Rabbi Steve Burg, CEO of Aish, Live in Studio on JM in the AM

JM we're welcoming some amazing guests into our studio this week. Among them uh Rabbi Steve Berg Berg is the is the head of Ace International. He's held that position for 10 years or so. Would that be accurate? About 10 years. And um has made quite a mark uh from an outsers's point of view. It looks like over the last 10 years he has taken a which had enjoyed a certain measure of success internationally and has grown it exponentially um or exponentially uh am I right about that? We'll find out now. Rabbi Steve Berg, a pleasure to welcome you to JM in the AM. >> Thank you. It's it's an honor to be here uh on this Veterans Day, which you said so eloquently. We thank all our veterans, but uh even better to be here with a with a close friend and a good friend. I appreciate that. And uh I I conjectured live on the air this morning. If I asked her by Berg when was the first time we met, would he be able to answer that question? >> No, absolutely. I mean [laughter] I mean you were you were my teacher in MTA and now I've actually had four boys graduate MTA. So Wow. >> So that dates us a bit. But >> say that again. And each one of the classes that we enjoyed together and I am I am reaching with the assumption that you enjoyed it as much as I did. Uh every class began with a look at what was happening in Israel. Do you recall those days? >> Sure. Abs. Absolutely. I mean I was so inspired I went on I got my masters in the Jewish history and I I mean I have a great love for it today. So >> Wow. And you're giving me all the credit, huh? >> Absolutely. No, it was it was really a great class. It was a great time. you know, being a senior in MTA, uh, is, you know, you're kind of like, I don't know, it's my year to be free. >> Let's say it's difficult to use your time wisely. >> Exactly. So, definitely uh, but I I think you you made a really big impact on myself and a lot of lot of lot of the guys there. >> Well, I appreciate that. I hope I hope in fact I could take 1% credit for whatever you've achieved so far. Um, so look to us and I I talk about the last 10 years and you heard that in my intro. Uh to us a has always been a very important epicenter uh first of all I would say of Jewish life. It is in the heart of the old city of Jerusalem which you know lends itself to incredible uh geographical benefits. But in addition to that it's always been at the epicenter of the Kiru movement, the yeshiva movement uh a place where someone could come and actually in a textual academic way discover their heritage which I think most would argue. I don't know about everybody, but certainly I think most would argue that if you're going to explore our tradition, text and academia is a really important facet of that journey. Agreed. >> Absolutely agreed. That's uh you know, we we believe that every single Jew needs to study Torah because that's their heritage and need to understand need to understand the intellectual intellectual pursuit because if you just have the emotional attachment at some point it's it's going to, you know, cease to exist. I mean, you could see it today with all these um liberal Jews that were basically they were supportive of Israel and then their kids were not supportive of Israel because they had no context to what Israel meant to the Jewish people. And and so our job is to give context 100%. And in the last 10 years, has the and again you're speaking to somebody who's nothing more than an observer of what's happening at a has that academic arena grown tremendously? Like are there more classes? Are there more students? like what's happening with the nuts and bolts of Asian Jerusalem. >> Yeah. So, certainly physically, I mean, our yeshiva, thank God, uh has grown exponentially. We'll just keep using that word uh this morning. But, you know, we had last year over 65,000 people that stopped in to sit with us and actually physically learn with us. We had over a thousand young men through the dorms and we just uh we have a new building on King George right near the CR synagogue with 200 beds for young women. So, on a physical level of studying with us, we've grown tremendously. But perhaps more importantly, since the beginning of the internet, Asia has been online and about 5 years ago, we made the decision to go big time into social media and we do a million video views a day uh with Torah content. And um right now through AI, we're actually going to launch something called HU. We're going to be accredited and our goal is to get it used to be our goal used to be get three million Jews, 20% world Jewish population to study Torah. Our new goal is to get every single Jew to study Torah. Uh, and that's really a post October 7th goal where we've come to realize that in the old days when you would lose a Jew, they would intermarly assimilate. They'd be gone to the people. >> But today, they're actually attacking Israel. Our there are young Jewish kids on campus attacking Israel because they don't know our story. And and I believe that's our fault. I mean, when I say our fault, I mean uh the connected community, and we have to reach every single Jewish young person and uh help them understand the importance of Israel and and the people. >> Rabbi Steve Berg is here. You you caught me off guard there because I thought you were heading in the direction of there are many who've gone into the arena of intermarriage and you know different uh different influences that have seeped into our community etc. But October 7th forced them to reexamine their Judaism and come out but you went the other way and said many of them unfortunately have become actual enemies of the Jewish people and the Jewish state. >> Yeah, we we've seen both. I mean certainly uh we're very thankful. We had gone into social media in a big way the couple years before October 7th. So when October 7th hit, we were ready and um our numbers went through the roof and there were so many Jews just saying, you know, why did did my friend who liked me on October 6th now hates me on October 8th. That was a massive question. A lot of Jews, but there were a lot of Jews that frankly went the other direction and they were embarrassed by Israel and they attacked Israel and and they're still >> and as the war went on, that grew, right? Absolutely. whole genocide thing and and you know it's it's it's very interesting to me to see the election of Mdani where he got 92% of the Muslim vote but yet 35% of the Jews voted for him and and our as our community we don't always understand these these bigger pictures we don't certainly don't understand the role that Sahal plays which you and I appreciate you know without the IDF I mean of course everyone wants the IDF gone because without them they'd be able to finish the job with the Jews and but young people don't understand that and and this fake genocide and all these other things so our goal is really to reach all the Jews that no one else can reach. The more unaffiliated, the more that person is my target. And if I can get them connected Jewish people, you know, Asia is not cradle the grave. I'm happy for them to get involved with the liquid U, you know, Kabad. I I just I want to find that unconnected Jew, show them the beauty, and then let them, you know, continue their own journey. >> Is it possible in this social media world to actually reach every Jew in the world? Like, is that a doable goal? Well, can Amazon reach every single customer? As I always say to people when they ask that question, it's like, you know, literally, >> did you consult with Bezos about this? >> Amazon knows me better than me. You know, the algorithms today are are unbelievable. >> They know whether you're in the US, they know when you're in Israel. >> It is truly scary. It is truly scary. But also with the advent of AI, we use AI big time. Um, we have an AI rabbi on h.com that when you go there, you can ask any question to the AI rabbi >> and you know that they'll answer responsibly. >> Yes, we did a lot of testing. We've been at at the cutting edge of AI and at a certain point if someone is asking the right questions they'll be transferred to a live rabbi but the the first questions are because we get a lot of non-Jews which is which is okay you know want to know more about Judaism we get some young you know yeshiva third grade students that want help with their nabi homework right so we we can only use our rabbis for x amount of resources so we start with AI and then you're you could be transferred to a live rabbi uh and we're using AI to basically you know we have 50 years of curriculum 25 years online to basically create um classes now and to reconstitute all. So we're we're we're using AI literally every single day to do much of what we do. >> You know what I like about the AI rabbi? Never stands too long. I like that about [laughter] doesn't hold up the crowd. >> Oh AI is uh Yeah, >> I got to get somebody to do a whole list of those of things I like about the AI rabbi. [laughter] >> Yeah. You know, he doesn't he doesn't have a problem with kiddish club in there, you know, but we we tested AI. We asked all kinds of crazy questions to try and break it and we finally found what we were comfortable with. >> Wow. Where would Ace be without that component? If if for instance we'd still be in the era of when you and I met and the social media would not have either been created or exploded the way it has. Would it be a a yeshiva in Jerusalem that's attracting people who stopped by the holy city? >> You know, it was always on the cutting edge. If you remember the early 90s, you know, they honored Steven Spielberg at a uh dinner and they had literally, if you can remember, I'm sure you remember this, I'm sure people remember this, they had these satellite trucks outside the dinner and they were blasting it by satellite around the world to South Africa and London. You know, Asia's always been that that cutting edge. And you know, Kirk Douglas, we had the theater that we put in there. Kirk Douglas himself gave the money for it. And >> you know, Asia had the discovery seminar that was on every inch of the planet. So we've never just been a yeshiva. You know I look I believe and I I I feel very strongly about this that the yeshiva seminary is the heart of the institution that if you're in an institution that intellectually wants to teach Jews you must have yeshiva at the heart and it's headed up by uh yuk burkowitz who's one of the great uh to leaders of our generation. Um he by the way made aliyah over 50 years ago has never left Israel since he made aliyah. >> Do you know where he was here in the United States? >> Uh Brooklyn girl in Brooklyn. Yeah. >> Has never left Israel. >> Yeah. and never left Israel. And recently I Rabbi Mayor May we were talking about those who came on board and we were Rabbi May and myself and >> and Rabbi Burkas were sitting there and I I kind of got up the guts because Rabbi May was there and I said you know Brooks maybe you explain to Rab May why you don't leave Israel. Yeah. I always wanted to know but I couldn't ask you know and uh he said it was it was really one of the most unbelievable conversations. He says it's a marriage. He said I love Israel. He said that's what it is. I'm not you know he wasn't giving hala and this and kamar you know. He said that his relationship to Israel, he explained his parents were survivors, you know, it's it's a love affair of him and and and the land of Israel and and he can't bring himself to leave. And I was like, you're my guy. You're my guy. >> Yeah, that's for sure. Um you brought it up, so I'll ask you about it. Um uh the hawk the hawk uh you know, circulated once or if I may was hired by a I don't know if his association with you has officially started or not. Has it begun? >> Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, this week was his first week. >> Oh, really? This is it. Um, and he very experienced in the in the the world of not for profofits or, you know, you can name a few different worlds and he's a a very well-known figure. I think you consider him a rebby of yours in this, right? >> My mentor. Absolutely. >> He is your mentor. Yeah. >> You spent a lot of time in California. >> I was a regional director for West Coast NC for 5 years and my office was next door to the Simall Center and uh by the grace of God he took a liking to me and uh and mentored me. >> All right. So, what's his role going to be at A? So we have a couple of new roles which are very very exciting and having to do with the fact that we're starting HU this accreditation and this this this mega program. So uh Rabbi Daniel Row Rabbi Dr. Dale Ro just submitted his dissertation on the in the philosophy of mathematics dispro disproving atheist. I don't really understand more than that. So you're going to have to speak to him. >> At least you know the title. >> He is he is he is very much like Riley Sachs. He knows the Quran by heart. You know we've had all kind of dialogues at age. He's an amazing brilliant person. >> Where is he from? Is he in Israel? uh he he was from England about a year ago. I heard he's thinking of going to Israel. I raced to to England and said you you need to come to Asia and he's going to become the president of HU. Um we hired Dr. Akiva Kovitz who um was the associate dean of Harvard Law School once upon a time was one of the founders of Ed X um through MIT. He's working. He's gonna be the dean. And Rabbi Mayor May is going to be the executive vice president of this new entity and the greater age who he's just someone who has been in the Louisiana law center for many many many decades. He's been there his whole career. And Rabbi Hire retired and I went to him. I said, "Look, you know, why don't you come have some fun? We got a great location, great guys, great people, great students, you know, why don't uh why don't you come out and uh and help us help us build this thing?" And he said, "Yes." And I was shocked, but he said yes. So you want to conquer the world basically >> the Jewish world, you know, the Jewish world. >> It must be an an incredible fundraising effort to get to launch a program like this. I mean, you you probably need commitments that are gargantuan in order to actually convince people this can work. >> Yeah, we we um when I came on board, you know, after passed away, we had some challenges. I came a couple years after that and I came on board and we were at an $8 million budget in Jerusalem and honestly pretty much bankrupt, three months behind payroll, had a lot of challenges. This year our budget is going to be close to 40 million and so yeah we have a lot of fundraising that we're doing a lot of great partners. We just, like I said, we did this eight-story building for the young women, you know, which is I call it a giant white monument testament to the importance of women's education smack on King George in the middle of us. Um, I I think I think that that the time is now, especially after what we've seen the last two years, anyone that had any doubts that that the fight is is as important as it ever was, you know, I think that now is the time that we got to go get and the more of our Jewish brothers and sisters we can bring back, the more the bigger of an army we're going to have to fight this fight. There are other people, by the way, who've been rumored to be joining your team. Is that something we could discuss publicly or not? >> I'm an open book. I'm I'm curious to hear. >> So, so we've heard David Cutler is moving to Asia. >> David Cutler is moving to Asia. >> Has that happened already? >> Yeah. Well, he's starting December 1st. Uh, in fact, I think he had his last day at the OU. Um, I hired him there. He's a guy I went to high school with. That was a great hire. By the way, I want you to know that um, Hillshine's our COO and David Cutler is coming on board and we were all in your class back in MTA. So, there's something in the water there. But, [laughter] um, David Culler is is coming on board. He's been at NC over 20 years. He built summer programs at a place no one in a million years ever could have conceived. He's absolutely fantastic, phenomenal. Uh, and he's ready for his next challenge. And, and I think for a lot of the folks that have come on board for us, it's it's, you know, they want to support Israel in some way, shape, or form. It doesn't preclude like what they've done is great work until now, but we're really at the heart of things in Israel. >> Future of the Jewish peoples in the state of Israel. >> Absolutely. We are one of the largest I'm a we're an Israeli institution. Uh we are we we operate as Israeli institution. We're very involved governmentally there in a lot of different things. >> That helped your fundraising during the war because we keep getting this impression that so much North American money went to Israel during the war. Did that help you or that was more of an IDF type? Uh it >> it didn't help us. It helped help the Jewish people. You know, in fact, I think for most um nonprofits, it was that fourth quarter where most people do their fundraising and all the money shifted to Israel. And frankly, we were all okay with that. you know, we just, you know, it was what it was and and it was uh super important. >> Hey, it affected us, but we weren't uh we weren't bragging about it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, look, we're the Jewish people. We we always there always needs always things going on. And um the bottom line, look, there is certainly something special in the air. You know, everything that's going on in the world, everything pointing towards Israel. And uh now to me, you know, we're in the ninth inning. You know, this is like how do things close out? How do we make sure that Israel, and frankly, we do a lot of work with Israelis. You know, there are a lot of Israelis that are not connected as well, and then the danger is they do their army service and they leave and don't come back. And that's something that we have to work on. Uh, and we are working on it. >> Boy, oh boy, you must have a lot of partners there because it sounds like you're trying to, you know, help every segment of Israeli society. >> Yeah. Look, yeah, we do. I mean, we know a lot of people. Like I said, we're an Israeli institution. We were, as you may know, we were we ran in the World Science Congress for the first time. A had delegates that were there. >> Uh, so we do play that role. Uh I meet with Knesset members all the time. I just remember with a Knesset member who's absolutely phenomenal. He told me he said, "We have to make sure Israelis know that God is real." I'm like, "Oh my god, you sound like Noah." You know, and we're going to partner with him to to do similar things. And uh look, the Jewish people, the one thing I've come to realize is and and this is is very meaningful for me is that u Israel doesn't work without Torah and Torah doesn't work without Israel. And without one without those two pieces, it actually doesn't work. And I think both sides wherever they find themselves need to come closer. Danny Denon is a terrific guy, terrific friend. Uh every year he brings uh ambassadors to Israel, your ambassadors and we host him at age. You know, we give him lunch or dinner. We have cocktails on the roof. And one time he came and he said to me, he said, uh uh we were talking. I said, "Danny, I saw that you just brought a Tanak." He brought a Tanakh to the um security council. Was like waving it around. I said, "Danny, I was like I was blown away by that." So, first he joked that his friends in Israel call him now Rabbi Danny. That was the first thing he said. But the second thing he said to me was he says, "Rabbi Berg, you know, without Tanak, none of this works." And he's right. None of it works. And so we've seen, especially here in America, as people tried to be Zionist without being religious or without connecting to Torah, uh, it didn't make the second generation just the opposite. Second, third generation has been going up against our people. So we, it doesn't work. We've got to have Torah. We've got to have Israel. And all sides need to come together so we can see how this thing ends. >> All right. Steve Berg is here. H International, what is it? H.org. Where do people get information? H.com rather, excuse me. Uh they could see videos, they could donate to your cause. I'm sure they could read up on the new HU, etc., etc. It's all there. >> Yeah. >> Uh and if they want to speak to the AI rabbi, they could do that as well. And make sure to get a uh a quality answer. You've guaranteed that. Now, at what point, because look, Asia has been well known for decades in terms of their yeshiva for men, etc. But at one point you actually opened up a seminary for women. I assume that was your innovation, right? >> Uh was Rev. Burkwitz wanted us to head in that direction. >> Oh, interesting. >> Basically, >> and he felt that without the women's piece, it's it's it's hard to lay the foundation that you described earlier. >> Yeah, absolutely. Look, the vision of of who and what we are is Robert is the Russ. We very much defer to him, you know, on the vision. What I like to tell people is that vision without implementation is delusion, right? So you can have great vision. We also great dreaming. >> Yeah. You got to you could you should dream but at some point you got to figure out how to make your dreams happen. So Roberto said we got to get three million juice to great. Hang on Roberas. We went to social media in a big way. Uh so Roberus is always pushing us to to go to go out there and he said we need to have a place for young women >> and the young women seminary has existed for how long now? >> Uh now just over three years under the leadership of three and a half years. Uh Rabbi David Rossman oversees everything and Mik Mrs. Mik Dubov um is the person that uh that runs it hands-on there. >> And has it been popular? Is it sold out or >> very very very we have two programs. One's a post high school program which we had over 500 applications originally for 50 spots. Now that we have more beds, we're going to go to 70. Uh and then we have Bali Chuva. And it the great dynamic in the seminary is that post high school monthox young men and young women could be exposed to Bali Chuva, you know, who opted in and that's very inspiring. Uh, and the flip side is that for a lot of the monorox um, young men, young women, they're the army. They go out there and I'll tell you that our number one recruiter today, our number one recruiter to the seminary are the it's called EFG, urban family gesture. The monoorth students that go back to university recruit uh, these unaffiliated Jews to go study at a >> Is that the gesture we know or is it that's Yeah, it's called we call EFG at Gisher. Yeah, that's the gesture. They go back. I told a good friend of mine uh years ago, you know, his son wanted to go and we were starting to get popular and he's like, "What's going on here?" I said, "Look, you could totally send him, but you just need to understand that he's going to want to save the world." And that's just that's in the, you know, it's in the the the DNA >> the DNA Roberitz and they'll get up every day and say, "You got to go save the Jewish world." And that's that's how that's how we roll. There are a lot of crazy stories that we hear about Aish, you know, the guy with the knapsack who shows up in yeshiva and 10 minutes later he's, you know, committed to studying Torah every day for the rest of his life. You know, anything and and by the way, these stories don't only happen with Americans, right? You meet people from all there many countries where someone will drift in from, I don't know, France, Belgium, Asia, etc. And so, has something happened recently of I know I'm putting you on the spot, but have you have you met somebody and you said to yourself, I cannot believe this story? One of my one of my favorite stories was I was there for SEO and when I'm there SOTO I have a lot of our partners I have um lunch and dinner all the meals with them and then we always bring students and I I like listening to the students and you know one of the students was uh was just uh telling us that um you know they came they were totally secular not connected and what happened was they said they traced it back a bunch to a great-grandfather a great great-grandfather where one became secular one became religious and so they had this whole religious side of the family and he was the secular Right. >> And he was trying to figure out he was a cohane because of his last name and no one knew in his entire secular side and he was goog he somehow found an old obituary in the New York Times that really should have been in there. No one knows why it was in there and that connected some make a long story short he's got hundreds of relatives in Israel. He is a Cohen and he literally they've like adopted him every shabas he's going to another family member but it goes back to these two brothers and that's where it makes you want to cry because you know one brother became secular and lost his entire family except for this one young man and the other side has hundreds and hundreds of beautiful Jews and and that's that's very very common >> and he is now entrenched in Israeli society >> he's entrenched and yeah a lot of our baluva do make aliyah it's it's actually very >> I would imagine so they fall in love with the land I mean that's The land is often what brought them to you to begin with, right? They go to Jerusalem and they're like, "Wow, I just feel something I've never felt before." >> They'll go to Berlin. >> So, you have a big advantage. This is this is the difference between you and Waterberry, you know. >> Totally true. Totally true. >> You win the geography war. >> Yeah. You know, you stand and you look at the co, you're like, but but I tell you some of them, we have a young man, tattoos, long hair, the whole deal. He came for the other side. like he told me his story of being but with like the people that are not pro-Israel, you know, and then like crossing over, you know, and like meeting the soul like and make a long story short, he now married a young woman whose father gives a kabur in the mirror and you know like it these stories are unbel they're absolutely happening constantly. We also have by the way just parathetically we have the largest Spanish uh baltur program in Israel. It just opened up a base mandarish in Pario safe and we have hundreds of young uh men >> coming from which countries? >> Uh Mexico, Buenoseres, Santiago, you know, all the different Latin American country. We're very big in social media in SP. We in Spanish in Latin America. The largest >> who leads that for you? >> Uh folks that know Spanish, >> the ones you met in Washington Heights in the old days. I mean, >> exactly. [laughter] Yeah. hlatino.com is is the largest Spanish-sp speakaking um and by the way it works in Miami also you know for a lot of our brothers and sisters um >> and you have plenty of uh people fluent in many languages who can take on these tasks >> well many languages and I'll take it a step further with AI you can now service any language and that's really been very helpful to us because we've always our specialty is actually Hebrew English uh for French for a while we were in Russian but we've kind of pulled back from that there are other people that do that but today because of AI. All of our stuff could be available in any language that a person wants and and then we're that's why we're spending so much time in understanding AI and we're >> and I'd be shocked at which country checking in so often at h.com is is it Korea and Japan like oh >> those are the ones right that are always surprising to everybody. My favorite moment was we had a rabbi that actually grew up and majored in chi in Chinese and spent years teaching in China and he wound up on one of these journeys came back and and then we had Forbes had these like really wealthy Chinese businessmen that came and they wanted North you know the South Koreans and they like Kamar they came and I'll never forget this he had like a big black yamag had his out and he's giving a shir in Mandarin to these to these Chinese folks. So we have another rabbi speaks Japanese. You know, it's really, you know, you could any day you walk into Asia, you'll be like, "What the heck is going on there?" [laughter] Yeah. >> You had many media appearances on major networks and so I mean during these two years because they were turning to you for comments any of them of note? Like was there one appearance where you were just I don't know either describing what was going on with the IDF or speaking specifically about what Israel was going through that you remember that comes to the forefront when I ask. I mean, all of them were so important. Um, getting on there trying to explain to people, you know, it just it's almost like >> Was the genocide argument the most frustrating one? >> For sure. It's the most frustrating because it's totally ridiculous. It's not based on anything and and you know, just the attacks on Apac and all the other things. We're all kind of defending ourselves constantly. I I'll be honest with you, I this might be controversial. I actually think we may be getting to the point where Israel should stop taking aid from America. I agree with just they don't need it as much anymore. And frankly, what people don't understand is that America benefits more than Israel because of the milit. The entire world wants to understand what Israel did in the last two years militarily to be able to understand it. You know, this embargo on Israeli weapons will last about 30 seconds because they all want them. And um yeah, I I I feel very blessed to have been in a lot of these places, you know, very very feel very blessed to have Shabas Kenbal who is an AC alum, you know, and and I've seen Yeah, he was one of our candidates, World Science Congress. studied a for three years you know um he's very much you know if you speak to him no played a big role in his advocacy and so many of our our students you know are out there are kind of fighting this fight so I I felt blessed that I was able to represent Israel stand tall for Israel but I think um you know there's so many but we all have to do it every single person >> amazing uh Herbai Berg uh how often are you in the United States >> uh I'm here often >> to pick up Amazon packages Yeah, you know, I'm I'm I'm back and forth all the time. I'm I'm back and forth at least once or twice a month, you know, uh depending on what's going on here, what's going on there. Uh it's been a long 10 years. Uh but you know, I I I joke with, you know, Dillinger, they said, you know, you know, why do you rob banks? Because that's where where the money is. So I go where the Jews are, you know. [laughter] Um >> and the travel is still something you can deal with because I've hit an age where it's not nearly as easy as it used to be. >> It definitely Yeah, definitely. I can't say 10 years later. I feel exactly like I did 10 years ago. But, you know, I you know, I go I go, like I said, where I think it's important. I went to I went to uh to Ukraine to visit uh with one of the rabbis in the community. This is like two years ago in the middle of war and stuff. So, you know, that was the only one I got in a little bit of trouble from my wife. She was less than thrilled. And I had to drive eight hours from Muldova. And you know, people are like, "Why are you going?" I'm like, "Why? I write my weekly email." And you know, but but to be honest, you know, the the the rabbi came to my office and I'm like, "Is there anything I could do?" He's like, "Well, we really we need," you know, he's like, "A couple of people, you know, some this one now people have come like, so why don't you come?" I said, "You know, okay, look, if you need." So, I I went for Shabas. I went there and then I I turned him. This is great. I said, "Uh, how did it work out with all those other people that came?" He's like, "Oh, they all canceled." I'm like, "You didn't think to tell that to me, [laughter] you know, before I But, you know, look, it it's the end of the day is the Jewish people. Um, I say this all the time. You know, one of the issues that people have with us is they don't know what to do with us. You know, we're not a nation. We're not just a religion. We're certainly not just a race. We come in so many different colors. But at the end of the day, we're family. And a person you need family is always there for family, you know, and and as I said, you know, two years ago when I was kept coming back to the states, these rails are saying are, you know, the folks in the states are they, you know, paying attention to what's going on here? And sure enough, you know, we sent 5 billion duffel bags, you know, to to remind them and money, eti. So I think that that's a very special and important piece that you know the only way you remain family is if you worry a you worry about each other and b you show up. >> Yes was on last week. So I said to him you know especially Kaisar is coming up and in general always has news if you know what I mean and I said to him how's everybody doing the security concerns I know you could they're expanding the community say that means you need more uh finances in order to put in all the apparatus that's required etc etc. He goes, "We're doing fine here. We're worried about you guys." You know, >> it's [laughter] uh it's really true. It's really true. And I I'll just say this. I find mom Donnie to be evil. I think it's it's huge problem. I think uh he's doing the double speak that we've seen all around the world on college campus where, you know, you you go on and you ask me about TV appearances. >> Folks go on there and they'll say one thing and they're saying something else. It used to be we used to say all the time, you know, watch what they say in Arabic, not in English. And and you're seeing that a lot except now everyone's speaking English, but they're they're speaking two different languages. So, you know, we're going to have to, you know, fight the good fight and that's it. We're not going anywhere. God's God's got our back. >> Well, I think it was Bill Maher who said that the Mam Dani has to convince everybody that he's young, that he's progressive, and um what was the third thing? Young, progressive, and uh and um uh and um and and a socialist. And Mar said that's exactly the opposite of how Obama ran. He was trying to convince somebody he wasn't too young, he wasn't as socialist, and he wasn't uh whatever the third thing was. So yeah, it's a different era now. >> It's a different era. They could be much much more open. You know, Nick Fuentes, I mean, this is is unbelievable. Going to Tucker Carlson, you know, and I I spoke recently about that in media and, you know, just the fact that he can do that. This is a guy that's like a straight up, you know, Hitler worshipping Nazi. There's not even a stigma of Hitler anymore. I mean, that's how that's how far we've fallen. So, it's it's going to be a difficult run. >> Yeah. All right. I hear you. Boy, is this >> And on a positive note, >> well, it's a comp it's a complicated [laughter] topic in my opinion because I do believe that a lot of members of the media of our faith and a lot of members of government of our faith have handled that whole situation poorly. So, it's some somewhat his fault and I'll use that with a small H, not specifically him. Um, but it's also to a degree our fault. We we also need to know how to navigate things and do so responsibly. >> Absolutely. though it it's a look, you know, having just been at the World's Congress, uh, you know, that talk about responsibly, you know, like >> you're happy with the way that ended. >> You know, it was we're not sure. No one really knows. >> No one knows how it ended. And someone said to me about a week ago that in two weeks it'll be resolved. I don't know if that's true, is it? >> It will be resolved and everything will move forward, but it was it was disheartening, I think, for a lot of people that were involved. I've been involved a long time, and I have very low expectations when I when I work in in general, >> any governing organization. >> Yeah. And uh, but it was it was it was hard. a lot of people were there and and and the process it's parliamentary. Americans don't really follow and understand it. I'm not even sure the Israelis do. But um look, at the end of the day, you know, it's a mess, but it's our mess. And so, you know, I said to what my delegates were like, "What are we doing here if like this this, you know, I said, honestly, we have to be in the room. They have to see us in the room." And I'm a really big proponent of that. We have to be in every room. >> No, but I like how you say it's our mess because it really it doesn't in any way affect others. It doesn't affect anybody from other countries or you know nobody's concerned with what we're doing might affect them in a negative way and that's something I think we need to be more concerned about. >> Absolutely. And and like I tell people people will be like you know like oh I'm like do you ever read you know the book of kings say for me you know we have been a mess for a lot of years but ironically as we know when we get attacked from the outside that's when we come together and that's what we have to be really really focused on. You know it's the yum kipper before October 7 people were fighting in the streets of Tel Aviv and then >> on Yum Kipper itself >> on Yum Kipper itself and then you know this came and Hashem said look you got to get each other's back now >> was here yesterday so he mentioned that about the kipper services and I mean just reminded us about what was going on at that time >> I I went to I chaired the last world congress I chaired the resolutions this massive thing they asked me to chair it I get up there screaming and yelling the entire time you know because it was over judicial yeah it was over the judicial stuff and >> even 10 even 5 years ago. >> Well, there wasn't 5 years ago. There's one in between because 5 years ago was co so they couldn't have one. They did one in between and and I I shared that one and that became a focal point. >> It became Yeah, it was the focal point and it wasn't it was just screaming and yelling and that that thing bothers me more than anything. It's just this inability to sit down and have conversations because Ronald Reagan said once and this is a quote I have hanging in my office. Uh he said that the person I agree with 80% of the time is not 20% my enemy. >> Right? He told that to his, you know, his handlers about another politician, you know, and he's right, you know, we we agree on so many things that we have to kind of figure out how to focus on that and not get caught up on on the small piece p pieces. >> What a pleasure having you here today. >> Always a pleasure to be on. I'm such an honor to be here. Thank you so much. >> Uh Rabbi Steve Bergish.com for information about everything we've spoken about. >> Absolutely >> simple as that. >> Say hi to the AI rabbi. >> Yes. AI rabbi. See Steve See if you could stump the AI rabbi. Oh, you have no We send it to everyone in the world. You I'll hear See, here's my cell phone number. 646830872. WhatsApp me, you know, take a picture of it. If you could stump him, I'll put that challenge out there. We want to hear it. >> You know, my father uh who was, as you know, a very prominent rabbi of a very large congregation for many decades. So, he would joke as follows. He had a session in between. I think it was only on Yantiff usually was shab. So on he had a session called ask the rabbi. You could ask whatever you want. So he used to say that the that the youth the kids in the sh called it stump the rabbi like you know let's try to come up with a question of stump. So I said to my father were you ever stumped and he said I was stumped once and I'm like wow you know this is going to be dramatic right what what were the circumstances? He said, "Someone once asked me why Shabus morning I sit on the Beimma and Shabas min sit with the regular crowd." >> That was that was the only the only question that was the only question that stopped me. [laughter] So it's funny whenever I walk into a shashab I see the rabbis, you know, sitting with the regular. It's the first thing I think of like you know. >> That's so funny. >> So there you go. So maybe the AI rabbi will be stumped by a similar query. >> Oh, totally. Have at it. Have at it. >> Thank you, Robert B. Thank you so much. >> H.com everybody. H.com. Berg is of course the head of Asian international visiting us on a Tuesday morning here at JM in the AM