorize them. Let's Let's go back. Let's hear when did Rabbi Y and how did Rabbi Wy become Rabbi Y? We're just going to put up that picture for you one second over here and then you're gonna tell us what's happening. And now you can tell us what's happening. So my parents were born in the communist Soviet Union. They suffer terribly there as Jews, religious Jews. My grandfather was arrested, tortured. They made it out from there hashem on false passports. They ultimately came to the United States of America and they settled ultimately in Brooklyn. I was born in 1972. I grew up at the feet of the labba and at a young age I was privileged to be summoned to join the group known in kabad as is an institution that goes back to the balhata. Wow. That's over 200 years. Over 200 years ago became a rebu. That's 1777. That's the time of the American Revolution. Wow. So, we're dealing way before 200 years ago. And this was an institution since in Kabad the focus was they called the Balata the litak. The students of the mag called him the litvak because he came from the area of lit of Lithuania. He came from Lejna which is Bellerus Lithuania right near which is also the litter. I don't know if you know that the in those years a lot of them were called the all of them the because of so one of the institutions inad was since the would speak at length and elaborate and dissect often right you see it in the balat and his but you also see it in all of his and all of his discourses. So there was a group of who had great minds who were charged with the responsibility to you serve as human tape recorders. Wow. To remember and transcribe all the talks already of the balatana. Balatana had five six people who would do it. We have this is rare for a few hundred years ago to have a reba teacher of such magnitude and you'll often have a ma with six different manuscripts because of six different people and and when they tried to write word to word rashim that's a that's a great question once spoke about three of the writers and he said my label he had a brother label yeah he writes what I say almost verbatim the second he understands what I'm trying to say and that's what he writes down. He transcribes both. So he always had different talents. People obviously write the way they absorb it. You know, everyone has their owners, their own talents, their own unique way of capping of capping something. So this continued literally for more than two centuries and by the most recent labreba when he became a reb in 1950 that system continued. He would speak for shabas and yamt for hours. You're talking about fabangans that can go from three to eight hours. Wow. Sometimes yamt let's say there could be four fabangans over two three days. Each one many many hours. Wow. So from the first fabangan already and it wasn't it wasn't just speaking I'm saying it was deep deep deep my you could say that again uh with the lab I mean the depth and the breath was was incredible I mean you can have a 7 hour or 5 hour there could be an hour sheam wow there could be an hour she a sea could be on fouras another hour dissecting Arashi. Another hour and education, current events, contemporary issues, psychological stuff and there was a tapestry often science and physics and and they came I I believe one after another. It wasn't just Yeah. No ever wouldn't say a lot of jokes and stories. He didn't so it was it was serious. You had to keep up. It was a marathon. It was intense. It was intense. Very intense. And he would call from it was without notes. He didn't give before you know the ma so we could prepare the shar and uh it I remember at the end of I mean I still remember the end of a you were like you were like in a different world and like in a trance it took time to land. So I had the from being of that group was a small group and we this was our responsibility to to memorize and transcribe. Wow. Wow. Incredible. So at what age were you chosen to be from the So my I had I have an older brother Rabbi Simon Jacobson who joined the groups of the back in the 70s when he was a yeshiva. It started was a Jew is a Jew. His name is Rabiel Klit who uh was actually a Kavusa with Rabbel Pavarski from Panovich Pavarski. They were kavusas back in the old days came to America and from day one he became the lab and he would bring in usually bakim that he felt were skilled. So my brother was one of them. So when I was when I was already pretty young, he felt that I had a a skill. You had what it takes to memorize a 3 to 8 hour um um mimer in who knows how many topics and say it over. Um well I can't say that uh I can memorize everything but I had uh Hashem has given me the gift to be able to to be typhus to absorb a lot of the Reb's words at least according at least to some degree. So there was usually one mimer that was the part of the fabbran that focused onus and its application to life and the rest of the talks were called and those could be anything and everything in the rage of of yiddish the Jewish people. Wow. Wow. So so you were a bach you lived in Crown Heights I'm assuming. I lived in Crown Heights. which I learned in yeshiva. So during the week there were tape recorders obviously it's not the balata's days so they recorded everything and uh a lot of during the weekdays whether it's puran yachis you know just the middle of the week yard sites special days but uh but all shabas and yam obviously nothing was recorded so uh over the years it was all oral scribes. Wow. And and how many were there? In my days, there were like five or six. And usually it was not more than that. It was a very very intense uh very intense. I have to say Shabas when Shabas ends. My wife knows I there's an anxiety that sets in. Wow. So maybe in the beginning she thought that I'm experiencing the departure of Shabas, but uh I'm not so holy and lofty. It's because Shabas those days those years I went into to to high gear. I would to stay up at home at Shabas and Sunday and Sunday night. It was incredibly hard work. You wrote it down to to to put it all into writing. Wow. Before we wrote it down, we would first go it over. The would come together afternoon Shabas and uh and say it over and there would be a lot of debates and it was it was intense. uh sometimes in the middle of the week we can ask the Reb some questions for given some of the for him to edit but there was it was an aa but it was also I felt privileged I felt like I'm really part of history wow uh when I stood there and the reb spoke and I knew that a genius like this comes around very seldom somebody who had such a pas and a you know he knew every purish of the viliggon on in every line of every you know every sh every it was just and the combination and the unity and he also knew all the secular a lot of the secular uh branches of wisdom in terms of mathematics and and and psychology and science and physics cosmology astronomy engineering So, you know, you have such a personality and such a mind. I really felt privileged. I knew that if I'm not going to remember and it's not going to be recorded, it's going to be lost and and this is precious, precious material and and maz, you know, people learn it and it inspires a world, you know, thousands and thousands of and so it was really a historical privilege to be part of it. Well, and and how much of that do you think played a factor that you could give um I don't know 50 70 different lectures a week on every kind of topic. The fact that when you were a Bak at this age you had to absorb so many different topics. How much do you think that played a factor? probably I would assume that it was the decisive factor or at least a majorly impactful factor in all of this. uh it's also not just the ability to retain knowledge but it was also the approach the labba really helped me cultivate a in Yiddish it's called the velkum that can synthesize paradox and can appreciate the infinite broadness of hashem's world of kite he was very not parochial very not narrow my next question is going to be where you picked up your vocabulary. I'm just going to put a pin on it. So, his expansiveness, his concern for every type of Jew, there were no labels. There was no um it was just so inspirational and just an approach of how to also apply Yiddish in a very relevant and contemporary way. To is not old. It's not archaic. It's real. It deals with real issues of life. You don't have to escape the real challenges of a person's mind and a person's soul. So besides the experience in terms of the intellectual experience, you just gave me such a powerful approach and a way of thinking about people and thinking about ideas and and presenting ideas when I was a young child. An interesting story. Uh I was standing there by the Fabrang and asym I was not listening. I was a little kid mameish uh I was counting the beams and the bricks in the middle in the middle I see there's a finger pointing at me and I see he's from from 6,000 people he decided to point at me and he says he wants to ask me a question. This was the last thing I wanted to happen from I was a shy kid. I'm still a shy kid. I You may not notice it, but I'm a shy kid. I did not notice. And he says in Yiddish, he spoke in Yiddish. Look at this. He's pointing at me with his finger shaking a little bit. How do you know that the universe exists? I didn't know what to say. How do I know the world exists? How does anybody know the world exists? Nobody ever asked me. Such a question now. 6,000 eyes are looking at me. I'm blushing. All I'm thinking about is live and let live. Yeah, I didn't bother you. I was doing my thing. What's Why you bother? But the Reb was waiting for an answer. And he was quiet maybe for 15 seconds, which seemed like eternity, mamish eternity. And I didn't have what to answer. So the Reb answered for me. He said, "This is what the child answers." And he said the opening of says Hashem in the beginning created heaven and earth. That's how I know the world exists. When I grew up went to what was he talking about? And I noticed the Reb was talking about two ways of looking at the world. He was talking about Moshe and Aaron. One way of looking at the world is from the world's perspective and one way of looking at the world is completely from the Torah's perspective. The only reason you know it exists is welcome as and as I grew up and today when I reflect on it I think that perhaps it was empowerment or a message or that you'll travel the world and your ultimate message has to be do you know how you we know the world exists help people align their experiences of life with the divine vision of and that's what I try to do in one way or another way. Wow. So let let's let's move the story on a little bit more. You were kabat and how did it um where did it go from there? Yeah. So, you know how often people will tell you you got to go to a coach and a guru and a life coach and they'll evaluate you and tell you what you're good at and what you're not good at and your krinness and what you're supposed to do with your life and then you'll create a plan 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and a trajectory. So, this didn't happen in my life. This was not part of the plan. It was not part of the as they say. It wasn't part of the dream. As a B, you didn't know that you were going to be rabbi y Jacobs. I was just doing my thing. I would sit and learn to be able to to be able to be one of the but we had to sit and learn the whole week as it wasn't Sunday night after you finished riding to Miami now for the rest of the week and then he would just quote and rash and rad and ramak and and you know ra and you just had to sit and learn. We often didn't know what he's talking about. somebody usually figured it out. But uh but so I was sitting and learning in yeshiva and um and you know life life moved on. When I was in my low 20s the reb fell ill and then two years later he passed away. This was 94 June 1994 gimlond. So I continued learning. It was a difficult for me personally and for my obviously I continued learning and uh my father was all of his life he was a journalist his whole life he was an interesting person he worked for which is Israel's largest daily newspaper he became their correspondent in the United Nations United Nations United he succeeded Ellie Visel famous Ellie used to be a journalist. He gave the job to my father. They were close friends. They remained close friends. My father worked for Newsweek for the Herald Tribune for a Yiddish daily called the Tug Morgan Journal, the Day Morning Journal. It was a daily Yiddish. Now, these were newspapers that were read by hundreds of thousands of Jews, immigrants who spoke Yiddish. In 72, that paper closed down suddenly. The publisher, Jacobs, he couldn't afford it. Remember, the new generation in the secularist world were in public schools. they were speaking English. Yiddish remained only more or less in the unless you go to you go to Antworp, you could see Yidden unbeared speaking Yiddish. But in America, that didn't happen. But in the 40s, the '50s, the 60s, you had millions of American Jews whose language was Yiddish, even though they were secular. Wow. The Farvitz had probably a quarter of a million readers and it was a socialist left-wing newspaper. Taran Jano was a little more right. So my father worked for it. Everybody used to tell us that, you know, most employees were in their 70s and 80s. He was the only young man when it closed down. He opened up his own Yiddish newspaper called the Algame Janal. That was your father. My father in 72 the year I was born. He created it from scratch. Later it went to English. So uh he had a writer an old Yiddish writer from Va very famous name was Hillil Zidman. The old Yiddishist will remember Hillman. He would write a a para column. He was an interesting man. And he passed away. My father asked me if I could write a column on the par. He needed somebody and I knew can I so we grew up in a very Yiddish speaking home. So I started to write this column and interestingly one day a from Chicago of Highland Park Chicago Rabbi Shanowitz phones me and he says I read your column every week. come for a shabas to my community. Speak here. I'm like I I don't speak in communities. I'm I'm writing me. He's ning me. I'll pay a ticket. I'll pay a ticket. I'm buying you a ticket. you'll just come and speak to my show say over from your article. I said, "Okay, I'll do it." I came and I guess and do enjoy enjoyed it. Next shabas, I get a call from another of Great Neck. Could you come to my cahila? And in Great Neck, they were speaking Yiddish at the time. Great neck was English. Chicago was English. And I was Yeshiva. I guess. And then I guess after I got married a few years later, it just started to grow and I started to get a lot of invitations. It was really completely not planned and people started to invite me to speak to their communities and then to schools and yeshivas, universities, JCC's, cahillas, um you know, from various demographics of the Jewish community and sometimes from the non-Jewish community and it just uh snowballed. Snowballed. Yeah. Well, so we're going to go. We're going to take a quick commercial break and we are going to be back momentarily. Welcome back. Okay, Rabbi W, it was I guess the you started writing for your father's paper, the Algamator. Is it still around? Still around. Um and then you were invited to Chicago and slowly but surely you got around. Now from there you've written I know thousands of articles and you give sharum all over. Now here's the question don't want this taken the wrong way but by the front community generally in a certain sense sticks to its own. I don't mean shalom that there's any any um omnos animosity anyway but they live in Crown Heights and and they have a certain culture between Bells Bob and and the other places they're in Bora Park it's one big chalen and you know you have people in other communities and seldomly do we find that a rabbi from Kabad speaks to people from the mainstream the the rest of the other firm communities and somehow I think that you managed to hit every demographic in the firm community as we came just FYI as we came Rabbi Wa was in the middle of recording something in Hebrew for somebody in Israel. How is it that you managed as a kabad rabbi to um get to everybody and and it it's even more than that. You managed to bring the concepts of and the and the and you managed to bring that into all other parts of from and I'm from Yiddish. How do you think that that happened? It's an interesting question. I don't take it in the wrong way at all. In fact, I feel very privileged. Uh I have to say sometimes, what do you say? Hi on the B Island. Yeah. 2020 phrase. I sometimes like really feel high when I I look back at the day and I said, you know, in the morning I had a sheer and curious in Monroe. Then that's happened. Yes. Wow. later in the day in Visionets, later in the day in Lakewood Yeshiva University and then the next night at a dinner in Tels in Cleveland and then in a completely secular community. So I really feel privileged by the fact and I think really I'll tell you what inspires me. There's a beautiful art from school of Kirb of Kmir was one of the great masters in Poland. He passed away 1856. He was a student of the lab. He's the ancestor of the Majettes dynasty. So his anle brings that heard from and it really inspires me. He says Ysef tells his brothers after he reveals himself to them and they're going back to bring Yakov to Mits. He says the three famous words literally it means Rashi says don't get into a fight on the road you know who's guilty who did it that let's put it behind us and let's move on another is don't get involved in too many pull them on the road because you're going to get lost it's going to be dangerous there's another meaning he says don't get bas on another ye because of his dice understood like the brothers understood that their argument was not just a superficial about a shirt or about a dream there were different mahal and a there were different which the discusses the discusses a lot of discuss there were two different mahal of how to serve Hashem. If the vision of Yiddish is ultimately supposed to be more insulated, we have to be sign shepherds or the vision of Yiddesh is universal. It's a serious debate and debate goes al because of the you have to realize that Hashem is infinite. is and is infinite and it encompasses endless diversity. Don't allow diversity to deter you, to destroy you, to confuse you, and to turn you into a tribal person who can only speak and connect to a certain schnit, a certain hat, a certain, a certain, a certain mahalik, a certain, a certain niggan, a certain ger, a certain don't become that person. Embrace who you are with tremendous passion and gusto and oomph, but don't reduce Hashem to one finite experience. And for me that meant in my life it meant that if I can only speak to one demographic that looks like me or grew up like me or shares the same culture like me or wears the same type of hat or the same ultimately I am not connecting to the Yiddesh. I'm not connecting to the elus of we call it the to the godliness. I'm connecting to culture which is nice. I'm connecting to my tribe, which is fine. But if you're really in touch with Wow. Wow. You just said such a such a deep thing. And and I'll explain to you why it as you were saying it, I was like, "Wow, this is really deep." because you're saying when somebody's only myas, my community, um we're the ones you're connecting to culture. You like your culture and in order to really be able to connect on like you said alus if you can't accept every single yeabata beautiful he's from beautiful he's part of the or whatever you follow the and you have one god you're connecting with them wow and I I think it's something we have to work on frankly. Says he says the first day came out and he saw anti-semitism, an Egyptian beating a Jew. He found an he saw two Jews killing each other. He says he had to run away. Wow. He says there's two casualties of gulos. There's the casualty of anti-semitism and there's the casualty of inner infighting. The first one is an identifiable enemy. People hate us. We have to stand guard. The second one is a much more subtle cancer and it it erodess us from within. In the kum, you know, it's it's the like maz, you know. And he says for that I once told my I said there's a a beautiful piece of the Mishna asks and then so there's a few how you know that it's light enough to be able to say one of the I think is if my friend is one foot away from me even at night I'll recognize him but if he's 68 ft he's out of my and I could recognize him then you know it's light enough to say so I think there's a deeper meaning here you have those that are part of your you go to the mikvah with them you drink coffee with them you eat cholant with them you eat sushi with them you're part of their like you say you're part of their culture then I'm not sure you could say the one who's outside of your you could recognize him as your you could be then you could say wow wow wow that was very powerful very inspirational and I think that it's a message cos over here um we need some we need that message stronger and stronger. You know, frankly, I don't want to and I don't mean this in a in a sharp or judgmental way. Sometimes religion can also become somewhat egotistical. I say, "God, God, God, hashem, my ego, I need to feel comfortable and and you're challenging me." So, I'm really stuck. I'm stuck in my own small orbit. A person who doesn't look like me challenges me to transcend myself and go into a much deeper place where I can create space for you and you can create space for me. I think it's also the essence of show bias really this is this is what creates marital harmony to expect that your wife or your husband is going to agree with you about most things. Today the most progressive research on marriage shows something interesting. They used to think the difference between a good marriage and a bad marriage is in a bad marriage they're always fighting in a good marriage they agree about 90% of the things modern research shows 69% of agreements between husbands and wives in good marriages that they had in the beginning of the marriage they will have 60 years later when he's 95 and she's 93 they'll still be arguing do we keep the window open or closed the lights the lights in the bedroom on or the lamp has to go off do we go to milk of flesh We go here for pes here for shabas and bigger arguments. The quality of a marriage is not dependent. So we have a chance you're saying it's not dependent on how many arguments. It's how you argue. Do I look at you arguing with me as a way to dismiss you and I feel that you're betraying me and all my life I'm busy convincing you? Or can I really create space for your position and never ever think that just because you disagree with me, you don't love me and I can't trust you. We can disagree with each other among Jews, but we have to trust each other. We have to be able to be here for each other. We have to be able to support each other. We have to be able to lean on each other. And where do we have a better example in the whole gamarra? Talmudi thousands and thousands of pages. There's not a single that is not saturated with after about everything. Small things, big things, diet, food, history, culture, everything. Of course, but everything from the greatest from it's a culture filled filled with arguments and yet they love each other. And this is this is the ingredients the ingredients of Jewish existence. thousand%. I once heard uh I forgot from who I saw that there's this fad. Anybody that's a little bit more so conservative than you is a fanatic. Anybody that's a little bit more liberal than you is completely off the derek. Yeah. And if if if we want to coexist with each other, it's the challenge today in America. What's happening in America? You know, Ysef and his brothers, the tragedy begins. I don't have to agree with you, but we have to continue talking to each other and listening to each other. The moment you cut somebody off from your life, I'm not talking to you ever again. That's the the moment the tragedy begins. Wow. So, let me ask you now that you said that, do you believe that there's no time that somebody should cut off ties with another Yid? You're you're asking a sweeping and heavy question. I would say this. I would say I can't say that there's no times you should cut you shouldn't there's no times you should cut off connection but I say before you make that move make sure that every other alternative has been explored number one make sure that you got advice from real people who understand the situation who are empathetic who are big people they have vision they have wisdom and they want to see people unify they're not part of an ego game of natamas If you have explor explored every alternative, you have consulted people who are objective guiding you on the issue. Number three, you really really examined yourself if this is not driven by your own traumas, by your own insecurities, by your own narcissism, by your own toxicity. And you can with the help of real mentors say this is what Hashem really wants from you. If you have to face God pun upon him, this is what he really really wants from you in the depth of your heart, then perhaps perhaps it's a consideration. I think that that's the key. If you remember you're doing whatever you're doing is for Hashem. So if you really think that Hashem wants you, but but I believe that most people when they get to there will think maybe Hashem really doesn't want it. There there is the situation people are so traumatized and they're so indoctrinated and if you're brainwashed that this person is you know the Russia of of the century and if you can bury him alive Cly will be saved some people can be indoctrinated that way and that's why you always have to be humble and remain vulnerable and always ask the questions you know where is my thinking coming from is my kashiva coming from a place of broadness like you say from a place of elus or it's coming from a place of deep deep fear and insecurity you know am I am I somewhat in a cult these are the courageous questions that authentic people ask themselves what's motivating me what's guiding me wow um especially with family you know I it it breaks my heart. Brothers don't talk to each other. Sisters don't talk to each other. Uncles don't talk to nephews. Cousins don't talk. You don't go to and it's usually because of money. A yusha from the father or a potential father's alive but in 10 years or 20 years what's going to be and look at it. So already now I can fight with people don't realize these things last generations. Cousins don't get to know each other. They can't come to each other's mitzvah. It's a tragedy. It's not worth it. You have to think bigger. You have to have godl don't become petty in life. Even if you're right and the other person is wrong in life, don't try to be right. Try to be happy. When there's somebody you're not on speaking terms with, your soul is miserable. Don't be right. Be happy. And I've heard you say the difference between kids and adults that comes from grand writes parishes. I think he says why is it that children they don't harbor grudges? Every one of our children says Tati I hate you. You're not coming to my birthday party. You're not my friend anymore. 10 minutes later your best friend especially if you give them some ice cream. adults they harbor grudges yl like if we would live for centuries we would hold on to grudges for centuries and often times they don't even remember their original course and then the children have to harbor it and then the because we maintain the messiah by us the messiah is my father hated you I have to hate you and your kids say is why is it children are less mature we would expect children to hold on to grudges the answer is children choose choose being happy over being right. And adults choose being right over being happy. Sometimes I'd rather be miserable, but I'm going to be right. And children say, "I don't have time to be miserable. Life is short. We got to make the best of it. I want to be happy. I don't want to be miserable." Open your heart. Be happy. Effing up the hearts. Don't. Some of us sit with with bulletproof vests, you know, our hands around our chest, not allowing anybody to come in. And we're prisoners. We're prisoners to our own insecurities and our own wounds and our own traumas. And inside we're miserable. It's not how how aided lives. And then you come to ding and you scream except except when it comes to make peace with my brother-in-law or with my sister-in-law. Well, let's get back to Rabbi Y for a second. We went off tangent a little bit over here. Beautiful and inspirational. you have been um I don't know if the word is a pioneer but I know for example you were the first rabbi that was invited to the Pentagon to speak for the chaplain of the military I believe and of course we know famously last year uh we're going to everybody has seen that clip but we're going to put that clip up anyway when the president President Trump came to speak for uh the Jewish benefactors or donors or whatever. Uh you went ahead and you were the one chosen to introduce him. We're going to put that clip on right now. My dearest friends, it is my deepest honor to introduce to you at this historic moment of gratitude as millions of god-fearing Jews turn to the president of the United States of America and say, "Thank you, Mr. Mr. President, thank you. And fear, Mr. President, fear not. Fear not to continue the fight for the good and the fight for the just, for God is with you. My dear friends, I present to you the leader of the free world, his excellency, the president of the United States of America, [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Gavaldic, we had a clip. So, you've spoken and lectured and been all over the place. Where do you think was the most impactful or biggest? They they may be two separate things. The biggest or the most impactful event that you've presented at? Well, I'll tell you, you know, I I've I've really come to learn that it's very hard to answer this question authentically because there have been events I spoke I was once in. I was invited to a yeshiva that was created for teenagers who are challenged who are who are struggling with Yiddish which you deal with. So I know your heart is there and there were 10 guys there and one of them was very antagonistic to me. He was attacking and criticizing. You're a hypocrite. You don't believe what you say. You just made a career out of this. You're going to inspire us. He was really really tough with me and I tried you know to be very non-judgmental. The worst thing you can do is become defensive which we become because we are weak but really to try to tune into his soul and then connect person to persona. And I just spoke about, you know, the fact that even if you're struggling with your faith in God, you must never ever stop believing of God's faith in you. Even if you think you don't believe in God, which I'm not sure is true, but never ever doubt that God believes in you. And it's really the cph. says on the inu literally it's translated Hashem is a god of trustworthiness and there's no evil by him he knows what he's doing the says credible words believed in his world and created it wow he had to have money in the world because look at our world I'm a sugar between Capitol Hill between the right and the left I'm a sugar you look at yourself I look at myself we have so much issue every one of us with our traumas and stresses and anxiety believed in the world wow so y is based on amun and hashem but even deeper than that amun means in yourself in your world in your life and in your abilities in your light and in your infinity and in your relationships and in your potentiality to light up the world and light up your life. This is what I was talking about. And this guy was sitting and looking at me like I fell off Mars, you know, with this cynicism. And I remember I got up and I left. And I'm figuring to myself, what a flop. This just did not work. I'm quitting this job. You know, when something doesn't go well and you're at you're regretting uh that you ever got in, why am I doing this? What do I need this for? This this dismissiveness, this citizen, this mockery, what am I, a criminal? Why don't I just become a mechanic? I'll work in a gas station. Nobody will speak to me like this. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you do speak to your mechanic this way about other things around 10 or 15 years later. I get a call from somebody. He introduces himself. He says, "You remember me?" I say, "No." He says, "I'll remind you. You once in your shlay in this and this place. You spoke about so and so. You mentioned your own struggles and how you overcame them. I was giving you a hard time. But I want you to know that that speech saved me from suicide. Wow. Wow. I was antagonistic cuz I was miserable. I didn't want to live. But you were genuine. You were real. You held your ground. You were vulnerable. You were not dismissive or confrontational or judgmental. And I said, "You know what? I'm going to try to give my life a second chance. And then I said to myself, Rabbi Yw, you don't know what a successful speech is. Sorry. Sometimes it's Kishmak. Standing ovation. 5,000 people. I had that. Stand up. Give you a standing at 30. I can't tell you it's not Kishmach. It's Gishmak for a few minutes. Let's help self-dis the next day doesn't help me the next day. But for those minutes, it's Gishmak. But in terms of an authentic impact on people, we really don't know. We mish don't know. So I see my job really as wherever I go, plant a seed. Plant a seed. Where the tree is going to grow, I don't know how it's going to grow. I don't know when it's going to grow. I don't know what type of fruits it will have. I don't know. That's not my job. My job is have seeds and plant them. Seeds of Shamayim, seeds of aasm, a seeds of Shahama. Just plant it. Plant it. There's But you ask I'm talking about one memorable moment was that speech to the chaplain. It was the Pentagon. It wasn't in the Pentagon. It was arranged by the Pentagon. It was in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Uh the US Army, of course, it's a huge army and its chapency is huge. These are all the spiritual ministers who are there for all the soldiers and not necessarily all Jewish. Very few, right? For some reason, most Jewish youngsters think that real estate is more exciting than going into the US army. For whatever reason, you'll analyze that elsewhere. So you're dealing with hundreds of thousands of troops who are not Jewish, mostly Christians, whether Catholics or Protestants, Episcopalian, Mormons, Baptists. You have a few Jews, few Jewish chaplain, not many. At that event, there were maybe 15 Jewish chaplain, but thousands of Christian chaplain. I think there was a few Muslim chaplain, a few Buddhist chaplain, a few Hindu chaplain, mostly Christian Christian chaplain from the various branches of Christianity. They meet in Hilton Head, South Carolina for a week to inspire each other as a conventional in their own way. Not like the do but the chaplain. Yeah. The chaplain, chief of chaplain. And really they're responsible for all the soldiers from a spiritual po perspective. And this was the middle of the one war in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lot of casualties among the chaplain themselves cuz they they go they go to the front lines with that. They have to train. And usually they always had Billy Graham who just died last year as the preacher you know he was the top Christian preacher Billy Graham and he spoke the feta during the first Iraqi war bush the father 1991 yeah 1991 before I was born to I believe right January 91 Norman Schwarzko was the commanderin-chief alabad by the name of Yankl Goldstein, the only American soldier who got permission to have a long beard. He's been in the army for more than 40 years. He wrote a book, but he was a shaken of mine growing up on Montgomery Street. And he ended up in Baghdad. It's interesting. They thought they're going to be there for months. He told me before he went, he told the Reb that he's going to Baghdad. Uh so he's playing to his migill and everything he needs put in pesh I put him by put it was all over the chief that's the opposite of the story with the balat with the which he told the sukus when you go into the forest take the I think the and he lit the candles he lit the candles and he was saved. Yeah. Yeah. So it was the opposite. Yeah. In any case, he was in Baghdad. The chief of chaplain was a man named Douglas Carver, a Baptist. And Douglas speaks to all the chaplain. And all were not Jews besides Goldstein. So he turns to Goldstein, he says, "Who you going to sleep with? Who you going to share a tent with?" Because usually people stick to that, you know, culture. He says, "I don't have anybody." So he says you'll be with my in my tent. So for six weeks the labavatur and the Baptist chief of chaplain slept together for bringing together for a good few weeks in Baghdad. 20 years later 20 years later Carver is the chief of chaplain of the whole army. He was promoted and he's now running the conference and he says to himself, you know, we have Billy Graham every year. Let's get a Jew. We come from Jews. Christianity comes from J. Let's hear what the Jews have to say. So he calls Goldstein. He says, "Who's the Jewish Billy Graham? Who's the Jewish Billy Graham?" So Goldstein calls me that night. He says, "Are you the Jewish Billy Graham?" I'm like, "Yank Masha, what are you talking about?" He says, "I need to know who the Jewish Billy Graham is. Can I give you and make you the Jewish Billy Graham?" I say, "Gazun, but don't tell my mother-in-law. I don't want to affect him out." He says, "Okay, you're the He calls Carvey." He says, "I have for you the Jewish Billy Graham." He gives them my name. Nope. He says, "They'll call you probably next week. They'll invite you. They're going to start the process." I thought it's going to be in a few months. They invited me two years ahead. I realized it's not a Jewish function. Jewish function, you get invited a few days before, at best, a few months before. And it happened indeed. And it was a historic moment for most of them. was probably the first time they heard a Jew. You know, those who come from New York, they're already, you know, Michelon, they know what a bagel and locks looks like. But those who come from Kentucky, those who come from Montana, Wyoming, you know, a lot of most of them, they they never saw such a sea or a bird mate. They didn't ask to see if we had horns, right? But it was actually it was an incredible experience. I have to tell you, I saw at that conference the power of a Jew to impact the world positively. I mamesh saw with my eyes that the non-Jewish world respects Jews who respect Judaism. They're embarrassed by Jews who are embarrassed by Judaism. I have to tell you that I got the most invitations that time to come the next Sunday to their church. Wow. I probably got close to a hundred invitations to come give the sermons at their churches on Sunday. I declined uh gracefully, but it was it was a very powerful moment. It showed me how with the proper approach, this is a time in history where we can impact not only our own, we can have a tremendously positive moral impact on the world. Wow. But Lama for you on your scale saving that teenager from suicide was so much more than introducing the president at the donor's event. Saving a soul is saving a whole world. Wow. So, we're going to we're going to take a very short break over here and we are going to come right back. Welcome back. Now, we're living in unprecedented times in so many ways. Now, Rabbi Yw, you took advantage of the times. You have Yeshiva, which you're the founder of, where you have hundreds of thousands of people listening to your sharum daily. You have WhatsApp groups where you have um insane numbers, insane amount of people that get your clips on WhatsApp groups. Um, how many how many groups do you have? We have our own I think around 25 or 30 groups. 25 30 groups all full to capacity with 250 people per group. Yeah. Approximately. And then uh but I know you know those groups then send it out to their group. So I don't know exactly how far a clip clip reaches but I do know and this was so moving. It was two weeks ago and there's a lot of aid this I give a Tuesday morning women's class on the yeshiva.net. This is a weekly shared on the yeshiva.net since Corona. It used to be live before Corona and now it's on the website on the yeshiva.net and people come on Zoom. People come on the yeshiva.net. People come on YouTube. At the end they do questions. A woman comes on on Zoom and she introduces herself and she says, "I'm tuning in from Lebanon." Beirut. Beirut. Beirut. Lebanon. I'm like, I have students in Lebanon. She says, two years I don't miss a year of yours. Two years. Wow. Mishnam two years I don't miss a club. I'm like, who who are you? you come? She says, "I come from a Christian family. We're in Beirut." I said, "I didn't know I have students in Beirut." She says, "You have not only me." Wow. I'm like, "What? How?" I said, "How do you how do you find me?" She says, "A clip. You sent a Kaneka clip." And somebody sent me a Kaneka clip of yours two years ago and I saw it. I was in love with this message. I said, "I need more of this." And she says, "You know, I grew up in a family of faith, but I lost my faith in God. But over the last two years, you brought me back to God." I'm like, "Why did you want to come back to God?" He says, "I wanted to, but I couldn't. It was," it didn't make sense. There were too many questions on Christianity, but I listened to you constantly. You gave me God again in my life. So then I said, "Did you know your grandmother?" here. She says, "Yeah, my mother's mother happens to be Jewish." My mother's mother happens to be Jewish. My mother is a Christian. My father is a Muslim, but my mother's mother is Jewish. So, at that moment, I said, "Listen, let's continue this by email. We'll have a private conversation," which we did. At that moment, again, I realized that we never know our impact. Wow. It's a clip. A clip goes to Aidesh who grew up as a Christian in Beirut and now slowly coming back to her people like said we never know. We never know the impact. Wow. So you utilize the times that we're living in for good to be able to send a clip to a Muslim Christian woman living in Beirut. I thought she was Muslim Christian in Beirut. Yeah. Personally, I've a wonderful person, a special person. Wow. and and personally I've heard speeches that you've given to kids throughout co to mitzvah to women okay those my wife have listened to um to men but we are living in unprecedented times and because of technology and and the speed of everything and of course today's days with corona I'm saying and and the left and the right and we don't know who's the president by now we You know who's the president? I don't know if he knows that he's the president, but what what is your message to somebody today's days? What should be his how to utilize the days for good? I would say first and foremost two messages that I've been sharing with people over these months. Um, I initiated all these programs because I realized that children are stuck at home, teenagers are stuck at home and youth need a social life. We need friends and the more and entertainment and inspiration we can give to that demographic, the more better because it's vital. that sometimes had I want you to know that we made programs for teenagers week after week and there were weeks 400 500 questions came in from teenagers about everything from children dozens or hundreds of questions in fact the late Rabbi Saxs Rabbi Jonathan Saxs Bridges chief rabbi shortly before his death which came unexpected he got sick and fast he was initiating a new program where he wanted to engage with teenagers about their questions. So his office reached out to me what would be the most pressing questions. So I sent him a link to the website with those programs said here you'll have four 400 Ry Sax will have what to talk about for a couple of months. Unfortunately he was taken on Shabash I would say two very powerful messages. One message comes from the was of this is brought in base iron par on the it's a special vert says says from the what's your heart shouldn't have a with your I was once in an airport before Corona. I was stuck. Couldn't get to my destination. I meet the and he says, "Why does the word is a rare term to use for Hashem? Don't be in a mas with the space you are in life with your position in life with your muk. People often sit for years and say if I would only be in a different muk geographically or existentially if I would only be married to a different person and have different kids and have a different family and a different community and different kashrinas and different money and different business and different vocation. If I only I would be in a different m life would be wonderful. Now this quarantine on lockdown. The first we have to be able to make peace with our realize that our problems in life are not standing in way in the way of our success. They are the way the mukim that I'm in. That is the place where I can flex my muscles. Wow. And maximize my deepest potentials. It's not easy to embrace. I always compare myself to other people. I get jealous of people who would have his kids and his house and his car and his mahalak and his disposition and his character. But that's not the reason your nish came into the world and you even hear very often people saying today's generation were worthless or was the previous generations. This is the mock. You have to find your what does we are all in a specific mock today. We've all been on lockdown. Not all but many many people have been on lockdown. Everybody's life changed. Everybody's life changed in one way or another. Financially, emotionally, socially, psychologically, never mind the people who have suffered losses. Everybody's life was transformed. People lost their businesses. People lost so much of life. And it's difficult. We have to be here for each other. We have to empathize with each other. We have to feel each other's pain. But we could never ever surrender to the spear. I have to be able to say, "This is the muk I'm in. This is where I could shine." Wow. This is where I will discover my deepest light if I tune in with courage and fearlessness and resilience to be able to face what exists in this mak not in spite of the circumstances because of the circumstances. Wow. And again, it's not an easy thing to embrace. There is pain involved and we have to be able to grieve. But this is what taught and he says, Yakov was running away from his father and mother. He had no shul, no community, no environment, no and it just became dark in the middle of Gen lots of love and he's running away from me has a stick the sunset. That's when he had to encounter the boy who's in this space where you are right now. That's he took his night and he turned it into a connection. From his darkness, he built a relationship with Hashem. He took his adversity and he turned it into a deeper relationship. It became an opportunity for unprecedented growth. So you say we're living in unprecedented times. Yes. And that's why it's an opportunity for unprecedented growth. Wow. That's how it is. I think another very important point to make is the labb would always quote his father-in-law's one of the last talks of his father he said four words five words is every individual is a community what did he mean can't with a minion there's a what he meant to say there comes a generation and Jewish history where you can't look at yourself as just a small tiny individual. You're a Y. That's not the case. Every Y has an incredible kayak of influence and leadership. Everyone in their own way. This one through his money and this one through his mouth and this one through his pen and this one through his heart and this one through his public work and this one through his private work. In today's day, stop seeing yourself as a y and stop passing the buck to leaders who are supposedly supposed to lead. No. You see a challenge, you see a problem, you see teenagers struggling, you see youths, youths alienated or depressed, reach out. Make a difference. Don't try to save the world. But there's one person who lives on your block whom you can touch. There's one girl who you could be macar who you could bring over for shabas. There's one teenager. There's one adult, young adult, older person, younger person, man, woman, child who you can embrace whose nama you can inspire. You're not a y. You're aim. You can impact. You can influence aim. Today, every single person, every one of us has a tremendous to reach out. Be a leader. Be a leader. I know you look at yourself in the mirror. You say, "Me? You got the wrong guy. I'm shy. I just do my I go to and I try to make ends meet. But as says to in my mind, in your mind you may see yourself as cotton, but the fact is there are people whom you can touch and only you can touch. So think big, think broad, think leadership. Today Claius Israel needs today people who care, people who reach out. And if each one of us can cultivate such a mindset, we will never be able to appreciate the impact that we can have far beyond our immediate reach. Wow. Wow. You know the from such a powerful Right. The daughter of par sends out her hand. So the Gmorra says, right? Her her arm extends 40 ft 50 ft until it reaches the T. And I want to ask you a question. If you go to a sea and you see a basket and there may be a child there and your heart your your arm extends 50 ft, what would you do? I would run away. This is a horror scene. This is this is a overwhelming dreadful scene. I'm out of here. Let somebody else take care of that basket. What are the trying to say? And the the says something beautiful. He says Batia was doing something that was essentially beyond her reach. Her arm could not extend to that ta. Not physically, mentally. There are things you can accomplish in life. There are things people tell you you're dreaming. You're hallucinating. Your arm can reach till here. Your arm can't reach so far. You're going to take a Jewish kid and bring him to Hitler's home to Adolf Hitler's home. He's going to shoot the kid and shoot you. We often think in life, this is not practical. I have limits. Thank God she didn't think that way. She knew her job is you do what you can extend your arm and you know what happens provides you with an invisible arm that's far beyond your imagination and you'll save au that's the attitude of great which in turn will save Claudius wow one gentile woman not a Jewish woman an Egyptian gentile woman the Tyra tells us the story to know that the whole which means bism it's the credit of one gentile woman who said to herself I'm going to extend my arm apathy is not an option indifference is not going to be part of my vocabulary I will extend my arm you know what happens hashem and does the rest. Wow. Wow. Very powerful and beautiful message. Thank you so much, Rabbi Y, for being here with us. Thank you so much for everything that you do for Claudia. All of Rabbi Yum are on yeshiva.net. The the yeshiva the yeshiva.net for free. It's beautiful. It's mindboggling what Rabbi Wi does today's. And it's not just for the demographic of, you know, for the adults that are going to be donors. He went, he extended his arm now during Corona for kids, for for teenagers, for everybody. Thank you so much, Rabbi Wa. You're a real inspiration. And again, yes, I'm aruck. [Music]