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Money is your values in action - and more - with Wealth Manager Adam Oliver
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With a unique personal journey and a notable career in wealth management, Adam Oliver shares his insight into wealth, spending, values, relationships, time out and more.
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really I just view money as as values
and action what people say is important
to them is one thing what they do who
they give money to um how they earn
their money where they where they choose
to allocate the resources um kind of
defines who you are and in in so many
ways in this life and being a financial
adviser now gives me a seat at the table
for so many people's most important life
[Music]
decisions
so welcome to yet another amazing
podcast another ol mentorship podcast
and before we have our amazing guest
which we'll have today this guy's a
rockstar of rock stars he's young but
like the world's open to this fellow
actually he's a mentor for three people
which is insane as you'll hear so I
wanted to give a little update of what's
going on in the global mentorship world
on a sad note sadly we lost one of our
mentees shaie bakar who was an
incredible young lady full of life and
energy and positivity and sadly she was
murdered and cold blooded by an Arab and
we're going to be doing an initiative to
try to commemorate her memory across our
many Global platforms of mentorship sha
was very into being careful what you say
in positive word power we're going to
try to focus on that with our uh mentors
and our mentees but on the on on the
other side on the flip side things are
going amazing with mentorship so wanted
to kind of share a little secret with
you and that is that we are taking on a
bunch of new initiatives and chapters
and really scaling mentorship in a
beautiful way so we'll be doing some
stuff with our friends out out in the
west coast brand new chapter we'll be
doing some stuff um with some of our um
some of our online programs where we
have incredible programs um we'll be
doing some stuff with college campuses
that we haven't yet been working with so
lots of amazing and incredible stuff um
on the ol mentorship Horizons and um
really nice to share that uh I know one
of our mentees i n her permission just
got engaged this week which is so
awesome and so amazing I know she's
talking to her Mentor a little bit about
wedding tips and you know marriage tips
so mentors are for everything they're
not just for professional advice or
character development necessarily that
could even help you figure out a wedding
and how to make the most of the period
of time between your engagement and your
wedding so lots of good stuff happening
on that end in mentorship as well and
also really exciting to share that we
are hiring uh we just hired another
incredible talent to join our only
mentorship um operations team uh we'll
be introducing her one of these days and
some of you guys may get to meet her as
your mentorship coordinator so we're
growing we're scaling we're thriving
we're hopping and at the same time we're
also taking a deep dive into a lot of
the existing mentorships to make sure
that they're working kind of like the uh
startup mentality here what works we
build on and What needs Improvement uh
we pivot and that's really the way that
you know we're we're experiencing this
incredible Global success so you know
stand board and um here we are really
proud to welcome on board um Adam Oliver
who will be joining us momentarily all
the way from snowy and cold Denver
Colorado actually Adam said that he
would when he joins us he really would
turn around his computer because you
could see this gorgeous 14,000 square
you know snowcapped mountain in the
background but seems like there's a su
glare so he can't share the beauty with
us but hey Adam's a sunshine himself and
uh here he comes so let's uh let's do
this Y and good morning to Adam Oliver
all the way from Snowy Sunny Colorado
does that make
sense that's where we're at here good
morning okay so for those of you that
don't know I met Adam probably about two
years ago uh we sat around and had some
dinner from one of the local uh Denver
uh koser eateries I mean it's not bad
for a guy from the East Coast but not
bad and uh we we chatted mentorship and
like he's been on board in a substantial
way just just to not to like toot his
horn too loudly right away but um Adam
is more than just a mentor he's a super
Mentor he's got like we said multiple
mentees he's kind of like an ambassador
he's pushing mentorship forward and
ahead so I think he's such a great guy
to to you know to interview today and
I'm excited about the the short time
that we spent together so thank you so
much for joining us Adam thanks so
much sure so if you could just take like
two or three minutes max uh to share a
little bit about like where you grew up
a little bit about your educational
Journey uh maybe what you do
professionally where you are in life at
this stage and this age you don't got to
your age just the stage um I'm sure
people we always like knowing a little
bit about who we're talking about before
we actually picked our brain yeah great
and and you know the my my Jewish
journey I think fits in pretty perfectly
to mentorship it's been something that I
was thinking a lot about so I I grew up
actually here in in Colorado um you know
grew up with a conservative background
so I had a bar mitzvah and after that
point really all Jewish connection kind
of faded for my life I didn't get it I
you know I didn't I didn't have this
this deeper sense and so went on you
know went from Colorado actually a
competitive athlete I was a a college
swimmer went to University of Utah and
then from there graduated in the middle
of that's a nice college for like for a
Jewish kid no you know to be to be
totally honest um I think we we see what
we want to see and so being in a place
so dominated by Mormons there was so
much so much good and and so much
potential but I saw the hypocrisy I saw
I'm not one of them you know so this
this whole religion thing was was even
further from my mind to being there um
went went from there I actually lived in
Boston for a few years right out of
school um I got married and everything
was good you know we were this this
power couple you know both had
professional jobs my
my wife at the time you can see where
this is going she um was at Harvard she
she did her her master's degree at
Harvard and um from there it was more
success led to more pay led to more
responsibility and kind of on and on and
on on the cycle um we ended up moving
from from Boston to Minnesota I really
built a career in banking so was helping
you know company a by Company B for $10
million actually worked with one of the
biggest um suppliers of buns to
McDonald's in the in the United States
um of carbs 30$ 30 million Factory to
crank out something like a million buns
a day uh it's an amazing business and as
this was happening me and my my wife at
the time had a lot of disagreements
about how we were going to raise
children of how we were living life
together and It ultimately ended in
divorce um this was a kind of shook my
world you know I was I was 30 years old
um you know when I when I looked at at
her when I looked at so many other
people in my life whether it was my
clients who were these these business
owners I looked at some of my colleagues
they were so successful but I wondered
if there was something more you know if
the success led to this more
responsibility and this kind of being
being trapped in that World um at the
same time they open a Birthright for 28
to 32 year olds so I was living in
Minnesota I was ready to move back home
to Colorado so I up and you know quit my
job I said you know I can find another
banking job in Colorado so I left
Minnesota I went Birthright and then I
spent the next six months traveling
through Europe so kind of living my Gap
year at uh you know in my my early 30s
that's like an early midlife crisis
right that's right you know it it
honestly it was because I I was in
Minnesota I'm starting over I'm
questioning who are my friends you know
what is the purpose of the work that I'm
doing who do I want in my life what how
do I want to design my life and I'd
really never asked these questions I was
kind of on this track you know I'd say
there was school there was Sports there
was career it was all kind of this
linear path and so this was the first
time in my life you know in my my early
theories where I questioned all these
things where I actually thought deeply
about them um it turned out I didn't
find the answer traveling in the beaches
of mikinos I didn't find them in the
Swiss Alps which as Rabbi Lando and I
talked about are slightly less
impressive than those in Colorado oh my
gosh let's not start this now anyways go
ahead and as as part of this journey um
I I ended up doing a 10-day silent
Meditation Retreat in France and in Bo
in French Wine Country and it pulled
from all different areas of of religion
there was Hinduism Sufism they mentioned
something called aidic practice my my
Jewish connection was like that's not
the guys with the curls that must be
something from a thousand years ago
because Jews don't meditate this isn't
part of the the Jewish
practice um so that was that then I I
came back to Colorado and I thought you
know I'm going to leave Banking and I'm
going to get a degree in Psychology and
I'm going to do something in corporate
mindfulness corporate Wellness I want to
help these people who were so successful
in one domain have a deeper appreciation
of what what success and what what kind
of meaning looks like on a deeper level
so I planned a six-month trip to India I
going to go to India I was going to
learn meditation in yoga spend some time
in the beach spend some time in the in
the Himalayas and on the way I stopped
for a week in Israel I wanted to get the
Jewish approach to meditation I felt
like I at least oh that's my it was a
stopover you know you go to you can't
fly from from the US to India direct so
they you know stop over in the middle e
um my week in in spat turned into two
years in yiva I never went to India um
and it was the first time that I had
seen authentic kind of Torah Judaism um
this this depth behind it um and you
know long long story short we can
certainly dig more into this if you'd
like but I realized I didn't have to
make this dramatic career change um that
moving from the the banking side into
now what I do is is Wealth Management
was kind of the perfect harmony of of
all these pieces so I I would say in so
many ways now I'm a professional Mentor
um and and why I say that is because
moving into the personal side of money
really I just view money as as values
and action what people say is important
to them is one thing what they do who
they give money to um how they earn
their money where they where they choose
to allocate the resources um kind of
defines who you are and in in so many
ways in this life and being a financial
adviser now gives me a seat at the table
for so many people's most important life
decisions you you got someone selling a
business someone going through a divorce
you have someone whose parent or or
spouse just died they're sitting there
thinking of how do I make meaning of
this how do
I how do I how do I live my my best life
my most full life we're building a
financial plan but more than anything
we're with him in those moments and so
taking the kind of travel that
experience taking everything everything
that I've learned in in yiva and taking
the Jewish approach um again kind of
coming back to to the start is where I
feel like now now financial planning has
shifted from us being the experts um to
being a a thinking partner so what do
people want to accomplish what's most
important to them um how do they want to
Define this time on life first we start
with that and then we use money as a
tool to help to help create that that's
incredible because I don't know if you
know this but like we've had numbers of
a number of of iterations of of
mentorship and when we first started
even before the two of us met it was
more career focused it was strictly
conversations about like your work
environment how do you Pro get promoted
some of the struggles that you may be
having with your boss etc etc we came to
realize really quickly that most people
most reflective Jewish people that's not
enough how many conversations could you
have about a bad boss or about making
more money they inevitably wanted to
have more you know deeper conversations
and more reflective conversations and
then we all of a sudden realize yeah
let's talk to our mentees let let the
mentors talk to them about profession
because we actually try to match on
commonality but at the same time you
know life is 360 Degrees there's so many
moving pieces you have a mentor who got
so much more than just you know
professional Acumen or just a
perspective on on the work let's talk
about like you said you know who you are
and where you want to go and the money's
a medium your job is I always say this
you know there's life and then there's
making a living making a living isn't
living it's just making a living so that
you could live life but for many people
that's you know something that they they
mix up all the time so I love what
you're saying because on some level even
though you're a financial planner it's
just how do your finances how do you
plan the finances into the rest of your
life correct right and and how do you we
we start every new client we start with
asking them what they want out of this
life we get to have those conversations
which which is so amazing to me because
then then say you know if if the
ultimate goal is to spend time with your
family then we're using that decision to
guide okay whether you sell the business
this year or not whether you buy the new
car um whether you're you're giving more
to charity um all those conversations
fit in and and those decisions I should
say fit in based on ultimately what you
want to get out of this life so we get
to use money as this tool money money
isn't the end goal by any means and we
it's it's fascinating too the number of
people that we work with you know our
industry and certainly what we do
excused towards people who are wealthy
and and can be very very
wealthy most of the time money isn't the
problem
anymore you if you have $10 million you
have $15 million and you know uh uh all
all your basic needs are taken care of
so we get to shift this
conversation um towards how are they
going to make an impact how are they
going to leave a legacy um what do they
ultimately want to do now that kind of
they they've solved for that making a
living piece as you had
mentioned that's so you know I remember
distinct conversation I had with a
fellow who was doing so well in real
estate this is before like the last year
when the interest rates went went
through the ceiling and and he had he
could he was probably 50 and he could
have retired in great luxury for the
rest of his life he owned more than one
home and he owned a tremendous a
tremendous network of of real estate and
I said to him like why you still working
like why are you still working and he
says I'm not satisfied until I build a
real estate Dynasty I want my kids I
want to die and my kids inherit a
dynasty it becomes a real estate Dynasty
and I wish that I could have had him
have a conversation with you because I
think one day he's gonna look himself in
the mirror and be like what what is a
dynasty what does that even mean this is
not like you know you know the ancient
Chinese like there has to be something
more in life than just that he's a good
reflective guy but like in his in his uh
professional life he was so Raaz our
focus on just more and more and more and
never stopping and never you know sounds
like a guy like you could have really
given him some
pause the the other thing that I would
say as well is you know we we kind of
joke in some ways we've become um a math
lesson the dentist and marriage counsel
are all wrapped into one this this
painful conversation about money
memories and and you know on the the
marriage side as well we always like to
have both both spouses in these
conversations because his and her vision
may be very very different you know and
it it becomes more and more important as
you you know there there's um it's it's
very sad to say but there's this growing
gray divorce of of people retire um and
they they don't know each other anymore
they haven't built this this future they
haven't built this Vision together and
and how important family is and and how
important being together it's you know
we um like to say whether it's in in
business or in mentorship I feel like a
lot of times we're we're here not to not
to tell people what to do there there's
nothing I like less than being should on
being told this is what you should
should do but we can hold up the mirror
we can in so many ways like a therapist
be that reflective oh I'm hearing you
I'm hearing one partner say this and the
other partner say that um maybe we
should meet together maybe we should
meet with someone to understand how
you're going to reconcile these
different Futures because if he wants
the dynasty she wants time at home
together you know is there is there
somewhere you can refine each other and
meet in the
middle so clol let's let's segue a
little bit into mentorship if that's
okay if you could share with our with
our community like you have how many how
many mentors have you had so mentees
have you had so far uh three three
amazing are they all Denver based yeah
uhhuh amazing and and you know you know
not my wife always says don't uh don't
dislocate your shoulder patting yourself
on the back but like what what has been
what do you think you've brought to the
table like you know once you're at your
third already obviously you're getting
you're seeing something you're seeing
success you're feeling meaning from it
what what do you feel as a mentor you're
getting out of the
mentorships yeah it's it's really it's
been really interesting to have some
some challenging questions and some some
deeper things um you know that maybe I'm
I'm grappling with as well you know I
had with with one of my mentees this
whole conversation around so he's a um a
a high school track coach among among
other things and he's asked me questions
around um some some of this
conversations that we have where do
I someone comes to me there they're
concerned about there there's mental
health issues things like that I'm not a
mental health professional so how do I
have this conversation with them what
what's appropriate advice to give and
and where is it appropriate for me to to
to kind of refer out how do I have these
conversations and as we're we're
grappling through some of these real
life scenarios I'm I'm thinking in this
conversation right now you know as as a
mentor um how do I learn of how do I
express what I can and where do I say I
don't know where where it's appropriate
you know I think think um um one of the
things that you know when when I
initially think mentorship I think um
you know someone in the in the Jewish
Community naali Horowitz who's who's re
recently you know he he's a financial
adviser um similar business but I you
know I would say he's 20 years older
than me and and certainly on another
plane and then when I think about
spiritual advice or guidance you know
I'm five years into into balua you know
I spent a few years in yiva kind of what
do I know compared to Rabbi landow
compared to by wolf in Colorado compared
to you know the uh great rabbis of of a
generation and so it's it's recognizing
that um we can all be experts in the
place that we are you know so there
there's something really great about
having someone who's one step ahead of
you in in in certain areas of of your
life you know if someone is considering
maybe going to Yeshiva uh it's a whole
different conversation to talk to
someone who was there four years ago
compared to someone who you know
finished their time in Yeshiva 40 years
ago
um yeah I would say that that's uh yeah
yeah I I want I want to try to do
something here so we we pulled a number
of our mentees and we asked them you
know when we do speak have you know
broader conversation with just general
mentors not obviously not their own
Mentor like what are some questions or
things that they would love to have an
insight into so if it's okay I'm gonna
ask you one or two questions and then
kind of jump back to to Adam's Journey
versus just uh versus just these
questions they're not just they're
amazing
so um I'm assuming you're probably in
your this is totally assumption high 30s
is that true that is
37 thank God I was okay here they say
you're never supposed to say do that but
whatever so you got like you know three
plus decades you know under your belt
what do you say right now is your
absolute greatest
success I think it's honestly being open
to the journey um of of going going
through radical change it's it's one of
the big big things that I think so much
about now is change is is there's all
these models of of theories of state of
change and and stages of of change um
you know life was fine in a lot of ways
you know there there was this angst
there was there was this um um challenge
to to wrestle with um you know I say it
was fine it was fine materially you know
I had professional success um and to
radically disrupt you know to to go back
to to change life wholesale to to become
a religious Jew in so many ways to to
get remarried have a family to restart a
career there was a lot of anxiety and a
lot of fear around like how what's it
going to be like to wear a keepa in the
office what's it going to be like to go
back after know being a a lead Banker of
now joining a new profession um
re-entering this and and having all all
these great ideals and hopes but can I
actually do this and and kind of bearing
bearing through that I'd say those
really Challen alling personal struggles
and grappling with with change and and
kind of seeing it's possible to come out
the other side I I would say that's been
the been the highlight thus
far that's amazing because I think most
people they their default is cruise
control let me just keep going the same
way that I was going and let you know
they have the Teslas now that just drive
for you I I don't want to be in the
driver seat let life drive me but then
you don't really own life you know so
yeah change is hard but sometimes you
look in the rear of your mirror and
change is the best thing that ever
happen to you so that's amazing that I
think that's a very valuable lesson I
can't wait to hear you know in a decade
from now what your next you know next
decade's going gonna teach you and maybe
Imam will have that conversation you
never know man um who um who would you
say in your own life has been like if
you've if you if you actually have like
a mentor somebody who you you know when
you look back at in the rearview mirror
of life you're like that's probably a
person that I would call a mentor yeah
so I think when when I think Mentor I I
also think the word role model and and
someone who was such a defining role
model for me so when I was on my my
Jewish journey I was okay I'm a typ a
driven guy you know so spat was great
spat really helped break this Paradigm
for me of what an orthodox Jew was but
it wasn't home you know I needed to be
around I ended up at yiva where that the
head of Yeshiva was a Wall Street Banker
I felt much more much more at home there
um so I went to this this was in the the
harof neighborhood of of Jerusalem when
I was at M Yakov there was a a family
that that we went to where I'm sitting
at a Shabbat meal and it was someone
that I I'd never met before and I'm
seeing him sitting at the end of the
table um he has his son on one knee and
his daughter on the other he's you know
around all this family he's talking
about well first he's he's disrupted his
family he's a CEO of this company and he
moves to Jerusalem um and he's sharing
how this
week's Torah is basically verbatim or I
should say what was in this week's
Harvard Business um Journal Review is
basically verbatim what's what's in the
the the Torah portion so he's a CEO of a
company he's he's there present with his
kids um he he's living this spiritual
life and I think that there's there's so
many so many Role Models out there who
are so incomplete you know I I I've been
been watching um the Last Dance the the
the Netflix documentary by Michael
Jordan I I watch it when I work out and
one of the things I love about Michael
Jordan is how clear he is is he's I'm
not a role model I'm a basketball player
I'm not involved in politics I'm not you
know how you look at my gambling
problems and and some of these things
don't look at me as a role model I never
wanted to be a role model I'm here to
play basketball I'm here to let my
skills show and for me to see someone I
I'd never seen my life this this kind of
complete person and to hear his journey
and the the things that he gave up but
the opportunities that came with it of
of him also becoming religious and and
and and changing his life in in so many
ways um that was the the really the kind
of final turning point of of me being
convinced around this this way of life
of seeing that type of community seeing
that that type of person who just seem
to from the the interactions I had just
embody being a complete
person that's wonderful that's amazing I
think you know one of the one of the
dreams you know there there's something
called did dreaming The Impossible Dream
I don't know if you ever heard of that
acronym you know one of The Impossible
Dream imp that we have in the you know
in the building our mentorship community
is that students should be able to have
a real a window into the life of some of
their mentors we have some incredible
mentors not just that they should get
you know professional guidance or even
just you know guidance about let them
see that this person is what is quote
unquote living the life that they really
and balance oh my gosh you know your
career and especially if you're being
really successful and your family and
just like prioritizing that's something
which is really precious and it's not
common it's really not common yeah
listen I don't know maybe as a financial
Financial Consultant you see this but
like people who have a lot of financial
success don't NE that does not translate
into having success in other areas of
their life at all literally yeah um I
remember you know as a rabbi that I I I
cross path with with a young fellow who
it from the outside it seemed like he
had everything he goodl looking dashing
guy really successful massive home a
fleet of cars you know the summer homes
and everything but as we became closer
to one another and to his credit he was
looking for somebody to really help him
I realized that beneath the shell there
was so much pain and nothing was in
order and to the outside world it seemed
like you know everyone would be like I
wish I was this guy yeah and then just
take a look a drop deeper and You' run
you'd run for the hills or in your case
the mountains right so you know yeah I
think I I'd love it that the the me te
and this is like one of our big form a
long-term relationship go to their home
for Shabbat if they want to have you um
sit down and sit down and see what they
do you know when they come home from a
long day that they don't just you know
veg they they they they spiritually grow
they spend every time trying day trying
to learn or to connect to God Like These
are deeper things than they take your
life to a whole new plane so you might
you seem like the kind of guy that I
wish I had as a mentor I'm just saying
you
know
um what would you tell uh M who's about
to have their first meeting with their
Mentor um and I know one of the
questions that we try to push the
mentors to ask is like what do you want
to gain out of this Mentor but like
I'm I'm kind of like you know turning
the tables now take yourself back you
know what 15 20 years and you have this
opportunity to have a great guy in
Denver who's you um like what would you
tell them like what's the best advice I
could give you to really try to gain
from this mentorship the most that you
can
I think about for for me for me
personally you know may maybe people
have a similar personality to me is is U
to recognize that relationships and that
change takes
time um it's it's easy to to jump in and
and to either jump to conclusions I know
I know that that I've had some
conversations what whether in the
mentorship program or kind of generally
with um some of the the kind of Jewish
Outreach initiatives of people either
it's black and white well I'm either I'm
either going to be uh you know I'm not
not sure check all the boxes or going to
get to this place where I'm you know
wearing a black hat and a rabbi or on
the other side you know any any custom
anything taking on is is kind of scary
here um and recognizing that building a
relationship with someone I I think
it's there's recent recent data around
this I I forget exactly what the number
was but I think it's something like 18
hours or or 20 meetings of with someone
until you really build a friendship you
know and and recognizing that these
things take time um and that certainly
change there there's all these these
stages of of change that we have to go
through that you know you can't skip um
and that it it can be easy to go too
fast or or kind of too slow but just
recognizing that things take time to to
let it happen naturally and and
organically and that building the
connection leads to kind of wherever
it's meant to lead you know so I I would
say that and and having kind of on a
similar vein um going into things
without too much of a set objective you
know because one of the things that I
love about Torah and that I love about
growth similar is that you don't you
don't know where it's going to to end up
we talk about this all the time kind of
you know my last financial
planning um example is um someone wants
to retire with a million dollars so you
you can build a path okay you're going
to save $20,000 a year you're gonna have
compound growth and so then in 20 years
you're going to get there but it turns
out along the way you need to buy a new
car and then you have another baby and
then you get a promotion you get more
pay and then you had a medical expense
so some of this money goes away that we
we we have a general direction that we
want to go but how we get there that the
steps to take are totally undefined
totally
unknowable and being kind of being
patient and letting letting the process
go and and I say that's similar to Torah
and so far as when you get into the tal
mod you start out at one topic and you
bring an example from a totally
different area and it pulls you you
learn something you never thought that
you would learn and then oh and now now
you understand how that relates to the
issue at hand and you it's very very
hard to see the the forest for the trees
when you're when you're in
it amazing I mean that's I think it's
wonderful Insight Cassie you like one
last question you know you're saying
that you're about five years into your
into your quote unquote Jewish journey
in a substantial way
like I think one of the scariest things
on one hand but personally one of the
most amazing things about Judaism is
Shabbat you know personally the fact
that I shut my phone off and I
disconnect from technology for 25 hours
literally is like CPR in my life
literally each once every seven days I
get CPR on the other hand you know you
know looking at it from a different
perspective we're such a connected
society and we never stop and there's
opportunities and just many things that
we really could do on Shabbat that we
don't do like could you talk a a little
bit about somebody who's like I guess it
could say on some level relatively novel
when it comes to this to this topic like
what does shabbat mean with you what
were your trepidations and you know now
as a father and as a husband like you
know does Shabbat have different meaning
than when you were single you could just
just share what's in what's in your mind
and your heart yeah
um that was that was one of the the
biggest things that that struck me um
when I first got to the spot and I I
really for kept Shabbat for the first
time ever when I was there I I never
even even really had attempted Shabbat
or or really had an appreciation more
than lighting candles and maybe you know
eating some food um
I don't know how now to function without
that break in so far as I find it really
takes time um to get into it like I find
now being a being a working guy um I
especially Shabbat is so early in the
winter I'm finishing up meetings and
calls and I have all these things in my
mind and then Shabbat starts and it's
GNA be really really hard to to have
this disconnection but then I find
waking up and you know having this this
time to chase around a two-year-old um
you know spending spending time a as a
family knowing that you can sit with
friends I mean what other time can you
sit and have a 4-Hour meal with with
people um invited into the homes of of
basically strangers um being able to to
go anywhere in the world and and to feel
this connection um I should say Oli when
I was traveling set me up with a a
family in in Paris when when I was
traveling and being able to to
experience that
um this is kind of kind of related to
what you're saying but it left such an
an impact on me I just need to share it
I um when I was traveling and I was in
Rome I went to the great synagogue in
Rome um and underneath it there was a
museum in the museum they were saying no
other people no other people after
losing political Independence which when
the the second temple was destroyed and
Jews have been scattered no other people
in losing political Independence have
kept their identity and kept their
culture other than the Jews
and the thought of over time and over
space everyone doing the same thing that
that that had s you know thinking about
making Kish and and seeing from in in
Rome seeing 500 year old thousand year
old Kish cups and and Hollow boards look
exactly like we what we have at our at
our table now I think that that sense of
connection across the world you know in
such a divided place and such a you know
I'm just as guilty as anyone with these
these devices that that suck Us in and
um pull us in so many different
directions that having having that time
um and and knowing that we're all
together you know whether we're in you
know and in in God forbid and we you're
in Gaza you're you're in Israel You're
um anywhere around the world that we're
all together as a people and we we all
have this time
connected it's amazing that's that's
very meaningful I want to if possible I
just want to want to I want to askas you
with like one last thing you know you've
been involved with mentorship for about
two years if someone's on the fence and
they're not sure if they I don't know if
I need a mentor life's busy do I have
the time why would you tell Mr potential
or Miss potential uh mentee um why it's
a good idea to to jump on board the
mentorship
bandwagon yeah I
think I think there's there's reasons to
have trepidation you know maybe it's
around time maybe it's around feeling
like it's a it's a program where it's
kind of forcing you to to be something
that you don't want to be I mean I find
that all the all the mentors that we
have in Colorado and certainly the as as
we've kind of built the program and and
gone to some of the national
events the the Jewish people unlike any
other people in the world are just there
to help each other and having someone
you know being your thinking partner
helping through whatever things that
you're wrestling with in in life um I I
think that there's such power and such
strength to that and and also creating a
sense of account ability and and
creating a you know belief that there's
more that there's more possible and just
just to have someone to share that with
who's an objective kind of outside
person um I think it's hard in in in
businesses and in um kind of other other
types of mentors or programs really have
that that deep connection there's just
such a caring that that the Jewish
people have for each other such a bond
that um to me it's a it's a small
commitment that as a you know honestly
in so many ways as a as a mentor and a
mentee for me that that's made a
profound
impact that's beautiful that's amazing
this has been such an such a really
refreshing uh conversation feel like we
should have four more because I'm sure
every time we talk I'll hear more but
thank you so much a for coming on today
but even more importantly for the
leadership that you've taken and for the
for mentoring I think that that's huge
it seems like you've told you know you
told me Offline that like your some of
your mes have made very serious strides
in their personal growth and that's
really remarkable and wonderful and I
just want to end with a with a blessing
that you and your family should have
continued success and that the events of
the next few weeks because I understand
that there may be some things coming up
in in your family should um God willing
um go well and uh let let's continue U
meeting so that we can build mentorship
and connect Jewish people in a real
profound way thank you so so much for
your time amen amen thank you as well
merely merely paying back in a small
small way the impact that you know my
that people the Jewish people mentors
have had on me amazing thank you so much
ad it's been a pleasure all the
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BL