PIC2024 Saturday Night Keynote Complete Program

ladies and gentlemen it is is an honor to be here back with you after such a spectacular shabas I actually don't know what the actual highlights of this weekend was because to me the entire chabas was one huge highlight between the r r joining us all the way from Isel to Shapiro who had to return back to Miami tonight I think he's doing chuva in Miami Beach from the David magerman story to sanra May to all the unbelievable guests raski and RAV and the list goes on and on everybody was so spectacular and mostly you all of you for your cooperation and for your spirit over this shabas truly amazing few short announce few short announcements before we start this evening's program number one is most important tonight's program tonight's program is 1 hour and minutes 1 hour and 50 minutes and I urge you to stay you will ble nether not be disappointed 1 hour and 50 minutes I want to take a say a special thank you to Torah anytime Torah anytime is streaming this program live on project on Tor anytime.com Pro Inspire we're streaming live on Yeshiva World and on matv tonight no pressure for any of the presenters here this evening thank you to any time for your partnership I also want to make a special announcement for the theme of our weekend which was when you see something you do something sitting amongst us is Miss Josie fryberg who last year who last year came and decided let's just say that the project Inspire welcome bags could use an upgrade and she barem has sponsored the welcome back packets that you received on Friday and she generously sponsored them including the rabbi Wallin book that's in there the pashina if that's what you call so that the women don't freeze in the room and everything else that went along with it so thank you ladies and gentlemen without further ado I welcome you to the mutah shabas program of the 15th annual project Inspire [Applause] [Music] convention the body and soul weekend was absolutely truly amazing it was a wonderful shaton I was really impressed with the food and the service I don't know it just seemed like it was out of a movie it doesn't matter if you are religious observant non-observant non-religious or somewhere in between it just brings you together as a people and that is just is what is just so truly [Music] [Applause] amazing it was incredible the lectures the stories from the presenters were just absolutely incredible project Inspire is trying to get jeuse from all walks of life to unite and come together just realize your yish kite and learn more Torah and connect and realize that we're all really [Music] [Applause] [Music] one ladies and gentlemen it's been said many times over chabas and unfortunately for those who had an opportunity to turn on our phones after chabas unfortunately more news out of er Israel feel it's most appropriate before we actually begin this evening's program to start off with a capital toim for the mat Israel I want to ask rayon zinsky the project inspired coordinator in Brooklyn to lead us in the capim for the mat the [Music] m is [Music] no [Music] two weeks after the start of the war Fierce battles rage through the city of Gaza morai Shen bal's tank takes a direct hit from an anti-tank missile hurling him out of the tank and causing severe [Music] injuries even in his distress morai selflessly reassures the soldiers rushing to his Aid insisting that they help his friends the other soldiers who have been injured in the hospital it turns out that morai had broken 11 out of his 12 ribs while bravely recovering from his injuries mori's emotional violin performances alongside acclaimed Israeli musicians moved the entire country to [Music] tears this is the story of a hero morai [Music] [Applause] [Music] shenal R shalum your nation is under attack it's been a rough time for cla's but throughout it all we come together to remember your name and our [Music] mission [Music] [Applause] [Music] fore I [Music] know [Music] know oh know is come [Music] [Applause] I over chabas we spoke about the concept of seeing something and doing something and the interesting part about that message is that two people could see the same thing and act completely differently I'd like to introduce our next presenter who saw something that we all saw but what he did was something very different than all of us ladies and gentlemen M [Applause] Barnett good everyone it's been such an honor for broy and I to be the chabas with all of such amazing people such outstanding stories I'm really humbled by all the people here in this room it's also a special significance for me the project Inspire convention you see I had this of being a close t to the r of no Reber and as yasi mentioned Friday night the rosh Shiva every year would tell all of us the from Community if we could just get out and reach out we can turn the tide of the simulation around and change the destiny of the Jewish people what would have here by seeing all of you every sign that I see in the hallway in all the classrooms his voice cries out to me I wanted to share with you when Riva would see theim in par when moshu saw the mitry hitting the yid beating up the yid and he would say the when he got to the he would tell all of us when you see something you must do something you must act Rosa would pithy say that in the expression when you can see a problem you own a problem you have to take AAS to find and execute the solution now that idea always reverberated in my mind but several months ago it really took on different significance see the events of octo of of October 7th had us all reeling and bombarded us with inspiration and messages and directives on what we could do for cl and the one thing was clear we all understood that Theus of the Jewish people would what would save us from all of our enemies but I'm sure R would add D that the Aus has to be with our brothers and sisters who are less Affiliated expressing themselves in an authentic Jewish way and that idea was what inspired me to think of a program called pray and say pray and say is a campaign devoted to get non-affiliated Jews to pray for specific soldiers each and every day for 30 days and say an expression of thanks in the Merit of those soldiers safe return in all of the Jew people when we embarked on this Mission we thought we get hundreds of people with a Grassroots effort but wellem we launched a website we're able to get I'm happy to say thousands of Jews to participate in pray and say it wasn't all that easy I had to do a lot of things they could cry as for the program and many were not in my comfort zone like raising $25,000 within two weeks and Bridging the cash flow to fund the effort but as my family will tell you it was nothing that was going to get in my way the stakes were too high and the cause was just too important you know by taking on such a thing and I don't do that every day but taking on such a thing made me a different person and allowed me to see and act on something else just thereafter many of you are familiar most likely with the video you're about to see all right so I have a confession and I think it's going to be true for a lot of Jews out there and it's it's a big lesson for you Jew haters so I suggest you listen all you anti-zionists growing up my Jewish identity was a completely secondary part of my life I never even thought about it really you know my parents had told me stories about what they went through my mom had to escape Iraq because she was a Jew and my dad sadly most of his family was killed off in the Holocaust but I never personalized it it was never something that was super super real to me and it was just stories of things that they went through but then after October 7th seeing the way the world responded to the attack and the amount of Jew hatred that actually exists kind of woke up my jeici side made me reconnect with it fully and I think people don't realize just how many Jews out there have reconnected with their Jewish identities now you know we were disappearing we were marrying non-jews at exceptional numbers most of us don't follow the religion I mean look at me I'm covered in fats and now so many of us are activated you strengthen us when you attack us we were disappearing so I have to say thank you to everyone who has reminded all of us Jews what it actually means to be Jewish thank you for showing us the true face of anti-Semitism and thank you for uniting us once again because I promise you we're stronger than ever now ladies and gentlemen when I saw this clip of Elan I was struck by his Clarity and his death of his Nisha and I just felt I had to reach out I had my son AI get his number I was able to send him a lengthy text and in essence the text said you express with Clarity what anti-Semitism is all about what our sages have said it's about for millennium and you understand the question why the Jews so well but perhaps the question why be Jewish more specifically what's so special about being Jewish that one could die for is a worthy topic for you and I to discuss hasem he said great let's discuss so I met Elan on a zoom EPS since live in Bon Beach Florida and we had a discussion of that and many things over an hour I said to him at the end of the conversation I so thoroughly enjoyed it would you like to learn some more he said I'd love to since that time Alan and I have gone through the five levels of pleasure the Rosa's you on on on Pleasure Jewish Pro of pleasure he put up in mza the first time in his house he wanted his grandfather's Iraqi grandfathers tillin we learned through and and most recently we learn through four the first four MOS of peros we have a Seder now every single Sunday night thank you hey project inspire my name's Elon I made a video after October 7th about finding Judaism again and I think that's so incredibly important right now and I have to give a special thank you to Mitch Mitch reached out to me after I made that video and started teaching me about Judaism and it's opened up an entire world for me it's been really really special and I think that's the point behind all of this is that with a little effort just reaching out to a stranger reaching out to someone you know who's a Jew who might not be into what you're into right now can actually change their entire world can actually open them up to Judaism and so I think that's incredibly important right now because so many of us Jews are being taught to self-censor being taught to be ashamed being taught to hide and you guys are out there doing the exact opposite you're standing strong for what you believe in and you're teaching other Jews that it's okay to speak up to and I think that's just [Applause] incredible while we all saw that video the first one Paul Barnett reached out to him and is making an impact on his Jewish life to you ladies and gentlemen without further Ado I introduced reintroduce to you the founding director of project Inspire by Kim [Applause] Samson a good to work to you all I hope you all had a wonderful Shas as wonderful as I [Applause] had at first would like just to thank my whole team hasem they are such a wonderful Team all of them working in unity under rasi's guidance and Leadership I thank you all you are incredible I was once sitting with r Noah Weinberg my rebi and it was during l m and he looked to me and he said to me you know what there's really one joke the joke said really one there's only one one joke the joke and he went on to explain to me a story which I was familiar with with there was once a fellow his name is abam Cordes he lived in Baltimore he was a student an athlete he was shot in shot in the back when he came around in hospital he realized he was paralyzed from the neck down and he asked himself well what am I going to do now he said I don't know and then he asked himself well what's life about what should I be doing and he said I don't know and he thought I've never asked that question before what life is about and then he laughed and why did he laugh he said all the time that I could move my hands and my legs I never asked the most important question of what is my life's purpose and he laughed see what is laughter laughter is when you see a paradox when you see the guy with the bow tie and the bowler hat and he slips on a banana peel he thinks he's so but a banana PE peel can take him out it's a paradox it's funny what's the ultimate Paradox that Thea was teaching me the ultimate Paradox is when we miss the infinite because we're distracted by the finite he missed the point of existence cuz he could move his arms and it's all the time he can move his arms and his feet he couldn't he never even thought of this question and that's all of us that we can walk around and say poor me when there's an infinite being that loves us every second and is pouring every moment of existence goodness with an infinite love and we could walk around saying poor me that's the joke we miss the infinite goodness we miss the fact that we hear galash to take pleasure in the almighty this is the greatest pleasure this is the greatest of all pleasures to have a relationship with God and we have a Torah that gives us an instruction manual for living how to get that pleasure and we miss it that's the joke you know we had a tragedy in our people and we're suffering we you know at the music festival at Nova it was a tragedy of great proportions and we're suffering and people say if they who are in the know that a lot of these people that were there actually came from from families and they came from from families and they weren't from anymore and some people even say you know what maybe that's why happened and we say shalom these were nishas that were looking for spirituality they were looking for connection they were looking for meaning they were looking for it in Judaism and they didn't find it they couldn't find it our job is not to judge we're one people these are our arms and our legs our job is to spread the light and how do we do that ohus t love people and bring them the to to Torah and as raka Weinberg used to say you can't skip the first step it doesn't say marar Mator it says oh hav Abus love people first because that's the necessary pre pre prerequisite and R Asha Weiss explains it doesn't say o bread don't love people in order to bring you got to love people independent of whether they grow or not because I love you because you're me we're cells in the body of the Jew people and I love you no matter what you do that's the first step we have to have un unconditional love for our brothers and sisters and when they feel that unconditional love then they'll be open to what we have to offer and what is it that we have to offer it's that infinite pleasure it's that infinite love of the almighty that he loves us ladies and gentlemen let us share the beauty of what we have what we know that we have with our brothers and sisters in an uncond in UN in a in a way that's nonjudge judgmental that's loving if we just do that and care about our brothers and sisters with that kind of love that they our family that they're us we share what we what they have beem will see mhia one of the ways that you can play your role and there are many many ways that you can play their role we've spoken over shabas but one of the ways that you can play their Your Role we spoken about the three-day trips that we have we' like to show you a little bit about what those things are and we look forward to your joining us thank you very [Applause] much [Applause] so a project Inspire 3-day Retreat there's a mix of Torah learning prayer there's a ton of fun activities ultimately the goal of project Inspire is to connect you a little bit closer to your roots to learn more about Judaism and help you grow as an individual the 3-day trips of project Inspire are designed to bring people together from all different backgrounds those backgrounds could be usually more observant less observant Safar ashkenas every label that you could think of within the Jewish world are brought together into this 3D experience those walls and those um borders are totally broken down people that probably would just bump into in passing but now we're making friends and getting to know each other on a deeper level it is a mix of fun uh high energy enjoyment activities and learning and taking away lessons that you can apply to your everyday life it's a third just hanging out a third of group activities and a third of learning so I I grew up secular the one-on-one learning has been a fascinating experience to me because it allows us to kind of find my own Clarity when I can actually understand where it comes from not only do I understand where that conclusion came from but I may actually have a different take on it the project Inspire 3-day Retreat is all about Brotherhood and bonding and opening up yes we drank a lot yes we ate good food and we did some cool zip lining but it's all about the guys and the relationships and the [Music] connections you feel like you truly are one Brotherhood and people truly feel connected to each other without any labels the idea that we're all Jewish I think that's such a huge piece of it that really is that's what we're all a part of that's when we can all really congregate to and feel like we're a part of something [Music] bigger ladies and gentlemen some of you might have been already approached in the lobby and if you weren't you will be but there's a way for you to sign up as well we would like everyone here to at least consider learning with a one-on-one Kusa people have been approaching you signing up the lobby is full of places to be able to sign up for this but really there are hundreds of students that we have and people who have gone on our three-day trips that are waiting to learn with kusas and if we could take one thing away from this weekend is to do something in the past people have said all right I figured I signed up for a one-on-one Kusa I figured nobody would call me guess what we called them they're learning they're changing lives so I urge all of you before you leave for this weekend find every which way to sign up for a oneone Kusa however as you might have seen in the lobby over the weekend we have another initiative this entire weekend has been about seeing something and doing something it's about introducing people to you who seen and who've done and who've accomplished major major things that have changed lives and so if you did not yet sign up for the WhatsApp group that's going to be created for this weekend many of you have already signed up we will be engaging all of you in a see something do something because we know that we always have opportunities and we're always looking for ways to be able to act on it you could scan your phone on the screen now now or in the 12 signs that are added in the lobby but please again do not leave this weekend without signing up for a one for for either a one1 Kusa or at the very least joining the WhatsApp group so that you could be part of the when you see something do something initiative that we're beginning this weekend Young Israel mayor La was just 9 years old when he walked out of the hell of the [Music] [Applause] Holocaust he lost most of his family a Wandering child who landed on the shores of then Palestine the world would have bet that if he'd managed just to get by in life that would be a major accomplishment but Young Israel mayor did much more than just get by he came to personify the essence of the Jewish people in times of [Music] tragedy the more they beat us the more and stronger we become he took up this Legacy with a mission to rebuild the Jewish people rebuild us with great strength Rabbi Israel mayor LA from the darkness of Holocaust which I personally was very lucky to be one of its survivors to show us there is a light in the edge of the tunnel in 1993 RAB Israel may Allah became the chief Rabbi of Israel the leader of millions in Israel and around the world at a time now when our very existence is being tested where banners and placards not seen in 75 years are publicly displayed in our backyards possibly there is no one else in the Jewish World whose experience and message is more relevant than harav Isel May and if we are here here and we exist and we will exist it's a miracle made by God to die together we are experts to live together we have to learn Rabbi Lao has instilled in all of us the meaning of being a Jew of our history of the importance of the actors of the Jewish people of loving every Jew his life is a living witness how we come back from the ashes grow and become great and inspire fire thousands something you see in your life you feel it you live in it this is emuna this is Faith ladies and gentlemen the former Chief Rabbi of Israel and really the current chief Rabbi of Jews all over the world har Isel may [Music] allow good evening once upon a time I gave a story in Israel and Yos fredman heard this story when he have invited me for this convention this time he said to me I insist on that the story you told us will be told to all the people by you and you cannot see tell him no I said okay I will try almost 50 years ago about 50 years I sit in my home in Tel Aviv the telephone rings David Bon Avid benuron is speaking ra I want to ask you a favor there are two verses in the tanak in the Bible I don't understand them you know that I like Bible if I would be now in De in the ne I wouldn't bother you to come from T Aviv so far but since my wife passed away I am not very well a little bit sick I'm here in t Aviv for all kinds of treatment medical treatment I cannot walk to you even I had to do it please do me a favor come to me not far from you they wrot wrot that time K today isv Bon 17 where I live I was sure that someone is kidding me Aid phones to me I was 50 years younger I wasn't a chief RAB yet not aiv not of natania not of Israel I said but okay tomorrow 10:00 is okay said very good my brother my late brother naftali who I owe him my life he worked that time with m danan in the ministery of Defense in Tel Aviv I wanted to be sure that no one makes kidding from me I phone to him and told him someone on the name of David Boron ask me to meet him the Bible story to him to do me a favor and check it for me if it's not a joke one was teasing me 10 minutes later tone may I join you tomorrow 10:00 17 yes it's true I came the room is full with books and I saw talmud bingers an American talmud 20 chapel and I asked The Bodyguard Bon wasn't yet in the room does he open Once Upon a Time one of these books the big one said yes the red one said yes every day an hour he's reading in one of these books was for me price T I knew that he lives about talmon came and I told him about theim I know only one PUK that he didn't understand it's a very difficult PUK I will not repeat it in book of bit to the second POS we didn't arrive because we spoke only three and a half hours from the first Pursuit and then came the same bodyguard and said the doctor said that he has to take his what he needs to have we must stop to like three and a half hours during this long talk first time in my life to meet with a man who was a legend you can agree with him you can disagree but it's undoubtedly a legend of the story of the state of Israel who was the head of the Jewish agency and then the head of the government of Israel prime minister and minister of arms he led the war Independence war and I had the opportunity to speak to him now it came to a point that I could ask him Mr B I want to tell you a story I had from a rabbi in he is a witness to this story it's an amazing story for me I want to ask you on this occasion that we sit together if the story is true what is the story 33 the Arabs made pgrs against Jewish people and they killed many many of us seven at once in mishara near Tel Aviv we didn't have an army we didn't have defense real defense and they were seven countries what to do the British Mand that who rolled over Palestine socalled understood that they had to do something before Holocaust 1933 they sent a mission the pill Mission the name of the head the chairman of the mission was Lord pill that's the name he have to increase and to check what's going on in Palestine which was a part of the British mandate they sit in migar Rim where the Supreme Court was later and there was stand like this and three books on it the Bible the have the the New Testament and the Quran for the Egyptian Islamic for the British L for the Jews to swear it's the point of royalty we want you to swear that you go go to tell the whole truth Boron was the first one to be to appeal in this house but he was in France he bought weapons for the independence War many years later he was the last witness the last witness in the committee of uh Lord Hall he came put his hand of the Bible I will say the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth and then he gave his lesson a lecture of three hours the connection of the people of Israel to the land of Israel and he started with Abraham ainu and to everything is for you and then the stories of Yeshua Bon and King David and the makim three hours this is our homeland this is our past and we dream for it and the prayers daily daily daily he voted it when he finished the three hours lecture was a of five minutes of release and then Lord PE said to him Mr Boron may I ask you a personal question said of course that's why I'm here where were you born Mr Boran the answer was plon l p where is plon in Poland after a while Lord P like speaking to himself but he wanted that everyone we listen very strange phenomena you are the last witht this year all the Islamic leaders such asba andal and many words all of them were born in Palestine most of the Israeli Witnesses were not born here Russia Poland Germany how can you say that this is your land usually if someone comes to an home and said go away this is my home not yours we tell him you have to go to the authorities and bring a paper that this belongs to you do you have a paper that Palestine belongs to the Jewish people Lord pill spontaneously Bon lifted up the Bible a paper Lord P you ask me for a paper document that the land of Israel is a Jewish land is our homeland this Bible is very respected by all the world all mankind the culture world knows what is the Bible look in the Bible how many times appears the promise of the Lord Almighty to the Jewish people that This Land Is Ours this is our homeland this is the Bible and all the journalists went out running to the telephones to tell the story about the Bible which this is the document that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people according to David boron I asked him Mr Boron I have heard the story from Rabbi katelen he was there is it true or a legend he smiled that people know and remember I remembered I remember two words that he said how 100% he was happy that people know then I asked him if Lord PE ask you a question and you answered I respect the answer but I want to put a question also if we permit me I have also a question for you I can chat please what do you want the same Bible in the same document that tells us and tells the whole world and all the generations that the land of Israel is Jewish land in that Bible there are some other words such like what can we answer to our children if they say we sit in Earth Israel because of the Bible what with Shabbat okay you accept but Shabbat and other other Commandments 613 Commandments we don't keep it how can we ask Arafat to take the Bible as a document and we don't take it as a document or other paragraphs what can we answer what do you think mangon answered of this question he was a very smart man what did he answer because he was so smart he didn't answer no answer this is the story I owe where is here I paid this I paid the bill now from the past which is not pass it this is a present continuous I want to end end my words this is the third time that I speak on this occation of I want to end with one word it was mentioned before and we are in every child in the kindergarten the Jewish kindergarten sings m m enters this month we will have is it true to say does it make sense to say historically do you know what happens 11 months before on Nissan ham made the lottery that in3 of to liquidate the Jewish people on the 13 of Adar children babies then they fast and they prayed they said him in 127 countries he want to live he want to exist he wanted to Li with the the months of Nissan went over year s Tam El 11 months and the law doesn't change and didn't change his mind can you imagine what happens we didn't leave even a letter for whom because we have only 13 days to live with our children and the babies all God forbid for liquidation can you imagine the feelings in the Jewish Street in the Jewish homes in fasting ding crying till him saying and you says says in sadness prayers tell him ah if you want to be true to the history you had to say this is my question this end this month passed away Haman is on the tree hanged m is on the horse this is a time for happiness why do we say and we sing and we teach our children babies sing with us it's not true what do you say I have to add one word a even this is the Jewish power according to the calendar we have only 13 days to exist but we don't lose hope says the never give up never lose hope always even they were in says the they sing s and they sing in the ghetto in the concentration camps last we are still in a war in ER Israel today we had the difficult day with three new victims our kids our sons our soldiers died during Shabbat three of them in we are in the story of we have to believe we are Nation who showed what power is in our faith that we will never give up in our m one to the other is we are we are together as I said in the film Not Only We Know to die together we know to live together and we will [Applause] amen Rao our BR to you is you should be you should be able to continue inspiring CL ladies and gentlemen over shabas we discussed the concept RAB La just mentioned it now it's a unique time in our history and the time is now both in AR Israel and America people are open let's take a little glimpse of what the what our world looks like today there is real anger on the streets of Jerusalem right now Israelis are still divided over the critical issue of reforming their Judicial System thousands of army reservists threat they'll no longer serve some are warning of civil [Music] war after October 7th has been a rise in anti-Semitism we are the Jews of the [Music] diaspora with all this hatred with all this anti-Semitism we wanted to go on to campuses to speak to people see what their Judaism means to them see if this has made any kind of a difference at all after I October 7th people sympathizing with terrorists everyone realizes that we only have one home and we're never going to be loved by anyone after October 7th you just realize how important it is being Jewish like that being part of my identity we want understand why duud is important without any Rabbi giving any talk the Jewish religion is now part of a larger conversation and a more frequent conversation October 7th has strengthened my Jewish identity it's made me a lot more proud that I'm a Jew a lot more vocal about it and making sure to reach out to other Jewish peers regardless of their background and [Music] everything very often they'll say a story one time I was walking down the street and religious lady smiled at me somebody asked me if I want to put on Fillin they gained membership that they belong that I'm Jewish if anyone comes to me with a keepa and says like come for a Shabbat dinner and I don't have plans I would go anyone in the world in the street I would say let's [Music] go part of the concept of doing something as we've spoken about so much over this weekend and making sure that we leave taking something on is because we never know where our actions will lead we don't know if taking something small on will turn into something big we just know that when we see something we need to do something ladies and gentlemen it's my great honor to introduce to you of Romy shonfeld everyone my name is arami shonfeld and I live in Flatbush New [Applause] York I learn a little each morning then I go to work I'm involved in my sh and with other othered organizations but but I can't say that I grew up doing kirv or that it's my forte so I guess I'm just a regular flat Bush guy about two and a half years ago I began learning talad Yi art scroll was making a on Yushi in Miami around a year and a half ago and I decided to attend together with my kabusa and a few of my friends and night of the seum they were predicting a big hurricane which would be affecting flights into the area so we decided to go a day early I ended up changing my flight four times and finally ended up on a Jet Blue flight the night prior I ended up in the middle of an exit Ros SE sitting next to a pretty big guy who was clearly very nervous to fly he turned to me and said I see that you are Jewish and it makes me a bit calmer that you're on the flight I asked him if he was Jewish and he said sort of but I'm not religious I asked him his name and he said his name was alone I explained to alone that there's a special prayer that people say called pH the Traveler's prayer and that if he would say it Hashem would watch over him since he was originally from Israel and was able to read Hebrew he said said okay I took off my yamaka I gave it to him and he said the prayer for the next 2 hours he was pretty quiet around 45 minutes before landing there began some serious turbulence I could see him getting anxious and he began to sweat he started mumbling under his breath saying a lot of words that I can't repeat I turned to alone and I said calm down we already said but that didn't seem to work I then asked him if he ever kept chabus he said no I asked him if he ever ate kosher he said no I asked him if he ever davens he says the last time that I davened was about 10 years ago when a kabad person bumped into me into the airport and put filling on me I said to him okay I'm going to make you a deal I'll say to Hill him with you now if you promise that tomorrow morning you will put on Fillin I don't know what made me say that but I just did his tur response back to me was you sound just like my father I waited for an answer and then he said okay fine it's a deal we set a few pitl of tum together and he calmed down when the flight landed we swapped phone numbers and I told him I expect to see a selfie of you wearing to fill in tomorrow morning the next morning I sent him at fill in selfie of myself and I anxiously waited for him to respond time went by and what do you know I finally received a selfie back of alone wearing to fill in for the first time in over 10 years I was pleasantly surprised that he took me up on this challenge we continued sending each other these Fillin selfies every day this went on for months it was a cute little chat that took me 10 seconds after I davened and I was excited that alone was putting on Fillin every single day about 3 months later I was in LA and I went out to dinner with someone that I had recently bet met Marcus Butler and I told him about the fill and selfie thing that I was doing each day with alone he was inspired by it and he reached out to a non-religious Israeli associate friend of his whose mother-in-law was not well and proposed that he do the same thing as a for for her he accepted and they started doing the selfie thing too that week we began a four-way chat and every day every single one of us posted their filling selfies on that chat this went on until pesak when I convinced a non-religious chef at an Orlando pesak program to join us soon a few others began to join and then there were 12 it was exciting that this little fill and selfie thing was helping people and I looked forward to helping and to finding more people to join one day Marcus who I got closer with he's now mosha to me had tickets to a game and he told the group that if we reached 50 people he would raffle off two tickets to a Mets game we sent out the link and people started joining young boys older men it just started growing overnight we had over 150 people a lot of the people who were joining were either putting on fil for the first time or for a first time in a long time and all they were doing was posting daily selfies of themselves doing the Mitzvah we raffled off those tickets and pretty soon people began to ask when's the next raffle so we started doing Raffles almost daily for $50 Amazon on gift cards and the group just continued to grow Yakov Langer of inspiration for the nation heard about this and he publicized it and very soon we were up to 500 people by the end of this past summer we had close to 3,000 members and had to open three separate WhatsApp groups before the chat I put on the fing maybe a few times in the last 15 years to a secular public school and I went I think for 5 years uh after school Tuesdays Thursdays Sundays uh to a Hebrew school to you know basically prepare me for my bar mitzvah I have to say it's been a blessing in all the sents of the world I was talking with uh already shanfeld and uh he was telling me about this group he asked me if uh I put on theill in anymore and I said I really don't it's been sitting at the top of my closet for the past 15 years and I really haven't touched them so I'm making this video to emphasize how important it is to wrap to fill in every day especially in the morning it definitely helps me me personally uh to see so many people around the world putting on to filling davem honestly I've been putting to filling on since um it's been over a year I'm putting on the filling every single day thanks for the chat and of course thanks for Mark and abami for opening the chat the group chat is a great reminder every day that I need to continue to rap to fill in sometimes as the work day goes by I forget I put it off till later and then I see the group chat on my phone and it's my reminder that the sun hasn't set yet and I still need a wrap today and good timing for what happened in Israel right it's it's it's everyone's you know strong doing our part praying not all of us could be you know fighting but we could fight the spiritual [Music] battles as our group continued to get larger and larger I went with Moshe to visit raelia brish Lita to get some Torah guidance about how to proceed he told us we should just keep doing it it's no pressure it's just a reminder for everyone to do the Mitzvah and it's just a simple way to keep people connected to yides kite we do not allow anything on our group other than Fillin selfies thousands of yiden from over 30 countries around the world proudly each wearing their Fillin thousands of yiden inspired by a simple idea that Hashem I don't know why placed in my head on that flight to Miami it's incredible what we can do if we just connect with another Jew alone my flying partner was unfortunately unable to make it here tonight I'm actually here [Applause] hey wow what a surprise but I just wanted to say I know how much it has meant to him to alone and I know how much that this has changed his life I just want to end by telling you that the person that I am today is definitely not the person that I was a year and a half ago this has this experience has totally transformed and changed my life now that I see how open people are to joining such a club where there's no judgment just camaraderie as Jews of all kinds I approach anybody that I see who looks like they could be a candidate for our Fillin selfies no outwards appearances or walls can stop me if they are Jewish and they look like they could be elevated by joining our group we approach them people want to connect and all we have to do is reach out this has totally changed me and I'm so happy and thank you so [Applause] much hi hi everybody my name is Alon tal I wanted to thank aami and I wanted to thank project Inspire for being here today uh to say the truth it was very difficult for me to be here today uh as I started a new job and I've just moved to a new community in Florida where I could sorry where I could be around more Jewish people but I could not miss the opportunity I wanted to [Applause] tell I wanted to tell you one more amazing thing I left Israel many years ago and I left my to filling behind that was many years ago eight months before I met aami h on that plane my mom came to visit me from Israel she brought the to film with her I asked her why did she bring them she didn't know why there was no specific reason she said uh she just felt like it was a good idea to bring them with her they sat in my apartment for months Gathering dust then I met aami and he challenged me to take the selfie with a toilin since that day I put on my tefillin every day and I send a daily toil and selfie it keeps me and others on the tfillin WhatsApp group motivated this whole experience really changed me I feel like many times people bum into somebody like me and they have a chance to say a kind word to reach out and to connect don't hold back grab those opportunities thank you I I just wanted to ask you a question can you have dreamed sitting next to alone on the plane by the way it was great having alone here for shabas with us by the way I know that you couldn't join which is why he was able to join it was tough hiding a guy his size but could you have imagined the ripple effect that this would have had to thousands of people oh can we get another mic up here we get a can we get a mic [Applause] [Music] hey oh my go Ari I was asked to come here and express the impact that you've had on me I drove four hours from Baltimore just to be here in this moment say thank you to you and to say thank you to Marcus the blatant selfness selflessness that you portray every single day the heartfelt and genuine messages that get sent out in the group they always hit so close to home for me the fact that I got a call personally from the both of you when I joined the group is only one example of how much you truly care about everyone you realize that the world is not just about one individual it's about all of us together and you sacrifice so much to make each and every one of us feel accepted and loved no words can truly Express the Gratitude I feel towards you but for now I'll say it plain and simple thank you wow surprise I just want to uh say thank you to my partner in the filling chat mosha Butler thank you for all you [Applause] do and I uh I encourage anyone if you see an opportunity even something small part of your daily routine always look to make a kides hasem cuz you never know what will come out of [Applause] it well you never know and you never know here at the project Inspire convention what you'll see ladies and gentlemen another thing we learned over this weekend and we know to be true in our lives is that sometimes we have this expectation that when we encounter a less Affiliated Jew we have this expectation that after the encounter with us us amazing from people that somehow the person's going to then take off their t-shirt and put on a beasa and somehow automatically become a from B overnight but life doesn't work that way in our own backyard we have a recent story that taught us just this very lesson ladies and gentlemen it's my honor to introduce to you dovy [Applause] Weiser everybody um so I just heard the tail end of the uh fill sagas and actually my story uh for right now opens with a little bit of filling story as well two years ago we were on a trip on a tour and one evening we were having a kumzits and there was a non-jewish uh tour group that was near us and after a little while we saw an older gentleman um withouta clearly not a fju at least walk over and sit with us and a couple people started to talk to him and I joined the conversation and after a few minutes um he shared that he grew up in Brooklyn New York went to ISA Brooklyn now he lives in California and he hadn't put on film since 1960 something I don't recall but it was clear he heard the Jewish music and it called him and so he came to sit with us and I started talking to him and I don't know why I just said to him well and I don't remember his name honestly um I said we have shakas tomorrow morning at 8:30 why don't you come join us and you can put on filling he says no I can't I said that's no big deal you guys are right next door anyhow come he says you don't understand I can't and he went on to proceed and explain to me his mother had passed away from terrible sickness his sister and he had issues with that he couldn't reconcile but I don't want you to think I've forgotten everything he said because um I still give tedu I still give charity and I even send the check every year to my alma TOA Brooklyn said okay and it just stoned to me that clearly Sedaka is important to him and a little spark had been turned on by the music here tonight so I said to him you know if you come put on film tomorrow morning I'll make a donation to your favorite charity he said no we spoke a little further and let's just say that by the end of our conversation there was a there was a promise of substantial donation for myself and somebody else to his favorite charity if he would join us to put on fill in the morning and he took leave and I left went back to my room and I called my friend MO gray who's in dmouth college I said Mo how do you guys do this I see all the pictures you make it look so easy and he said to me what happened I told him he says don't worry he said if a yid wants to do a Mitzvah to be M another with a Mitzvah they'll be and I got to tell you I went to sleep I was pumped I was sure that guy's going to be in morning I was early to daving um let's just say that he didn't show and to say I was deflated would be an understatement however for the past seven weeks my thoughts about this story have totally changed and I'm filled with hope that this Jew will find his way to putting on fill maybe even to the group who knows and um the seed that it planted two summers ago will perhaps take root and grow you see approximately 30 years ago I went to buy a bottle of wine for shabas and I walked into Tops Liquor an Avenue between East 28th Street and East 29th Street and um the um I bought a bottle of wine I think it was a little more than 30 years ago and they carded me and um it was a little more than 30 years ago and um I didn't have proper ID and they said you can't buy it I said it's for shabas didn't care what it was for you need ID so I went to the car my father was in the car he came in and of course we struck up a a small conversation and then from then on every time I walked into the store you know we were friends and my friendship with the con family with hoe whose Uncle started the store in the 1940s his wife um passed away during Co his son Jeff who's become a good friend of mine and his wife Mary um they become my friends and I sent him tons of customers over the years um he taught me a lot about wine I taught him about whiskey nobody knew much about bourbon then so it was just scotch and um they've been to our home for shabas and for shabas meals and um one time I invited him for a cus for lunch I was thinking I have a little aness rig how can I get them to bench little vaness RG I don't want to be so obvious they may look at it as weird what is this thing so I decided I'm going to leave the little vaness rig on the table and the Suka and they'll come in I say I just got back from SCH oh this is little n and if they engage we'll do something about it and they come in we make Kish and the Suka and he I pick up the to walk out and he says what is that and I tell him what do you do with it and I explain that we shake it and his wife says can I do it too I said for sure I said I give her the little vess and I make a br she repeats after me then he does it and she says to me what is the sign significance of this lulav roog so it's a very very good question let's start the meal and we'll talk about it I'm thinking to myself how am I going to explain to a non-firm person who knows they're wonderful people they're super Jews but they don't know much about anything when it comes to practicing H how am I going to explain Kavon what it resembles so we go in we wash we sit down at the table and as soon as we sit down I she says so what's with the trog I said we're going to get there and three four times throughout the meal she keeps on pushing saying new and before I can even say anything she turns to my son Yehuda who was 8 n years old at the time and she says Yehuda do you know the significance of the little vaness Rog he says of course my rebi told me and in 30 seconds he spits out an answer and she goes oh I get that that's great you sometimes you bring a person to your table and you're so like you have trepidation about it I have to make the right impression I have to say all the right things your right notes and then sometimes you see that you don't have to have Ain the answer just comes out naturally well excuse me approximately 15 years ago I was in my office it was the end of the day and my phone rings and it's Jeff how are you good say I need to talk to you I said okay he goes no no no I really need to talk to you I said like in person he says yes I said do you need me to come to the store he says if you wouldn't mind I said okay so it was towards the end of the day I got in my car and I drive into Brooklyn and I get to the store about 7 7:00 at night and I come in and he calls me into the office in the back he's sitting there with his wife with his mother with his father and the ear in the room was very very heavy and he goes and he pulls out a piece of paper and the paper shows how basically somebody had said not to shop in his store because he wasn't shabas and the store was open shabas um recently there had been other stores that opened in the neighborhood um from own lior stores today we have a dime a dozen but back then 15 years ago there weren't so many and you know 20 30 years ago the weren't and he looks at me goes how can they do this to me and I was quiet he says my uncle my dad I we've been here for the community when you needed to buy wine for shabas this was the only store orlanders wasn't Jewish store yet Midwood on con the Avenue wasn't here we were the only ones how could they say not to shop by me I was quiet and put in my head and I said Jeff I said you know imagine your suit is dirty and you drive up to the cleaners and there are two cleaners on the same block and one of them has a pink ribbon in the window that money from the business goes to support cancer research and one doesn't and somebody in your family unfortunately has suffered through this and so cancer is a cause that's near and dear to your heart given the choice you're going to walk in and support the store he says of course of course the store I said yes I said well Jee you need to understand sh is our cause it's the cause of the Jewish people nobody is not choosing you we're just choosing to support our cause he was quiet he looks at me and he says so what do I do he said I can't tell you what to do but if you want to close in chabas he says how does one do that and I said well really you just pulled the gate down and he looked at me goes well I don't know if I'm ready but and we started to talk a little bit I said to him well let me ask you a question I said you know what would be if your daughter Emma I think she was eight or nine years old at the time came home with a non-jewish boy and before I could even finish the sentence him his mother all them God forbid I said well let me ask you a question why shouldn't she I mean what does Judaism mean to you what does it mean to her what does she see that she should want to marry a Jew or at least stay away from marrying a non-jew and we had a very long conversation I spent a little over five hours there that night the next day was a of chabas um being makat are here and I bought them shabas candles and that was it and I go in there regularly I've sent them over the years hundreds of customers tell everybody go in say hello tell them you're my friend talk to him he's a Jew reach out to him love him and that's it well seven weeks ago I was in erell it was Friday afternoon about an hour or so to chabas and my phone rings Jeff con I didn't answer it and then I get a WhatsApp says hey buddy call me when you can all is good so you know what'sapp you push the button and you just connected back so that's what I did I pick up the he says hello how are you I said great I said I'm in Israel he goes you're in Jerusalem I said yes that's fantastic I said what's going on he says remember that conversation we had this conversation was 15 years ago I said yes goes I think it's time I said okay I said this week goes no no no I'm not ready yet I saidwhat do you mean goes I need to go talk to my accountant to my lawyer we have to talk it through said Jeff stop what I said it's clear for me and there was such his voice was shaking I said it's clear to me you're doing this from the right reasons and you're coming from the right place meet with whoever you need to meet with when you meet with them let them know this is what you're doing and he says okay and I said to him well if it's not for this week it's say well I need to know what to do and I said I'll be back in New York on Tuesday we'll sit down and we'll work it all out and I hung up the phone he wished me a good chabas I wish him a good chavas I called a friend of mine in New York and I said listen do me a favor this conversation just happened please go over to the store give him a hug give him a little kuk and that's what he did well that was seven weeks ago and um the uh following shabas back in New York was my son Rafal barmitzvah um and that was the first shabus in 83 years that the store that been a staple on Avenue you was open on chabas was Clos on Shas excuse me it's been a long journey with my family in 1941 my great uncle opened up a liquor store on Bedford Avenue and Avenue U and Flash Forward 83 years later my family is still here I've always been proud of who I am uh I've never pretested to be something I'm not but growing up in the store I always imagined uh how my life would end up and after what's going on in this world and thinking about everything my wife and I and my father and children really want to have a better quality of life so I picked up the phone and called one of my good customers and said I think the time is right for what I want to do and he goes you talking about closing on choas aren't you and I said yeah I said I think it's the right move uh I just don't know exactly what to do and he said just do it so we closed the store 5 weeks ago at 4:15 on Friday closed on Saturday and started what I believe is the best chapter of my life which is to celebrate shabat it's been an unbelievable experience for the last 5 weeks um I get to be with my family my shoulders feel like they're below my knees no pressure I get to hang out with my daughter and just have an amazing time what I did not expect was or wasn't ready for the what the community was going to do next which was my phone didn't stop ringing people didn't stop coming in my store um the gifts the hugs the kisses the thumbs up people telling me that they're proud of me and what I did and um the best way to sum it up is if I needed to have a football team I'd have 2 million Jews on my team in 2 seconds so although being a dad is the greatest thing I've ever done and meeting my wife this is way up there because what it's brought us has been the most unbelievable path that we've had for the last 5 or 6 weeks just the way my store is Flowing the way the customers are coming in and talking to us and treating us they'll ask me a question and as they'll walk out they'll turn around and go you did a great job I'm so proud of here I've witnessed customers laughing crying I'm like why are you crying they're like cuz we're so so happy for you so although I'm proud of who I am never before have I ever been so proud to be a Jew like I am now so I'm excited for this new Journey I'm excited to see where it takes us um but I just want to thank everyone for making us feel like we did the greatest thing ever so we love you um anytime people have questions or come talk to me but um I'm just ec static really for a guy with a big mouth I think I have no more words left to say you know Jeff said it better than I can but I just want to conclude by saying first of all for those in the room if anybody has gone into the store to support him thank you if you haven't yet we all have friends in the business but let's show the love and make it go around I never would have thought that I'd be watching this video as standing up here telling the story at the time it was just something that happened and this was just somebody that I was friends with who happened to be a Jew um but you got to plant seeds you got to reach out you never know sometimes they grow quickly sometimes takes a long time but we see that they grow I get the thank you for [Applause] listening sh my name is Shalom shitrit I am 20 years old and was born in AA a city in the North of Israel I grew up in a traditional Jewish Family where we observed Tora and mitv when I was 18 I joined the IDF as a combat soldier in the Golani Brigade in a battleon which is known in Hebrew asud besides my duty to serve in the Army I was honored to serve not only to protect the land of Israel and the people will live in it but in a way to serve on behalf of all Jewish communities around the world I was stationed on the on the southern border of Israel just 200 M from the Gaza fence in a military base called m b in Hebrew this it in sorry hu it means the Protectors of kibuts needless to say that none of us had any idea how famous berry was going to become just a short time later on the morning of October 7 the Shabbat of sim T there were 25 soldiers in the base I was on patrol outside I had no idea that the next few minutes were going to change my life the lives of the people of Israel and the life of every Jew wherever is at 6: and 10 a.m. I received an alert about the possibility of a terrorist attack in into Israel suddenly a massive roet B began as soldiers in in a combat unit my team and I quickly men our combat positions at this exact moment one of my commanders reported seeing a terrorist few seconds later I had two terrorists right in front of my face I managed to kill them both but not before one of them managed to shoot my right leg thank you as I lay in my own blood I realized that I must not remain in the same place because I would get shot I needed to get help quickly I tried to move towards to Barak my commander to and sagiv a soldier who was right next to him in that moment a grenade was thrown right at them it exploded and Tom was killed I fell on the floor sagiv and I both badly injured called towards the arud vehicle for shelter there was nowhere to hide from those monsters all this time I was bleeding nonstop but a could not make any move otherwise I would I would get shot on the spot I heard shouts in Arabic and shots everywhere the terrorist started shooting RPGs and throwing more grenades in my art I started saying my goodbyes meanwhile sagiv killed the older two terrorist who approached us we were finally able to go out and somehow managed to reach a military radio I requested I requested assistance and then fell uncons unconscious when the evacuation team arrived it had been 5 hours since the moment of my injury I was taken to the nearest hospital where I spent Heyday between life and death it was only two weeks after I woke up I realized the scope of the tragedy I realized that 1,200 of my brothers and sisters lost their life among them 14 for my own unit hundreds of hostages taken and of course the fact that I will have to live the rest of my life with one leg after a few weeks I was trans to rehabilitation in shba hospital where I am to this day but all of this my friends is not the important part part of my story since the day of the attack and the day that I was injured my world and your world has changed we the Jewish people are no longer the same it was not that long ago that the Jewish people in Israel and to a large extent Jews all over the world viewed each other as different beings whether politically religiously or how they address where they live or what type of education they had we were a split Nation but that changed it is unfortunate how it changed but it changed today look around the Jewish people you see people then together with konim whom they don't even know you see non-religious people helping religious people and videos of Jewish Americans coming all the way to Israel to support to volunteer and simply give of themselves it is truly amazing this experience taught me something very really really powerful we will always be chased by our enemies we have always been attacked by them since the day of moshu and it is not going to stop that we probably can't change what we can change is to stop searching for reasons to fight with each other and to stop being each other's enemies and to acknowledge the lesson we received on October 7 we are all one we are all brothers and sisters my friends we were sitting here for entire Shabbat and all we hear is about Jews reaching out to each other connecting with Jews who are totally different from them even those who they might have been afraid to reach how to before they do so because they love each other and because we are all family and family is all we have in this world therefore despite all the pain that I endured no matter how scary it was to be an inch from Death I am honored to give of myself and to sacrifice my right leg for the sake of unity among the Jewish people thank you thank you thank [Applause] you thank you this Unity is the best gift that any Soldier who is fighting the fight on the front lines of Israel can receive any other gift would just be super ficial the most sincere gift the wait the most sincere gift you can give us while we protect the lives of am Israel is to protect the unity friendship and love between us because we are all one when Yosi told me what project inspired us I knew that as difficult as it was for me to get on a plane and to leave the re up it is worth speaking to you so my parting message to you tonight is that you should not look at us in Israel and feel bad or sorry for any of us it is our mission and it is our duty to stand and protect the Jewish people but October 7 was not the first wake up call in our history yet sadly shortly after we fall asleep again we cannot let this opportunity go by we must not forget my message is if you are looking for a way to Express gratitude to any of us who are fighting this war a your Jewish brothers and sisters give them a hand connect with them and remember that we are all one thank you [Applause] ham you already to [Music] dance let's go [Music] everybody I sing good me me I'm I'm I'm [Applause] [Music] I'm [Music] h [Music] for [Music] for [Music] for ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for joining us malava Mal is being served in the lobby I good of