Mike & Yosef at Project Inspire Convention 2025

good evening in shivu aov my name is Mike Monty I grew up in a small town in Rhode Island a place far removed from any Jewish life there were no synagogues or and very few Jews in the town I grew up in I'm not even sure if there's a single family there that's not intermarried I have two amazing parents my father is Catholic my mother's Jewish growing up I was raised Catholic I didn't particularly identify as Jewish if someone asked maybe I'd say I'm half Jewish despite my mother telling me I was Jewish I never learned about any holidays or Customs my only Jewish experience was lighting a Hanukkah manora a few years during my childhood I had heard of a holiday called Passover I had absolutely no idea what it was I went on to study in University and work in the commercial real estate industry in Boer Ron and I was very passionate about my job and thank God successful exactly two years ago from this day I had the opportunity to work on a deal that would change my life forever [Music] my name is Michael Monty I grew up in a small town called North Kingstown I went to Public Schools I had a pretty normal secular upbringing my father was not Jewish my mother was Jewish and uh my father and his family really did not want us to be raised Jewish so we were brought up with more Christian Catholic tradition we go to church sometimes we'd celebrate Christmas Easter all the big Christian holidays the only thing I did Growing Up in terms of being Jewish was B we l the Hanukkah candles some years when my mother's grandparents would come over I graduated from University in 2021 and I got into commercial real estate I grew up in Lakewood I married a girl from South Florida from North Miami Beach and after we learned a year in Israel we came to live in South Florida I worked in the mortgage industry and eventually we started getting more into the lending business as the company started doing Bridge loans we got a deal from K's which is a mortgage broker from a broker named Mike Monty Mike Monty I never met before I never heard of him and the deal was a sizable deal I told him we don't do RV parks we're not RV lenders he responded back did you read the full email did you see how strong the sponsor is I convinced them it would it would be a good deal he ended up deciding to put out a term sheet and from there I got it in front of the buyers and they were like oh wow where did this come from uh it's actually good terms we ended up signing up the deal but in real estate always something comes up and we had a pretty major hiccup towards the end of closing part of information of the deal that was not disclosed to the lender not disclosed to us and when it was disclosed it was a big problem it jeopardized for us to do the deal when I called Mike up and said Mike this information was just given to us by the attorney he couldn't believe it he was surprised himself he did not know this piece of information and in the end of the call I'll never forget the words he said Joe don't worry it's off above anyhow it will all work out so my husband turned to me he said you think he has a Jewish nshama his name is m Monty he doesn't sound Jewish but you never know so I said it doesn't hurt to ask they spoke the next day and my husband called him up and said are you Jewish he said well my mom's Jewish I think that I think you guys consider that being Jewish so my husband said yeah it does it was right before pesak time after that yoseph called me and he said what are you doing for pesak and I said nothing I mean I'd never done anything for pesak in my life I knew nothing about it so he invited me to his family's house before I left to go down to Florida my mother gave me this this bag I had no idea what it was it had a had a star David on it for no reason she just she just gave me this this bag and the to take down to Florida with me and I remember when I went to yos for the first time he wrapped me with the Fillin and that was the beginning of his journey wearing to Fillin coming to our house meeting our family now he's part of my family they know him in the neighborhood other people in the neighborhood became close to him everyone loves having Mike around they even nickname him brother Mike I was going to ysf for about a year and I was still living in Del Beach and just things in business just kept getting slower the market really took a turn interest rates were going up ysep suggests that I go to a and July of 2024 that's when I came to [Music] a I'm sure ysep wasn't expecting me to go to Yeshiva he just wanted to do his obligation as a Jew to be friends with every Jew and treat them like family and it can really change lives it changed my life it changed my siblings life it changed my family's life and has given us a new perspective on Judaism and and you don't have to be a rabbi to do this you just need to be a [Music] friend [Applause] good you met Mike and you heard his story and I'm honored to have a small part in his amazing journey and growth I'm honored to have him part of our family and my entire family is honored to have him as our close friend growing up in a home that put an emphasis on MOS and caring for others it was natural to get involved when the opportunity arose but working with other people and teaching great friends like Mike who didn't have the advantage of the growing up with Yiddish Guai and seeing how impactful it is to their life made me realize and my entire family realized how really impactful yish kite really is it's like a delicious ice cream cone on a hot Beach you don't need to sell it it sells itself being a mench and a Torah observant Jew anyone around you will want to lick out that ice cream the life of an erid is the best ice cream out there and it sells itself and that's what my parents parents taught us growing up Mike has personally transformed my entire life the life of my children my El that's here and my eie that's here in the room tonight can remember the S we had with Mike with my younger and older son sitting side by side Mike showing him what is telling him what M was how he got out and we're going to get out of this Gus it was just words can't describe was a little scary when I first reached out and having mik come for a meal here or there yes but look at the reward and it was really worth [Applause] it there's more to this story Mike is very liked and we're so honored to have his brother Nick here tonight we're even honored to have his brother Mark tonight and his sister Jen is learning in the in the city because Mike is a real role model not just to me and my family to his siblings before I finish I want to read you a message that I received on Wednesday morning good morning I just wanted to send you good wishes for your upcoming event and thank you for bringing Judaism to all my beautiful children in their own special ways it is really quite inspiring I will forever be grateful to you and your beautiful family enjoy your time in Connecticut thank you from the bottom of my heart Lori Monty Mike Nick Jen and Mark's mom a good yo Joseph I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you've done for me you inspired me to learn at Asia Torah you've inspired my entire family and none of this would ever have been possible if you didn't decide to invite a secular Jew who knew nothing to a pesx Sader thank you for having the courage to welcome me into your home thank you [Applause]