Project Inspire Convention 2026 - Rabbi Shlomo Farhi - Sunday Keynote Session "It's Not a Project!"

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, last night we went back and forth. Should we give you a taste of Rabbi Schlommo Fari and then wet your pallets for today or should we just wait for today? And we felt that the more we can get of Rabbi Fari, the better. And so once it was confirmed that no one's name was Cleal Ha Fuen, thank goodness. And once we confirmed that there wasn't a soul in the room who wasn't facing challenges with regard to their children, it was now a wellestablished boy is not only one of the most dynamic and soughtafter speakers in the firm community today happens also to be a dear friend and yeshiva mate and it's always great to see him back at the project inspire convention. It's one of the things I look forward to at the convention to close it out as a rabbi of Ashul. very very very difficult almost impossible to get him to come for an entire shabas but we're lucky enough to have him for many many years at the project inspire convention on the Sunday to what we call close out the weekend what better way than to reintroduce to you my dear friend and colleague the rabbi of the edund J Saffra synagogue in Manhattan Rabbi Schlommo Fari It's always tough when you have to speak right at the end. Um, and a lot of the people have had to go home. You know there's a there's a packed schedule sometimes and as you know over Shabas Yasi has had to tell the speakers that they have uh instead of 10 minutes they have seven minutes instead of 15 minutes they have eight minutes. So over the whole Shabas I davened for a snowstorm. I said a please don't let Charlie Harrari come. I want to be the best speaker at that part of the section. Don't let Robert don't let Mr. Don be there. just if it could just be me, that would be amazing. 10:30 to 12 is an hour and a half. That should be enough for what I want to say. And Hashem said, "Fine." And the malam were like, "But the people are not going to be there." And Hashem's like, "Shh, let him get a taste of his own medicine. You reap what you sow." And now we all have pastrami for decades. Project Inspire putting Clusol back into everything. They put the ammy back into pastrami. Unbelievable. Okay, let's begin. I want to share with you a mind-blowing kidush. Uh Yasi, tell me if I'm wrong. I kind of feel like the people that hung out for this, they don't really need to be inspired. I have an amazing kadesh on the Hagada that I wanted to share. Therefore, I'm not going to talk about Project Inspire at all. We're just going to do something else. But for real, a big I know that uh nobody knows what's going to happen. I think uh the meteorologists I mean I'm not sure if there's a more boring job than being a meteorologist. Can we agree on that? Right. You know, today the barometric pressure is up, it's down. It's going to be wet, cold, hot, sunny, windy, and then you're wrong almost all of the time. I mean, this is the worst job. So, they sit around in a bunker somewhere probably having coffee with construction workers and they're like, "What could we do to spice this up? Let's come up with new names. I know. Let's call it a bomb cyclone." What? We have a bomb cyclone. Is that what's happening? Okay. Soon we're going to introduce the sirens of merit that the bomb cyclone you know that's what we're experiencing. So if you're here I appreciate it. Thank you for bearing with me. But I want to share with you an amazing kush something that rocked me to my core. And when I was learning about it over Shabbat I thought I must share this with the unbelievable people that are here and especially the unbelievable people that stay until the very end. Revelash once asked an amazing question. He said, "We know that the kaleim of the beta mikdash, they represent different things. The aon, as we mentioned last night, represents Torah." But what's so interesting about that is that there's another vessel in the beta mikdash that also represents Torah. Which one is that? The minor. Why did you need two khim to represent the Torah? Powerful question from Revelash. Now, for some of you who are learners, you'll know that there's an expression that comes up again and again in Perkavot that you don't find in other Mishnot. And that is the dynamic of who does that mean? He used to say you don't find in you don't find in you don't find in you know you don't see that it just says so why do we have this different format when it comes to and explain that when it came to a rabbi could say something when it came to a sh in suka rebel could say something when it came to how many strings you had to have on your no problem. Go for it. But when it came to messages you wanted to pass on to all generations, when it came to and education, it is not enough to say something. Rather, we required a much higher level of saying a saying of who? What does this mean? Ravakov Kamineski was once asked, "How did you and the Rebbitson teach your children how to make properly?" He said, "We never taught our children how to make properly. We just made properly in front of our children and our children learned how to make properly." Rabyakov Kamitki was famously addicted to emit. So his kids they learned what it means to be people oft spoke it said it illustrated it in a way that no words ever could. This idea is to reel Yash. Real Yash asked this question. Why the Aon? Why the minor? And what he says is so fascinating. He says that the Aon which sits in the cordeshim which is alone. It's in a room that nobody can go and nobody can see. It is the ultimate level of privacy. And that represents what has to be learning Torah in private doing mitzvot quietly. Nobody sees that is what a righteous Jew a Torah learner a benra is. But says Rebel Yashifen Torah also has to be someone whose Torah is not locked in a room. But like the minor takes the light of Torah and shines it for others. So the two modalities of a one hidden away private a giving system where nobody sees you walk up and put in a dollar. Nobody gets to thank you or pat you on the back. You get an automated email. Only Microsoft Outlook is like, "Wow, look at you." Schlommoari, your donation has been received. You should add that. By the way, my friends, it's Revel only wanted to get back to his gim. How many did he write? Anyone have Revel Yasha's books in their house? Correct. There aren't any people wrote his he guided an entire generation. But he was at and yet he felt that he needed to do he needed to bring the people in. He needed to answer their questions. There were specific times that anyone could come with any problem. And he considered that his obligation. He told his children and his grandchildren. If a Jew learns Torah but doesn't do is what you have. So if you're a businessman and you don't do your business will wither and die. Like the puk says. So kindness with another builds a person's olam. If you live in the world of business, your business world is built by your if you live in the world of Torah, your world will wither and die if you don't do. His grandson said, "Zadei, I don't see you going to soup kitchens. I don't see you going around helping old ladies across the street. I don't see you setting up websites like daily giving. You talk a big game, but where's your and re Yash said, I close my gim. I sit here with the people. I answer ALL THEIR QUESTIONS. THAT'S my for Yash. That unbelievable giving act. The hardest thing in the world for him to do was to close his gim. I wish all of us could say the same thing. But we all could relate to perhaps part of this idea. You want whatever it is you do. I don't know you. You wanted to have the only thing that builds whatever you're building is kindness with another. I want to share with you a fascinating idea. When Mosherenu built the Mishkan, the midrash says, "Fascinating Midash, when Hashem said to Moshe, build me a temple, he started to ask and say your honor fills the universes, the galaxies and the underworlds. It fills everything. It's infinite. And you're telling me you want me to build you a Mishkan. But then the Midrash continues. And listen to what it says. And Moshe also was looking and seeing in the future with Niva. Modash that Shilom was building a beta mikdash. It was much bigger than the Mishkan. How much bigger was the beta mikdash than the Mishkan? Does anybody know? We have Ken Spiro here with us. I'm sure he could uh give us a guided tour of both the virtual Mishkan and the virtual beta mikdash. It was exactly 12 times bigger. I think that's uh because of the uh the shivatim. How is it 12 times bigger? The beta mcdash was 30 by 10 by 10 and the betam right was 60 by 20 by 20. Fascinating. So that's not 12 times if you do the math, but it was 30 ammote high. Whereas the beta, the Mishkan was 10 amote. So the Mishkan had 3,000 cubic amote and the mikdash had 36,000 cubic amote. So there was 12 times the amount of space for Hashem to be, SAYS MOSHE. AND I see in the future is going to say about the house that Schlommo built, never mind Ruth. COULD GOD EVER LIVE IN THE EARTH THAT HE COULD live in my building? That he could himself into my building? Mcdash is audio tear the audio tear the audio tear the audio tear 12 times. If Schlommo felt that way about his beta mikdash how could my Mishkan hold you God? Hashem answers him says the midrash in the end not like you think do I think rather build a mishkan 20 panels on one side each one a mile and a half eight on the west uh eight on either side east and the west and I will put myself in that space that's what Hashem says to Moshe and the midrash ends and says and Not only that, not only will I be in 30 by 10, I'm going to condense my presence alma in a space of one by one. My friends, I have two questions. Question number one, a question posed by the Tashahar. He asks a brilliant question. What is Moshe's? Let me give you an example as to what this midrash actually sounds like in real life. I want you to imagine the biggest thing, physical thing you ever saw in your life. I don't know if you've been to Mount Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro. I don't know if the biggest thing you ever saw was uh the the the uh freedom tower or uh a cruise ship, right? Or a super big gulp from 7-Eleven. Whatever the biggest thing you ever saw in your life was, I want you to imagine someone telling you, "I'm going to put Mount Everest in this little tiny, you know, the little thing that the gum comes in, right? with the Hebrew letters on it because the only one that's kosher is merit Israel, right? It's like express or something like that. Always. Someone needs to work on PR in Israel. I think I kind of feel like you ever realize that all of the stores have the same guy, right? And it's the same guy who sells you like oer and like life insurance. Life insurance. Bets by the way and I always point out that that guy also has a side job when you call information. Same guy like just diverse as someone else entered the space. Anyway, my friends, if someone told you fit it into this little gum container, you're like, I'm going to fit the Empire State Building into a gum container. And your guy says, "Yo, you're totally right. Here's a plastic bag. The plastic bag is bigger than the gum container, BUT RELATIVE TO THE SIZE OF THE THING WE'RE talking about, does it make a difference if it's a tic tac box or if it's a plastic bag? MOSHE IS SAYING THAT GOD'S PRESENCE IS infinite and it doesn't fit in my Mishkan. And then he's like, "Oh my gosh." And look in Schlommo's building, which is 60 by 20, not 30. Like if Hashem didn't fit in there, how's he going to fit in this? That's a question of what is this? It makes no sense. It's obviously not an issue of size. Says the are an answer that will knock your socks off. He says Moshe was not saying that's big enough or my thing is smaller, but if that was because it was all infinite versus finite. Moshe was saying if Schlommo built a beta mikdash that was bigger that means that as a human being as Am is we could have built something bigger. SO I KNOW HASHEM IS GOING TO BE IN WHATEVER IT IS THAT I could do if I do THE MAXIMUM. BUT THIS IS NOT THE MAXIMUM THAT I or we can do. SO HOW COULD GOD DWELL IN THIS if there WAS MORE MAXIMUM THAT could be delivered by human beings? That's his question. Are you understanding the import and impact of that question? Now Hashem has to dwell in the maximum that we could do. Hashem says I don't think like you Moshe. It's true. Humanity could do more. But you can do more. Schlommo lives in Erit Israel. Schlommo lives in a country where there is no war. Schlommo could build a beta mcdash that big. You You're traveling in the desert. Your Mishkan is portable. It needs to move from place to place. 42 times they would move in the desert. It needs to go everywhere with you. SO EVEN IF YOU'RE capable of more, but I don't JUST SEE YOU. I see you in the situation that you are in. Your maximum is not defined by your potential maximum. It's defined by your actual present maximum. If you need to move, this is the thing that you need to build and I will be there. This is your maximum now given your current circumstances needing to move again and again. The word mishkan which is a different word than mikdash. Mishkan means to dwell. But I believe that there's another element to the mishkan and why the temporary portable mishan was called mishkhan because the word mishkan also means mashkan. God drew them, moved them. God was pulling them from place to place, taking them through different things in their life. The wordbar says not only that they were in a desert, but it is betar 42 things. They needed to travel to 42 locations to achieve 42 things in their life as Jews before they got to perfection. And you and I need to have those stops along the way as well. So don't ask that rabbi Schlommo Fari. He speaks, he goes, he does. He could be marv Jews. He could bring people back. He could teach people about Judaism. You know how I know that you can't say that's what Schlommo DID BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HASHEM SAID TO MOSHE. Don't tell me about what Schlommo did. Let's talk about what you could do and what you could do given your life circumstances right now where you are between places. It's hard to have guests over, Rabbi. I'm in an in between apartment. Hashem says, "Then that's not what I want from you. It's hard for me to sit and talk to people about Judaism when I myself I'm hurting. I was hurt by something by a system by an educational model. It's hard for me. Hashem says then that's not what I need. But give me your maximum and that will be that must be enough. And now we come to the last part of the midrash and it jumps off the page. Now, Hashem says, "And it's not only that I will dwell in a Mishkan that Moshe Rabenu lives in and built with the Jewish people, but rather even I will condense myself further to amma alma a space of one amma by one amma." My friends, what is he talking about? Theim say that God was saying, "I will condense myself to the space the width of the Aon." That's what the mashim say. But if anyone was paying attention is the No, it's two and a half by one and a half by one and a half. So what does it mean that God said I will condense myself to one by one? The puk actually tells us that Hashem says and I will share myself with you there and I will speak The width of it was one and a half. But Hashem says, "I'm not going to speak to you from there. I'm going to speak to you from in between the Kiruim." You know where Hashem's voice is, where Hashem's presence is, where Hashem speaks to us, to this world. When two Jews are hugging one another, the kiruim would literally but the says they would they were w holding each other in an embrace. THE HASHEM'S voice it comes from there amma alma one space the space of connection between Jews. But maybe there's a deeper understanding here. An amma if it's uh if it's 18 in if it's 2 feet. But one thing we know for sure what is an amma from here until here. That's the size of an amma. We find that word in the puk where batya is sitting at the riverbank and she sent her arm. You know what it MEANS THAT HASHEM SAYS I'm going to condense myself to AMMA ONE ARM ALMA THE OTHER ARM. WHAT DOES A PERSON DO WITH TWO ARMS? THEY HUG. They give. They put in all of their effort. HASHEM SAYS IN THIS SPACE OF amma el amma I will always be there. The Arizal takes it one step further. The Arizal says that when a poor person gets saddaka from a rich person that moment as he stretches out his arm the arm the long arm is a vav. The five fingers is a hay. The coin is a yud and the hand of the ani is another five fingers yud and then hey and then vav and then hey that is god's name says the he brings the and the act of shalom is god's name the act of freeze FRAME IT THAT KODAK MOMENT IS GOD IT'S NOT THAT GOD appears there it's Not that God blesses there. It's not that God rewards there. That is Hashem in this world. Says the mish when the rich and the poor meet up. All of that says Hashem is God is me. The word rash which means poor in the common vernacular in the Talmud's expression the Gimar uses the word poor to mean not only poor in money but like the gimar says be careful for the sons of the poor because from them will Torah emanate. We are not talking about people who are on food stamps. We are not talking about people who need tuition assistance. We're talking about people who don't yet know Hebrew. We're talking about people who are bal. We're talking about that guy in the shul who doesn't really know which way to hold the sidur. But he's coming to his Judaism with such love and attachment and connection that his kids, they feel the sweetness of Torah and Judaism. Perhaps because it was missing for so long and absence made that heart grow fonder. When you have that, when you make that phone call, when you do everything you can, Hashem is instantly there. That is the moment of I thought to myself, that's what it means. Show me that that's what you could do. Show me that that's all you could do and then I will come and bless it to places and to ways that you could never have imagined possible. You think that you can't. You think that someone else should, but Hashem says you only you. You don't have the key to another Jew's heart. You are the key. Now my friends, I believe that maybe this is the reason why it says in the in every Jewish home that is built. We leave a space which is one by one opposite the door. And most of us think that's to remember the and that's correct. But what are we remembering? We're remembering that the alma WHICH WAS IN THE WHICH ONLY THE ACCESS TO EVERYONE HAS ACCESS TO. MY HOME HAS AMMA ALMA RIGHT AT THE DOOR. THE SECOND I OPEN that door. My friends, all it takes is the opening of a door. All it takes is a smile to a person. All it takes is an outstretched hand and a good chabas or as some of us say, pajamas. My friends, I'm going to ask you today to recognize that Project Inspire is actually a misnomer. That should not be the name of this organization because really if you think that it is a project you already missed the boat. They're not asking you to become a kiru professional or to go and get smika. They're not actually asking you even to do kiru. I don't even know what that means but they're not asking you to do that. They're asking you to be yourself a little bit more loudly. Invite someone for Shabbat. You talk Torah naturally. You love giving over a kush to someone in sh as a rabbi. As soon as you step down, everyone wants to share a vert with you. And I often want to tell people I'm already from this is a great V. Save it. Ziplo go to that guy that everyone's ignoring. Share it with him and then come and share it with me. Everybody has a favorite vert, a great idea, an amazing story. These are not small acts. These are not second best. These are not I can't do what he's doing. So, at the very least, I'm going to do this. Your best is Hashem revealing himself in that moment. That smile is ma hari. It's not a small act. It's a seismic act. It's a gamecher. Now, understand this. The Aron can't be the minor and the minor can't be the shukan and the shukan can't be the misbeh. They are different vessels. They are different functions. But it is one God and one mission. And Hashem tells all of us when he asks us to build a place for him to be in this world. He says I only want I don't ask for someone who has a skill. I don't ask for someone who has expertise. I ask for someone who has desire, who has care, who has an open heart, not the most talented, but the most willing. Can we be the most willing? Now, I know you. You know why I know you? Not because I know you, but because I know in a room of this size, with this amount of people, guaranteed, you're going to have some of these and some of those. Last night I met a husband and wife and the husband the wife introduced herself and the husband is standing right behind silent a little bit quieter and she said so brilliantly. She said I'm the one that does the talking. It was great. I thought that was awesome. And I looked at the husband. The husband was like, "Yeah, fair correct assessment." And he did not look upset by that. He was perfectly happy that she was willing to do the talking. You know why? Because he was maybe a little bit more introverted. He's much happier not having to talk. We are built differently. If I have a beta mikdash and I have an aon in the kesh, what's the holiest vessel? Aron. And I said to myself, you know something? I have a fantastic idea. I have a lot of gold. I mean, not now. Now it's very expensive, but I have a lot of gold. And you know what? I'm not going to go build a I'm going to put a aron in the keshim. And then I'm going to put another aron in the kodesh. And then instead of the minor, I'm going to put another aron. And then I'm going to put another aron in the ker instead of the I'm going to fill the room with a beta mikdash is not viable. You can't bring a there. It's impossible. Each thing was there designed as a part of the story and you need all of them. Some people when they walk in, they're the light of the light up the whole room. There's never a silent moment with them in sight. And some people are amazing listeners. So the Jew that needs you to talk can only be serviced by the first person. And the Jew who only wants to be heard can only be serviced by the second person. Some of you have resources to be able to donate money and some of you have no resources, but you have tremendous wisdom. People think, "I don't know enough to be able to teach." But really, you do know enough cuz you don't need to know everything in order to inspire somebody. You just need to know something that they don't already know. And I can promise you, you already know many things that they don't already know. So you're looking at this person and thinking how could I have anything to share with them. Meanwhile, you don't realize that this person is not far from Torah. Maybe does not mean people who are far from Torah because the Torah was imprinted on every single soul already before they were born. Maybe they're not far from Torah. They're just far from someone who believed that they could get close. And suddenly the second you step into their lives, you unlock the Torah, it's already there. There was a woman who told me that she became completely from and I said, "Really? What was the turning point for you?" And she said something that just knocked my socks off. She said, "There was this person in the community who always texted me before Rosh Shana. She said,"Happy New Year. I hope that you have a beautiful year. This is the time of year when you get judged. Maybe put out some apples and honey on the table." It meant a lot to her. She cared so much about this holiday. And after a while, she said, I thought to myself, if someone else cares this much about this, maybe maybe I should also care. That's not a dasha. That's not an invite for Shabbat. That's not a trip to Israel or to Poland. That's a happy new year message. And that's all it was. If Schlomba talks about a certain person in his circle that the only reason he became religious is because once he smiled at that person and the person remembered the rabbi as a guy who smiled at him. Sometimes you could bring a person to the just with a smile. And when I read the story, I started crying because the word in lashes in Hebrew for a smile is if you split that word in half, you have it's life brought to the just with a smile. My friends, there's not one person here who has an excuse. Not one person here who can't do enough. Not one person who was going to be able to come to Shamayim and say to Hashem, "Hand on my heart, I used amma alma both of my hands." As if we did, the problem would already have been solved. Yasi described a a young Israeli Jew that maybe didn't want anything to do with this, but with one night with us, all of a sudden he's open. When I lived in England, I was playing basketball with a bunch of Israeli guys and I would have a big uh, you know, a cap that would come pull down on my head, you know, like one of those big nanak yamakas and I would wear shorts and a t-shirt. I never told them I was a rabbi. I was coming to play ball. Not relevant. What am I going to do? Make them not foul me as much? You know, I'm a rabbi. I'm delicate, right? You guys eat well. I eat jell. Like, you know, I wasn't I wasn't looking for sympathy. I was looking for exercise. One day, someone came to the game. He knew who I was. He's like, "Hey, Rabbi, pass me." The game stopped. All these secular Israeli guys from London stop. Rabbi, where's the rabbi? They're looking around. He said, "Him, he's the rabbi." They were like, "Nah, I don't know how you prove a rabbi like when you don't have like I had no papers with me. I don't What was I going to do?" Like, you know, Like what was I gonna do? I don't know what I was gonna And then I thought of the perfect way to prove to a bunch of Israeli secular basketball players that I must actually be a rabbi. I told them we've been playing basketball for a year already. They said, "Yeah." I said, "Have you ever heard me curse on the court?" You must be a rabbi. Well, now that I was a rabbi and the cat was out of the bag, I invited them to come to my house for Shabbat. And they all did. And they sat there around the table, them and their children. And one of them even brought their mother cuz they heard that there was free unlimited food. And the mother the whole time we're all having a great time. We're talking about Israel. I'm singing Israeli songs. I don't really know that many secular Israeli songs. Like now there's like a lot of crossover hits like you know what I mean? Like now you could sing a now you could say there's a lot of great songs from Shaibo that they all know, right? You could pull all of that off. But back then there was like nothing. I'm looking at the guy. He's looking at me. I'm looking at the guy. He's looking at me. I'm like I did my best. Shalom. That's all I got. You know, that was where we over overlapped. And the whole time the mother or the grandmother of these kids is sitting there shaking her head. And I said, "Saft, what's the problem?" And she says, "I can't believe where I'm sitting." She says, "I grew up, my son Raz, he grew up in in the most anti-religious kibbuts in the world. We were raised to hate you, to believe that you were a virus. We we were taught that you were the evil, the devil incarnate, that you were going to destroy the country. I never would have believed that I'd find myself at a Shabbat table of a rabbi. I said, "No." She goes, "Saba." I was like, "I'll take Saba. That's the best I can get." Okay. But the answer is I said why do you think it is that all of a sudden here you're willing to come? And she said something so special. She said in Israel our identity as Jews is being Israeli. That's what it means to be Jewish. Our identity is the land. Building the land, farming the land. That's what it is. But but here where we're not attached to Israel, what are we? Who are we? So your heart, it longs for something. It wants something. So here we are at the Shabbat table. My friends, that sentiment shared by a woman and her children and her grandchildren shared to hate religion is something that is everywhere you look post October 7th. Because if the Judaism of the Jewish Israeli was Israel, then the Judaism of the American Jew was It was liberal values. It was progressive ideas. But then when we were slaughtered, WHO MARCHED with us? No one. When we WERE KILLED AND OUR WOMEN were taken in the most horrific ways, which women's group or women's rights group STOOD UP AND CONDEMNED WHAT HAPPENED? NONE. SUDDENLY, THE JEW OF AMERICA SAYS, "Thus bin, WHAT AM I? WHO AM I?" AND ORGANIZATIONS LIKE PROJECT Inspire that only really gather people like you and ask people like you and tell people like you, I DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO the person who's in your office. It doesn't matter what Schlommo built. What are you building? What are you inviting? How are you smiling? How are you holding the door? What word could you say? What story could you share? What kala could you bring? Arab Shabbat. My wife made this. I know that you're Jewish. We're here in the office. It's tough times. Kala makes everything better. Unless you're gluten-free and then I don't know what to tell you, my friends. We have the power. We have the knowledge. There is nothing that we are lacking in this mission. Nothing. I was smiling last night when someone was talking about getting tools. You don't need tools. Last thing I built, I don't even remember when I built it. I had a phone. I pushed the button. A guy came to my house. He built it. You know what my tool is? My phone. You don't need tools. You just need you. You are beautiful. You are wholesome. You are loving. You are caring. You come from their place. You understand what it means to be Jewish. You understand why they feel disenfranchised and disconnected and suddenly someone understands him. You know how powerful that is? So just go home, be you and crank the volume up and you will see that the impact that you can make is incredible. I'll end with this. When I was young, my father asked me to come with him to go to a certain Shiva house. I went to the Shiva house with my father. And at the Shiva house, we're doing whatever reading we were supposed to do and they're having some over there. They're making blessings. And then the son of the person who passed away stood up and says, "I would like to speak." Okay. The young man starts to tell a story. A story where I knew the beginning, but I didn't know the end. He stood up and he said, "Many years ago, when I was a little boy, the synagogue had announced that there was going to be a class given by Rabbi Isaac Farhi on how to conduct a I thought I'd go." That night, there was a terrible thunderstorm. It was pouring buckets, lightning, thunder. I went through, I came and as I came to the synagogue, I saw the rabbi was turning off the lights. No one had shown up in this dangerous thunderstorm except for me. I know this story cuz my father had told it to me before. He came to give this class with all of his notes waiting to see if someone would come so he could teach them how to lead a seda for their children or for their grandchildren. And as he's closing up because no one is there, the door opens and a little kid walks in. He's maybe 12 years old. And my father said, I thought to myself, I didn't even make this class for this kid. He's not leading a sad there. This is not who it's for. You know what? THE LIGHTS ARE off already. Forget it. I'll tell him the class is canled. But then I thought, he came out in the dark. He came out in the rain. How could I not? So for an hour and a half, my father taught a child how to run a sedair. And the man says at the shiva of his father. My father was a good Jew but he didn't know much. So he didn't know how to run the sedar. Neither did my cousins or my uncles but I had the notes from Rabbi Fari. SO I STOOD UP THAT YEAR and I ran the sedar for my entire family. And every year I would pull out those NOTES AND LEAD THE SEDAR for my entire family. until this day. And he reaches in his pocket and he pulls out a few yellowing pieces of paper. Until this day, he says, "I read and I lead the seda for my family and my children." Now, from those pieces of paper, last night we heard about how a dollar of 50 GAVE THE WIFE to Ravnissell that he would marry and the children that he would lead. But my friends, what you don't know is that afterwards I bought two books from Rabbi Niss. And I asked him if it would be okay. And he agreed. And he signed the first copy. And then he signed the second copy. One to my daughter Shosana and one to my daughter Rael. Both of which were his students in Darbina. THAT $150 GAVE TO SO MANY people including to me the tiniest actions that that you do if they are amma alma then you will see that they will carry Hashem's presence and Hashem's blessing forever and ever. So I hope that you like me going home are not only going home with pastrami. I hope that you're going home with fire in your veins with an excitement in your blood knowing thinking what am I going to do strategizing who am I going to approach next and the people around you are going to say what happened to you? The people in your office are going to say, "What are you drinking and how can I get some?" And you'll tell them, "I spent a Shabbat at Project Inspire." May Hashem bless us all to do everything that we could do to bring the back. Thank you so much for listening.