Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky Project Inspire Convention 2016 - Sunday Morning

thank you thank you very much I've been told that we're pressed for time because uh because we have to get to lunch and the truth of the matter is that we gained a tremendous amount over this weekend and I want to focus a little bit on what we've gained when we first came in they had these two types of Ravioli and the Ziti and then there was the Falafel table over there and all right this is silly you remember all the food there are still people kering it over you know you remember that you know that was great yeah but uh this is just an unbelievable event um I was told that the convention was sold out months in advance and I said that's because people heard I was coming now I learned my lesson because I was at pesak at gateways for two years and then you know he says to me do you have any idea how much you cost you know bringing in your family and everything you know and I said yeah I don't know why you have me you should just bring in an old couple and that was the last time I was ever called so I learned my lesson this convention is because of me Alli everybody and his brother is here you know it's unbelievable people said to me how do you choose you look over the list of people this Rabbi that Rabbi this speaker that one how do you decide which class to go to it's so difficult I didn't want to go to my own I was so many other good ones to go to I had no choice I had to you know but it's like Mish everybody who's anybody is here at this convention and I just have to say this one thing charie Harari you have a job okay you know you're a lawyer you have a real job why are you taking work away from us hardworking rabbis who can't do anything else I got to compete with doctors and lawyers and accountants give me a break you know anyway so that's why they put me here at the end because I have never been at a convention where I talk this little the only time I get to speak this little is when I'm with my children but um we were once supposed to go away someplace for pesak the first time we were going to go to a pesak hotel and I said I said I don't think my kids are going to want to leave you know so I I said to them uh I said listen we have this offer to go to America for pesak and they're like yay we're going to America I said no no no it's not going to be with Bobby and Zi we're going to go to a hotel yay we're going to a hotel I said does anyone want to hear what I have to say they said no I said we're only being invited because people want to hear what I have to say how come here nobody wants to hear what I have to say they said to me ABA we're going with you or without you I said they don't want you do you understand so uh this is at the end of a convention where you know uh just so many people were speaking and I just don't know if I'm going to stop so forget about lunch anyway all right let's get down to important business yeah this is the says the regional and it turns out [Music] everything the only thing they have in common is Sim right and there's this concept of sim do I don't know if you're old enough to remember when perm was fun it was it was a long time ago yeah uh young people have no idea what it means anymore because everything has gotten out of control you know my kid was two years old going off to gone so my wife has to make him a costume 2 years old so she takes like a red jogging suit she sort of looked Royal you know took an apron TI around his neck as a as a cape you know and got him a little Crown out of aluminum foil put on some makeup I mean the kid's two years old the van pulls up with like the cast from some Hollywood you know costume drama you know my kid's mouth drops open you know he's still traumatized to this day you know the costumes have gotten completely out of control you know remember where they had groggers those little groggers rig rig rig rig rig it it's cute you know now there's like some guy with a eight foot wooden Grog gr gr gr gr you know and they've got the the cap guns the explosive devices you know things are going off halfway through the Milla you don't care about humming you want to kill that kid you know what I mean like you know forget about drinking now people used to have a couple of drinks a little tipsy now people are sick drunk you never saw such a thing you know Shapiro said that until you're 40 uh you shouldn't drink because you know that when you go in what's inside of you comes out and most people don't have anything worthwhile to offer till they're 40 I added to that most of the stuff that does come out should have stayed in in the first place so sash yeah so uh so it's really an amazing thing but the only thing that and Sh have in common is of course uh Sim and I want to tell you a story that I think is an amazing story um I was teaching per he talks about Sim and he brings a so I told a story I told a story um the Miami Boys Choir wanted to do a concert in Jerusalem so they went to the bats of the to ask for a concert they never heard of it concert so he says you know bring it together they said you [Music] know so they made it in Tel Aviv but um but I said you know there was such an unbelievable concept because this opens up the concept now that we have today of course of Jewish entertainment kosher entertainment they we always had kosher entertainment it was called a Magid you know he'd come to town he'd give you muser and collect money that was called entertainment you know now you have to have a show you know uh I don't want to mention who it is because people might know who it is but it a pretty well-known performer who is actually in my class in Yesa G and uh we were someplace and he was doing a concert and he said to his kids would your father come all right so I come to this concert I'd never really been to a concert you know he's putting on costumes he's rollerblading he's throwing things out into the audience he's carrying on you know I said what is this he says because nobody's gonna come to hear people sing you know you want to see that you know then go watch the vacas and concert you know they had this one of has concert AB rotenberg sat at a piano and everybody else stood like this shal shom and then they stopped and he played the piano and they all said you know no people want to see dancing they want to see you carrying on they want to you know Shel is here that's why I wanted to throw in my V anyway but uh they they you know it's the you know entertainment we have the excited you know so I went on what my students call a rant I call it an in-depth analysis of society's problems and um and I said what is what is with music today you know anybody remember when there was Jewish music you have to be old enough I remember when it died I was there I remember when Jewish music died yeah until then everything was like you know there was a guitar and an accordion and a drummer you know and uh and every song ended the same way you know what I mean shalom shalom shalom [Music] that was it that was Jewish music you know I remember they wanted to ban the rabbi's sons because it was too Rocky they would like really hit the guitar [Music] me you know that was like really wild but then I remember that a performer I don't want to mention any names you know but he decided to take the Eurovision Song Contest winner which was a German song by a rock group called genas Khan and put Yiddish words to it yeah if you remember this so you'd be at the usual Kasa where everybody was dancing like this you know basically ulating you know what I mean if it was a real exciting group they changed directions you know what I mean that was about it you know and then all of a sudden the band would go and everybody over the age of 30 got off the dance floor and they did the yiden dance and everyone's like is do you know and that was the beginning of the end you know and so now you have like a group you know you know CAD singers and they're singing and then all a sudden they take the guitars and start smashing it you know I mean jumping up and down you know lying on the ground you know it's it's somehow got wrong and the amazing things about this music is you have to blast it you can't play it you have to blast it you know I'm at the age now where we look forward to the three weeks it's the happiest time of the year you know it's just it's like totally out of control you know so I'm I'm discussing society's issues with the girls you know and I said what SIM what is the what are these concerts what is this all about and a girl gave me an answer that was so poignant and painful that it made such an impression on me I share it with you now she said because our lives are so unhappy we need a reason to be happy we have to find a reason to be happy right I have a reputation for presenting things in a humorous way so people will sometimes stop me on this stream say rowski tell me a joke I'm unhappy I don't have any jokes I just share what's going on in the world around us and that's that's if it's funny it's funny but you know but but I'm so unhappy tell me something to make me happy where's this unhappiness coming from why isn't there this excitement everybody knows the uh he a beautiful scho where where parro says to yakob how old are you and he says I'm 130 but I look old because I had a hard life and Hashem says he had such a hard life I'll take away one year for every word as but he also lost words for Pyro's question he says because if somebody looks at you as a from Jew and says why do you look unhappy that is a condemnation of everything we stand for why aren't we happy where's where's the lack of s faction coming from so I I want to I want to focus on perhaps one aspect of P which as I mentioned you know is you know of boths and uh if you want I'll give you the Risha look anyway that's for my gutle card if it ever comes out anyway see what you can trade that for anyway I did a tour to Prague you know and they they said what's the uh what's the um uh exchange rate here I said they they use Crohn's I said six Crohn's to a FR two friends to an rowski [Laughter] anyway anyway I love it when you tell a joke like that and you see everybody explaining it to each other because go I really feel those kind of jokes bring cusro together and I think that's nice and anyway so um so you so you understand uh the uh uh one aspect of perm that I want to try to focus on and that is the beautiful of shalak I say the Beautiful shus when uh of course like everything else it's gotten taken completely out of proportion you know you remember when shus was like a nice thing where you know you'd make shus and send it to somebody you know when I was growing up we never needed a theme you know my kids get into a panic a month beforehand what's our theme I said how about purm we'll make hin put in a bottle of wine you know and send no no no but has to be a color yellow green blue we've done all these colors themes already you know last year chushan purum I'm an N chushan purum came out uh on Friday they did Black Friday everything had to be black that was joyous anyway you know but uh has to have a color has to have a theme you know or levski everything looked like a heart you know what I mean like you know and there this Panic be a theme that you know and it gets more and more out of control you know somebody sends you like the mishan made out of chocolate you know you know what I mean and with movable and stuff you know someone once send me one of these things they made all these little chocolate things I made the mistake of eating one of them they had a heart attack you know I said why would you send me a shal that I can't eat you know what I mean donated to a museum you know but there's you know that's that's the different kind of things they send you fancy ones not no fancy ones you know and then you show up someplace and you realize you're not on their list you know and they quickly like take a shus and give it to you and you realize it's yours that you gave to somebody else you know still has the card in it you know but that's okay because you like your stuff better anyway so you know so so you get back to Shas you know and you know you wonder if it's getting out of control um shinberg had a sa on Mish called M and he asked a question like this can you give a shal as a uh and you have a concept that I can give you something as a mat and it's yours as long as you give it back to me I give you shus on condition that you give it back to me then you only have to make Oneal Manus you make the rounds you know and you go around you know nobody wants it anyway so it's like you know this way you know everybody you know this is it you know take it back you know right so he poskin no he poskin no because the purpose of shus is to make shom it's to be able to create AK to be able to make re and if you create something that of itself just makes a person feel bad that it can't possibly be the mitzah of sh that's the uh that's the answer that he gives so it's interesting I I thought of speaking about this because outside is the display of the project Inspire shalak Manus where they want you to go over and reach out to somebody and send the M as somebody who might otherwise not get one and use this as an opportunity of creating um this shom so I I want to I want to try to speak about this idea a little bit if I can yeah thees has a famous expression that everyone's familiar [Music] with the Torah refers to Yum as Yip and the yur is a Yim it's a day like oner when you are dressed in white and you're standing in sh and you're fasting you're standing as much as you can like a Malik you're in this unbelievable madrea you can almost reach the level that you can on purm when a bunch of drunken people are getting sick on your furniture almost you're almost on that level how do we understand such a thing yeah so he says like this very important concept there's a um uh concept gar and shabas tells us that the cab that took place on PM was greater than the cab that took place on and M we saw the sounds and we heard the sights and we're on this unbelievable prophetic level and mosha was standing there we hear how speak and there was a greater on how could that be so he says thees tells us there are three prerequisites for receiving the T that's he Dash from thek you know um at the beginning of peros where he goes through you had to be in B midbar because the midbar was a place where there wasn't divis and there wasn't gmas and all the different things he goes through one of the things that thees says is a prerequisite is we became like one person AK we could not have received the tah without AK now when you think about it makes a lot of sense right we've all heard this there are 600,000 Jews who receive the toyra and there are 600,000 letters in the T both of which are not true both statements are not true 600,000 were the men men between the ages of 20 and 60 it does not count the women who are mentioned first K Mar Israel it doesn't count the women doesn't count people under 20 it doesn't count people over 60 the number 600,000 didn't include mosha and Aon they were 80 they were they were out of the they were out of the count but conceptually there were 600,000 people just as conceptually there are 600,000 letters because there are actually 3 4,730 no one knows two anyway this kid is waiting by the pay phone he's waiting for a call and a call comes in and a guy says hi could you get uh could you get the the B Weinberg so he says I I can't I'm waiting for a phone call get off the phone what are you wasting my time for he says you know who this is he says no says this is the rashash Shiva the boy says you know who this is he says no he says good hangs up the phone so if you don't know then take my word for it 73 I don't know I'll check it out later you know they'll say oh you weren't completely accurate but that didn't stop anybody at the Republican debate so anyway they always have these fact checks afterwards you know but anyway so um uh so there are 304,000 and something letters right so okay so some of the letters a is really two Zion um a t is really a a n you could break it down but but there's a a a message here that's more important than the technical fact and that is there are 600,000 people and 600,000 letters because every single yid is a letter in the sa and if you're missing a letter in the sa the sa T is puzzle and I don't care if it's the big in inma yeah or um the people really know how to pronounce it yeah the the the and I don't care if it's the V inar every single letter is essential and every yid is a letter in the and if you're missing one therefore is essential because you have an essential part of my t I need you if I'm gonna get Tyra so therefore everybody has to be together right okay so we stand at har and we have an Aus but it wasn't an Aus like we had on it was an Aus like we have on yamer what is the Aus that we have on yamer people are not fighting that was Theus we had in says the you can reverse letters works out well for me because I'm dyslexic so I I do it anyway you know so he says you can reverse the re and the pay refed him and make it Creed like you thre with Kev and yeah so refed him becomes Creed they were they were separate so you remove that they stop fighting that's what happens iner we don't fight there's that beautiful mil before yamer it is so heartwarming to watch where people go around and say and somebody who you really hurt you know I don't know if I can do you yeah well I don't know if you really feel about do you me I'm trying to tell you all right three times now it's your Vera heartwarming it's heartwarming I it's so beautiful to watch nobody fights unless of course you take my seat then I can kill you by law you understand like you know actually it's in K but people don't actually you know tell you to get out of their seat they doen right next to you you know like leaning on you is this your seat yeah but that's okay you can sit there if you want we don't fight y k we don't fight but there's not a desperate need for each other yeah at at Shu we weren't fighting we all stood together but we didn't desperately need each other there is nothing that brings people together like knowing we're all going to die tomorrow you're going to die tomorrow me too you can go first believable Samuel Adams who said gentlemen if we do not hang together we shall surely hang separately yeah people understood I need you there's a desperate need for each other and therefore when we when we go into purm purm is interactive you know I'm not much of a drinker you know um I'm high on life anyway but you see there people start drinking I don't know how this you know about Yeshiva guys you know and they come over to you they go oh they throw their arms around you and they're like sweating all over you and rubbing their nose on you you my best the world you know and you're like I'm gonna have to burn this suit I'm not even sending it to the cleaners I just I'm finished you know what I me like you know they're all over you it breaks down all those inhibitions it gives you that that feeling what is shalak Manus ideally shalak monus is you eat what I like and I'll eat what you like this has taught me to try to develop classy friends this one guy in h know if he gives out sliced roast beef I've worked hard at maintaining this relationship I tried to get rid of all my bumber people you know what I mean like you know B A bumber and A couple of loose nuts I was like it's okay keep going keep going you know I'm not giving you one of my theme sh for that you know you know how it is that we all everyone knows what they like and they like their own stuff and nobody wants to you know step outside of their comfort zone right um for me that of course means Sushi I have never gotten Sushi I don't understand what it's all about every from person today by law in America has to eat sushi wherever we go they serve sushi and and spicy fries and that's it that's where American Jewelry has gone you know but to my idea fish should be cooked and served on a plate and not wrapped up in sticky rice but uh it's at these moments that my kids like roll their eyes at me and say Aba you don't get it and I don't I really don't there's so much stuff I just don't get and my kids know it you know um my sons they buy themselves a suit okay they have to find the right suit you know depending on the time of year and the Styles three buttons five buttons 12 buttons 19 buttons you know I mean but once they get that suit they will wear that suit until it disintegrates on their body until there's nothing but suit molecules being held together by pure will my daughter daughters I have eight of them you know exactly yeah that's right when we make a Sim it's a tragedy trust me you know I have to outfit uh nine women yeah and there is no one continent that has clothes for all of them you know so they'll wait till they find something really ridicously expensive that I hate that's one of the prerequisites I have to hate it because if I don't let them buy it they'll continue wearing that long ratty skirt that's like falling apart and they like I have nothing else to wear you know like so they buy this ridiculously expensive outfit they wear it three times and we'll never wear it again because it's not me I said of course it's not you you're a carbon based life form and this is an article of clothing and they roll their eyes at me and say Aba you don't get it I don't get it yeah I don't get sushi a lot of things I don't get yeah but okay people know what they like people know what they enjoy you know now take the food that you like and give it to somebody else and eat what they like this is this is always a frighten experience you know um for my fellow ashkenazim in the room you know when you go someplace and they serve you a chant and you take a potato and it's really an egg and you're like there's an egg in my CH how did this happen that is not supposed to happen in a world where God runs everything on a fair level you know but people have different tastes we when it comes to taste you know and nothing to fight about everybody has a different sense of taste I can't say what's right and what's wrong yeah I can say what I like but I can't say that that's right or what's wrong comes per I say learn to appreciate what I like yeah remember left tells the story where he was going to eat by Moroccans in ell but they still make them right the old style ones and he says listen I'm I'm just a poor ashkanazi from Cleveland you know I mean I went to tells you know I can't eat this stuff goes don't worry we'll tell you if it's spicy says they bring out this fish with this red sauce and look at her and he goes what he says and I put a spoonful of this fire in my mouth and I feel my pallet burn away I drank without exaggeration an entire gallon of water you know and she looks at me and says AA you understand that was mild you know what I mean because it's different things did you ever pick up a plate of like green peppers and realize they a jalapeno I still have nightmares but uh you know but there are people who enjoy very spicy food there are people who enjoy all kinds of different things you know I was here Friday night there was uh you know a a treat that you don't always get gonus you know which you don't supposed to eat put it right inside of your artery not even don't cut out the middleman just stick it right in there in fact don't even do don't even eat it just go straight for the bypass you know what I mean just don't even what are you gonna do but people people like it what are you gonna do people have different tastes people have different things that they appreciate shus is step outside of my comfort zone I want to enjoy what you enjoy and I want you to enjoy what I enjoy because that ultimately is the key to everything not that I can um appreciate that there are people who are different can you understand where I'm coming from can you understand it says famous story fromin of right time the famous biography there was a myona that was staying open um into uh shabas staying open for a few hours at the shabas so people were protesting people were this but that so if Ain shows up one AR of shabas and he's already dressed for shabas you know and he comes and he stands in the store now everybody from not from they love to V Liv in so he says Reby can I get something for you he says no no that's okay he says do you need anything he says no and he's just standing there So eventually he says rebie can I get you a chair he says sure takes a chair and he sits there and he sees it's Li Bening people coming in and buying and it's people coming in buying and it's say and people coming in buying and finally an hour or two after say the guy gets ready to close up and R line is still sitting there he says rebi what was it what were you what did you need he says I heard there was a yid in y who opened up his store and Sho and I said everybody's protesting does anyone understand what he's going through does anyone know what his Nissan is I want to see it for myself and taka it's unbelievable you made so much money in these past few hours it must be such a terrible Nan for you and he says Reby you're the first one who tried to understand where I'm coming from for you I'll stop understand because he didn't do anything but understand I'm going to quote a secular book but re orwick says there's a lot of wisdom in it so I feel comfortable quoting it the seven habits of highly effective people so one of the habits is seek to understand before trying to be understood try to understand the other person it was a girl who came to ell to learn in seminary and um uh parents made ass sign a contract that she would not ask to uh come back for shed they felt it was very important for her to get on with her life and go to college and that second year right to come back for a second but she changed her mind kids do that sometimes sometimes even adults do that and even though she signed the contract she wanted to come back for a second year and she asked her parents and they said there's nothing to discuss nothing to discuss so she was going for pesak and she was very upset and she said what do I do so somebody gave her advice they said let your parents see that you're unhappy now this was a kid who never never walked around without a smile on her face never and she somehow managed to look unhappy I don't know how she did it but she man anyway she comes back to her to finish up the year and her mother says to her listen I'm sorry that you're unhappy but you just have to learn to accept it so uh he says you should talk to one of your rabbis and have them explain it to you he says okay mom maybe you should explain to one of my rabbis why I can't come back for shanet says I'll be happy to said why don't you talk to Rabbi olowski sure so she calls me and says listen my mom's going to call you you have to convince her to let me come back for shanat I said okay no problem so Mom calls me up and she says listen I told her she can't come back for Shabad I told her that she has to go back to college I explained everything to her beforehand she signed the contract she knows this is how we feel I said I understand he says and I no matter what anybody says I really believe it's in her best interest to come back for her to go back to college and not to stay for second year I said I understand and she said but she's so unhappy and I said listen as parents sometimes we have to do what we think is right for our children even if they're unhappy if a kid is playing with a knife you're going to take the knife away from them you know even though they're going to cry you know you have to put a kid into a car seat you know I'm talking about younger parents you know um my youngest kid is 10 years old um my oldest daughter told my wife that she's closer in age to my wife than she is is to her youngest brother you know this kid is you know he was an uncle three times at Birth you know so uh you know when you get old you just don't have the patience you know so you're like stop that no all right wait stop come back you know forget about it but anyway but uh you know you have to strap a kid into a car seat even if the kid is crying even if the kid is unhappy you know you got to do what's in their best interest and the mother starts crying and she says but she's so unhappy but it's so hard to see her like this and I said I understand but you know you're doing the right thing and how could you do wrong by doing the right thing etc etc and I you know anyway this was most of the conversation me making the mother feel better about her decision not to let her daughter come back I hung up the phone of my wife said what did you do I said seek first to understand before being understood this mother is sure that a bunch of rabbis are going to call her up and yell at her and tell her what to do etc etc and I don't want to do that I want her to know that I understand and appreciate what she's coming and then afterwards we could have another conversation the girl comes to me the next day and says I don't know what you did my mom said I can come back for shabet and I said well you know you have to understand people and you know I have no idea what I did all I did was validate her position all I did was make her be understood you know the secret to kirv is to be able to find that's sadic in every person and we have so little patience for people for from people for non from people for our family for everybody we get annoyed so easily you know I was uh somebody gave me a bungalow up in the mountains One Summer my family this was uh a special treat for my wife who had grown up in Bungalows I grew up going to resort hotels Bungalows were for like refugees who had no place to go and you have to sleep in the kitchen you know what I mean and you know I called my brother he says where are you I said I'm in a bungalow he says really what are you doing I said sitting on the porch listening to myself sweat you know but from here I can see the you know the circle that women are forced to sit in all day in the circle in the middle of the thing there you know you know and and pretend to listen to each other other you know so and it's just it was just amazing you know go to Bungalow Colony you know so um uh so I was I was up there so AR shoers I had to go to one of the bakeries there to buy some things whatever it is and I had a 15 passenger van can I know a big family you know and I'm waiting for somebody to pull out and people were pulling out back in very very quickly and I have a 15 P van I maneuver it so well and I finally managed to maneuver it in and this other guy pulls it right next to me close enough so that I can't open my door low is his window and says if you don't know how to drive then you should stay off the road goes off to buy his things for chabas and uh my daughter who was 12 looks at me and says someone should give that man a PCH and uh and I said uh I said it's just sad it's just so sad you know and I you see this over and over again where people have such little tolerance for other people I'm not even talking about the non from people I'm talking about from people you know we have no patience we have no appreciation we don't step into their shoes I told somebody once I said before you fight with somebody walk a mile in their shoes the person said to me yeah then you're a mile away and you've got their shoes so you know but they can't fight with you anyway you know but do we really step into the other person's you know l life do we appreciate who they are uh I don't remember what I say from time to time um because when I'm busy speaking I can't listen but uh the famous story with the the was in an inn and there's this big early Russian soldier who comes in and he sits down and he's acting disgusting and he's speaking disgusting and so someone goes over to and says maybe you could say something to this man like put a whammy on him and turn him into a frog or something you know I mean do something with this comes over to the man and says what a sadic you are all those years in the Russian army and you never converted and the big brly Russian soldier starts to cry and he says Reby you don't know what they did to me they took me away from my family when I was five years old this is what they used to do they give for 20 years into the army he says and they used to beat me and they starved me you know they put me in a a tiny little Stone box I couldn't sit down I had to stand there in the freezing cold without a blanket they all they would do is torture me but I knew I was a Jew and I would never give it up managed to bring this guy back I was talking once to a retical training program I told this story over and somebody said what a great line like let me jot that down in case I ever meet a big Burly Russian soldier what a sadic you are all those years you know I said it wasn't a line that's sh I means that you look at someone and you see that sadic inside of them there's no trick to seeing bad in people there's plenty of bad in people you want to find why somebody's no good it's very easy to find bad people people who are singing in the middle of my SP it's not hard to find bad people you know there's a seminary in ell where there are five girls who apply for every uh spot five girls apply for every single spot so they have to reject four out of five grows it's not hard you can always find a reason to reject somebody there's a problem with them there's a problem with their mother a problem with their sister problem with their ant problem with this and if there isn't you make up one you know it's not a problem somebody came over to me once and told me about one of my kids that uh they were M to one of the teachers and and they they made them cry and they were so upset and you know I I came home I was younger then you know I was so upset I came home and I said to my daughter you know how could you do something like this and then that it wasn't exactly like that you know the story you know guy says hey I heard you won $100 playing uh playing dice because it wasn't dice it was cards it wasn't $100 it was $10 and I didn't win it I lost it but otherwise otherwise you got the story right you know my daughter says to me you know it wasn't the teacher it was the swimming hug and I didn't say anything to her I just told her I didn't want to go into the water and she got very upset you know which I think if you can't handle a kid who doesn't want to go into water you really shouldn't be a swimming instructor you know but that gets you all upset you know but the story got out of control you know and the story multiplies so to reject somebody is very easy um I had a in the last panel we were on I was with uh Rabbi Dr yakob Solomon uh who if you didn't have the of hearing him speak this weekend and you missed out on one of the great traits of being a tragic Inspire and um and uh we had a uh a disagreement um I was right it was wrong I say that with tremendous respect but um but it was a question of the state you know of clausel you know and and uh he he's an optimist and he sees things from a positive point of view and I can admire that from a distance but um unfortunately I have to deal with a lot of the problems that come up in clao and a lot of things that are going wrong unfortunately and uh I see a lot of things that are going wrong so I was uh every uh every Thanksgiving weekend I I go to Europe and theas tours sends me to Europe to a different city um where uh you know uh basically um there's somebody else who is the tour guide somebody El gives the Torah content of the place we're in and I just come along with everybody and have fun that's my job and I do it well and uh you know we go to places where we stay in fancy hotels and they fly in a chef and we have plenty of time for shopping and we all find it spiritually uplifting so that's my idea of roughing it my idea of roughing it is sleeping with only two pillows so um so that's we go to Europe so I usually do a question and answer Moi chabas and there was one trip moi chabas every question was basically the same how come my kids are getting turned off by the educational system this was all from people all un mention what's going wrong there's a lot of answers to this question I'll tell you what the one answer that that I think is incorrect there's no problem everything's fine I think that's a mistake I said I'll tell you what I think the problem is I started in the Hebrew Academy of nassa county in 1964 which according to my revised biography was 15 years before I was born I figure if Superman can get a reboot so can I but anyway but uh when I started there Orthodoxy was dead in America everybody knew it was dead it was a given it was dead conservative Judaism was taking over everything Orthodoxy was for Old Men you know and and and people in the low east side and the the South Bronx you know and it was all dying out and that was it if you decided to go to a Yeshiva you were a hero I was a hero there wasn't a hav to throw us out there weren't enough of us you know you had to keep you there if you did something really bad the principle would call you into the office and sigh I know your family they're such nice people really really this is what you're doing this is what you're doing and they send you back to class they couldn't throw you out we needed you and you got a message overtly or covertly that you're a hero because you're willing to still be part of Torah Judaism today every kid gets a message every kid overtly or covertly we don't need you here I've got three people waiting to take your place step out a line and you're out I've heard people say this not in Zan but close we have too many from Jews you know can't find housing can't find parking can't find shim can't find the places in Yeshiva what we need more that's what we need more from Jews so if we lose a couple no no you know I mean okay makes more room for everybody else you know people don't say it B ausan not not so pressed but but in one form or another people are like I need more I need more the the the Brilliance of project Inspire and that's really why it's called project Inspire is more than one participant came here today and told me on the side I'm not really here to get involved with n from people I'm here to get inspired because to be a firm Jew today you know and to really feel good about yourself and to really believe in yourself how many people in this room really believe that they're going to bring Messiah but I mean really like you you're G to pull out your sitter and you're G to dve in Min and mhia is gonna come because of you I have to tell you that most people don't really believe that you know why because we don't need you we got three more people to take your place I says thear there is nobody in the world more important than you make no mistake about it most of clly Israel is separated away from tyy and mitzvos and those that are connected how many of them care enough to be able to come to a weekend where they're going to sit through a a a daving with the traveling singing and dancing with they going to stay up for some kumzits on a Friday night till 12:30 in the morning what kind of way is that for airm Jew to behave you should have been in bed by six you know what I mean you know and people are up all night and they're listening to talks and they're running around and they're going like this there is no stronger more dedicated greater group in clo than the people in this room right now and they're the ones who are going to bring Messiah and if you don't believe it it's because the more than anything wants you not to believe how important you are we blow a 100as what's the last te for because he'll hear that last te and he'll think mashia is coming it's 2,000 years he's still falling for the same trick let him buy a you know I mean says of the sutan isn't stupid we are because if you knew how close you were at that moment to bring Messiah he's sitting onil is this is my end and then everyone says ahm let's go home and eat lunch and he says I made it again you are so close to changing the world my goodness this whole shab is people are telling stories I met a I met an un person over here I went over and I spoke to them I that look at all these poor Bal Chua stuck in Flatbush with no one to take care of him they have to run to burrow Park it's such a [Laughter] NE I tell you a lot of people in flaish were not happy with that story let me tell you yeah but I mean what does that mean what does that mean that means that the people in this room we understand that we have the K to change people's lives and I'm telling you not just to change people's lives but to change the course of history there isn't a lot of time left right if you haven't heard this let me make it very clear when the Twin Towers went down I went to rulman zal and I said Reby what's going on and he said to me D this is goog this is the start I went to Shapiro that Su us I said rebby what's going on he says D this is gogogog this is the end we are at the end somebody took a group of T kki this past summer and he said Mia's not coming he's outside the door knocking this is it it's the last minute of the game you have the ball I don't know if we're clapping for the ball for kki I don't mind I'll take it it's okay but uh but this is it zish this is the end of time and it's time that the people in this room woke up and to say that I'm not important as a luxury we can't afford that's the asahara he wants to believe that you don't make a difference and you will change the world one person changed the world AB Rino was one person you think you can't change the world you can't think you can't go over and say something to somebody I met two people over the shabas who told me that it it was my little kids who were M people they came over the house and my little kid said something to them that I never would have said you know and they changed their lives and you can't you can't change the world you can't change people's lives we have one minute left and I mean that in many ways I want to say what Aus it was for me to be able to participate in this and I really feel bad there was so many other rabbis here I didn't get to talk nearly enough but um but I'm glad that I had this opportunity at the end to share just a few Thoughts with you and I have much more to say but the time is short and there's food waiting so uh you don't want to get in between Jews and their food I was a scholen residence at a pesak hotel where people came over to me the whole pesak to tell me how I changed their lives and at the end end of the entire pesak the entire Hotel gave a standing ovation to the chef so I know my place in the [Laughter] world I leave you with this challenge if you go home from this there is no way to go home from a convention like this and not be inspired I'm saying now at the end of the day we say Lisa now what I have to do something and so I'm going to take some of those shalak Mona B BS and I'm going to give them out to some people you know and I'm going to you know uh find the you know person who's in charge of the one-on-one learning and I'm going to sign up because I'm G to go and I'm going to learn with somebody and I'm gonna make a a project inspire a group in my house and and have one of the great tragic inspired rabbis come down and speak whatever it's going to be I'm not I'm not going to choose for every single person but I'm telling you that when you walk down the street and you smile at somebody you change their life I told this story over one of my classes and with this I will conclude yeah and when I taught in the Jerusalem fellowships in a so a guy would come up to me from time to time and say you know Rabbi you're the biggest challenge to my secular lifestyle and I said really which class did I give and he said none I don't listen when you talk so I said so what is it because I know I'm living this secular lifestyle I can do anything I want and I do and I can't help but feel you're having more fun in life than I am and I said kills you doesn't it I said that's right loser you know from Jews have the party and if everybody in this room walks down the street and you have that smile on your face that people know that you have something else that you have something better than everybody else they will beat a path to you door time is running out we are in the last few minutes of the game now is the time for everybody to get off of the bench and to get out there and win the game thank you very much