0:00 / 0:00
OurTimeToLearn Russian 20 min
122 views
Categories:
Torah
Comments(0)
Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
it's overwhelming
sometimes in life like you have to take
you know a leap of faith and uh do what
you feels right do do what feels right
to do and uh the ISA that I went to was
the best decision that I made in my life
that has helped me grow as a person
spiritually emotionally and uh you know
and I'm just the happiest I've ever been
in my
life I'm from too Ohio I went to GW in
Washington DC and I studied Middle East
studies and international Affairs um and
I am going to solve the Arab isra
complect short-term goal I was born in
the Republic of Georgia but came to the
United States with my family when I was
eight I went to school in Washington DC
for a college and then uh to Egypt and
then to Israel uh where I studied in
Yeshiva and then back in the States
where I then worked in venture capital
and now I'm in New York City running a
business Network as was was born in New
York City I came to Israel for the first
time a year and a half ago and I've been
here more or less ever since just
traveling for work sometimes I'm a
concert pianist a vocal coach for opera
singers a performance coach for actors
and a dialect coach I remember very
rarely having any sort of interaction
with other Jewish people in in any sort
of Jewish way I mean they existed and I
existed and that was the end of it um my
life was completely devoted to my
academic and especially my professional
Pursuits as a classical musician as a
Pianist I was on a Birthright trip five
six years ago I'm walking in the shook
in Tel Aviv and one of my favorite songs
comes on by Pink Floyd and it's coming
out of this this guy's little booth
where he's selling candy and all his
stuff this old man at the counter is
singing this ping Floyd song so I go
over to him and I start singing to it
all you touch and all you see is all
your life will ever be so I I go over to
this old guy and we're singing together
and I'm just like this is my country I
went to grad school as at Georgetown and
I was doing my MERS in international
relations and uh thankfully I got an
internship at the state department and
from an internship um thank God I helped
turn that into a job I grew up
subscribing to the typical as I see it
the typical American Jewish narrative it
was very much such a cultural thing we
know we're Jews and that's the extent of
it I first came to Israel when I was 15
years old I lived on a kibutz for a half
a year on a high school abroad program
eventually I came back after high school
for a year then I had to go to college
but I needed to come back and learn more
about being Jewish cuz it was just an
incredible experience
you know I felt Jewish I knew I was
Jewish I just I don't know what that
meant but I knew that's what I was
that's what our family was I I knew the
ideas but it wasn't wasn't brought down
and integrated into who I was I wasn't
living these ideas you come to Israel
and you're in this this like environment
of people who are just all about growing
and learning and and living the best
life and just being good people just
being good people you become a better
person they bring you up I didn't know
anything about Judaism growing up I
didn't know anything about my culture my
my
religion and what better place to learn
about it than Israel anyway I met a lot
of people who had grown up religious and
they were all like living alternative
Lifestyles and I thought I'd want to
live in alternative lifestyle cuz these
guys are cool so I came back to college
and I I immediately started studying
Asian philosophy I was doing Buddhism
and Daoism for a while um I lived in La
up until I was 17 years old and then I
went to a university I majored in civil
engineering I then went to graduate
school and studied construction
management and then decided to study in
seminary for about a year I went to all
non Jewish schools I went to a Christian
School I was one one of the Apostles in
Jesus Christ star spiritually like I was
very very distant from Judaism I wasn't
turned on by Judaism at all in fact I
was more into uh like alternative
religions like yoga Buddhism meditation
I was I was I would do like you know
weekly Retreats of yoga and I still love
the alternative esoteric uh things of
life and I really had no idea that
Judaism had any of that kind of uh side
to it and I asked myself if I'm so
openminded about everything else uh I
was very leftwing I was very openminded
about everything I was like if I'm so
openminded about everything maybe I
should be at least a little bit
openminded about my own uh my own
background my own Roots my own religion
um grew up connected to a conservative
synagogue not because we believed in
conserv JM per se but but only because
we weren't Orthodox um I'm from London
originally this is my house my Pilates
and yoga studio and I teach the Pilates
and I have yoga teachers coming in and
they run classes
I feel like I have a fantastic network
of people and I enjoy life I enjoy dayto
day it's very colorful it's very
exciting it's very alive I could never
imagine just going back to England and
just being one of the
masses I started learning a little bit
in college uh but then uh went to Israel
uh and I trip uh a few days what was it
10 days I believe where as part of the
trip we visited yiva and um
interestingly enough the rabbi sat me
down he says you know would you be open
to coming here and summarily I said no I
just spent those was really towards the
end of my college I spent four years
learning theory the last thing I want to
do is study more Theory and so I said
thanks but no thanks and he was very
respectful of that he said no I
appreciate that answer and that was the
end of it but I was so impressed by the
level of
students um that were taking a break
from whatever it is that they were doing
to go to Yeshiva to learn about their
Heritage to learn about you know in
depth what the bible really States uh
about you know tanak and all those sort
of Jewish um books and texts that we
hear about but we don't really know
basically I ended up really enjoying the
learning and I think that for a lot of
people they might get scared oh am I I
going to become religious oh am I going
to spend so much time there we're we
always have the choice to leave you know
you always have the choice to be you
know what I'm here I tried it and I
don't like it and I'm going back but I
think at least having the opportunity to
try it is is amazing yeah I think
learning it's it's the core of our being
I mean we have to grow we have to
continue to learn so I think we should
we can focus on ourselves and in terms
of understanding where we came from and
who we are at the same time how we
relate to you know the greater world you
know I really wanted to to be
intellectually honest with myself and
give myself a a year of studying in
Israel of learning about Judaism and
studying where I came from and figuring
out where I want to be and how I want to
move forward in my life it's been a
wonderful experience I've been here for
9 months so far and it's been one of the
best experiences of my entire life I've
grown so much as a person I've learned
so much um my Hebrew has improved d a
lot not only because I'm in Israel but
also because I'm reading in Hebrew and
translating from uh the original texts
and it's actually really comforting
because you grow up um kind of learning
all these things by hearsay and then to
spend the time actually learning looking
at the original sources has really been
a great source of inspiration to me it's
been uh it's been a wonderful experience
when I started learning new Shiva like I
was like this stuff is incredible like
it's it's very very spiritual it really
applies to me I connected with it in so
many levels and it it taught me so much
about who I am and about about God and
about everything about everything all
these people were taking a break to
really go and figure that out and really
take a some time off to really set their
value straight and really understand
what they want to get out of life what
kind of family they want to build and I
saw that seriousness and I saw that uh
Focus that each and every one of those
students had at the Yeshiva and it
stopped me for a moment I said wait a
second and there's something different
about this place uh there's a certain
focus and a certain uh appreciation for
life that you don't necessarily get in a
typical College setting so I then sort
of started researching the place a
little bit more I talked to some of the
rabbis and really I was impressed all
around and I thought you know you know
the old adage of if not now when I
figured now would be a good time to
really check it out to uh see if it's
something that I want to be a part of in
terms of The Learning Experience uh and
so went and really was a wonderful
experience I'm a very visual learner so
my brain works like a puzzle things kind
of fit into place and if um something
doesn't make sense like you kind of like
try to stick it in there like like jam
it in as best as you can like you play
with those big puzzles you can't figure
out where the pieces go so I when I
first came to Israel I felt like I was
missing like half the puzzle like I had
like the Border but the entire Center
was
missing um and then when I started
slowly slowly learning like things
started to become clear I saw a bigger
picture and I saw things going on that I
never knew again in terms of the
uniqueness of this community you have
this feeling that at any given time
there will be someone there to help you
with whatever it is you need whether
it's an idea whether it's a question
whether it's something physical my
parents they they didn't want me to go
like listen it would be like if you want
to learn this go ahead but they knew if
I went it would I would stay this is
what they said they said if you come for
3 months you're going to come for a year
and you'll never come back which is not
true but that's what they that's that
was their faar I'm going to do things
that are different from the way my
family does them they're worried that
they're going to lose their baby they're
going to lose their uh you know their
son or their daughter their brother
their uncle whatever it is they're going
to lose them I'm learning I'm working on
myself I'm growing here why would I cut
that short why would I I could be a a
half complete person and I go home and
be a very nice guy and have a nice
little Jewish life or I can go home
after 2 years and be a complete person
and at least complete enough to to go on
my own
making the decision to take some time to
do this and really invest the same
reasoning was what brought me to Europe
after grad school because I was playing
all this music that was composed in
France and composed in Italy and
composed in Austria and Germany and you
can't really delve into those topics
without being there so I went and spent
time I was seeing the same buildings
that they saw and were Inspire Byers so
that's my reasoning for having made the
decision to take a little time and learn
up here sometimes it's hard being in
Shiva and not working especially when I
have a bunch of friends who are doing
pretty externally impressive things one
of my close friends is in dental school
I have two friends in med school it's
hard like on the esteem to like think
like I'm not working I have to learn but
like first of all it's like okay people
go at different Paces like some people
have like need to go learn and like want
to go learn
and the other thing was it was these
people like these people who impress me
who I look up
to who made me afraid to be here for
longer like I knew I had to be doing
this but I was like embarrassed like
because I assumed that like at least
some of my friends were like looking
down on me they were thinking like my
mom and my friends are always like what
are you running
from when are you going to stop running
I'm not running from the the real world
I you would call it I'm running to my
real world professionally there's always
the concern that taking some time off
sets you behind uh and it kind of sets
you back a little bit uh but sort of my
experience and looking back on it I
realized it wasn't the case um people
appreciate somebody who kind of stands
out for the the crowd so I was planning
on staying in DC and working in the
foreign policy world old then I sort of
decided I wanted to come to Israel and
that was an argument with my parents
they wanted me to get a job and I was
like well there's no time like the
present to pause and sort of take time
to figure myself out and figure out
what's important to me and what I want
in life and who I am
for the last uh 2 and2 years I was going
to Seminary and for a year and a half I
was doing college and I also got some
amazing news that I got accepted to
Harvard's Master's of education program
it's a masters of education and human
development and psychology I think sort
of the overarching goal here is just to
become the best human being right two
years of just focus on personal
development um to really I think really
the idea is to calibrate the mind and
the Heart what's one year in the grand
scheme of life like when you're 6E look
back remember oh remember when I was 22
23 I went to Israel for the year it's
it's almost too good to be true in the
Yeshiva that I was at you had people
coming in from Argentina Chile Africa uh
Europe British Britain and all these
different places and you know you have
this mix of everybody and everybody's
unique in their own way and but everyone
is on the track of becoming a better
person they all want that and you're
just around really good people
and it's very inspiring and I think it's
an experiential thing it's it's any
words that I can put on it really does
limit it and we all have this common
history together and you know we're a
family we should try things and if it
doesn't work we at least know and we
move on and I think it's really an
important um I think opportunity to
really get to to check things out you
know the truth of matter is is that I
stayed longer because I thought I was
getting a lot out of it and I really
enjoyed the learning it was it was
really such a gift to be able to spend
one year that you're just learning about
yourself I think it's very powerful and
very important to understand what it
means to learn in Israel what it means
to be able to come to Israel what it
means to be able to stand in Jerusalem
and access things we weren't able to
access for literally thousands of years
for me the Yeshiva experience was
positive I wouldn't say it's for
everybody just because um it's a really
unique experience uh it's really an
intense experience uh for me it was a
very positive experience but if somebody
decides you know I want to do this just
because of social pressure or peer
pressure or because they have nothing
else going on for the moment I would
truly discourage them because it's an
opportunity of a lifetime but you have
to approach it the right way you really
have to see it as an opportunity and you
have to approach it in a way that
enables you to really get the most out
of it and then leave yiva better
equipped for the world yeah it's a very
unique Community very unique group of
people nobody judges anyone at all
people are all different religious
levels we dress different ways we keep
different amounts of like halot and um
we all come from different backgrounds
some are married some are not and yet
there's this feeling of like Unity
amongst people and acceptance and like I
I feel like within this community no
matter what I became they would still
accept me part of the amazing thing
about being there is just being around
people who are passionate about being
good and being better and honoring their
authentic selves if you come here and
learn it's your experience and it's only
your experience and you have to remember
that so you can come here and you can
learn and you can still be you for me
the primary reason why I wanted to be an
Israel is cuz I thought this was the
best environment to learn it really
solidified what I knew about myself and
it's almost like rediscovering
everything you already knew don't be
scared give it a shot come here and try
it out like me personally like it was
the best decision that I made in my life
it's given me a lot met so many
wonderful people it's been spiritually
uh fulfilling and uh just been amazing
some of my best friends saying that I
seem happier than I've ever been I seem
more myself than I've ever been I've
just become a better person and and
those were are all in line with the
goals that I had originally we're always
growing we're always moving we're always
learning the reality of what learning in
Israel is like is different from what
one might suspect from far away there's
something in the air there's something
here it's it's more than just a history
it's more than just a a culture like
when I was in the Shook and I was
singing Pink Floyd all you touch and all
you see is all your life will ever be I
just don't believe that anymore your
life is so much more than all you touch
and all you see
he
a