He Sacrificed for His Values — Then Something Incredible Happened - Don Ghermezian

[music] >> Several years ago, the family used to travel down to Florida for the holiday sometimes. We would go down during Yeshiva break, and one year we went down there and we stayed at the Fontainebleau Hotel. [music] This is many, many years ago. We realized that year that we got down there that the environment [music] just wasn't the right environment for the family to be at. So, I went to the hotel manager and the owner of the hotel. I called them and said, "Listen, I need you guys do me a favor. You guys [music] have 10 different pools at the Fontainebleau. I need to take one of these pools for my family because we come to the pool dressed as nude and everything." They looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Do you know how much money we're going to generate in revenue from that pool for that couple weeks?" And they gave me an exorbitant number, but we had no choice. So, I said, "Okay, I'll pay you that amount on one condition. >> [music] >> I'm going to bring a landscape company here tonight and I'm going to landscape around the pool. I'm going to put trees all the way around the pool so that nobody could see into the pool [music] and nobody could see out of the pool. And then I'm going to landscape a pathway to the door at the Sorrento [music] so that my family can actually come from their room down to this pool and back without seeing anything and without anybody seeing them." And so, I spent [music] an incredible amount of money to rent the pool for the 2 weeks, but I also spent an incredible money money landscaping the entire [music] area around the pool. There was paparazzi wondering who was at that pool. And it was a remarkable story, but [music] that's not where the story ends. That same trip, I'd gotten tickets to the Super Bowl and I was taking three of my boys to go to the Super Bowl. I come down to the hotel lobby and my uncle was there and he said, "Hey Don, where are you going?" I go, "I'm going to the Super Bowl." He says, "Okay, take my three kids with you." I'm like, "Uncle Raffi, I can't just take three kids to the Super Bowl. These tickets are very expensive. I got them months ago. I got them from a sponsor at the mall. I can't do that." He goes, "Oh, you'll figure it out. Take them." I'm [music] like, "No, Raffi, it doesn't work like that." He goes, "Oh, you'll figure it out. Take them." I'm like, "Hashem, what "What going to do?" So, now there's seven of us, we're in the car heading to the Super Bowl, and I'm wondering, "How am I going to get out of this mess? Where am I going to get three tickets for the Super Bowl?" Cuz I'm certainly not going to pay five, six thousand dollars a ticket. So, I decided when we got there, I said, "You know what? I'll just wait till the game starts. I'll find somebody who's selling tickets. I'll try and sell my four tickets." They were good seats. "And I'll try and get seven tickets back that we could sit in a row. I don't care. They're not going to be as good seats. We can sit in those seats, but at least we'll be together." And while I was talking [music] to people out there selling tickets, somebody approached me, tapped me on the shoulder, says, "Excuse [music] me, I can't help but overhear. Are you looking for seven tickets?" I said, "Yes, I am." He goes, "Are you guys [music] one family?" I'm like, "Yeah, these are my my boys, and these are my my cousins." Like, "Uh, and you guys [music] want to sit together?" I'm like, "Yeah." He goes, "Are you guys a Jewish family?" I'm like, "Yeah, we are Jewish. Why?" He goes, "I have seven tickets. They're in a row." And he reaches into his pocket, and he pulls out an envelope, and he gives me an envelope with seven tickets. I'm like, "For what?" [music] He says, "For free." I said, "Listen, is this some kind of a scam?" He says, "My name is Brian Glazer. I own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As NFL owners, we get an allotment of tickets. I happen to have seven tickets left. And in the limo over here, I was thinking to myself, "What am I going to do with these tickets? [music] I've got to give them to somebody." I stepped out of the door and saw you and your family, and you're talking. I'm [music] like, "This is a nice Jewish family. I think God wanted these tickets for you." So, I took the seven tickets, and I sold my four tickets, [music] and we went in the stadium with the seven tickets. I sat at the 50-yard line in front of Brian Glazer's suite. The most remarkable [music] part of this is that the cost of those seven tickets, plus the four tickets I sold, if you add all of that together, it is the exact number that we spent [music] to rent that pool and to landscape that pool so that the family could be there in a snewt [music] way and not look at things that the family shouldn't look at. That was the very last time the Gmazin family went to the Fontainebleau. It was the last year that the family put themself in any [music] type of situation where they would have that sort of temptation. Every time somebody sacrifices to keep [music] his new to make sure that they're not looking at things they shouldn't look at, whether it's in your private life [music] or your business life, I guarantee you Hashem sees it and Hashem will bring salvation. Hashem will help. It's 100% [music] the way the world works.