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Inside ArtScroll - Season 3 Episode 9: Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz
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Over the last decade, tens of thousands of children have been educated and informed by ArtScroll’s Let’s Stay Safe book, which some educators have called “the most important picture book you will ever share with your children.” In this Inside ArtScroll interview, Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz speaks about the groundbreaking book, his efforts to educate children about personal safety, contemporary chinuch, and much more. [Purchase the book HERE (https://www.artscroll.com/Books/SAFEH.html) .]
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Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
[Music]
Hello everyone and welcome back to
Inside Art Scroll where the books you
read and the people who write them come
to life. Today I am privileged to be
joined by Rabbi Yakovitz, founding dean
of yeshiva daryam and the director of
bright beginnings. Thank you, Rabbi
Harowitz, for being here. Vietk, it's
such a pleasure to be here. It's an
honor. Really a pleasure. I have to
start by talking about this book that we
have open here, Let's Stay Safe, which
you co-published with Art Scroll and
amazingly really a tremendous
achievement has been distributed
worldwide. Yeah. I think the number is
over 100,000 copies. About 130 between
the three the three 13,000 copies in
different languages, English, Hebrew,
Yiddish. Uh and the goal of the book
which you undertook was to spread
awareness and to prevent child abuse.
Correct. So take a moment to talk about
the book and how you've heard that it's
literally changed lives and prevented
abuse, helped abuse victims.
We we we're constantly getting feedback
from parents who I mean it's the most
gratifying thing in the world when you
hear from a parent who says um you know
you saved our child's life. Um the the
first two months into the into the book,
we got a letter from an autistic uh 11
year old from Lakewood and and he wrote
wrote one of the pages there. It says,
"If you lost in the mall, you should go
to your mother. You should go to a
woman." So he went to the cashier and he
waited and he started talking, you know,
and he thanked us. He wrote a three-page
letter thanking us. It's it's it's
incredibly rewarding. Um and and you
know the big idea is that
that the it gives parents tools to speak
to the children and and it's interesting
because the research shows that when
children get nervous and parents get
anxious either or both it it inhibits
their ability to learn because we get
frightened we can't concentrate on
anything.
So specifically, it's important that it
be done in a child-friendly way. And you
look at all the pictures, there's
nothing frightening there, right? It's
it teaches the children the four basic
child safety messages. Your body belongs
to you. No secrets from parents. There's
good touching and there's bad touching.
You have the right to leave someone
who's uncomfortable. You see here, you
know, someone's talking to them mother
at the end of the day and this kid is
getting out of a situation where where
he's feeling uncomfortable. And we have
and we specifically uh incorporated it
with with regular safety things you know
fire safety and other safety um first of
all because it's important but it also
helps the parents get calm the child
abuse prevention pages are in the middle
right so but by the time they get
through bicycle safety and stuff they're
they're more relaxed and and people who
have read it both educators and parents
comment that it was written with
tremendous because you're taking on a
very sensitive topic
especially in our world. Y um but you
have to address it in a very for
forthright way. You can't, you know, try
to hint at it and then kids get either
get the wrong message or don't get the
message at all. So really kudos to you.
Thank you so much for doing that. But I
would say and I I think you would agree
that when you sat with Rabbi Mayor's
Lotitz, what was it 13 years ago? Yes. I
started It's actually funny. I I think I
told Gdalia this reval revalia this
story. Um, I went to him with a concept
without the book and he thought it's
more of an education about, you know,
body parts and stuff and all of that.
So,
um, so he opened up his drawer and he
took out a checkbook and he said,
"Yanke, I want to be your first donor."
He knew I didn't come for money. It was
the politest rejection I ever got. And
then I explained to him what I'm doing
and I said, "Look, Rome, I'm going to
come back with the book and then we'll
talk." And to his eternal credit, he
took it. It was extraordinarily risky
for him. That's what I wanted to say. It
was groundbreaking. Extraordinarily
risky for him to do that. Especially
since he that's not what he This isn't
what he does. Um, but Romero was a
visionary. Yes, he was a visionary. just
like he saw other things before others
did. Apparently on this topic he also
saw right kind of before others did what
was coming and what was needed right and
he got it you know he asked me like how
does this work so I started explaining
to him how child abuse how how could
this book really help kids and it's
interesting
the it's really fascinating because the
abusers go through a grooming process in
other words they walk into a room full
of children and um they start looking
around God forbid who it's safe to
abuse. The most vulnerable the most
vulnerable children and they look for
two things basically um naive being
naive about their own bodies and all of
that and and of lack isolation. Same
thing as a scammer does. If somebody's
scamming financially they look for
someone who doesn't know anything about
finances, easy targets, but also they
don't know who that person knows. Mhm.
So that person's a sister might be a DA
or a lawyer. So they look for isolation.
So they they go through a process where
where they do where they go where they
go through different brilliant, evil,
cunning ways to figure this out because
the bottom line is they can tell right
away if someone was spoken to. So even
if they touch him on the shoulder,
usually a child who was spoken to will
look because that's not that's not in
the ordinary. a stranger shouldn't come
over and touch you. So that look or
something like that frightens them off.
They're afraid of children who they
literally are afraid of children who are
educated because why would they stop?
That's what the grooming process. You
see how how far the education goes that
even small things what we would almost
call nuances right could really end up
protecting a child in a very significant
way. Absolutely. The research shows that
Dr. David Pelowitz and Dr. Dr. been
seeing
Twiski, every picture, every image,
every sentence, they looked over. Um,
and I'm so deeply grateful to them
still. Um, Dr. Pelitz told me that if
there are two children, everything's
identical. One child has his own his or
her own drawer at home and the other
doesn't, the one with the drawer is four
times more likely to defend themselves
if somebody starts up with them. Wow.
And that was just based on research and
and the reason is they know things
belong to them. Uhhuh. They know things
belong to them. It's about boundaries.
They know there are boundaries don't
know things that other people my body
belongs to me. Right. That's that's one
of the four messages. My body belongs to
me. In the in the book we have a picture
of a child with a ball standing next to
his bed. So once that's why parents
should know that this is the beginning
of a conversation. We this is a big
idea. It's something that should be
ongoing. But you can, it's easy for
parents to to follow up on on these
lessons with simple ways. One example I
give parents, I used to do this in
yeshiva. I was a principal of yeshiva
for 20 years. If two kids would fight in
the playground, rather than only talking
to them about what they were doing, I
used to go like this. Instead of saying,
"Why are you fighting with him? Why are
you in somebody's space?"
So parents can do the same thing. You
know, Miriam, you're you're in Yity
space right now. you know, back off a
little bit. So, it it it teaches them
that they have their space. So,
therefore, they respond when something
is different. And children at a very
young age would respond if something is
different if you invited me to your
house and I just leaned back, took off
my shoes, and put my feet bare feet on
the table. How old would the children
have to be to start laughing? Right.
Right. Why? Because no, they've never
seen this. So, that's the tap on the
shelf. somebody lays a hand on
somebody's shoulder and it hasn't they
they they look right. So that's that's
the big idea. Of course, it's not
foolproof. You know, there's a lot
parents need to do, supervision, other
things, but that's the big idea and it's
you mentioned the letter that you got
before. Any other stories that come to
mind of where the book
literally transformed someone's life in
terms of education or other type?
Thousands of times. No joke. thousands
of times. Um, in in one one situation, a
DA wrote in the indictment when they
arrested a pedophile in a in a in a
religious institution. In the
indictment, it said that the children
came forward after reading the Let's
Stay Safe book. And and that's what
we're doing now is we're offering the
book, you know, in bulk, 100 cop more
than 100 copies more for five $5 with
free shipping. That's that's what we're
doing now. Was an outgrowth. I once I
raised money. I raised money to give out
1,800 books the first term of start
convention after um after the after the
book was released and um we gave them
out to schools to put in preschools and
and
and the DA situation was with one of the
schools. Wow. So you know so it's
mentioned in an indictment in the
indictment it says that the child came
forth because they read this book after
reading the let's stay safe book I gave
a workshop to I gave a workshop in
community uh on shabas on shabas and by
shallas the father came to me already he
had it was shabas afternoon by the meal
and by shalludas one of the one of the
kids came forward he read he the book
was around the house and he says I'm
somebody check with me somebody started
up with me it's extraordinarily really
unbelievable. Now, I know that you've
worked you've worked with children now
for 30 years. You've dealt with the
whole atrisisk phenomenon. I'm sure many
people wonder about this, but you deal
with abuse as well. What percentage of
children who neb have left the path and
many do come back perhaps most. What
percentage of them do so because of
abuse?
So, thank you for asking the question.
um the it's an important
question the way I see it um this is not
researchbased you know this is just
Yankee so no it's important to
distinguish this isn't a research thing
this is my own opinion uh but I felt
this way for your opinion based on your
experience anecdotal right anecdotal
right so what what I encourage people to
do is to take child uh excuse me
children abandoning religion and instead
of lumping them in one group to make two
different buckets. One
is they leave religion only
and the other
is they're leaving life.
That's my own this is my own take on it
because when I hear parents talking to
me in my mind I
think what which one of this is it? And
abandoning religion means that the child
has a social life. They're in school.
They're happy. They're forwardlooking.
They enjoy their
lives. Hashem, God isn't part of it
their life right now. And there's so
many different reasons they weren't
maybe weren't turned on. They were
turned off. They they're not inclined to
place. Are they are they are they really
happy though? Because the perception is
that those children are not really
happy. They're just searching. They're
covering up. Look, look,
leaving one's home is a big deal and
doing things different than their family
is a big deal, especially they
understand, you know, what the cost is
and what it's going to look like. So, I
I wouldn't say that all of them are
unhappy. They're they're certainly
unhappy when they're leaving the leaving
our family and that's why we encourage
parents to do whatever they can to keep
them home. But back to the other
bucket, leaving, you know, abandoning
life means they're not in school.
They're they're um they're feeling
terrible about themselves. They they
they don't have a social life or they're
hanging out with other children who
who've been who are in that
situation. I said 13 years ago that that
over 90% of those were abused. It's it's
almost it's almost 100%. That category
of they banned in life.
They're abandoning life, meaning that
they're a suicidal risk. Also, Al all
they're broken. They're broken. They're
broken souls. If you look at Maslo's
hierarchy of needs, that's also another
guide that I've had that is
researchbased. Um Maslo has a brilliant
theory. I encourage all parents to to
study it, really study it. And he says
that there are five sets of human needs.
The lowest is physical. Then comes
safety. Then comes friendship, love,
relationships, self-esteem, and
self-actualization to grow, to be all
you could be. So I I if someone's car
breaks down in a bad neighborhood, they
got 3% on their battery, it's night
time, and they're really
frightened. All those next three things
that don't even exist for them. So if a
friend calls up, right, or if a family
member says, "Hey, yeah, Masleto, my
daughter got engaged,
like it's not that they don't want to,
they cannot." It's so Maslo's theory. I
have some questions on it, but it's a
brilliant theory and it's so it's it's
almost immutable. It it's you. So, so
again, when you're feeling like that,
there's nothing else. So
self-actualization to learn. That's why
I tell people the first thing you have
to do if you have a child that that
that's abandoned
life they have you have to get them
whole you know to ask them to learn to
dav and then if they're broken they're
broken that so if they're not feeling
safe how can they possibly concentrate
it doesn't mean literally they can't do
anything but it's so much more difficult
in fact some research shows that that
it's often it's often confused because
the very often abuse survivors
especially children have symptoms of ADD
where they can't concentrate and they
because that lack of stability and
safety. So right parents overall I think
the most important job of parents is to
give the children those two levels those
provide them with security and see that
they have that the home is relaxed and
happy and and you know all homes have
stress but you know as stress free as
possible and their physical needs then
you can build on that. So that's why you
see them when you see children that just
can't go on there was some sort of
trauma. M now that segus very well.
You're talking about ADHD, ADD. There
are kids who struggle tremendously in
our school system which is very very
much academic based. Um I've heard in
the name of a prominent psychologist
that
20% do phenomenally well in our system.
20% maybe fall out. The bottom 20% and
the other 60% in the middle are chugging
along. Not necessarily comfortable. Some
more some less. some years depending on
the rebio teacher depending maybe on the
limood and so on and so forth there are
so many variables I don't want to uh
paint with a broad brush stroke but
you're we were talking about child abuse
that's physical abuse people violating
their space talk from your experience
about the kids who suffer from the
system abuse of just you know if you
don't learn well in our system right
you're an outcast very quickly it
doesn't take very long for a kid to have
that feeling and I', you know, that I'm
a loser. I've devoted 30 years because I
don't learn Gomorra well. I don't learn
Kamish well. And by the time the child
is in seventh and eighth grade, whether
they're a boy or a girl, they got the
message that, you know what, we we don't
really have room for you. So, I'm
actually in the middle of do I started
doing daily parenting clips um June 1st
of last year. We're we're just almost at
300 clips already. And I do a different
topic every week. It's on it's on
Instagram at bright beginnings forum.
You can get it on WhatsApp. Um
845-5402414. Send a message. Subscribe
comes right back. Um I have I have other
it's on Vimeo. So people who don't who
want fil have filtered internet can get
that also. Uh but over the last five
weeks I've been doing since PES I've
been doing classes specifically on this
helping parents figure things out and I
did a week on personality profiles and a
second week on on learning profiles how
people learn differently and and h and
then it's have thing called called the
answer key giving parents the tools to
try to figure it out the if a child has
a short attention
span learning Gomorrah all day is
is I wouldn't say impossible but it's
it's very difficult. You know I like to
think of it in my yeshiva we in my we we
had hippo rules. I was very strict not
to discuss lead them in the hallway. So
we we had a code among ourselves for 40
40 regular. You know you get a suit. So
some people are 40 regular. That's the
20% you're talking about right? They're
perfect fit. They go into the store,
they take, "Give me the sleeves, cuffs.
See you later." Okay. Some people have
alterations. They need alterations. You
know, that one foot is longer than the
other or whatever it is. And then this
custom. Mhm. You know, that they just
don't fit. That that they the regular
suit that they make uh on the assembly
line is not going to work for them. They
need a custom. That's really what that's
the reality that some children are are
40 regulars and they just go and this is
perfect for them and they love it and
and then you have kids who need
alterations which means modify their
schedule, teach them more visually, do
other things like that and then
unfortunately you have children that
honestly 150 years ago they would have
been working on a farm and would have
been religious people and very happy. So
the expectation, thank God, the
expectation is that all our children go
to school. So I recently heard from
Rabbi Daniel Kush, the wonderful from
Waterberry who somehow has an to see the
good in everyone and he was highlighting
the need to take every child and focus
on what they do well. Yes, some children
won't be doing well academically, but
they may be good at public speaking.
They may be artistic. They may be good
at music. Now, our mainstream yeshiva
system does not have the wherewithal, or
at least not as it's presently
constituted, to really do that. But my
question is, are we putting all our
children into one system knowing that
we're deliberately going to be having a
significant percentage of children who
just will fall out? Can I can I be
brutally honest? Yeah, that's what we're
here for. I I think a lot of it honestly
has to do with parents. I'm not suggest
Look, I'm I'm not suggesting that our
system is is not without flaws,
but many times parents try to get their
children into a school that's not right
for them and the principal comes back
and says, "Your son's not going to make
it here." And and we understand every
parent wants the best school for their
child, but it's not the right size shoe.
So, so they try protect you or any other
way to get into the school and then it
fails. Um, I I actually asked at a Mets
Gadella meeting um right a year or two
after I wrote the first article that was
1996. So, it was an article in the
Jewish observer observer apparent that's
what changed my life. An ounce of
prevention it was called. Um, so I spoke
to the Rashiva. I said maybe the rashiva
could emphasize uh to to to parents that
if they have a child that's not that's
not right for a a top yeshiva or even an
average yeshiva they shouldn't try to
put them
in. He turned to me says we tell them
they don't listen to us. I I kid you
not. He said that's what he said in
frustration. He says we tell them that
they're all nodding their heads, right?
They were all nodding their heads. So I
published actually beginner kish and
beginner gumar workbooks and if you
children aren't making it I I mean we
have over 100 yeshivas already but it
really teaches children skills how to
learn kish how to break down the the
root words the prefix suffix I just
mentioned to you you know
270 270 shares root words is 93% of kish
and we have a a gamarra program really
designed to break it down to give the
children visual aids
Here's a good here's an exercise I would
tell parents to do. You get a you get a
new phone, you get a new appliance. How
do the children or you or if you're
married your wife, how do you best get
that information? So some people just
read the manual and they just need quiet
guys I'm concentrating and other people
will tell the same thing in in the
Bishar is hard. If you look, some people
will just they tell the study partner
just quiet please give me one second and
and they they're textual learners. They
learn best through text. Some people are
auditory learners. They they say you
know Jimmy could you say that again to
me or they'll ask someone to tell them
how to do the but 65% of people are
visual learners. So by making charts and
graphs our our books are full of them.
Um but I mean any parent can do that. We
hope that more and more rebum the rebum
today are getting so much more training
than I did 40 years ago when I started.
But but um if the if the school isn't
providing it I encourage parents to
learn about I'm doing follow my daily
clips. We're talking about this spec
specifically because you can provide
that at home. You can give the children
examples that are from today's
environment. Look, the the Gomorrah
talks about things that happened 2,000
years ago. If I told if I did one of my
clips today and I said, you know, I took
this eight track recorder and I listened
to, you know, you talk about something
40 years ago, the kids look at you like
you're right like you're out of touch,
right? You're out of touch. So, there's
so much that parents I think you brought
up a good point. There's no question
that in our community, people are very
cognizant of their reputation, the
schools their children go to. that
worried about there's no question that
there is a very very strong prevailing
attitude that that falls into that
category. But I I've heard from big
professionals today that more than ever
parents are very open-minded today, more
than they've been before about where
their children where their children
belong. I think many years ago people
were were more narrow-minded. Today
people are opening up. They're they're
becoming more confident in themselves,
right? Not worrying as much what their
neighbor's going to say, but to focus
more on what the child needs.
But it's not that long ago, and we were
smooing about this before our interview.
It's not that long ago that for the boys
really the only place that catered to a
boy, you didn't fit into their system
was Adelfia, Rava, Tratal, and that's
it. And that was it. That was it. And
for the girls, nothing. Even nowadays,
there's there's not enough for the
girls. Correct. And I've spoken to
people and they lamented to me. They
said there's really not enough for girls
who don't fit in the system. Right? So
there seems to be, again, not to, you
know, beat a dead horse, but there seems
to be a greater need to cater to the
children and as our community gets
bigger, the need is only going to get
bigger. And as the world out there,
right, gets more complicated, gets more
complicated. So we're we're fighting a
war on so many different ends. Children
will find children will find what's more
more exciting. Suddenly the garra is not
as exciting as whatever device they
might have been exposed to and and and
the job the mankim have and the parents
have are it's just getting harder and
harder. I know you were talking before
that you
yourself committed and I I I give you
such credit for it because it takes a
certain amount of self-awareness to do
that, but you told me that you did like
market research to learn about social
media and its different facets. Talk
about that. Yeah. So, I just I I've been
I've had the great privilege of working
in parent coaching, mentoring, whatever,
however you call it. I did my first
parenting classes in
1997 in Rabbi Riseman. They made 10
cassette tapes. We sold 100,000 copies.
Um,
so you know, I'm very gratified that
that I was able to do that. But every
year I try for at least a day, a day or
two that I turn my phone off and have a
day of reflection for myself. I'm 62
years old. So, you know, you say before
I hang up my sneakers, what would I like
to do? and what's my what's the best use
of my time and I it's personally it's
very helpful to me to to to go through
this process. It's not always pleasant,
but you know, I think it's an important
it's an important thing to do. And one
of the things that jumped out at me the
last four or five years is that I felt
myself increasingly out of touch with
today's younger parents, the generation
Z parents. I I don't understand them. I
mean, I understand I can talk to them,
but you go on social media and you watch
the interaction on Instagram or or it's
so different than Facebook. Um, and the
the kids today, anyone under 35,
d Facebook, forget it. Um, and they're
leaving Instagram for Tik Tok now. But
the the culture is much shorter
attention spans. Um, there are more
differences that it's beyond the scope
of the conversation, but the power of
influencers is tremendous, right? It's
tremendous. tremendous because because
of the enormous amount of disinformation
in all every facet of life, people get
skeptical and the the Gen Z kids are are
extraordinarily skeptical of anything
that they they see over the internet
because they know that so much of it is
not. So what what practical advice do
you have parents who are watching our
conversation who are listening to you
and they're suddenly feeling out of
touch and they want to be able to
connect to their children but really
more than anything else understand what
their children's challenges are. What
what should they know? That's a
fantastic question. So I'm glad you I'm
glad you raised it. Study it. Study
learn. You know it. Ask your children.
Ask your children instead of, you know,
when parents back in the days when
texting, you know, was was the only
thing that parents were worried about.
You know, I would tell parents that if
you if you if you forward all the
WhatsApp, those corny messages that
people send you. I remember when online
meant you were on a line in the bank.
Haha. And you know everybody's burm
grandmothers are sending it around to
each other and then the parents send it
to the kids and say especially if it's
something internet related and they say
you saw what like you're hanging up a
sign on your forehead I don't understand
you I don't know your life I don't know
anything about you don't talk to me
because I'm clueless so so when you say
like texting nobody talks anymore people
said that about phones probably also but
whatever it is what it is so so of
course parents should supervise
technology use. Um, I have a whole talk
on that. Um, but but it's so important
to know what's going on. I have a whole
class that I give called would your kids
tell you, meaning would your children
tell you if they're getting in trouble?
And I I just released a video on in
relation to child safety. Child safety
is an extremely uncomfortable
conversation. One of the things that the
abusers rely on is that the children
will be uncomfortable talking about what
happened to their parents to themsel to
the parents to anybody right to anyone
to anyone who would talk about
specifically to their parents
specifically. How do how does a parent
practically create that open
relationship with their child so that
the child will divulge if someone ever
violates? Right. So so that's a real
process. I go through it. I I have a
whole class my my um my um I have a
YouTube channel. It's Yakovarowitz. I
did a series of of seven classes called
mentor or supervisor asking parents do
you want to mentor your children or you
want to supervise them? That was the
whole theme. But I did a talk on
technology use and I did a talk
specifically on would your child tell
you and actually brought our married
daughter, our youngest. She's now 26. Um
she actually is the therapist. I brought
her on for Q&A so parents could ask her
questions about what it's like growing
up in a place where you can talk to your
parents. Really? She was great. What
What did she If you could share here,
what was what was the crux of what she
said? No, she spoke about being able to
talk to us. Uhhuh. and that we told her
when we were disappointed and we told
her, but we always told her that we want
to know what's going on. We we we want
you to be comfortable talking to us
about anything. Every child should have
that privilege and we're going to be
disappointed if you do things wrong. Of
course, we will. You can't lie to
children. You can't say, "I won't be
disappointed." You can't stop that. But
we'll be much more upset if you don't
feel comfortable talking to us. And we
actually made a rule with her that she
could tell one of us and not the other.
That we we we told her, you know, mommy
and I don't keep secrets from each
other, but if you want to tell one of us
and you're not comfortable, the other
one should know. Ask us to keep
confidentiality. And we will and we did
until today. Wow. So I mean there's a
number of barriers that it it's it's
logical. You know, I know these are very
very heavy topics and probably every
question I've asked you today would
require its own session, but to segue
from the technology question about being
educated about what our children are
being faced with kind of connected to
that, what have you found over 30 years
is the key to creating a meaningful
connection between children and Yiddish,
between children and Hashem that they
should want to connect, that they should
want to grow that despite everything
going on around them which may be
telling them otherwise they say you know
what this is this is going to bring me
meaning have have happy
homes have happy homes um meaning just a
place where children like to be will
like to be in um again every house has
stress of course um but that the overall
tenor should be happy be flexible don't
don't these are the few things and and
and if a child has a
problem. Look at it like it's it's a
family problem, not their problem. When
when I listen to people, I can I started
saying this five years ago. It sounds a
little weird. I'm telling you, I can
usually tell within the first three to
five minutes if the kid's going to make
it. I kid you not. Based on how the
parents talk about it. Uhhuh. the
parents that come in and they say,
"Look, we're having an issue with our
daughter." And and we we we're having an
issue with our daughter. We'll do
whatever it takes. Do you have any
ideas? And and they're exploring and
they're eager to learn and and they just
feel like they're doing the the daughter
feels the child feels like they're doing
it together. Why do people like the
football coaches? The co if Rabim talked
the way football coaches did, they'll
get fired. It's all about the team. No,
no. I'm saying they yell at the kids.
Why'd you drop the ball? That's what I
meant. No, no. Why'd you drop the ball?
What did you do? They don't say, um,
imagine on I don't mean all coaches. I'm
I'm I'm exaggerating, of course, but you
know, if a kid drops a pass, oh, that
was a beautiful try. Let's say next, you
know, they think they don't mince words.
Kids love their coaches. Why? That's my
This is my own take because
he's next to you. When you celebrate,
you all celebrate together. And and when
you you suffer a defeat, he's throwing
his stuff around just like you are.
You're saying so they could take parents
when parents look at it and they tell,
"Look, sweetheart, we're going to meet
someone tonight. Um, we're going to talk
it over and whatever it takes. We love
you. We'll always love you." And I've
had It's so sad. It's so sad. I'm going
to start crying.
I've had people come in
and thankfully a lower and lower
percentage, but they walk in and say
things like, "My first two kids are so
wonderful." And this one when she's home
and he's home, the whole Shabas table,
everything is wrong. And then when he's
away, it's the whole, you know, and they
just project all the blame. And and I
say to myself, never, this poor child.
And a long time ago, I'm I'm an honest
guy. I do this as a I never took a penny
all the years for for guiding parents.
So I don't belong to an agency. I I can
do what I want. I tell them, are you
willing to change your
attitude? Um are you willing to say that
this is our problem? We're going to do
and if they say no, what is his problem?
I say I'm giving you a referral. Muslim
braha. Mhm. Because I'm won't even work
with them. No, I'm wasting my time. I
don't have enough time as it is. I'd ra
I tell them I tell them just like this.
If you want to change, sit back down.
Okay, it's okay. I And I say it nicely.
I don't say it rudely. I say it nicely.
Look, I love you guys. I want to help
you. But this is not going to work. It
will not work. I guarantee you it's not
going to work. Please turn around. I
said, come back in a week if you want
to. You're welcome to come back, but sit
down and tell us that we're having an
issue with our in our family and we want
to do this together. Rabbi Harowitz,
thank you so much. pleasure pleasure for
what you've done
for for what you've done to protect
children through this book which is
really again it's revolutionary what
it's done and it continues to do and
amazingly despite the passage of time it
still has that universal language that
speaks to children and parents so thank
you for that as well I'm sorry can I can
I go ahead so so again we're starting
right now we're Rabbi Zlato it's an I am
art scroll and bright beginnings we're
doing a partnership And we're offering
the book for for $5
um for $5 a book for more than 100
copies. And the idea is we want to
seed all communities in North America
with books that philanthropists or
regular folks aundred books is
$500. It's two sessions at a
therapist. Um so do what you can to get
the book to your friends. It's we even
offer free shipping. Childsafetybook.org
or
childsafetybook.org. I I I cannot tell
you how helpful this is and how
heartbreaking it is when we have
children come to us that we feel, you
know, simple child safety education
could help. So, please, Rabl, what's
we're doing this because we believe in
the book and we believe that that every
single home should have one. I have a a
videotape from Rabbitson
Kodeski Ki's daughter's daughter. Um,
she said I I should I'll send you the
video. You should put that one. It's
like she says in the Hebrew book, she
says, "Every single Jewish home should
must have this." And she told the story
of her I gave them books. Rabim wrote us
a letter and she wrote us a letter when
we published the Hebrew book. I gave
them a stack of books. She said on the
video that my daughter was in my
granddaughter was in the hallway and her
mother read her a book and she was
saved. Really? It's on it's it's on it's
on my YouTube page. she said the fish
and she so you know get the book educate
your children you don't have to get the
book it's all right you know educate
your children please um it's so helpful
and and when you see when I see when
people when those of us in the field see
what it looks like on the other side
when the children get abused it's just
it's so it's so rewarding to know that
that you're stopping you can stop this
with just a few dollars and a little bit
of time. Please, please get involved.
Every single home should have the book.
Rabbi Harwood Kazak, thank you so much.
Thank you so much for being here. Real
pleasure. Be well.
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