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OU Live 25 March
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TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE: Rabbi Steve Weil Delivering us: how to run the perfect seder Senior Managing Director of the OU Rabbi Dovid Jenkins Kashrus on the front lines: tales from the field Kashrut Rabbinic Coordinator at OU Kosher Sara Fuerst and Ava Hamburger Taking care of the service members who take care of us. Kosher Troops, Founders
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
whoo oh you live my name is Rabbi David
Pardo you're on with us it's good to
have you back something I wanted to ask
you we it's just been amazing watching
the kind of programming and content
that's coming out I was speaking with
someone recently who had to leave a
local seam in order to attend a national
serum and of course never never leaving
the comfort of her armchair so I wanted
to ask you we have a at the oh you have
a daily to hilum phone call every day at
1:00 p.m. seven seven three three seven
seven nine eleven seven oh the numbers
on the front page of the oh you people
have been calling in showcasing a
different rabbi from the oh you network
of shools
and incredible reception so first I want
to let you guys know about that every
day 1 p.m. it's a talent phone call and
I also want to hear from you what sort
of programs or activities national local
have come out in the past week or two in
response to the Cova crisis that you've
found really inspiring meaningful that
really keep you in it in it to win it
drop us an email oh you live at OU you
org or you can drop it in the comments
down below if you're watching on the
website if you're watching on facebook
or if you're watching on YouTube would
love to hear from you and even if it
makes sense maybe to showcase the
program or the person running the
program in the meantime we have a great
lineup for you tonight in a little bit
we're gonna hear from Rabbi David
Jenkins
oh you kosher about what really goes on
in the front lines and from the founder
of a group called kosher troops
servicing the service members who are
taking care of us abroad in the mean
time it's my distinct pleasure to
introduce rabbi Steve while I while is
the senior managing director of the O
you he was also the rabbi for almost as
long as I can remember
I'm Beth Jacob in Los Angeles and he's
on to share with us a little bit about
upcoming rama well hi good evening how
are you rabbi Pardo I'm good how are you
doing it's good to be with you first of
all we want to wish everyone stay safe
stay healthy and please God we're gonna
make it through this together really one
of us everyone a meaningful Rush kodesh
a meaningful pest ox
and with rabbi Pardo I remember the good
old days of Beverly Hills it's an honor
to be with you we're not in Beverly
Hills but we're yeah you know wherever
we are we're basically in in our
basements or in our living rooms the
views more or less the same
so rabbi while in addition to in
addition to all of the incredible work
you do for Theo you you I imagine have
run
how many pays off star and have you run
yeah we each year in the hotel this are
actually probably the first year in
about 17 years that I'm not serving as a
scholar in residence for a peso program
but we get the honor I lost for them in
the honor of having a public Seder where
we really bring people of all different
types of backgrounds together and try to
get everyone involved so it's something
that's on my mind and I'm sure a lot of
other people there are an unbelievable
amount of people who are running saram
for the first time either because
they've been going to programs for a
long time or even if not they've been
going to their parents they've been
going to aunts uncles and this is the
first time they're at home and they're
running starting by themselves and I you
know hopefully this is a it'd be a good
thing if we're all freaking out cuz
means were or paying attention so my
first question is what do you do before
the Seder what are you doing in the
weeks the days leading up to the Seder
to get yourself ready and how do you
prepare for it great question um I would
say this instead of giving an avi comon
present assuming you have people at the
seder that are under the age of 18 it's
not true that everyone here has that I
would paper question the whole point is
it should be a night of curiosity a
night of stimulation
give an IV : presently this year we're
not giving it out the becoming president
oh man each time now why is this you're
different than all of the years besides
coronavirus the reason is because we're
gonna get you to think and say we paper
questions and you can keep your own
tally that's what I would do with the
kids now in terms of preparing for it
look at the text the key is the text the
text is such a rich juicy text I'm not
saying this because I was involved I had
the great honor of working with Robin
Kanak and we published something called
an exalted evening
it's the rabbi salad a Czech Haggadah in
exalted evening you can get it many
places I would normally say get it from
the O you but unfortunately our shipping
group is not there you can get it on
Amazon the reason it's very significant
is because it's an analysis of the text
in the text is so rich okay but ask the
questions is if you were reading it for
the first time I'll give you a very
simple example why is it if you and I
were making the Seder what would be our
text because if I asked a hundred people
out there pretending you've never been
to a seder before what would you tell me
would be the text of the Haggadah the
first church first twelve chapters of
Exodus right most the a rainbow that's
the story how come we don't have that
how come the text of the Haggadah is for
little sukham four verses which are the
story of a Jewish farmer bringing his
first fruits to the base of English the
first fruits to the temple after he
treks up the mountains to Jerusalem he
makes his declaration why did the rabbis
choose that and what does that tell you
about the Seder but there there are
fifty questions that we could ask that
are just you know crucial questions and
just open up literally gold mines in the
seder and that's what in preparation if
you don't have an exalted evening
whatever Haggadah you have look at the
text and write down your questions and
then see what the great commentaries say
so you know I have a practice every year
I get a new one gotta that's my my
presence of myself so probably the
biggest section just keeps growing thank
God but how do you how do you keep
yourself from falling to the trap
of I sing abort or meaning everyone
around the table just saying abort cuz
voids are like very no grades but
they're their package their cans the the
free-flowing experience I feel so
elusive where you're asking questions
are people and people are really
thinking about them and giving genuine
answers how do you get there it all
starts with the questions even if you
don't have the answer to the question
it's a question that's stimulating
chances are if it bothers you nodes it's
it goes to the jugular of the text it's
gonna bother others and by the way you
see some people they pay for answers I
personally pay for questions but if it's
a good question it'll usually spur on
very good dialogue and again I can't
tell you which I goddess to use I'm
pushing the reason I push her by solid a
check I got an exalted evening is
because he's not you know in left field
he's dealing with the essential
principles that define what the seder is
and he's asking and wrestling with the
questions that we should all be asking
that's why I'm pushing that how do you
how do you balance different age groups
meaning the kind of state are you're
doing for a five-year-old and the Seder
you're doing for an eighteen year old
very different so sometimes you get the
you get you have one or the other what
happens when they're both there right
now you lay it out at the beginning of
the Seder say look when you get to the
arbor Bunny the four types of learners
remember you know what's the difference
between the Russia and the Hakka so
intellectually they're both they have
they both have the same capabilities the
tragedy of the Russia's that emotionally
is challenged emotionally and he's
crippled in and you have of course the
time and by the way the time or that the
Rambam refers to as a tea fish it's not
just a kid who thinks in concrete
tangible terms tom is also there many
adults we all have adults at our table
that do not think conceptually they
don't think analytically they think in
very tangible concrete terms so they're
nodes so the Seder is really a
multi-tiered Seder some people are
visual learners some people are aural
learners some people you know are
dramatic some people are more abstract
and cerebral
and that's reflected and I think you
have to lay that out when you get to the
four sons as to what kind of a satyr
we're having it's a multi-tiered Seder
with different layers one thing I just
if I could add it's not crucial to have
to cover everything at the seder meaning
saves certain ideas you may throw out
the question of the seder but use that
as a conversation at lunch the next day
or use it as a conversation we got a
three-day holiday right a three-day
holiday there's a lot to talk about at
lunch you don't want to have to
necessarily use everything at the Seder
and by the way what I also would do is
use the Seder is a paradigm as a model
for every Shabbat meal for every young
12 meal meaning what that we're throwing
out serious questions and we're
wrestling with them you know in in or
we're looking at text that's another
thing that we do is Jews do let's look
at the text and what is the text telling
us you know through an it through it
being linear and analytical approaching
the text that's very beautiful there's a
lot to think about bayad the idea of
doing this average survive makes all the
sense in the world something works but
they give an example please
I'm not saying to do this but let's say
for argument's sake we look at every
line of Dioner why each line in Diane
knew that in itself would be a reason
for us to express our gratitude to God
that would suffice so some of the lines
that unity say is that really is that
something so profoundly grateful for
some of them are very difficult and work
on the answers by the way the
commentaries do that Masada ref Cooke
has this commentary of many of the great
rezoning in many of the earlier onin
there are others that and you know what
save some of those lines for lunch or
fur that say the the dinner for sued
Ashley sheet whatever it might be are
following yeah walk around the block
exactly in something else we say howl
multiple times throughout the year
besides the twenty one times that cuz
I'll Institute we say it so many times
so take some of the great explanations
that you see in the commentaries you
have in your house - Tehillim weather
théo that the the the art scroll has a
beautiful did a beautiful job right now
on antenna the Ruben is in the Milstein
is the VMI thrown in Rubens to be ever
shown you but there's to hell them there
are many other great commentaries on to
helium and you know what use that and
you use some of the questions that you
would raise for holo people are tired at
that point the Seder you may want to do
more singing but you can come back to
them throughout the holiday striking and
and and helpful ideas rather well thank
you so much for coming along and sharing
those ideas with us yeah really -
everyone stay healthy look after your
families it you know we just say this is
difficult as this time is economically
for all of us it's profoundly difficult
and many people are going to be losing
their jobs but in the midst of all of
that we have time that we can in quality
time with our family with our God for
serious meaningful prayer in quality
time to read the kind of books or read
the kind of spa room that we just never
took the time to read it's a tan it's a
chance to grow as a human being it's a
tremendous opportunity and it's a time
for reflection robic Pardo thank you so
much and for allowing me to be on your
show thanks for joining us and thanks
for the advice you know we'll be looking
back at these at these days these weeks
and maybe these months and maybe even
missing them thanks for coming along
awhile I can't wait to talk to you next
they say you are on oh you live my name
is Robert David Pardo we have a great
program coming up for you in a little
bit we're going to meet the found one of
the founders of Cota troops and a
chaplain in the US Army I asked before
I'll ask again if there's a program
something that you're involved in if
it's a shear if it's a national thing if
it's a call-in if it's something that
you're doing on a daily basis run by an
organization and run by a friend if it's
a Facebook group I'd love to hear what's
keeping you excited what's keeping you
interested you can email us so you live
at OU you or you can drop in the
comments and it could be a great
opportunity to promote them in the
meantime
very excited to introduce a friend of
mine or have ID of a Jenkins of a double
Jenkins is the kashrut
I've been a coordinator at oh you kosher
Annie's right there there we go
Banzai hello there
Riley Jenkins what what's uh what do you
got there in the background well I have
a fish tank
in case we get hungry
[Laughter]
some people buy sushi we grow our own
sushi and if you're in Brooklyn ain't
that's the trendy way to go of course of
course
so Ronnie Jenkins you know sorry is it
would you say it's a busy time around
the oh you now well it's a very busy
time and especially now with the
situation they were all in they were all
working remotely and it's you know it's
a tough time it's a tough time for all
of us but now when you hear pace us two
weeks away it makes it that much more of
a interesting time
yes I'm wondering it how is the as the
current economic situation but not just
economic keep talking like supply chains
talking about mass movement of massive
quantities of food how is that affecting
the coach purpose of product lines well
at this point a core I know that real by
connect and rail the elephant we're
making sure and we're talking to
whatever manufactures especially arc are
kosher vendors there is according to
them more than enough food for Passover
for everybody to have and unfortunately
with a lot of the Pesach programs
closing down also there might even be a
little bit more than it so there is more
than enough for anything you have to go
out lack of pressing is gonna we're
gonna have
plenty of food people don't have to go
out then you know in and be scared that
they're not gonna find food a week later
there is more than enough you know
though I can't say in all the
out-of-town places I don't know about
all the out-of-town place I do know the
New York area
there's more than enough and I'm sure in
the other cities too there's you know
more than enough food for everybody to
be able to have and you know the
question is when it comes to certain
places around the country
you know they order for a certain amount
you know in the chicken and the supply
chain supply chain the question is you
have people already in certain areas
already overbought what was going into
the supply chain so that I don't know
but I know in the tri-state area there's
more than enough food for people to get
in all of our stores that's that's a
relieving Muse I'm sure for a lot of
people certainly for my wife so my
questions here is you know I see you on
a somewhat regular basis but what what
is your role in in the oh you kosher
world
well I'm what's called a rabbinical
coordinator there is more than 50 of us
in the office we've all deal a lot of
the our my my fellow friends deal with
different parts of the industry that
they've become very accustomed to
dealing with experts in the field
different things you'll have people in
our office from the Rabbinical quarters
will deal with bakeries can the flavors
more industrial ingredients we have
somebody rabbi singer who deals just
with Passover the whole year that's a
job dealing with Passover because
Passover runs are basically going on
basically the whole year at the only
time they're not doing a PS over run
usually is during Passover but usually
the rest of the time of the year you
know in the supply tray chain the supply
chain thank you they're basically
manufacturing all the time for it so you
know what you see your head does that
mean they mean specific companies are
always doing Passover or then like this
I give an example you know when you make
it ingredient you need sir
types of ingredients you need let's say
for example citric acid or you're gonna
need some oils you're gonna need flavor
chemicals so those are like the
beginning of what's going to be in the
supply train chain those are gonna be
manufactured wave advance that means
when you get to that end product so all
the ingredients that were made for that
end product had to be manufactured
before and the ingredients that are
going into intermediate ingredients they
have to be manufactured before in those
a lot of those base ingredients and
chemicals are gonna have to be
manufactured way before that's what it
means the pass of a production and a lot
of aspects could be ten months before
eleven months before the actual end pace
of product that you're getting you're
gonna have so that means there's a whole
supply chain that's being you know
that's already manufacturing for the
following Passover so where are these
factories they're all over the world
you haven't been China you haven't been
Europe you have them here the United
States you have things being made all
across the world for for food
manufacturing China is a touch of a
sensitive topic now as far as countries
go but I don't think a lot of the
Michigan can live in China well we
actually have muskie come in China we
have we do use a lot of the Slocum who
are excellent her wonderful people who
have who have Chabad houses in China who
do a lot of work for us we also have
like a nice cadre of muskie can they
come from areas rel who do work for us
there are full timers for us who just
work for example like mutti Greenberg
who works full-time in China for us two
weeks there two weeks fo three weeks
there one week home so we have we we
have a very heavy presence in China
there's a lot of manufacturing a lot of
greens they're being manufactured in
China
you've been out there yes I usually go
there myself twice a year what do you
what do you bring what is your wife when
you bring back when you go my wife
doesn't want me to bring back anything
but don't worry
bring something back for her anyway you
know my wife my wife just wants me to
come home that's heartwarming but I was
also hoping for like a funnier answer
real soy sauce I don't know like what
you want real soy sauce you go to Japan
okay and perhaps culturally insensitive
so what what is it what does it look
like to walk into a factory for the
first time well it depends on what type
of factory talking about because you
know you're talking about a very wide
range of factories for example one of
the first factories ever walked into is
actually in 1983 was asked to go into a
oil facility of of cooking oils where
they refined oils make them into
shortenings make them into what's called
vegetable oil salad oils into margarine
into into into all different types of
forms that oil to be made into you have
something called Titor something which
is a very hard oil which is actually
used for shortening and for margarine
because there's a certain time as which
still goes on today but maybe not as
much as before where you had a lot of
margarine and shortening been using a
lot of food manufacturing products you
have you know oils cooking nails
something it's very important for every
aspect of the industry so here you walk
it to facility where you have miles and
miles of piping and tons of Tanks all
different types of Tanks all types of
different refinery equipments and you
had in this situation this goes back to
1983 where you were doing in this
facility they were doing kosher in that
kosher oils they were doing they're
doing soybean oil they were doing a corn
oil for an example they were doing also
lard and tallow so now if you have lard
and tallow that's going through the same
facility refinery as vegetable oils how
do you keep it separate so here you're
looking at miles and miles of pipes you
look
different types of tanks different types
what's called deodorizers hydro
converters all these different things
now how do you keep it separate how do
you keep everything that's actually a
totally kosher facility if you have
these type of oils in you know that
they're refining and in in these type of
facilities so you have to learn the
whole plant you have to go to the
holding tanks where they're unloading
the crude oils to see how they're being
refined making sure all the equipment is
completely separated making sure not
only that the hoses and the links and
the couplings are different different
sizes that they can't be they can't be
intermingled and you have to be on top
of it from the beginning of the facility
all the way to the end to make sure that
the whole facility is completely
separate and they ask the type of
facility when I first walked in this is
what took us a long time to actually to
separate it correctly because there is a
few of us who were working as planned
together where we kept found the finding
connections where you could have
connections between the animal and
vegetable oils and it took a lot of work
but were able to accomplish that it was
a beautiful facility in the United
States today there's not too many
facilities left that are really doing
animal oils anymore there are a few but
nothing like what used to be in the past
so that was the first facility ever
walked them to another facility walked
into was also carnation a carnation you
know the carnation drinks and they asked
me from the office at the death time I
think it's 1987 I was living in Saint
Louis Missouri at the time they asked me
to go and kosher eyes a spray dryer so I
walked into this facility I look at this
thing and the first thing that this
spray dryer which is about five stories
high it looked like a tornado and I
thought I was back in The Wizard of Oz
and I looked at this thing and I said
what am I supposed to do with this I
didn't have a clue how to kosher eyes
this thing so they had to send down
somebody who's not with us any more ribs
Isha bless zakat ellebra who came
to show me how to pass her this spray
dryer which spray dryers in general are
not an easy thing to kosher eyes oh I'm
curious your average your average miss
Kia not average the the prototypical
makea it first off has to be a buck in
your daya as to no hollow inside out but
then we're talking about food science
and we're talking about maybe some like
low-level engineering are there are
there are people specializing and
different like chemistry versus well
we're very fortunate at the O you that
we have an unbelievable amount of talent
and I'll just tell you one story of
somebody that I'm a should be close to
grab by Derval who actually can walk
into a facility and could talk to any
food scientist engineer in any aspect of
what they're doing and actually be able
to give them ideas and hints of what
they're doing we have a guy by the name
of rabbi stone rabbi stone who lives in
West Orange was actually a close friend
of mine we were bringing even together
in st. Louis where that man if you want
to know anything about a water system on
any aspect of of a pasteurizer he is an
expert on it and where did we all learn
this basically in yeshiva that means you
know you go in you know you look at what
the facility is you in order to do
certification correctly you have to know
what they're manufacturing and how
they're manufacturing and before I even
walk into the facility you have to do
your homework ahead of time to you know
to understand what they're doing before
you get there because you have to
realize when you're going to these
facilities you're dealing with college
educated very intelligent people you're
talking about people who have masters
and in that Food Chemistry you talk
about people who are engineers you're
talking about very intelligent people so
you just can't walk in part of my
expression like a dummy and think that
you're going to impress these people you
have to actually go in there and know
what they're doing before you walk in
last question part let you go has anyone
ever asked you
to bless the plants yes yes do you do
you do you indulge we then explain to
him a kosher food certification is all
about get let down huh there's anybody
get let down like no do you know a lot
of people just don't understand what it
means because a lot of a lot of them
think is blessing to plant which in real
the really aspect of it is basically is
quality control and a lot of the people
there can understand what call to
control is but now there's another depth
a call to control coat kosher food
certification and to these people that's
what it is it's another concept and
quality control a little bit more than
that because a lot of them realized that
religious significance behind it
rabbi Jenkins thank you so much for
cutting out time to explain what
actually goes on behind the behind the
symbol alright there's sushi waiting for
you okay after the show take care I'll
pop it in take care say I hope but boy
you're on oh you live my name is Rabbi
David Pardo we're here every weeknight
at 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday we
have a line of thank God every night
post in the morning our next guests are
very excited to have to welcome Sarah
first who's a co-founder of kosher
troops and captains fee teitelbaum was a
chaplain in the US Army guys are
see you there yes area
hi captain teitelbaum yeah I signed it
with that video so okay
oh it's horrific no that's a good time
to flick it on Sarah is a co-founder of
kosher troops a not-for-profit I'll ask
you to talk about in a second but that's
this that's not your your full-time your
associate real estate broker at first
and first some banking background in
Bank Leumi and captain Teitelbaum serves
joined the Army 2011 has been deployed
twice to Iraq and twice in Afghanistan
and also spend some time in Kuwait and
rinsed Arum not the kind of pissed off
programs most of us want to be on but
are curious to hear more about so for
those of us who don't know first off
thank you for joining the program thank
you for those of us who don't know about
kosher trips can you tell us what it is
[Music]
since care packages you know the Jewish
American troops stationed all over the
world and how did you you you had this
idea how did it start
well no I did not have this maybe it
started when my daughter is married with
a kid now and we were looking for a you
know a something to do meaningful for
her Bat Mitzvah and we decided that
since it was near Purim we're gonna send
care packages to the troops you know
show up - and at that time we collected
about a hundred and fifty names and we
sent out 250 packages that the girls at
the party put together Wow yeah
absolutely a great start and then you
were like let's turn this into an order
vision so basically after that we got so
many so many responses both from the
troops and from the people in the
community that we reached out to for
help that it was like everybody's a 60
great idea and it's man and and the
troops are so happy you you thank you so
much to you you didn't forget us and I
said you know what quorum is not a big
deal probably just like you know somehow
mentioned some candies what's gonna
happen for face off so I got notice what
pays off and I recruited my neighbors
and I told them do you wanna wanna adopt
a soldier and I got people to doctor
soldiers and we we send stuff for face
up and then we kept on going and going
and that's how my partner Eva got
involved because she was my neighbor and
that's how you know the two of us just
kept on going down how and it's like we
gotta make something out of this we
gotta make it into a real thing and
that's a couple months later I guess by
Rosh Hashanah we started like really
seriously and we made into a real thing
not-for-profit you know to be able to
reach out to real companies that gave us
you know there are real food donations
and and for people to give us donations
they're a tax-deductible etc you know
captain Teitelbaum Howard how are you
involved in coach troops I'm not I'm not
involved coach the troops I like Chapel
of the United States Army I'm a soldier
and I'm a recipient of the kosha two
packages well when was the first time
how that happened first time I believe
is I believe it was 2015 I believe is
2015 September I showed up to Kuwait it
was it already weather started to cool
down ready the summer was over and the
hot weather was over so it was only
about a hundred 1517 I came into the
chaplain annex where I was told I'd be
doing my services I went into the back
room I try push the door open and I
couldn't get it open it
piled the entire room was piled all the
way up with boxes packages from kosha
troops to be the strength to be used
during and at services and to be
distributed throughout the country for
the kosher for the Jewish troops that
was my country of Kuwait this was in
Kuwait as you were you were suddenly in
charge of distributing this food yes
tried distributing sharing yeah
absolutely it was it was a lot of fun it
was it was really fantastic Sara how do
you find the Jewish soldiers or do you
send boxes of matzah to just anyone with
the goldstein last name how's that work
we so we since we started we we follow
up on them we'd like oh no sometimes I'm
afraid they didn't think I'm like you
know I'm like money absolutely but we
follow them you know I find them on
Facebook or or we just continue the the
communication with them for example if I
sent stuff to somebody for for him I ask
them are you still there for pizza and
if not where are you going so we follow
it up with them all the time
or sometimes people like you know
chaplain Tyler one who knows about
coaches will tell me by the way I'm
going to Afghanistan you know next month
and I'm gonna need you to send me stuff
for the Seder ISM whatever and so it
goes both ways I mean at this point most
of the I would like to say most of the
Jews in the military knows about pushy
troops so they reach out to us so you're
not just sending food you're actually
maintaining relationships with people
over time absolutely we actually have
hosted cadets from West Point for Chava
tones we carried families families ven
Chava tones with us in Muncie in the
community of Muncie we do have a close
relationship with military not just
sending packages we follow up with them
and they follow up with us sometimes we
get invited to their weddings we've
actually hosted
and few share Broca's so we're they're
like family for us we're like you know
we're very involved with them and and
what
how has how is her things changed since
kovat since coronavirus has that impact
that your basic activities well we we do
everything with volunteers so you can
imagine that it was very hard to get
volunteers we didn't we didn't really
have any volunteers who were brave
enough to come to our warehouse so we
were fashion we had this group of lone
soldiers that are they are involved in a
group of them here in New York and they
came and they helped us out lone
soldiers is the phrase that I haven't
heard associated with the US military
only the Israel one what's a lone
soldier and yeah the loan so they also
oh hi lean with him okay that they're
here and they they have come in the past
volunteer for us and they basically
stepped up and they said you know do you
need any helpers and I said absolutely
we have nobody so they came in and we
this year because you're asking back
over because of kovat number one we did
not get as much food as we get on it
usually get donations from all the truth
companies the culture food companies and
this year we only got 25% of what we
usually get and we get we get tons tons
of pallets of food and you know with
this whole disaster happening people who
were obviously you know thinking about
other things whatever issues they had
and whatever and so we did percussion
get the 25% that we got which which
basically brought us down to only
sending to our state's our deployed
troops planners things like oh my god I
would have had a total of like almost
2,000 troops and send packages soon but
we had to boil it down to just and
deployed which were a little bit over
and Catherine teitelbaum what happens if
if the if the food packages don't come
in from from Sarah like the US Army
doesn't provide a coach or food ah
that's actually very good question so
the quote the US Army does provide
kosher foods however on deployment well
in general food obviously is not
available no kosher food available and
the the fact the dining facilities so on
deployment will eat what the military
will provide is mostly MREs meals ready
to eat so the the MREs made by la beauté
they're they're they're they're good
they're manageable they're you know
they're they're they're perfectly fine
I've used them on many of my almost all
my missions when it comes time for
Pesach though the library of meals are
even better so that the Pesach MREs are
actually even better than the ones all
year round I remember one time I showed
up during Tishrei and I found in an in a
storage closet a bunch of Pesach MREs
and that's what I ate during Tishrei
because there was so much better
I had believe it they I think meal mark
makes them for Pesach or whatever it is
but this year actually DLA which is the
Defense Logistics Agency they're the
ones who do the purchasing and all the
all the official purchasing and supplies
for the military usually supplies will
show up maybe six to eight weeks before
Pesach that's just the way the way it is
I mean in in October we're already
projecting and ordering for Pesach just
because DLA takes quite a while until
they get all their numbers in they
purchase everything at once they need
the numbers from all over the world so
it takes quite a while well this year
DLA has shipped and delivered the
Pesach packages which is not only kosher
and my reasons also Seder kids say our
kids complete with the Saviour plate the
hero says the correct everything
including a kettle and a hagatha any
yarmulke a complete they're they're
really beautiful kids
well DLA has delivered this year close
to three months in advance so everyone
on the point will be covered for the
sadar and then whatever other kosher
MREs they may need and that's actually
those deployed this year are in better
luck because they they've ordered the
supplies from DLA why the folks back
home were expected to go to a seder now
won't be able to go to a seder
so they're scrambling to get stuff a DLA
is is coming through the army is really
coming through but for those being
deployed during Pesach they're actually
in the best shape in terms of army
supplies I'm kinda bum question what's
the most exotic seder you've run
overseas honestly I'm ironically I've
never run a seder overseas I always
manage not to be overseas during pace
I've my did my deployments just lined up
that way then I was in heaven
he's there in Pesach I've supported
Pesach Commission's overseas and sadar
even more so this year we're kind of
coming together to support the troops
because there are no chaplains who are
deploying to the Middle East for Pesach
but I myself have never been never
Devastator overseas is the military
slowing down now during the Cova 19
crisis the way you know any industry any
neighborhood is or is it totally
different um the military is pretty much
doing the same thing everyone else's
we're being super careful many of our
offices are closed which means we're
working from home remotely hence I I
don't need to be in uniform
most of us are working from home
remotely phone numbers being transferred
to cell phones everyone taking their
workstations home which the computer
laptop so the work has not slowed down
in many ways it kind of picked up but
we're we're doing kind of the same thing
everyone else is staying home staying
safe
the military's taking great precautions
to keep everyone safe and and the reason
I say our workload may have increased is
because we're having to look out for the
troops in ways that we don't usually
sarah for those who are watching and
very inspired by the idea the
organization and your work how do they
get involved donate or they can
volunteer
we have local you know in Muncie we're
located in Muncie and people from the
New York area they come and they help us
with whenever we pack for the troops and
they can help us probably with with the
marketing and and suffer that computer
stuff you know those kind of things that
any organization needs because
everything as I said before is done with
just volunteers and where do they find
you online
kocha troops comm Koecher troops calm
okay
and they can reach out to you and they
can reach out the AVA right i just
wanted to point that one thing that the
thing about the deployed troops we also
have families that are stationed in
places like Japan and Italy and Spain
and those were the ones that were also
pretty much affected especially from
Italy for example I got way back I
already got emails from military
families in in Italy asking me to please
send them at least matzoh and maybe some
of macaroons because the commissary was
already closed and everything was closed
off and the whole country was closed so
those are
you know we also helped military
families that are stationed in different
places and and you know with your
communities so that's one of the things
that we're hopefully I'm hoping to get I
got so far I just got two replies
because we sent everything as of last
Friday I got two replies one from
Germany that came in right away and one
from Alaska because even though Alaska's
not Europe it's pretty far away for you
guys we want to send him to so um those
are the only you know once they reached
out told us we received your packages
I'm waiting to hear from and then the
other ones but that's also it's not just
the ones for a deployed but it's also
the families who depend on the
commissary that doesn't always have stop
or in this situation because the covert
that they did not get marcelles or other
social basic products some time he
definitely don't often think enough of
not just the the sacrifice and service
of the service members but even of their
families and the circles of impact so
Sara thank you for for your work thanks
for coming on the show and Kat inside
alone thank you for your service thank
you and it was was a terrific connecting
so hopefully we we could do this in the
future thank you very much thank you
thank you call - this is oh you live my
name is Robert David Pardo we are here
every weeknight we're here tomorrow
night at 9:00 p.m. have a great lineup
god willing we will be releasing in the
morning if there is something that has
really kept you excited involved and
something you're looking forward to and
you want you are willing to share with
us oh you live at OU you org we'll see
you tomorrow so you live I'm Robert
David part of signing off