Project Inspire Convention 2016 - Full Motzei Shabbos Program

and with that it's my pleasure to welcome you to the matah shabas program of the seventh annual project Inspire [Applause] [Music] convention [Music] speee Al [Music] Al hold we back from be be [Music] for [Music] [Applause] [Music] for all for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] spe e a everyone we are here my name is yov Solomon please don't stand or applaud but if you must you know and I have the to be your host this evening has it been an amazing chabus yes amazing amazing you walk through the Halls you speak to people they just overwhelmed overwhelmed barem you know yesi mentioned before about the uh turning off your cell phones I know some of you have heard the story already but I just need to remind you about how important that is because many years ago we were showing the first film of inspired this was rabit greeman as a matter of fact was behind the inspired film in the beginning and and we were showing the film and as we were about this is about was it 10 years ago or so and as about we were about to begin I saw a good friend of mine who came in to see it I said it was very honored that he came this and that at the end of the film and we were all finished I was curious about how he liked it of course so I went over to him and I said to him I said you know how do you like the film so he said oh the film he said I didn't really see it he say I saw you here at the beginning what do you mean you didn't see it he says well you announced at the beginning that we should all turn off our cell phones I said yeah said well I left mine home these are the kind of friends I have I it so I have to start with an embarrassing story you'll allow me an embarrassing story right say yes yes only the women said yes did you notice the men feel for me they don't want me to be embarrassed the women don't care doesn't matter so he's embarrassed a little so there I was at home sitting in my kitchen a while ago I really had nothing to do of just sitting around doing nothing you know as I often tend to do and I said what should I do I have really I have nothing to do you know so I decided this is the embarrassing part I decided you know it's a good idea to see what you're holding in life but it's not a simple thing to do so I do and I did what people do today to find out where they're holding in life I Googled my name now you see the embarrassment right I just you know where am I holding have I been arrested recently have I lost my driver's license things like that so I looked up and I said and there I am I says look at that came up I think I think it was about you know 120,000 different uh places probably was a lot more than that the Google is not really reliable and I start of course looking through the different places where I've have been mentioned and this took several hours so at least I had something to do unfortunately in the middle of my adventure my wife walked in what are you doing what am I going to say I Googled my name you know so uh eventually of course she found out and I said so I said you know don't be intimidated he say it's not that I'm so famous or anything I said as a matter of fact I'll prove it to you I said let's Google your name and you'll see that you're also famous says oh come on nobody I'm not there you can't Google mine I said let's try it I put in her name and sure enough there were like 500 references to her she's a famous person too so he said let's go and take a look at them so the first one said wife of yakob Solomon the second one said wife of yako salom the third one they all said wife of yakob Solomon oh I'm sorry we have the uh privilege of Riva ra keski coming in now if I had a guitar I would sing sh thank you you sang that for me no this is what you Calla when the russan sha walks in after my Google story we'll talk later AA I think he's heard worse but at least I'm in the clear so the reason that I mentioned that is that so every one of hers comes up wife ofak Etc this and that so um I just wanted to mention that story why because I spend a lot of time doing project Inspire and doing other things and the truth is that I never get a chance to thank her and she's a great sport so thank you I don't know where you are oh where where are you hi is that okay uhoh oh as you will see tonight we all know that there are a lot of not yet from people out there and we all know them and we all want a chance and hopefully we'll get a chance to reach out to them but the truth is that when people don't do it we also have to ask why what is holding us back what is preventing us from sharing this tremendous life the life of being a toyra Jew what is preventing us from sharing it and among the many answers and there really are many but among the many answers is fear we're afraid we're afraid of reaching out for some reason why are we afraid well one of the reasons is we're afraid we don't know what to say and we don't know how we're going to respond Etc so I want you to realize that that fear really has no basis it is a an irrational fear because there's no great great question out there that we can't answer it's nothing to be afraid of really also I want to point out that when we're doing the AEM the truth is and we see it time and time again we do have a special somehow hashem's guiding hand is there I want to give you an example I just heard this last week R shim Schwab he was in Baltimore I believe this was in the 50s and he was really doing C of work he was doing C of work marar the people in Baltimore and he was giving a talk about wearing a yamaka apparently that was not so common or it was not so easy and there were many people who were not even wearing a yamaka so he said he was speaking about how important it is yamaka comes from the words y a Mala we should have fear of the re Etc while he was speaking a man got up in the audience and said Rabbi this is nonsense he said what are you talking about says this whole thing of ayaka it's nonsense where did you get it from I will prove to you that it's nonsense okay I imagine he had a little trepidation but RAB didn't have much fear in him he says how do you prove proed to me that it's nonsense he said the Torah itself says that one of the garments of the kohen GLE was to wear a head covering well I guess apparently no one else was wearing one so if no one's wearing one but the Cohen GLE has to wear one so I guess people were not wearing yamakas so this is nonsense so what would RAB say to that it's a tremendous question so I believe that R Schwab had tremendous because he turned to that man and he said very interesting question but you know what according to your reasoning nobody wore pants either tremendous RAB David rson from n was once at a conference he was at a conference of uh the aeronautical scientists it's a famous story and he was having some discussion with someone who uh apparently didn't believe much in religion so he once said to Rabbi refson at that conference he says you know Rabbi rson I really believe that I don't know much about religion that's true but if you had to sum it up in a few words I would say it's basically be a nice person Rabbi repon a genius looked at that man and wonder what he's going to say what kind of retort would he have for that and he says you know that's interesting he said I don't know much about astronomy either but I would sum it up in a few words also Twinkle Twinkle Little Star you get a little seaya one final anecdote many years ago I was in Virginia and I was doing doing a talk about Discovery Discovery is a wonderful program AA Torah we actually prove we bring evidence for the existence of the and for T being T and I was giving all the arguments and I must say I was doing a pretty good job if you Google it you could probably find me on there the there I was and I was doing very well I thought but there was one man in the audience he just wouldn't let go every time I get gave a proof he said yeah but maybe this maybe this maybe that you never know you never know he was driving me crazy the truth is and the audience was also getting a little tired of him so I was looking said why am I finally I speak about midari it's an amazing evidence about madari and what's he going to say to that there he goes up with the hand I said yes what is it he says well I don't know maybe it was an alien could have been a spaceship came down on the mountain you know we don't know what his superpowers he was driving me crazy and everybody's looking around you know I F how am I going to get him quiet so you get a little desaya so I said one thing to him and he was quiet the rest of the seminar what did I say I said sir you've asked a lot of questions today some of them were very good questions that's true I said but now I'd like to ask you a question and if you could answer this question to me I think everyone will be more than satisfied said sure I'm open go ahead I said do you also believe that OJ was innocent that was it he didn't say a word for the rest of the day when you have doing this work you don't have to be afraid of anything is with you he's with you you'll find something to say no need to fear we must reach out that is our mission we had an amazing chabas as you know as all most of you know yes and last night I told you that there would be pain and pleasure and there was there was pain and pleasure all over we had tremendous pleasure wherever we went we had tremendous mendous pleasure everything but we also had pain because we knew what we were missing who knows where we're going who knows when if we chose the right session Etc it was difficult right but there is a danger in having such a wonderful program I want to tell you what it is the danger in having such a wonderful program is that a lot of people walk out of each segment of this program and they say one word wow wow did you hear MIM Missi wow did you hear Rabbi finer wow did you hear did you hear the shakas did you hear the cabal shabas oh wow did you ever see a halfa like that wow wow so you think that's great you think it's great everybody's walking around saying wow wow wow you think it's great I want to tell you and I'm really serious about this I don't think it's so great I really don't think so it's wonderful to have a wow program but that's not the answer that we want to hear we don't want to hear reactions of wow we want to hear reactions of now that's the reaction we want wow is great what we really want is now because rberg taught us we're losing the war and we don't have the luxury of time we need to do it now it's a call to action yeah we want to make a nice program we want everything to be great but when we sit down and plan this for the whole year and we want to create a wow program we still want your response to be now I want to make sure that that happens I have a secret to tell you and this is a very important secret we decided to tell you this before the program begins I want you to pay close attention later on tonight at the end of the session there's a young man who will be sitting in this audience he's not here right now he has been detained outside in the lobby this is true he has been detained on purpose so he should not hear this secret but we decided we're going to let you in on it going to let you in on what's going to happen tonight isn't that exciting he's going to be sitting somewhere over here okay the women will be able to see we're going to have it on camera and he's going to come in shortly you won't even notice when he comes in and he doesn't know that we're talking about this and at the end of the program I'm going to walk over to him and I'm going to introduce myself I've never met him before by the way his name is Fernando Fernando lives in Mexico and he goes to a Hebrew school in San Diego we met him I didn't meet him personally but project inspire people met him a few months ago when they went on a trip to San Diego with a few balab batam together with Yakov ginar others together and they went to the school Rabbi adaro's School in San Diego and they met Fernando Fernando is 17 years old he lives in Mexico get this he travels about an hour and a half each way over the border every day from Mexico to San Diego to learn back and forth he goes home to his mother every day he lost his father in November he expressed when he was there an interest to continue learning he wants to go to erst next year a few people made friends with him there and they said come come for shabas to New York so all expenses paid we brought him here and he was here for the weekend what he doesn't know is that a few of the people who went there were so taken by him and he's a very special guy who's very serious but he's also comes from a family that clearly can can not afford this and a few people got together and they said we will pay for his entire year in Eris next year going we're going to bring him to Asia toor next year he doesn't know this he doesn't know that it's going to be all expenses paid and he'll be able to fulfill his dream which by the way was also a dream of his father before he died so later tonight at the end of the evening please don't say anything why am I looking at the women just a coincidence I guess please don't say anything obviously I'm going to go over to him I'm going to introduce myself I'm going to bring him up on stage all of you know what's going to happen and then we're going to present him with this special scholarship we've never tried anything like this before and it better work Riva what do you think Isa likes it yeah okay okay so that's what's going to happen but there are a lot of other things going to happen before then it's a very very exciting program you're allowed to say wow don't yell at me you're allowed to say wow we're going to have a fabulous program anyway okay now let's get down to business okay we're going to roll our first video and our first video is that the truth is that you know and we know that really you have the capacity to affect many people we know that used to be people said I don't know any nonr people I don't know but we know that it's not true and you'll ask how do you know know that it's not true and the answer is because we found out yesterday we found out yesterday that it's not true you know a lot of people so let's roll video number [Music] one do you know any unaffiliated Jews oh yes do you know anybody who's not religious I know a lot of people that AR religious every from Jew probably knows somebody who's not from 100% I meet people all the time that are not religious I mean I meet them all the time I go to hospitals I see doctors I see nurses I see all kinds of people that are not affiliated clearly somebody who's already taken the survey would you say that you know any unaffiliated Jews definitely definitely my next door neighbor so how many not from people would you say you know i' say about a 100 wow that's a lot top of my head maybe 50 50 yes top of my head maybe 10 15 you think you know one non-firm person I definitely know one non-firm person five probably more 10 at least 15 I'm sure we can uh think and develop a list of 15 I know at least 20 unaffiliated Jew I me ask you a question do you know any yiden that aren't from yes but they're not by the hotel um you're pretty popular I'm I'm guessing you probably know more closer to like 50 okay how many would you say that you know quite a few give me a number 374 wow I don't know that many people at all if you think of all the people that you come across at work or whatever else you're doing during your day how many not from Jews would you say you interact with on some level one way or the other on a daily basis yeah 10 to [Music] there are no excuses folks no more excuses we've got to go out and do the job right right right okay excellent project Inspire had a tremendous privilege this year we were bar we had Theus to play a large role and help facilitate the wonderful shabas project that so many of you were involved in we played a role in New York in New Jersey and in Toronto so many of you who are sitting here right now I know invited many many people for that chabas which was a tremendous tremendous success thanks and and good part to our good friends Isaac and Edie gross who are greatly instrumental helping us with the with the shabas project and it had a profound effect on anyone who was involved on any level and how many of you were at the incredible shabas uh kalalake yes many of you right it was a experience that no one ever will forget Unforgettable even the Guinness Book of Records was excited to be there so uh take a look we had many thousands of people participated was really one of the highlights of the Year let's roll video number two we were never really taught you know why we keep shabas the beauty of shabas the beauty of being Jewish but when these people came to my house it really really hit me they really appreciate Judaism it was new to them and they wow this is great and I said yeah it is great and I looked at myself and I said you got to appreciate what we have here we didn't really know what to expect uh all we heard was that it would be a huge event so we wanted to participate when I walked out of there I just wanted to be part of it I've kept in touch with the woman that came to the house and she said I'm not becoming religious she says but I used to think it was them and us and now I see we're all [Music] together it was an exper experience that you can't say it in wor unless you were there when you see 2,000 women dancing and holding hands I still get the chills when I think about [Music] it when I first walked into the room I was absolutely stunned it was positively overwhelming people who I never met before from sitting from my left or right the like we felt like we know each other for years everyone was talking about how even if they had made H their whole lives no kala ever tasted as good as that kala because it had so much love in it and so much Unity we're one nation I think that at the kala bake that was very clear it was so intense you know there wasn't a dry eye it was really really beautiful to see the diversity of women coming together unified being a part of such a beautiful Mitzvah as Kala the unity in the room was so much more important than the kala itself not only are we here tonight for the great big hola bake but we're here for a Guinness World Records title attempt at the world's longest grated loaf of bread the women were cheering like crazy when they saw this huge Hal a community uniting under one cause so this is a fitting record attempt for the great big Holloway with a final measurement of exactly 20 feet I am thrilled to announce that project Inspire has set a brand new Guinness World Records title you are all officially amazing I felt like it was an opportunity to share something that we have so beautiful with our brothers and sisters that never had the opportunity to experience this my mindset going in was let's just have a good time nothing could really go wrong with shabus chabas in itself is beautiful over the last number of years I made a lot of different friends in the political world of all the people that I've grown closer to was a city council member by the name of Mark Lavine the idea dawned on me hey why not invite Mark for shabas well I'll tell you I was worried that it would be a very long and potentially even boring 25 hours I have to say it turned out to be anything but uh it flew by in a heartbeat we had hours and hours of thought-provoking conversation around the shabas table an experience that I know me and my family will never forget I can't help but feel that the almighty himself looks down and the more that we do this he says you my children are caring about about each other in such beautiful ways you're sharing the beauty of my Torah with each other you started the job I'll finish [Music] itala looks good I think we should invite Guinness to our house my wife's kalas are amazing for taste you know amazing so thank you all and don't forget next year shabas project be involved very very very important and now now it is my distinct privilege and great privilege to introduce to you once again our fearless leader as I say arim Samson for a very special [Applause] presentation I was going to say good shabas because the shabas were so special it feels like we're still in chabas and I heard many times from my my rebi the that he would tell the story ofana The ofon he was addressing a gathering and a bris of Rob mosha Hon's grandson it's a well-known story and all the goodi Israel were there and they the son they themselves were the grandchildren of the previous door of the Kim of the slon rebi the altar of NAD the alter of slodka the vision sbbi the gbi and he got up and he said all of you think that your grandfather was the greatest person in their generation had the greatest effect on on amus Ro over the last 100 years and I'm here to tell you you're all wrong and they said you know maybe sit you sit down you know don't cause problems you're going to cause arguments sit down we're having a good time here he said no no no no no not only was it none of your grandfathers but this person didn't even learn a black gamarra they say you're crazy raana get down and he said not only that B I tell you who it is you're all going to agree with me and now they really thought he was crazy the litvish and the all going to agree on who was the greatest person and when he told them they all agreed and who was it as you probably know it was SAR schneir a lady never learned to Black Amara what was it about s much nearer that all the GD Israel recognized that this lady was greater had a greater impact on the last 100 years she was the the mother of the bakov system what was it about her that caused her to be that and the answer is that and Noah says because she cried about the young ladies who weren't educated and were going off track and she cried and she cared and because she cried she became the mother so to speak of the Jewish people we've been through a shabus what a beautiful shabas bar the AEM the a tor the you could almost touch it and I thank you all for playing your individual roles in making the shabas so beautiful thank you so much but we said at the beginning if you remember that we're going to start with the end in mind we have the Torah we shared the beautiful Torah the shabas we have a kage boru we connected to a kage boru throughout fers and through the shabus itself but where is am Israel 90% of our brothers and sisters where are they and we said we're going to start with the end in mind that we're going to inspire ourselves to inspire others and Now ladies and gentlemen the time has come we are coming to an end and we have to care and we have to learn from sarira that how do we make that difference that we have to be prepared to cry over the shabus we heard some incredible stories and Mrs Felman who's in the audience who couldn't didn't know where this person that she'd met lived but she wanted to connect to her and introduced to tah and she starts pressing pre pressing the buzzers on the apartment building cuz hopefully she'll find her and she found her and now every every day she speaks to her and has her for shabas we heard in the ladies late Women to Women session of Miss Mississippi Burger who wanted to bring someone to the a convention and she came over to me at the H convention and said Rabbi I had no one to bring but I D to the ronish lam and he gave me someone last week a partner in Torah who lives in Stanford conect iut and she agreed to come I met erif shabus and Mrs Angel who I reminded me that she'd come to the first shabus the first of the shabas that we that we ever did and she told me that she's from a group of kidish ladies from man satma I said why did you come she said project Inspire I said well why why would you come to project in Spar he says kir look at me like I was crazy why not but in the audience there's such special people paish who I mentioned in the lady in the women to women session I meant to see two weeks ago she should have a Ru har she's 99 years old I had the great scus of sea two weeks ago and she told me tell people to tell them tell people that they are amazing and I want to tell you ladies and gentlemen you are amazing what's going on in this room what's happening all of the Care all of the love all of the different ways that you're reaching out all the different women that are doing color bakes and and and bringing people taking them to Israel and the traveling hedum and the shabas Queens it's amazing but ladies and gentlemen we have a lot more to do we have a lot more to do and we have to care and we have to cry and beem all of us should think of at least one person that this year we're going to try to reach out to share the beauty of the J of Judaism please raise your hands make a commitment now that you're going to think of one person not just that you know but that you're going to reach out to who you're going to care about and share the beauty let's see a show of hands of people that going to make that commitment we need a commitment okay thank you okay so I'd like to just take this opportunity of focusing on one couple who cares and the we as an organization have benefited from their care in so many ways and we want to take this opportun opportunity just to show them a little appreciation and I'd like to take this opportun to for personal thanks and thanks for what project Inspire to Stuart and Andrea Heyman for all that they've done their care your care and commitment knows no bounds not only what you've done for project Inspire for ashaura for Amel your care on an individual basis the sensitivity the humility is profound I feel personally blessed that you've come into my my life to be my friend and to be my partner in Project Inspire our find and founding Partners a project Inspire our staff and our Advisory Board collected a little bit together to buy little gift for you as a token of our appreciation like to come up for this little gift and it says it's a it [Music] say with great gratitude and affection to our dearest friends and Founders founding Partners Stuart and Andrea Hyman for their extraordinary care and commitment to Awakening the Jewish people to bring back all their brothers and sisters to a v sh may may we may we Merit to see the day when eliahu hanavi will proclaim the final Kula and our people will be United together as one in Yim happy New Year with love and your friends our project inspire it's now my great honor to introduce to Rish Shiva an organization project in Sp cannot be successful without the constant guid us guidance of the G Israel from the beginning of project Inspire we went to the Rish Shiva and we sought his guidance and we told him what what we're doing and on a personal level he was always has been so open to seeing us always so thrilled about what we're doing I remember in the first meeting that I went to see the Riva and I asked him you know does does the Riva think this is a good idea you know Asia T in general we're dealing with a less affiliate now going into dealing with the from community and it's a new thing is the Riva behind it and he told me not only am I behind it but there isn't anyone who wouldn't be and that gave me a personal feeling of strength to move forward so I thank the Russ she for that so without any further Ado I'd like to call on the r sha ra ketki might say shabas as the shabas leaves us and we came here tonight and I'm well aware what Inspire does and how they Inspire us I I'm in Yesa and know that a stranger comes into the Yesa you have to go over give and ask him if he can help him that's a beginning to work for inspire it is inspiring because many times people come in strangers in all senses of strangers and someone comes over to them if someone is willing to help him people that need need help and there are so many so many people that would appreciate how can I help you generally we think about ourselves who can help me but we have to think what we can do for others today we leared pasas in the beginning he speaks about counting the col soil and we'll say it leader again inim that we learn from the para that CLA is a person is not by himself but they have to give a and the AL explains why to say you it's not complete yet you need somebody else to complete it should be a she in other words when I introduce myself I have to know that I'm not I can help somebody when I help somebody then we are together then we have a full a team there's so much to do in the world and inspiring is inspiring us very much to find out that many individuals were just connected with just a few words they were just came with just with with nothing and it became close there were many that they in inspired people to do for others and they found out that just a few words just a little little bit what you do you're opening up a new gate a new gate for a gate for people that are looking for something and you open the door for them can you imagine what you do for a person when you open a door open a door for him that he can come into to in he can come to it's beyond imagination and many people who are inspired and later they realize what where was I till now just where was I don't know and there are many many stories you probably heard from the rabbis many instances that people became a CO just by just just by saying Alo and we are able to do that because people are actually they need it they need someone should be closer to they need there so many needs people have if you would find out how much you can do then you would probably run a whole day to two for for other do MIT do that's inspiring inspiring that just for beginning with three words can I help you can I help you it's three words and you bring so many people close to the close to yourself yes I'm a Philadelphian I can tell you many instances this that someone came into the isuba and a young man he was still in college from Nana home unfortunately when his grandmother died and he was fighting against burning and he did was not successful he tried very hard that's that's the background he came and one of the r was Mar he's he was a young man going to school and he founded a business for himself to rent for the college students rent apartments like he became an agent and that was his business and he made money from it recently he was informed by the college that they don't want him anymore in that area in this in this but the person became a he came to shim to listen to sh through just through just someone open the door for him one of our opened the door for him with a child he came hasem they have two children now he lives somewhere else he putas in his home both he and his wife became Ms like has to come to learn every hour he has and it's it's remarkable just begin begin with just a few words because people are people are in great need and you can't imagine how much you give them just by a few words just get close to them people look for friendship because the need is so great that it's immeasurable but you do so much but just by just opening up your heart opening up a few words and there are stories told that that many people would esar from nothing he just fell fell fell with a the pack on his back and he asked him he stopped him he says what do you do he says I'm traveling where is he traveling doesn't know where he's traveling he just wanted to see the world traveled around a little bit he took him over he became just and he married him off you see that what what we can do for individuals depends on us no one else and inspiring is so inspiring that I always feel that that they do such a wonderful job but but each one of us what we can do is much much more because every person a neighbor just a neighbor nephew of mine moved into area and the neighbor was cutting his grass every shabas since the time he had so he came to RAB FR and he asked him what he should do what can he do he said don't say anything just which that's be a good friend of this in two years he was a sh and the full extent just by we see that there is such a great need in the world that when we open up a little bit we can attract people from all sorts and it is really up to us that's why I I'm inspired from this fire and is whatever you do for call it's inspiring for all of us Raam is very happy with your accomplishments thank you Riva was a tremendous T by the way tremendous Tia to come we appreciate it so much Shiva was away for shabas and made the trip up here especially what a it is for us G to be able to be M everyone else B and okay this is probably a good time since we just mentioned steuart Heyman there are a couple of people in the audience who want to say hello to uh I see in the front here our director General Rabbi Steve Berg from ASA Torah please stand up Steve say hello to the people doing a phenomenal job for ASA Torah putting it all together with the able assistance by the way of leis mayber who's sitting right next to him right and where's Rabbi yitz Greenman who I saw over there where is he the executive director in ASU shalim he's somewhere in the back he's probably raising money or something we have a lot of opportunities during the year to do things a lot of things and a few years ago we took on a huge huge task and that is called the Tish abub film how many of you have seen our Tish films in the past upwards of 100,000 people watch AR tiub films every year they are immensely impactful and this year was no different but we have to come up with ideas every year ideas new ideas for the Tisha film and there we were racking our brains how are we going to bring the message to people and I was talking with yusi fredman and yusi fredman had Theus had the privilege of getting a brainstorm and he said to me he says I got it I said what he said the Zeke of no no he didn't said no he said I got it I said what is it he said here's what we're going to do we have a great story we have a great story about a fellow who walked into Shou one day and somebody came over to him and he asked him to put on Fillin and before you know it he became from It's a Wonderful story What would happen he said if we put if we placed a non-ir person in a Sho in a famous Sho and let's see what's going to happen let's see if people actually approach him or not because that will bring the message home well boy did it ever so we embarked on uh we called up our good friend you should also have a tremendous aov he's here tonight G Orman who puts all our films together he's unbelievable he's got a tremendous editor by the name of Michael Abel who's here tonight and a lot of other people they've worked with us for years and they said how are we going to do this so I went to a Sho in flaish and I'll tell you what shul it was everybody knows anyway it's Rabbi landow shul which is an amazing place and I went to the r and I said to him get this I said to him we want to put hidden cameras in your sh he said I already have 22 of them that's what he told me you never know oh I'm ding there for 25 years I never saw a camera there but he does he took me up to the room upstairs which is the control room and he showed me they truly have 22 cameras in the Sho anyway we decided to bring in additional cameras four more additional hidden cameras that we could use one in the EZ nasham shooting down one in a bag of like a uh which you wouldn't be able to tell like a little duffel bag one in a a cup a coffee cup sitting on the table ready and the fourth one no one will guess this one was actually in the fellow's glasses in his glasses was also a hidden camera and we said let's see what happens if we put him in a synagogue let's put him in SHO and see if anybody says hello and we had the greatest tiub film we've ever had the most imp that we have ever had I've had people telling me almost every day that after that film they began to reach out what an amazing experience so let's relive in very short form we're going to roll we'll call this video [Music] number three thank you video number [Music] three Felix Grumman was born in kishinev mova his mother tragically died in an accident when he was very young and he was basically raised by his grandparents and Jackson Heights Queens so you went to public school high school yes what was your connection to Judaism then none there was no Jewish observance in your life at all no we went to SCH but when you know Services were over it's back to television at home so it's a couple of years ago and and you're begin to search in shs you've been to go to various different shools yes looking for anything something that will spark you and what happens when you go into I was I knew I needed to speak to somebody I needed somebody to hear me out that was very very difficult apparently I I felt like of all the places to to seek sanctity and salvation M sure would have been the place to go do that I think we need to stop right here there I am sitting with Kim he's telling me he's walking into one Shool after the other he's searching and it gets me thinking what would I do what would any of us do meet ape we asked Abe if he would go into a sh in a heavy populated fir area in order to answer my question what would happen with constant MIM Around the Clock we wondered as ABE stands alone does anybody care will any anyone approach him does anyone even notice that he's there will anyone even remember that Abe was standing right next to them let's listen do you recognize this fellow yes he sitting right in front of me did you have any thought about maybe you wanted to approach him or not or um I was thinking about it uh looked like a person that perhaps should have approached what does he look like to you I can't figure it out I did not see his face but he looks like a person that's looking that's looking looking what is wrong why don't we go up there and say hi that's a that's a very good question from Minion to minion to minion nothing really changed I wonder what Abe was thinking I wonder what Abe was feeling I wonder what Felix was feeling when this was happening to him I almost wasn't surprised I wasn't shocked I almost I almost expected what I had the first few tries but I was persistent so one Sunday morning regular you know regular you know Sunday morning I was doing and in walks in this um very young man he just sat down in the in the chair and took out a art scroll sitter and just started reading and looking at it and I kept on saying to myself should I approach him should I approach him so I walked over to him and the first thing I said to him was hi you want to put on a pair film just like that just like that it was the first one it came on M you're a little I was a little nervous a little nervous yeah a little nervous uh you know a guy named D he introduces himself and he say hey would you like to wear my tone that went beyond what I would have even hoped for he he put his The Filling on me that was amazing I said okay so we started putting on thean he he said the braa with me of putting on the he repeated each word and you can tell he was he was emotional there was there was definitely he was definitely emotional about it from that point on I knew that wow this is a guy I could I could communicate with he showed me another side of juli ism that I would have only you know wished to have heard but finally I got to see it for myself we had like this weekly uh like field trip there was a judica store in Queens we'd buy a pair of tittits or he would want to buy a tanak or he would want to buy aish and he would you can see he was thirsty to want to learn more when when he got me a pair of to filling that really that was an investment that's somebody made on me I he I felt like he barely knew me to you know make that kind of commitment but he did I couldn't believe it you never know yeah you really never know who's waiting for you to approach them so it's it's only taking one step forward and Hashem does the rest you never never know who that quiet person that new person in SCH may be and what they're hoping to have when they come to sh but it starts with that first in you know that first hello it was intense it's one of the best things I ever [Music] did [Music] yall see fabulous concept and look what happened I mean it can't be any more clear we brought out the point by putting Abe in the Sho and he was pretty alone pretty much but look what happened when two people were in a Sho one needed the other and the other one came through and as I understand if it's so that our two stars of the film Kim and doid are here tonight in the audience are they here yes wave me a wave time there they are right there amazing amazing amazing autographs later by the way you can Google their names if you like but the truth is yusi if I can step out for a second yusi when you put Abe in that Shool remember I mean that was just a wild day it was a I can't tell you what was going on putting him in every minion with waiting seeing what was going to happen but the truth is and these people don't should they should know this is that he was not totally left alone remember that well not exactly yeah not exactly it's fine let's move on okay he wasn't some people shall we say some people didn't notice him some people noticed him yes see show the show the people who noticed him let's let's just move on no no no show it I'm serious show show do you want to see who noticed him yeah of course they want show here they go some people noticed them oh yeah some people noticed them yeah yeah yeah that's exactly what happens every few minutes every five minutes this was his introduction to landow's Bas medish welcome to Judaism yeah Yi wait a second wait a second folks do you remember what happened we got something in we folks we got something in the mail right after this show the people we got in the mail got a bill this came from ABE in the mail to us a bill in an invoice an invoice look at this look at this an invoice every five minutes folks right remember oh and then we had the aiyah right he was a Cen nobody knew look at that $36 mulai thank you he had a few coffees that day look at that $20 what else did he have what else did he other oh yeah parking ticket of course hey it's Brooklyn 125 yeah we'll try to take care of that oh this is a good one the skull cap expense mid funeral home two bucks anybody want to sponsor that oh yeah the Trump for president campaign $500 was an appeal in the Sho and finally yes a few therapy sessions for Abe with a who Dr yakob Solomon yes yeah those'll discount thank you everybody okay that was our uh amazing experience yassi it worked Yi oh you left right okay uh a couple of things to remind you about coming up this year two trips very important we bring people to Israel we bring people to Poland we take trips and we bring both secular and nonsecular we bring from and the not yet from together and there's a a chance an opportunity for you to join us to go to Erol on a Israel recharge Mission which is coming up in June if you want to come we need about 25 people or so in May I'm sorry in May uh we need about 25 people or so to join us uh and join a nice group of people who have already been ter Israel it is a profound experience you go there for about uh is it eight days or so about eight days or so and the people come back absolutely transformed and the truth is that if you come along you'll be transformed too you've never seen AR Israel like this if you have an opportunity you think about it maybe you're interested in doing it fabulous idea I'm going to tell you how to volun uner shortly and here's a second one the trip to Poland that we take we do this pretty often this is at the end of May for this year leaves on a Sunday come back on a Thursday again going to Poland as I have gone a couple of times it will actually really change your life in many many many ways so if you have an opportunity to join us again looking for another 25 people men and women uh for the Poland trip if you want to do it uh you can email right now email right now to infopro inspire.com info you could I don't care if you take out your phone right now if you still have it if you didn't leave it home if you take out phone info Pro inspire.com and just say you're interested in one of those two trips got it got it okay okay listen to this we all know that Hashem is with us we can do anything and rberg taught us that the main thing is do we want it enough if you really want to do it you know it's in the bag as he used to say it's in the bag if you really want it it's done the problem is of course we don't want it enough let's remember let's remember what our rashash Shiva said and reminding us so many times in a very special way just for 60 seconds about what it means to really want something video number four When you pray to God what do you say to God I say Almighty I know that you care about this much more than me I know that you want me to succeed I know that if you help me we can change the whole world I know you want to help me I know I just have to want it enough please help me to want to feel this pain the way you feel it so that you can help me do it that's what you got to do ladies and gentlemen I'm going to take the chance of telling you that you are a about to be astounded I'm not worried about that I think it's so you have to want it enough we found somebody who wants it enough and I met this young man a couple of months ago it's a young man from California and I saw his presentation and we said this young man canach teach us of what it means to really want something I'm going to be very careful with this introduction because I don't want to give too much away but we found out what it really means to want and I will tell you this if he's not the most exciting presentation you've ever seen it certainly will be the youngest roll the film number five yes [Music] hello hello my name is Dylan and I'm 6 years old I wrote a book named Chocolate Bar to ra money for my friends Jonah's charity it's about what's awesome to me I like to go to the beach that is so chocolate B Dylan is Jonah's best friend he decided a couple months ago that he wanted to write a book to to help raise a million dollars for finding a cure for my son's uh rare liver condition glycogen storage disease type 1B I felt good when my friend was trying to help me so I could get better and feel like other people it was so chocolate bar after Dylan finished the pages he handed them to us and said will you go make copies he was really persistent and really passionate we knew that we had to to take action Dylan has touched us so much it's beautiful it's it's so beautiful thank you for helping us find a cure for him because we're going to do it with all of your help thank you so much it's been an amazing amazing journey for us as parents to see um another parents child do this and we got a little choked up with emotion I like to help my friend that is the biggest chocolate ball we were really really thrilled to get behind this project cuz we knew it would send the message out to other children that they had power doesn't matter if you're 6 years old or 30 or 100 if you have a big idea and a big heart and you want to make something happen you can do [Applause] it hello everyone how is your shabus I just want to thank you for inviting me here hello everyone I'm Dylan seagull and nine years old and that's my friend Jonah Jonah was born with a really rare disease called glycogen storage disease type 1 be it is so rare he is literally one in a million when I was 6 years old I I wanted to help raise money to find a cure to to find a cure for his disease my mom and dad suggested a lemonade stand or a bake sale but I wanted to do something else I wanted to write a book because I knew I could sell it for more than lemonade or cookies I decided to write about things that are awesome to me like bowling Cades and the beach and I called it chocolate bar cuz that's my madeup word for awesome after all what could be more awesome than helping my friend Jonah once I finished the pages I gave them to my mom and dad I had to bug them every day until finally they turned them into a book they said I was really persistent which I think is a nice way of saying I was annoying we decided to sell my book at a school event after a few hours we had raised thousands of dollars it was really fun but I wanted to do more I told my parents and everyone everywhere that I was going to raise $1 million cuz Jonah's won in a million they all thought I was crazy my mom said do you even know how much $1 million is and I responded yeah of course it's half a Bugatti next we did a reading at a bookstore the news heard all about our story and put us on TV it was really cool book orders started coming in from all all over the world everyone pitched into to help my family Jonah's family friends teachers pretty soon we' raised $100,000 then $200,000 and then after a year of hard work we raised $500,000 no one thought I was crazy anymore kids starting started sending me letters saying how much I I inspired them which made me even more determined to reach my goal after two years of hard work my dream came true so far we have sold almost 30,000 copies of our book in all 50 states and over 60 countries around the world and we have Ray drum roll please almost $1.2 [Applause] million I even wrote my book in Portuguese now that I've reached my goal I want to share my story with kids everywhere and show them that they could help make a difference too would you like me to read my book to you now in English of course I can't hear you just remember I wrote it when I was 6 years old chocolate bar by Dylan seagull chocolate bar by Dylan seagull illustrated by Dylan seag I like to go to Disneyland that is so chocolate bar I like to go to Universal Studios that is so chocolate bar I like to go to the beach that is so chocolate bar I like to go swimming that is so chocolate bar I like to go to the aquarium that is so chocolate bar I like to go to the bowling alley that is so chocolate bar I like to go to the arcade that is so chocolate bar I like to help my friends that is the biggest chocolate bar this book is dedicated to my friend Jonah all money made will be donated to the Jonah porn arean gstd fund thank you for your help does anyone have any questions I have some questions what do you say to Dylan seagull unbelievable the first thing I want to ask you is a little bit of advice if you don't mind you see you raised $1.2 million is that right yes yes so so far right see yeah you wrote one book right yes yeah I've written four books I owe about $660,000 um I'm just wondering where you could help you have to write a cute book when you're six years old here's his dad everybody big round of applause good evening every everybody tell us how proud you are of Dylan it's unbelievable I mean we're in shock every time we think about it and in front of so many people like tonight it it just brings us to tears speaking of of crying I mean this is uh a crying moment now and uh and by the way I have to say it wow right I mean this has been inspirational beyond belief what did you think about what did you think when he first came up with the idea I mean what I'm sure you've been that we said that's nice now go to bed you know like every kid they say crazy things all the time and every once in a while they follow through with it and when they do it's it's magic right how much money did you think he was going to raise originally about a 100 bucks and now he rais 1.2 and tell us how Jonah is doing well Jonah is doing well right now but um just recently he got an infection in infection and ended up in the hospital but now he's doing better but like if he gets a tiny tiny infection that we wouldn't even notice he could he could end up in the hospital I think you gave us the name for us to Davin for him right what is the name you remember the name well his name's uh Jonah Bina Bina Jonah yonah Jonah Bina folks look what you can do a there's a saying that says there's nothing you can't do when you have enough will right so I mean it's what better example what does it mean to Dylan what does it mean for you to be Jewish what what does that say to you being Jewish means celebrating Shabbat with your family and being kind to your friends and it also means like learning values and using them really well wow Dylan seagull everybody and there amazing and by the way his mom is right here his mom is here also [Applause] fantastic if you want to support this this book will be available outside after the program is finished right and even autographed copies right but we still have to talk about my debt that's thank you very much thank you everyone don't forget get to go to Chocolate Bar book.com and donate and go outside and buy books we only have 300 copies so buy one before we're sold [Applause] out the kid he's putting me out of business to tell you wow was that amazing or what by the way if we have if we have a good photographer here we need to get a shot the rashash Shiva is reading the chocolate bar book what I tell you m m unbelievable Fant and he was six he was six when he wrote that wow by the way bar we married off all our kids Dylan if you want to join my family you don't want to stay in California right want to come to Brooklyn sure okay wonderful my tremendous kisuk speaking of kisuk let's show let's show video number six because this is an interesting little thing that we put together because so many times we reach out and we don't know what happens and everybody knows that whatever happens happens and as long as we put in our isas it's excellent that's what we want to do however we always like to see we like to see what happens to some of the people so there are some people on this film that you actually know if you've been here before and some people that you don't but we often are able to do enough with some of these fellows and we send them off to Yeshiva very often to AA Tor of course so let's roll video number six of the great uh Yeshiva guys film as far as my background in Judaism secular reformed whatever you want to call it had a bar mitzvah basically you know did all the normal things that a uh secular Jew growing up in the midwest would do I grew up in the San Francisco Bay in California growing up I was I was generally uncomfortable with you know the practice of Judaism just due to my life lack of knowledge I was born in Brooklyn New York and uh my family grew up in Flatbush at the first project Inspire convention that I went to was a shabbaton called The Body and Soul Retreat one of the people who I met there was a guy from burough park named yidi kleene I sat next to this young man told him goodas and that's the first time I laid my eyes on Roger Goldberg he asked me if I had put to film on that day which I hadn't I hadn't started putting on T Fillin yet so uh we went and put on T Fillin and then chatted for a little bit afterward as a result of that action I started putting Fain on gives me a call comfor shab sometime here's my number and I had such an amazing time at the meal is the family setting the family gathering Theus and the dver Tor and the meal I saw something that was above anything I've ever seen before they came here for a shabas and he was very interested and and participated being there with my mom and being there with the beg guns who made it so easy and so comfortable and you know they're obviously religious but I'm obviously not but yet that divide doesn't matter because of that atmosphere that they've created they've helped both my mother and I become more religious after really getting to know Adam and Jerry at the body and soul Retreat to and I realized that the next step for Adam would be to go to erell in some sort of learning working situation he said he's going to go it was summertime he wants to go for a six week program to a Yeshiva in Israel to check it out to see if it's really if he's is really ready to take the next step we looked into the best programs for him that could combine the working and learning that he was looking for Israel did bring this sense of home this comfortability this sense I be myself what it means to be Jewish everyone told me there's no place like learning in Israel in Israel the learning is the best at aor they have a program called Essentials it's a three program very beginning education uh about Jewish studies for a year and a half I'm learninga Tor coming to Str to learning Yeshiva full time to be around such amazing people other Jewish people I really see a big difference in my life and and I'm much happier I feel I feel like I'm doing something important that matters and that's going to better me my family the Jewish people if you would have asked me two years ago do I ever see myself at studying in a Yeshiva I would have thought that you were absolutely crazy but now that I'm here I realized that this is an environment that is geared towards personal growth immediately when he got there he felt that this is his place he decided that he does just doesn't want to be there for just a few weeks he wants to make this is permanent home [Music] the different gestures that people are helping me organizing toil in for me kusus for me going to chabas it changed my whole life I saw there there's people that that I have on my team there's people that care for me I'm in Yeshiva and I'm learning Torah it affected my whole life forever I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the help of other Jewish people who decided to take the care to see how I'm doing to to see if I wanted to to grow in Judaism they were there to help me they were there to show me the opportunities that I didn't even know I had there are so many Jewish Souls that are out there that don't know much about religion or Yiddish kite and it's up to us as the firm Community to step up to the plate and and show them just show them what the Torah represents show them what the Torah is what do we have in common we grew up secular we were embraced by the Orthodox community [Music] we never expected to be religious we certainly never dreamt of learning in Yeshiva thank you thank you thank you thank [Music] you hi very good you know who I am uh I saw you on the stage so I assume you're an important guy uh yeah I'm very important did you ever Google me uh not really no very important yeah I will I will when I get back to my room have we have we ever met before we have not my name is yakob Solomon I but I'm going to be a psychic and I'm G to predict your name I think it's Fernando yeah you gu right how did I know that I have no idea I did a lot of research about you how's that feel feels a little weird but people get arrested for things like that yeah definitely definitely uh anyway so uh my my mind tells me that you live in Tiana yeah I do do you learn in in a school in San Diego yeah how come you never invited me to speak over there I am now please come we need speakers I love San Diego it's really wonderful yes on my number anyway so uh I heard about you and I uh I know that some people from Project Inspire came out to San Diego a couple of months ago right you remember that yeah so you're studying there now it's a kind of a big must be a big trip from Tijana but uh yeah it's it's I commute I take kind of like the subway in in San Diego I cross the border and then I commute but it's it's worth it definitely beautiful how was I spoke to even Rabbi adato is that right yeah hea Riva nice man he likes you very much yeah I I hope so at least anyway so we we heard that um that you're kind of interested in uh in furthering your studies and your jewi study is that true definitely yeah I want you to uh turn your attention to the stage now see if you know anybody standing on there you know anybody standing at the at the stage there right up there right who's that uh ruane and the rabbi okay you know ruane who's that Ru uh Ruan handman handman let's go up and talk to ruane okay yeah okay folks we're going up to talk to Ruan before we end the program tonight this is very exciting isn't it exciting yeah I wonder what's going to happen Okay so come over here let's see okay ruane step up here Ruan so ruane here who knows you because he met you in San Diego yeah we met when when he they came to speak at school and ruane here heard about everything that you're doing right so ruane has something um really interesting really interesting to tell you okay yeah there's also a letter that I'm going to I have him read okay and Ruan it's all yours okay so about uh 10 years ago I was searching myself to find you know I had questions I wanted answers to and I was searching for a uh deeper meaning in life and I didn't have the uh you know I didn't have the funds to get to Israel and to find a school and to uh to find those answers and someone said that he found someone to help me out to fund my trip to Israel and to find answers and I never found out who it was and about five years ago I found out who it was and I went over to him I said how can every rep pay he said one day is going to come when you're going to be able to return the favor and help someone else out and I forgot about it and then I went to San Diego and something struck in my mind and it uh I remember that promise that I made that I'm going to help the next person out to pay it along and there's a letter I would just like to read to you say dear Fernando there's a lot of excitement here at Yeshiva s Tor geser as we begin to plan for next year R green enjoyed meeting with you and feel strongly that you have a lot of potential to succeed in and gain from geser therefore we are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted to isra Torah the upcoming year between 2016 and 2017 we look forward to welcome you as part of the gester family please feel free to contact us with any other questions that you might have looking for forward to a great year together with do Rosman Innovation Tor geser [Applause] program now I didn't write that letter I've never seen that but I made a promised five years ago that I'm gon to help with the next guy and that trip not is an exception letter but you have a old expense trip to Israel for the entire year or the plane fly at the school pass it along Beautiful Song Ma beautiful song written by Brazil ma you're going you're really [Music] [Applause] going [Music] yes now she it's now she [Music] heaven build of all [Music] theen when the [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] she [Music] she it's [Music] real v v of El [Music] Elijah El [Music] el el [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Applause] [Music] my [Music] I [Music] Sho Brazil and S kiner and Dylan seagull and [Music] Fernando thank you everybody a