#100: Behind the Bima - Eitan Katz

from boca raton florida rabbis ephraim goldberg philip moskowitz and josh brody are taking you behind the bema the brs rabbis schmooze about contemporary issues and talk to special guests who give a behind-the-scenes look at how they got to where they are and what keeps them going welcome to behind the bema good evening it's wednesday night 9pm coming to you live from goldberg joined by my colleagues and dear friends rabbi josh brody and so excited to welcome back tonight rabbi phil moskowitz amazing to be together again as we celebrate our 100th episode and we are here to take you behind the behind the beam what an exciting night when we began this hilarious fun venture this little hobby little experiment who dreamt we would get to episode 100 what a ride it has been what guests we've had what conversations we've stimulated uh it's been really really amazing and it is great to be together we got the throwback overlay to when we first started behind the bema live on the air and let us begin as we always do with an attitude of gratitude a big thank you to our sponsors tonight i'm very grateful to my parents who have sponsored you know i'm i love all the sheer my give and the articles i write and accomplishments i guess they're very proud of this because they wanted to sponsor the 100th episode of of behind the bema and i'll use the opportunity to give a shout out today is my parents anniversary ah big happy anniversary to my parents and uh very grateful to the support their love their guidance and all that they've taught me and my family and for their uh support for all that we do and for sponsoring tonight's episode so thanks a million mom and dad a very happy anniversary many more years in good health and happiness hopefully with lots of nachos so gentlemen big milestone 100th episode what do you have to say first of all it's amazing you know your parents have so much narcissus you know you have a radio show my son the dj did you ever think we'd get to this point when we started we watched and maybe we'll show it a little in a little bit but we watched the first episode of excerpts from the first episode first of all it was cringe-worthy but did you ever think when we sat there during covid starting this little you know kivitzing between a couple of friends do you ever think we'd get 100 episodes in that you get to interview mariana rivera and bob and all the people that we've been able to move it was going to be over in two weeks so there was only going to be two shows right we were supposed to be shut down for a very short time now when we first started you know you remember the world pivoted to go online and we did too and we really missed seeing people because you could give remember with zoom you were giving shirum but there was no banter there was no connection there was no hug there's no handshake and and we weren't filling people in on our lives and we weren't familiar with theirs and we said let's let's figure out a way to connect it's only two years later and it's in some ways already so hard to remember the heart of it or the beginning of it what was like but we were so locked down disconnected afraid and we were craved connection so we said you know wouldn't it be hilarious wouldn't it be hilarious if the theme of a three of us stream a zoom hangout like the three of us just people don't know that we actually you know we work hard we play hard we laugh hard we learn hard so wouldn't it be hilarious if we just stream or invite people to watch participate contribute to the three of us schmoozing about how we're coming to decisions the policies that we have what's going on in our personal lives how we're dealing with everything and and we just started out and we didn't expect a lot of people listened in we thought of five people listen and we'd be happy we're like we're gonna do it anyways we're gonna schmooze anyways if five people want to listen in great i actually vividly remember that we said you know we enjoy to this company we'll have fun if anyone is there great and if not hey we miss each other and we weren't physically getting together so we'll have fun going online and lo and behold again people were desperate they were locked down there was only so much other things keeping them busy watching or listening to and like a live show access real-time reports you remember we we had our little um breaking news shame on you we had a shame on you segment breaking news segments and and people loved it and it took off beyond anything we ever imagined or dreamt or wanted and then we had anyone remember our first guest oh my god michael goldsmith you have its cousin michael goldsmith right who you know was in a coma for over a month suffering from covid miraculously emerged came home and we had we had him on and um and we interviewed him again like on a whim hey let's have him on people are talking about him there's articles about him there's videos of him coming home let's have him on and the next week hey is there someone else we should have on and then that turned into the prime minister of israel the chief rabbi of israel russia yeshiva rebellion billionaire sport team owners athletes uh you know facebook show samurai it was you just look back on the 100 guests that we've had the episodes that we had who would have believed it i used to tune in just to get that drink yeah you guys were drinking these fancy things i had to stick with a budweiser or something you know it was just great to tune in every week you remember what we called it at first coffee time we called it coffee talk no none of us were drinking coffee none of us were drinking coffee and for a live zoom show that was on at nine and nine o'clock at night why in the world so so we thought and we got an amazing guest tonight of eight time cats eight town is just heart segues or heart this is the time of year a great conversation we can't wait but we thought before we go there let's take you back to that first episode as we celebrate our 100th and we got a lot in store for you tonight before the interview after the interview many people sent in what were their favorite episodes favorite guest favorite moments we can read that we're going to share that on air but before we do that let's go back to that first night that first night we were all scrambling with technology learning it figuring it out how do you go on zoom how do you connect zoom to other streaming programs how do you get it going we were just grateful to be a lot you remember every week i said you know what you deal with your kids all around you i think in the opening gear like screaming at one of your kids don't we like we were our kids were everywhere there was no escape i don't think i had wifi i think i was using my phone was i outside for the first one you might have been i might i don't even remember okay you know we we were we were drinking lakayam each week and we gave that up maybe we'll talk about afterwards but we gave that up on the show well we'll talk about why we gave that up um and it's interesting there's so many lessons that we've learned through feedback that we've had and interactions with with our audience and that was one of them i'm grateful for that learning opportunity but you remember why we were drinking liqueur it was a time that people were reporting from all over those who were infected um tragic deaths and we were just behind literally to life we're grateful to be alive hey let's hang out the three of us let's move and talk we're just grateful to be alive and that is how it all began and let's go back for for one minute the opening minute to that first night when it all started live in three two one well you didn't broadcast your zoom yeah wait i know could you could you lean back and make him nervous okay how do i do it we are live welcome everybody rabbi brody join us i am coming in i'm just sharing this on my facebook right now okay so everyone can see we are live share now okay welcome everyone to the first installment of coffee talk with the brs boys the brs rabbis i am from goldberg i have a privilege of being one of the rabbis in book raton synagogue tonight we are joined by not only my colleagues but by my dear friends we have our brothers in the blue shirt they'll be philip moscow tales from boston massachusetts he is an avid runner a great time with hakam a wonderful friend rabbi maskowitz thanks for being with us we also have to meet you thank you for having me we also have tonight as part of coffee talk we have rabbi josh brody who hails from elizabeth new jersey welcome rabbi brodie rabbi brodie is the irish trap by booker town synagogue and also has the distinction of being the poster child of the jewish federation of south palm beach county right now president of the larry endeavor silver center of jewish engagement rabbi brody it's great to have you thanks for being with us that is that is i think more than enough of that but uh but you remember you remember that opening minutes fast forward a hundred episodes a couple years later what what are you what are your observations what are your thoughts on that opening minute of the opening episode well i found a wardrobe when roni got dressed i got dressed you did look a little bit like a like a homeless man i think i wore that same t-shirt for like four weeks i still i think it was funny when you were yelling at your kids you're making me nervous rabbi mosco i'm not yelling i just said every step step back you're making me nervous you're making me nervous it is so clear we had no idea how to operate any of the technology back then i just said you sounded like a 90 year old i'm trying to post it on my facebook my facebook how old are you i'm trying to put it on my facebook i will say one thing i think we've been very successful at is using this as a platform really what brs represents right now there's the diversity of speakers of guests that we've had on the show over the last hundred episodes i think it's really a beautiful reflection of everything brs stands for you think about the range of guests that we've had that i mean you can correct me if i'm wrong but i think that's everything we aspire to be as a show as a community taking the best key chef and i think that's you know we've really kind of shared that with the international audience absolutely in fact behind the bema for our community which is primarily how it started and of course is our focus behind the is the greatest scholar and residence program in the world in the world you think about the the um profile of the people that we've had on and as you just said diversity we had jews and non-jews religious non-religious men and women we've had professionals we've had rabbis we've had athletes we've had farmers farmers we've had scientists we've had judges multiple judges multiple scientists multiple sports owners multiple and that's an enormous range and here's the incredible part we didn't spend one penny we have not paid one penny for one guest we spend no money maybe that's obvious to some to to produce to produce and to promote we've never promoted we've never spent one penny penny to promote behind the bema we haven't taken out one ad in one magazine we haven't promoted it once online in any which way yeah we posted on rabbi brody's facebook facebook he posted on his the facebook i will say that i do miss that beard i don't even remember but i had that beer right i was like hunkered down you know corona that beard and uh i miss it i miss it but those were fun times so why did we give up the lachaim hmm it was triggering it was it was uh not an appropriate reflection of our values necessarily to spread drinking in that fashion with that with our audience and some people were saying that it was making them uncomfortable it was triggering them and of course we want everyone to feel comfortable we want to send the right messages and um we never want to god forbid send messages that aren't going to occurrence that are going to encourage inappropriate behavior yeah that was exactly right and we had an interaction one listener in particular reached out i love the way he framed it we stayed in touch a little afterwards he said you're not doing anything wrong if you can drink in moderation and you're having lachaim and everyone's under enormous pressure and there's a lot to be grateful for he said you're not doing anything wrong it's just i'm telling you that for me this was a person who's in the program in recovery he said for me three rabbis starting a show with a bottle and a glass and a lachaim that's not a healthy thing for me so you're not doing anything wrong but if you want it to be available to me hey think is that really important is that really a necessary part of the show and again it's an example where we learned something you know we thought it was kind of nice like i am to life everybody let's make it each week to the bracha that we want to count the blessings and we learned we've had fascinating listener interactions through the couple years and 100 episodes including yeah go ahead and i was gonna say what are some other lessons that you've learned you referenced that as one of them based on listener feedback what are some other lessons you've learned over the last 100 the three of us had a meeting if you recall somebody brought lunch to shul and we sat and met with her and she shared that she's not orthodox part of our community and do we want a non-orthodox audience her kids at college who laughed had fun wanted to hear some of our guests but are we making it accessible we're translating our terms is it orthodox-centric which also challenged us and and we decided you know different episodes we'll have different focuses you know and and tonight for example a ton cats and some of that conversation the terminology not all of it will be familiar obviously most of it will uh but that was a very interesting and a challenge that we love to be challenged we love to learn we have a lot to learn we have a lot to learn and as long as it is uh presented in a constructive fashion we're eager to receive that criticism and learn from it definitely other examples too it's amazing i mean speaking about learning i learned a lot it's not an understatement and i think you might agree that this show kind of changed my life like in many ways like if you think it's funny where one thing starts and then it ends up but maybe you could trace it even back to the show so tell that story it was live on the air live ellie stefanski challenged you to sign up for uh what's this what's his stuff called mdy mdy mdy mdy nation sign up for mdy and you did remember he was watching you sign up live on air yeah he was watching you sign up and then you haven't missed a daf since then right right today we just learned all about rebbi akiva and his 12 000 and 24 000 students and uh and he's got many students and i'm proud to be one of them so it had a big impact yeah everything i'm saying it's it's learning and davening and it's it's really been uh it's been an exciting ride it has been but we're going to be on we're going to bring out anytime cats in a moment but we should take as we reflect back on 100 episodes offer a huge thank you matthew miller who uh manages our our content slices and dices and posts the actual finished product huge thank you to my brother-in-law benjamin michelle who records the intro and uh it's already out of the box as a fact-checker and helps us out as well and uh we have an expanded team stephen platzker and tully herman others who've helped us through these couple of years with ideas of guests and some questions to ask them and volunteers people have really just out of their heart helped us and our audience and listeners i i don't think people appreciate how much it means we've shared this many times when you get that email with that feedback it means something when you know there's actually someone on the other end who's listening or had an impact or changed them it means something and so in addition to the constructive criticism that we learned we thank people for the supportive comments as well i wonder if the other people that are volunteering as part of this you know behind the scenes committee are in it because they really believe like i do that one day this is going to make millions of dollars and then we're all going to like we got in early let me let me let me break let me break it to you remember you are the only you are the only person on the planet who believes that you know quickly before we bring them on you have a favorite episode rabbi moscow what's favorite episode uh there were so many um i think our moms has to be up there i think for sure that was a great episode obviously the one with our wives the marathon episode were i think i was black and blue from getting kicked under the table because it was like one in the morning my wife had to get to work soon um that was fun any time i brought on one you know moshe came on a few times that's always been a highlight for me before his bar mitzvah when he got to interact with the old gold that was great um for me the bob craft interview was great um i think more people started learning perch after bob kraft started you know reciting it verbatim on our show so that was uh that was pretty cool as well but brody anything jump out to you for me it was absolutely the sandman that was my favorite because i got to see you so excited to me that was just the great and i got to put a little metallica in with your sandman so it just worked out for me as well but it was it was a very exciting moment to see how excited you were that was just i think that may have been the most nervous i've ever seen you before that interview i think you were at your in-laws house like in your in your wife's childhood bedroom i was in my sister-in-law's bedroom real throwback you talked about you know throwback to that wallpaper you were legit nervous you were really right i was there's no question i actually had this image that like we were going to be best friends after that if you stay in touch a lot right play golf and that's not panned out the way i was hoping but that was a that was a great conversation by the way should acknowledge i'm not going to say by name but countless of the prominent guests we've had is because someone we know went out on a limb to make that introduction and to make it happen so we're also grateful to those people and and those people who don't know it yet but are going to make an introduction to get some people on we're grateful to them too it's been a it's been an amazing ride and um you know my my favorite episode is the next one because almost every episode we think the best ones behind us like the conversation won't be that great how could it be good how could it be fun and we just keep meeting people and we keep learning from people and interacting with people but there definitely are are a bunch of highlights i'll tell you some of the best episodes where the people who had the least call it notoriety right alana twigg who was the farmer who talked about shemitah and michael goldsmith who came back from corona and and you know when ellie b are in the middle of the night from israel also coming back from corona sivan raha mayor those early days judge rookie fryer those early days before we knew that we really had an audience and anyone was listening but there were people who went on a limb and came on and had conversations and we don't we don't i'll go behind the beam on the vemma we don't send questions out in advance we we don't tell people this is what we're going to ask we want it to be spontaneous comfortable casual and we're winning if our audience is ease dropping in on a great conversation who remembers who remembers which guest told us that the goal of behind the bema should be the guest for the guests to say something that they've only said and behind the bema and nowhere else in no other interview that was a great interview by the way it was nice bring him back in a heartbeat this eagle's the king he's the legend he's the icon jewish radio jewish podcasting yeah the history of music remember when we had on uh we had on our buddy shirley besser and we woke up the next day to find out that the jta in every jewish newspaper had a story on something he said on behind the bhima linking to behind the bhima so we've had that a couple of times a guest said something on behind the bema and it was newsworthy that was that was nakhon siegel's advice get someone to say something that they're not saying elsewhere on location yeah and on location both of those right i took my kids i took my i took my kids to the oil i guess like a month or two ago and uh one of my children looks at me says we going to make a video now like we're at the oil you got to record a video i love it i love it we've got a lot of listeners sent in i'm just going to read a couple of them and then we'll go right to the interview because i know a lot of people are as excited as we are to talk to eton katz um i don't know if i'm pronouncing her name correctly ricky madoff wrote my favorite episode was judge rookie friar what an inspiration i must say i don't remember one episode that was not inspiring yeshiko a gabenche my friend carl markowitz my friend david's dad difference between ernie grunfeld and i are too one i was born in cigit romania when i was 16 arrived here ernie was eight he's more athletic than i am what an amazing story ellie lassen so many great btb guests there's some of the most memorable for me benjamin remember benjamin levine the greatest a solid life story great stories about his grandfather marcia weinberg's greatness is in part not afraid to be vulnerable mariana rivera showed his genuineness and spirituality richie torres a gentile such a passionate supporter of israel emotional fortitude selflessly by aaron cutler we're post we are post coveted over a year before it was waning everywhere else other than lakewood and we've got a lot more who sent in we're going to read more of them after the interview it was really exciting for me a trip down memory lane to read what people sent in were their favorite moments their favorite moments do you remember how in moscow it's how rabbi brodie's wardrobe changed for every episode do you remember that when we had that jack hat hat jacket for him aaron cutler he had a hat and jacket and he had the israeli flag for a little while in the background depending on the guest right i know depending on the guest right at the books certain books in the background right rabbi rabbi brody is a chameleon and now we've got uh what do you call these shirts that that's i i got them too short it was unbelievable well now let me ask you a question robin goldberg i know we want to get to the interview with uh with dayton cats if you could go back and there's one guest over the last let's say 100 years that's no longer alive that you could bring back an interview who would that guest be and why i would love to interview the piazzetta rabbi i'd love to talk to him not for the reason maybe people think how he died our kittish hashem was the rabbi in the warsaw gave sermons in the most difficult circumstance but his writings before the war when he really so prophetically was looking at young people and anticipating some of the challenges were brilliant and the other i would say both of these may be cliche to people but i mean it rev mayor shapiro i i'm blown away every time you study rav mayor shapiro but mayor shapiro was a russia shiva the founder of yeshiva lublin a rav in lublin he was an ab based and he was a member of the polish parliament that's like being a rabbi who's a rabbi of a shul a large congregation a russia shiva and a member of congress like and and more and founder of the da fiomi and i just don't know how he got it all done and i'd love to meet i'd love to meet some of those people you have someone in mind i mean i for me it would be a little bit um just the i i can't think of anyone who's had as much of an impact on modern day judaism than the la bhava tureby really in all four corners of the earth and i'd be so fascinated to have a conversation now about is this what he envisioned where does he see the future going how we can love every jew those types some conversations i want to be honest with you i'm in moscow's i don't want to bring etan on because i don't want to stop talking to you this is such a treat this is such a treat that you're back with us and that we're having this conversation and it's been many episodes since we were able to just talk like this and dream and ask and challenge and uh i don't want to bring them on because i don't want you know to stop this conversation with you but this is really really special and a really special way to celebrate the hundredth and we can't wait for the 200th and the 300th to be with you and having this conversation so i'm just interrupting to tell you this is so special but rabbi brodie last hundred years who who are you bringing on i'll bring back robbie mosquits him back he's back he's here it doesn't work i can't do that again first of all you know who i really miss right now because i'm actually we're putting a program together i'm using some some clips is rabbi sax you know what a loss that is and uh big loss big loss to the community we had a bonus we had a bonus interview with ruby sacks an interview that we did which has its own story that that recorded a conversation with him long before behind the beam along before corona he was in the community and before he went on to speak hey said could you give us 15 minutes just want to have a conversation and that that conversation stood hidden in my phone for years and only when he passed i was like this got to be shared with the world what a privilege that was it was really really it was really amazing so rabbi we know urban moscow it's not easy you got a lot going on and it's not easy but thank you for being on tonight and celebrating it makes this milestone so much more meaningful for us as we look back but you know as jews we don't just look back we we look forward we always look at every cm you end and you start the next mistake you finish diving and you sing our donut alum at least we used to we're going to again we're going to again we're bringing it back i don't alum bringing it back but you i don't alone at the end because that's also how you start again so tonight we're looking back but we're also we're also looking forward and we can't wait for the next episodes by moscow can't wait till you're back permanently consistently and everyone in good health and celebrating that and we can't wait but thanks for thanks for being with us tonight great to be with you guys all right without any further ado extraordinary songwriter and rebbie and teacher and performer in every the great eitan cats what a privilege it is to be welcomed by our friend raveitan katz vaitan it's such a sort of privilege for us to celebrate our 100th episode together with you such a heartsick a friend thank you for being with us thank you for letting us go behind the with you thank you thank you for having me i know i always i was i i i felt to myself when i got the text message that nowadays you really don't make it unless you've been on the behind the bema podcast so like now i officially can say that i made it you know i made it more than made it you're the 100th episode guest this is it very exciting to see you guys so first of all on behalf of claudia on behalf of everybody i want to thank you because your music just stirs our souls and your voice and your singing and your heart it just it moves us when when i'm sitting and working on riding a drusha when i'm driving back from a lava a hospital visit happy thing bad sad it just you know we turn on some time cats in it and it moves us and i'll give two quick examples one is several years ago and i hesitate to even use this word this time of year but there was a hurricane that hit south florida and it afterwards thank god our community to the most part was spared in fact ironically many people from the community fled the community went up to atlanta the hurricane hit atlanta they lost power and we were okay but there were parts of south florida that were affected and and the way that we came out of that tumultuous time was an eitan cats concert and it was it was a special night very grateful to the kiefers they sponsored it in memory of ben grossman who was who had lived here previously tragic story of a young man who passed away at a young age and it was it was an amazing evening we danced and you just you just brought out all that raw emotion and that feeling and it had such an impact we we invited anyone in south florida who lost power affected by the hurricane come dance get free pizza you were the one who lifted our spirits and and you were the one who transformed us and brought us back it was it was amazing and fast forward i want to tell you about last night i was at a see him of a guy in our community morty goldenberg deserves to be recognized he made us see him on on seder moed yerushalmi a couple years three years ago i meant to see him on chase bully senator moad yerushalmi this is a so-called balabas orthodontist in the community great young guy he's spoken the same i don't want to embarrass him but you know he spoke about his wife amazing family spoke about the community and and he had composure and then he spoke about torah his relationship to torah and he spoke about feeling privileged to be a a member of the base medrash and loving torah living total learning torah and he started to cry and he said before i read the hadron could you indulge me could you do me a favor and he started barack i'll send you the video but the whole room was singing and stood up and danced and before he actually completed the seam everybody with tears in their eyes and just moving their feet that tuned that tune so i guess the first question i want to ask you is when you compose that la mancha baraka lokenu do you know it when you compose it does it hit you the way it hits us are you aware like this is one for the ages this is one that like hashem through me just brought to the world something that's going to have a huge impact um you know the answer the answer to that has just changed over the years like la mancha and barack were composed i mean the mancha was composed almost almost 20 years ago basically 2005 it came out 2005. but but i composed it i think in uh oh three i think something like that and um and baruch came out 2007 or eight something like that and the reason why i say that is because the the the jewish music world didn't it didn't really explode as much as it has exploded now in social media but and and i i it's hard for me to say this but i have to be honest like as much as i stride as much as much as i try to stay truthful you know and honest with the music and anemia sticking none of people more like to me mystic and it's it's i look back at those times there was never an agenda like there was never like like like composing a negan wasn't a way to post online something good good good good stuff or good content and and le mancha i i mean i i i i gotta get schmuck at a thing my roommate get into it that was like the extent of of my of of of my thoughts of like being big whatever i didn't you know and and the more people you know started singing it it's still even then it didn't like didn't it didn't hit me you know and until much later and baruch who also borrowed who was this was this really [Music] i i don't know if you know the story behind the i wrote it in in the booklet i mean it was basically i i came encountered with uh with uh with with the yid who was crying over over his children not being able to be part of the of the jewish community of the yeshiva education and and and it was really moving to me and that's that's when i wrote you know that to just kind of awaken in myself then to not take it for granted how lucky i am to have what i have and so those those times are like so so meaningful because because it was before like you know even even um like when i when i composed kikara i was sitting in in detroit at someone's house with like 30 40 people and and i composed it i i i will i'm not going to lie to you and tell you i didn't think that this would be like like nice but i try to i try to always keep it you know like grounded and and i'm not you know i'm human like you know the good things that come out you know kind of like as much as i try to stay off of you know i i don't do my own social media i have my someone else do it for me i can't get too much involved in that it's too distracting but um it's good for me to look back at those days and see like tucker you know though there was some nikon that i composed back then that had no agenda like besides like i mean the basic agenda of like trying to you know you know build a profession and build a career and build what i'm doing but but it's it's it's it's nice to see i mean you know le mancha didn't really get get out there until i did the first concert of live in jerusalem in israel which was i don't know 2013 something like that it's slowly slowly but then people like the live recording of it and the speaking that i did in between which was all see i had no idea what i was going to say i just you know just like i just shared my heart but but nowadays at the speed of everything it's like so fast and so there's no time there's no patience there's no uh you know it's hard but it's good uh it's good to remember you know what it was like and not just for the sake of the good old days but try to you know do that right now if it was ms it's ms now it's not just emma's back then too so you know i guess that's the it's such an interesting insight longing for that time i mean the truth is that we can extrapolate or or you can broaden that for all of us and then certainly in robonus also and the shiram we post online or articles right there was a time that that there wasn't that it's not an ulterior motive or it's not a parallel agenda but this the world has been influenced and shaped by by those pressures or like you say the speed and it's such an interesting nostalgia nostalgia for that time but these songs of yours and songs of others as well i can tell you as a listener as a consumer and i think i speak for so many of us once we hear certain songs it's hard to believe we lived in a world that didn't have those songs it's it's hard to believe that we didn't weren't able to be moved by that and that that's a special song that's a song that's that's made it when when you when you sing those songs be it at a concert that it comes it's we'll talk a lot you know whether you're with rav weinberger or you're at a concert live in your shaliam or you're even you're you're davoning from the um are you focused on the music maintaining the melody staying on key or are you lost in the meaning of the words and i'm sure it's not one or the other always i'm sure it fluctuates but give us a little behind the beam on you know when you're up there are you are you thinking about barack obama and la mancha or as a musician and somebody who's who's you know emmistic and deep but also performing need to make sure that you're getting it across correctly no i'm in vegas from the morning tonight i don't stop but um the the the answer i'll tell you a couple weeks ago i was in i was in uh i did a concert i'm like you know in a we'll call like a high-scale vacation resort that they hadn't become prescribers and i did a concert monte chavez and i did a i did a full concert and there was a casino there and he came over to me and he looked at me and remember he like he like looked in my eyes and he and he asked me like with a certain sincerity and honestly he said tell me are you really thinking about hashem he said that to me and i was like wow first of all i'm so happy that you're asking that question because you wouldn't ask it unless you you you suspected you know and he said yeah i mean like i see you're up there you're closing your eyes it seems like you're in ted but like are you really thinking about hashem and i said to him to be honest i'm not you know you asked so i'm gonna answer you and the answer is yes you know i i've i've been really i've been blessed with a certain amount and i'm saying this with you know humility i really mean this like myself as a musician i'm not this like a virtuoso guitar player or like genius musician and i say that because i've met them and i'm not them but i have been given an ability to have music flow in a professional way and surround myself with band members and musicians and friends who are doing the same exact thing and very rarely do i get caught up in the music because not because i don't care because i really do believe that no matter like like for me personally like you know as good as a can be if it's not going to be professionally given to you in a way that that that is soothing you know those you know the lack of professionalism will be a distraction to what i'm really trying to happen you know to make happen so once i'm there and i broke hashem like for years already thank god i've had the ability to just whether it's a hasanah whether it's a concert whether it's whatever it might be i'm very i'm thinking very very little about the flow of the music and and again that's not coming from a lack of you know professionalism or care but hashem like it's it's it's really worked out for me that i'm able to do that and i you know like i'm sure you know the story and i've heard it a bunch of times you know you know how you know a mice is true if you heard it about different different good islam and different situations where the punchline is the same like at least you know the the mice that happened and you just don't know the details but as if this is as a famous miso with the with the with the sam who was at hasanah this is the way i heard it i'm sure everyone heard it differently but and the bathroom was supposed to do his thing and and and satmarov came up to the bathroom and said to him like just because i'm here don't be mishanded anything from what you're doing you have to you have a job you go and do it and part of his his but honest his skit was to slightly imitate the way the samara of darwin you know it was chocolate moving whatever it is and he did it and the corner of his eye he sees he sees the summer of crying on the side he's like oh my gosh what did i do what did i do so he knocked him and he was begging for my release like somewhere i said no you didn't do anything wrong you were great so why why was the why was the rabbit crying i'm telling you i get the chills and i get nuts in my stomach i've told the story over like a thousand times and like still he said to him when i saw you imitating the satmirav i realized that sometimes i also imitate the sambar and that was like when i heard that story i mean it messed me up for a very long time because my awareness became so much greater of like when i'm singing by hope am i the emotion tonight's emotion or is it last night's emotion you know like at the end of the day over the years i've had to learn how to be presentable and how to put on a performance and how to be and and and i i made like a i made like a like a a place for myself that like if you're looking for the answer to that question is it tonight or last night you're gonna go crazy but the least you can do is always be asking the question you know forget the answer ask the question to just to keep yourself in check you can get very lost with all the shikayaks and all the oh my gosh and this and all the beautiful i really mean this i'm so grateful for all the spa that i've been able to have on on different parts of cloudy stroll and and everything but but to always like just be in check you know to always be in check and for the most part i i i don't think that a gooden would be like if i wasn't doing that and and and you know jewish music has gone through a tremendous amount of i don't know changes like just just like it's been it's been a little bit of a roller coaster and i've always i've just tried to stay focused on on you know you know i'm i'm not a sadiq i'm not i'm not anywhere near what i want to be but like i tried to keep on the sensitivity of at the very least like don't fake don't fake spirituality you know i'm saying like don't don't don't fake ishmak like it'll be so much more geshmak if you're honest about the fact that it's naked then to fake as them because then it you might fool them but but but but you can never fool yourself you know and that and then your davening gets like weird and and and your relationships get weird and the whole the whole sewer of everything i don't know if that's the right word it gets weird but but it's it's it's just a good it's a good place it's a good question and and i i i try very much to hold myself to a standard you know yeah personally you could lose your authenticity if you're just performing like you said imitating yourself so can you tell us how do you you know hashem you do so many simchas and you have so many events um how do you get geared up for each of them to be present to be mindful to make each night its own uh event there have to be times that you're leaving your family or your voice is a little sore or you're exhausted having put your all into everything you do but you understand that for that that's the mir they're one simcha that's it and they want eight time cats and and they they want the heart of eitan cats not just the voice and the guitar playing so what do you do to get is there a little pep talk is there something you listen to before you go out so safer you read do you give yourself a little how do you get geared up for it and does the audience have a piece of that do they do they give you a little bit of that energy when you're when you get up on stage the audience i was to answer that question quickly the the audience definitely plays a role but it it's it can't stop it can't start and end there because it can that can get very tiring you know like like it's not tiring but it can get very um because again you're seeing so many people you're seeing a crowd there's no individual interaction so much so it can get very you know i guess meaning my my sensitivity could be a little bit more stale to that but but you're right rabbi like i mean leonhard like it's it's been it's been so busy and i've been on you know very little sleep which is the worst thing for a singer um [Music] and traveling a lot and again i'll give you the answer that might sound corny but it's i i i'm being truthful over here like i've created like standards for myself that like what i know works for me and what i've seen works for people i came out 99 percent of the time sing only you know whether it's by the hope it gets a little bit you know different because people want different things and everything but by dancing i never get sick of singing nagunam i get sick of singing songs but i get i don't get sick of singing nigunan there are certain there's certain the the spiritual potency of of like nagunum that were written by you know ancient and and and then a good um that that that were sung in with with kedusha and and and people often think that lo oh a time character is a concept guy like i need this as uh with the fire and the guitar and everything mamash like i would say like eighty percent of my work is dancing up a storm with with with yiddish dancing with it with with uh with like a shimaka rook and and it's all comes from the power of now again yes the traveling gets hard i leave my family you know some people work nine to five i do the same just nine pm to five a.m it's just you know it's so i i don't i don't work harder than anybody else just my my my nicionos and and thank god for my wife she's the anchor of the home and she's the she's everything is hers there's no question about it it would be you know it's that's the absolute ms and you know those things get hard you know i spent so much time in my office doing contracts and and meetings and all that stuff and i'm sure i'm so happy i'm so happy to be able to do it but you know how can you get sick of again if you're singing songs if you're just singing what came out last week and then you're singing pop music and you're singing all that stuff then yes it gets boring because what's the next you know but like you know i'm singing you know did i die and i do it every single night and i must have played like maybe a hundred weddings this year already like i i don't i put it in there not because it's oh it's part of my set list and the band knows it is that it it's it creates a schmuck in me and i don't get tired i i i turn it into eternity doesn't get old when you touch when you tap into eternity it doesn't get old it's true it's true that that that's the amis you know that's that's uh so i really um but again it it but it has to be it has to be coming from that you know we're all human and we all slow down and we are we're not machines so everybody has to find what works for them to be able to do it authentically and and you're right you know like i'm not i mean my kids are still young and you know rabbi you you're already married off right the kids and everything but my kids you know are still young but like my daughter she's she just turned 11 and she she speaks about her wedding and i i don't think there's a wedding that goes by when the when when the father gives a bracha to his daughter or the kyla that i don't get like teary-eyed thinking about like my own children and and like like there was a hobby recently that i played that i was singing and and [Music] like you know i close my eyes when i'm singing and i try to connect but i open my eyes and i saw the mother like crying as she was walking her daughter down to the chubba and i was like i can't look it's like i have to sing like it's too much for me and you know to be to be [Music] oh to always you know we should never we should never become stale you know to those to those special things and and uh yeah but that's that's the way i keep it fresh to sing to sing the gonam and and i'm telling you rabbi and you've seen this people might think they know what they want but but sometimes i'm sure you you know both of you had to give your congregants what you know they need rather than what they say they need you know and of course it's an art to be able to do that without making them feel like you're ignoring them and stuff like that but when when i i can be made right now and ages ms when i'm up there and again the music is professional the sound company is the highest level the engineer is the best the charts that everything is that that that's for sure when you play night and for yiddin their neshama is dancing on the dance floor and you see it in the way they dance you see in the way they close their eyes they don't have an opportunity to become wild and and silly not because like you're forcing them because suddenly like that urge to want to just like you have a party flies out the window and there and there's like such a beautiful energy on the floor and when i see that when i see that what i'm providing when i was having the shema what i'm what i'm doing with my co-host i'm bringing i'm not just providing a service you know a wedding it's music check you know like we're yielding you know everything about us is different like like everything from a to z like everything and the dancing brother is not just uh in vacuums it's also you could play this music that whatever it is but the icker is to be you know to to open your eyes and to see what's happening and and you know it's it's a big brother to be able to that's how i stay afloat if i didn't have that i would have been burnt out that's what makes you beloved is your heart rabbi brody yeah first of all i want to thank you on your website you you publish all of the sheet music so for us aspiring musicians you know it's very hard sometimes to figure out what the songs are and you've got them all listed and uh it's definitely very helpful so i appreciate that i'm wondering you know when you listen back to let's say a song like le mancha from almost 20 years ago do you go back and you say you know i could have recorded it differently or now that we have all this technology i wish it sounded a little bit like this sometimes you listen on all the live recordings and there's such an energy there i don't know like do you like the recording when it's live do you like it better when it's in the studio where do you where do you see this listen my kids my kids always like laugh when we're listening to one of my albums in the car like every 30 seconds i'm like i can't believe that i can't do this does that like i was stopping already you're just like but that's that's that's that that's that's nice guys you know like like like i'm i'm proud beyond proud with with tremendous hazard from makoto for allowing me to do what i do but i'm so i take a lot of pride in the work that i've put forward and and i don't spend too much time you know doing that because it's it's fun for me but you know leonhard most of the music has been you know accepted as as as good by people and and you know no one ever came came out with the [Music] do you enjoy do you enjoy the live recording better than the than the studio version it's not a it's not a question of do i enjoy it more it's more it's it's like it's a different product that it's a different product that like the nature of it is that it's like it just overtakes you you know what i'm saying so it's it's not like you know i love being in the studio i love being creative you know people you know i don't think they know this about me but don't always know me but but i'm i'm i'm i'm also a musician you know i'm saying like at heart and and i take a lot of i i i i i get a tremendous amount of satisfaction out of starting a song from scratch and building it and then having the musicians come in and play it and you know like you think back to the moment you wrote a certain and then fast forward to the time where it's actually a polished piece of work that you can listen to with instruments and with uh everything it's it's uh it's really it's it's like you ever ever worried you're gonna lose it you ever have a thought of a niggin and then you wake up the next day or it's two hours later because you were in the car and you go i can't i can't recapture i can't get it back i knew there was something i could probably record more albums of songs that i forgot than all of them songs that i remember but you know since shabbat singing is sometimes torture for the family because if i come up with a and i make everybody sing it the whole shabbos and i have reminders and then and then i try to think of like okay what song does this sound like like and then which usually is like a deterrent like oh it sounds like this can't do it i don't i don't i don't believe in any of that you know a negan is a negan even if it's like note for note you know sounds something else you know um uh let me ask you a veto you haven't first of all you're letting us go literally behind the bmw you're in your studio it's where the magic happens but interesting in your studio you've got those sound boards on the wall you've obviously got your your instruments you also have a peloton so i want to ask you the following i'm not i'm not asking you for your like your peloton name or you know what track you or what your greatest record is personal record or anything like that i want to get a different question i i think it's very underrated underappreciated how what how much a musician needs to be in good shape that when you perform on a given night how exhausting it is and therefore you need to be doing cardio like you need to keep yourself in shape to not get winded in in giving your all because if you give your all i'll tell you an amazing story that happened in our community this just just popped into my mind we have a happy meal karabakh minion in our in our shul and has been on and off for years berkshire is back on the great stewie wax others we have a great uh great carbohydrate so years ago there was somebody in the community who had a who had a massive heart attack and went to visit the shul thank god he's okay now he's well but it was touch and go it was it was a terrible incident and i went to go visit him and he said to me rabbi he said the kaab and it saved my life i said wow like the davening there the amuni you gained from it the chevra like what do you mean it saved your life he said no no you don't understand i started coming to kabbalah minion everyone was hopping and bopping and jumping and bouncing i was terribly out of shape i couldn't keep up i couldn't contribute i couldn't get anything out of it i felt like a total outsider so i started to work out i started to exercise because i wanted to be able to participate in the kabbalah minion and the doctors told him had you not dropped that weight and gotten in shape recently the heart attack would have for sure taken your life so the carbohydrate literally literally saved his life so that's an extreme example but i think it's underappreciated that that musicians um you have to be in good shape so it's probably not a coincidence that the peloton is in the studio how important is that how much time has to go into that a lot more time than it does i mean it's it's it's it's like an honor it's on and off i'm i'm you know no excuses everyone has a thousand excuses why the x says they don't exercise whatever it is um but i probably do a full body workout at every class that i play like i'm not joking because for five six hours you're on your feet you're running around and the amount of energy that goes into a 45 minute dance and i i mean you've seen me i'm not just standing there by the mic you know whatever it is there is a whole body going going into and and and there's and i i i i don't usually use it as an excuse but like the real the reason why i come home and i can't move is not because of like again everyone works everyone works hard whatever it is but but there is a tremendous amount of physical you know and of course i would like to be in better shape than i am and and all that stuff but i do look at the work that i do is like thank god if i didn't have that like i would have i would have probably need the bike a lot more but um [Music] yeah it's it's you know but you know how it is you try to find time and then you do you don't you know you back and forth um but again thank god for the high energy events like it's it's they keep you going i mean but i'm also exhausted like i played a wedding in chicago last night and you know the wedding was from three to eight eight thirty something like that but it was it was it was a schmuck wedding it was challenging just because it's out of town and you have a lot more on your head and you're you're i flew seven guys out with me so like i'm really like the band leader the singer the pride the stage manager the coordinator like and i'm happy to do it thank god i'm able to do it and so i but i was talking looking forward and the wedding was in a hotel where we were staying which is always like you know we go to this hotel that hotel this hall but i had in mind like 8 30 like 9 o'clock i'll be able to go upstairs and just like maybe go to sleep at 10 o'clock like a normal human being for once in you know six months i get a call at nine o'clock 9 p.m i think i took a shower my shower i was like ah it's so early i get a call hey todd i heard you're in chicago tonight i'm i'm arranging the kum's it's you guys you know come on come back to my house and this and that and i looked at hashem i was like hashem i know you want me to take care of my family i know you want me to bring pronouns at home and i know it's very important and i thank you for the opportunity but please you know like help me out like i ended up doing it because you know it made sense he made you know he made a good offer and i accepted i it wasn't just because of the money i i went because i i i felt like it was it was the right thing i ended up going to sleep at 2 30 in the morning i got up like at six and and i came i crashed like i i came home and like i would take i took my kids out and this and i you know i came home and i crashed from like 5 30 to 7. so who knows how late i'm going to be up tonight because of that terrible afternoon nap but but it's it's uh you got to stay in shape i'm going to i'm i'm i'm trying i'm doing my best you're working out most nights yeah you don't need to be able to definitely getting a better workout what would you i know you have a master's in counseling from johns hopkins so you you wanted to go into something that would be helping people if if you didn't break through in music if this weren't what you did would that be it would you be in counseling i said my father you know hashem he took he told me when i was maybe 17 18 when he i mean i was singing since i'm a little kid and playing music and everything but he said he himself is the great cousin a great teacher and he said eitan whatever you do don't be a musician that was the that was the answer that and ask for cash the those were the two of the two eights no but um he he pushed me to get a degree because you know he he you know he saw the music scene you know from his perspective and it's not easy and not everybody quote unquote makes it an ableton fairness and i was learning in shiva in silver spring wherever lapianski i learned there for six years i was there and after i got married i started a program i i the first year the first year i was i was learning full-time i think and then that second year i used to go a couple of times to college at night and then when i did an internship and i got yeah i got a master's degree and that that that was the plan of having some type of profession it always interested me and and but the music kind of you know rabbi phil whatever i feel is the one to blame for this because he hired me right out of out of my my marriage you know out of you know maybe the first year i was married um [Music] i started i started working i started not not a lot i still was you know my my i was balancing my cola paycheck with my wife's you know work and keeping me some some you know you know making 25 30 000 a year just uh you know to live you know with cinna and doing when i would get a gig i would go to new york so excited come home with a little bit of money and then and we lived married in silversmith for four years um before we made the move to new york because that's where most of the of the work ended up being um but i never really had a chance to do it because the music like started picking up pretty much right away and i kind of like i said i lost interest in it but you know i i found interest you know elsewhere so you want a different direction robert brody i know what you want to ask so you ask it that's not all to ask it for you go ahead i'm not even i'm not sure i know what you want you want to know you want to know who are of eitan's musical influences of course i do who are his influences and you also want to know i'm gonna guess that you know revetan you spoke about and and i know you've spoken elsewhere about this and and feel strongly and i happen to agree with you so it really resonates with me about mystical jewish music and some of the influences that have seeped into the jewish music scene that aren't aren't so great on the other hand do you believe that there is any redeeming value in non-jewish music is there any non-jewish music of your youth our mutual you know weinberger sometimes with their hermesas sometimes more explicitly will invoke a lyric uh or or a reference because there's something redeeming there is something there was some khakha gayam time and there was some wisdom in in a non-jewish music so who are you who are your musical influences of the past or even maybe still of the present and is it exclusively jewish music influences or is there any redeeming value is there anyone of uh of old uh outside of the jewish music scene robert brody right that was your question i'm just telling you i love that question that's one of those questions i wanted to ask i wasn't sure if i'm allowed to ask it so i'm happy you brought it up you're allowed to ask whatever you want i love it i mean you asked a couple questions in one and it's it's somewhere a lot more complicated uh than than others i i didn't grow up in a home that had like like an emphasis on non-jewish music like i didn't grow up my father my father again he's a musician and he sings and beautiful music and and like i really grew up my childhood was avraham freed miami boys choir and and vegas like those were like that was pretty much what i grew up with when i when i started playing guitar which was much later when i was i grew up half in israel half in america um but i did my high school years in los angeles and you know i listened i i was i was very like you know like i hope i don't get in trouble for saying this like if you if you listen to like led zeppelin and aren't blown away by the musical ability and the musical thing wait a second it's elephant-based there's there's two parts to the statement so you can't you know don't do that for you before you're right if you're not completely just like overtaken and just blown away by like the the creativity like as a musician it's like how did they come up forget how they played it that skill but how do you come up with these things how do you you know and the base of that is is that there is shine good morning like complete rashan like and that's not up for debate that's like a fact like like completely shy like like so so so so what do you do with that right what do you do with that i'll leave that to you now i'm joking but like it's it's it's it's not it's not easy it's not easy i don't need like like like my son i'm going through this right now my son leonhard like he's he's he's a drummer he's young but i see in him he has he has he has a certain thing what i'm going to start playing for him like the great drummers of yesteryear like like no like i'm i'm if that happens in this path fine but as like like that's it there's too much of the of the of a very very heavy glisha you know energy now again i didn't listen to john denver growing up you know i didn't listen to to the other you know you know quote-unquote you know monogamy you know more of like the sweet and gentle and pure and all that stuff and you know but i i'm a little bit embarrassed to say this but like i used to listen to dave matthews band a lot when i was in like late high school and and and i i can't escape the truth that a lot of my guitar skills i mimicked i i i used to study his work right but then like i listened to one i listened to lyrics and and once one once i'm saying once you're once you see ms and once you once you seek tushar it's like everything else just like falls apart can i get that you know and and can i say that like you know a lot of my you know you're never gonna hear like explicitly but yeah my ability to move around the guitar and i get to play lead into this and to come up with cool it's definitely influenced but you know there's it has to stay exactly what it is you know good good guitar work you know like with gaussian music it's okay so let's take out if you'll agree with me that if there's princess in it if there's if there's you know drug mentioning and and frivolous lifestyles it doesn't matter it's us put it away that's that's for sure so what about everything else right so everything else now is about this much right so so what do you do with that i have this i have this wild i don't even know if i should share this with you i probably should because i said i don't know if i should share it with you right now you have to because it kind of ties into the to your other question about the influences in current jewish music i'm really really not into what's going on right now in the jewish music scene you know like and this is not coming from a place of kanos it's not coming from a place of like uh hashem hashem has shown me because that i have a place in jewish music and i have my niche and i have my pronunciation leonardo and i should be able to continue doing so so this is not coming out of anywhere other than my honest feelings like i do i really really really have a hard time with it i have a hard time with just just the [Music] just just it's so parts you know it's so it's so it's so open to whatever and it's all like the stamp of koshers is oh i'm singing jewish music and it's better than that it's better than listening to rap music and listening to hip hop and listening to you know whatever gay issue music is out there what would you say what what's bothering is it the beat is it the rhythm is it the lyrics is it imitating something can we put our finger on the what it is it's it's the emptiness it's the it's it's the emptiness of it it's the first of all you know obviously not gonna i'm not thinking about anybody specific and i would never say anything you know specific you know but like there's different levels there's there's the absolute like pop and i'm just like i'm just shocked at how far it's gone and how like like again i'm not like a kanai but like i just like i'm curious like rabbanim come out every day and say what they think about everything like but certain certain things have happened that like oh the looks from and it's jewish lyrics and again and maybe and maybe again i'm not a rav of a community i don't know what it's like the challenges i'm sure rabbi you have calls every single day from parents and from teachers and all that stuff and and i really mean it that like like maybe taka this is hashem that there should be something that like looks really really really gorish but keeps them just a little bit connected i don't know is that the worst thing worse than bad is mediocre right because when you're bad at least you can like wake up one day and like you know come back but if it's mediocre you're going to stay mediocre forever and i just believe it's like it's just so and and and then you have like like all the way like missing even in even the casino it looks so like weddings have turned into a club scene and we don't even and we don't like what like like how did that happen and that's coming from the place of also saying like i've i've tasted the ms i've seen what it's like to to have the same beat it's not the beat it's not the beat every b they're heavier beats slower but like where are you coming from i'll say yeah it's can i just tell you something it's not just jewish music music has gotten empty in the last 25 years there's a lot of emptiness people don't feel it and again i'm not giving any plugs for secular music but i'm just saying it's not the same coming from everywhere a hundred percent i i just i wondered to myself and this is wondering this isn't i'm not and i i want i want anybody who's listening this my email is atoncast gmail.com i don't hide myself you can email me tell me i'm wrong i just i wonder if we didn't give enough room for the create for the kosher non-jewish music not to play a role don't get me wrong not to play a role but just to have it there as not like tommy also right away and i know it's goish i know it's gorish i know it doesn't come close to anything that i involve myself in the finished i wonder if our need to to secularize jewish music so heavily wouldn't be so strong right if we didn't like pastel you know that music is strongly and again unfortunately nowadays for sure like like he said like ninety percent of it is us because of of dwarms for any of this conversation to happen but but you know i when i was in high school 20 years ago more than 20 years ago now the rabbis were mamish like against you against non-jewish music and they were and they were right they were right it's a culture it's this that fine i don't think nowadays our issue is non-jewish music our issues are his jewish music like our issues are what do our hasanas look like how are the how are boys that are pretty tired that are dead that look like an entire other day that they learn all day and the girls that are tiniest how do they dance to such like i'm not even talking about whatever this aren't we striving for something greater aren't we like you know like and i just i don't know i'm i'm not i just think something something has to be done these you know the concerts that are that are going on the events that are happening and everything is so like it's like there's no you know there's no such thing as cheesy roches you know what i'm saying like rokhani is is is always like we have in the shower i happen to be talking to you about this and you asked me a question that's what i'm saying you know weinberger told me very very and i speak to him all the time about this like like the he said the best thing that he's also he's he's like disgusted beyond disgusted with what's and he's much more vocal than i am when it comes to this but he said your task is to be pole or to bring light and to show people what the ms is without telling them what the checkers so this conversation just because you asked me i don't go around with like a megaphone you know like you know i don't i don't i don't talk down about other other performers other musicians you ask me some sharing what's on my heart and about you know music nourishes the soul it's not passive entertainment it's not like elevator music it's not in the background what we're listening to in the car and at home it's being imbibed right into our neshama downloaded it right into anashama so there's a healthy debate to be had like you pointed out and you could come out on different sides of it but minimally everybody should be thoughtful about it right what's what's the tone and what's the beat what are the lyrics and just because long as he be writing on it or there's a or there's a person who looks religious behind it doesn't mean that it's a positive influence and and we just have to be thoughtful and mindful and discriminating in in what we do and what we allow because it's going right into our children and aaron hashamas is being downloaded right there it's like some passive thing just like we're careful about the images that come into our home so music are the sounds that come into our home that we also have to be thoughtful of i mean my my my finish in jewish music in the beginning it evolved over time but you know you know karabakh's music it wasn't just like it's good songs it's good the material i really remembering at a very young age like when i was 14 maybe even younger 13 or 14 years old listening and hearing well something else happening here there's something going on over here that is it's it's incredible and the more and more you listen and then you and and and to be honest like this goes to speak it's a bigger conversation it's the same you know if you know the type of torah that you're saying to learn the type of being that you have like the type of like who are the heart surgeons you know in your in in your civil you know i'm saying who's who's what what's the yiddish great atmosphere forget music and then music it comes along with it obviously you know like so like you know for 20 years i've been i've been you know like i said with you know revuemergo was my review in the beginning even now but like in the beginning just like developing my sensitivities and and just in general and and my time in yeshiva with with robianski and just like just just really you know be aware that like you said like everything everything has an effect on you you know it's your it's your choice to choose what has an effect you know where and but but everything's gonna have gonna have an effect on you and and i always tell people my music and my my performances and my energy is only as good as the learning is during that time like there are there have been times where i can so hazak and learning and stagging and there have been times where the schedule takes over life takes over and you're you're not you're not learning as much and the quality isn't as much and the quantity does not and the biggest bracha is that you feel it you feel the difference in your life you feel that the weddings are you don't have as much energy and the concerts you're you feel like you're just doing it again and then when you go and we're talking about basic gemara rashford it's just you know like learning like like which is like i don't believe there's anything i mean there is a difference between muslims and that that's it's all one you know you can learn you're more you know nazir about the the the most not shy you know like the light of hashem is in your life you know and everything else becomes brighter so for sure for sure you know that's weinberger of lopianski they're they're living on the same planet as us but they're living in another world like the depth and the profundity and it's so not superficial and and maybe that's also a good word to use about a lot of the music like there's music that's deep and there's music that's superficial and the personalities that you spoke about you know there are people who even know a velvet of torah but it feels superficial and there's people that it's it's deep and there there's there's just their perception their understanding their their presence their mindfulness it's all together different you you've been amazing with time i know it's getting it's getting late i want to do a little bit of a lightning round and talk a little yum into ryam we're an elo we're entering that season so maybe a little sort of a lightning round to help us understand first of all do you use your own songs when you lead davening on yaman the rhyme i only use the ones that other people use also okay good so the most popular ones i'm not i'm not putting on a concert for anybody doing on the right you know how if i i should be there to to just stop and you know like but if they're in a good room that i know work and that's not only on the rhyme shabazon travis you know any shabbos of the year like i'm honest the last thing i want to do on shabbos is to teach you one of many goodness yeah i'm doing them i'm not interested in that favorite p at rosh hashanah kipper what's the pia that you look forward to do you count down that you've marked off in your moxler favorite p ah you can get me all emotional let's feel it that the crying goddamo you know says you know shalla topple isha pre-bitten you know like that that the the those whole feelers that are so it's just so sweet and so real and so human and and just shows the love and the connection between the highest of cholesterol and like the lowest and everything in between and you know they're you know like like that that ph right um right the the ivory dragon shouldn't have rain when they're going and there's a thousand perusing in depth i'm like no no just keep it push up shut we want good for the jews we want good for the eating you know obviously like you know i grew up listening and hearing my fathers in the center tech if still like gives me like you know chills you know and and the negro that i've chosen to use are extremely you know like i i don't know i i in la bavish they would kill me for doing this but you know i do i do the author of his for allah [Music] it's like those are those are the obvious ones but the ones that are like behind the scenes behind the beam you know just uh you know just kaiser all once good you know beautiful certain parts of davoni that are off limits to use a tune for we had a big controversy in boca several years ago ahaz and wanted to did use the niggen for liquel or din and and other people rebelled like certain parts of davaning is not a negan so are there parts of davaning that have to be nusach you can't use a [Music] um i i yeah i mean like like like the places where claudia's role has done you know i think it has come up in recent years because is one of the most gorgeous nagonim in the world and it's also the nusa is i mean it's and i and i i i for a couple of years i never did the for hillary kell because i thought it was inappropriate to be honest like i didn't want to like it's a good to sing don't get me wrong but during davening you know [Music] so like one year i did it the first day and i didn't do the second day because i felt bad i felt like i didn't know what to do but but i i i i think the rules are are the rules come from the panemias and the respect yeah for daveny you know if you have respect for david you'll find a way to do to do what you need to do like even if it like you know bends the conventional rules and everything but like like no one's going to sing a for you know you know the first brock of schweinsteiger and if they do like throw him out of shovel right away you know i'm saying there's no second exactly we got to protect and preserve them what what's your favorite non-eton cats niggin ah that's not fair or or favorite not anytime cat's song i'm i'm i'm obs i'm i i i know this sounds like oh it's expected but people don't realize like like the night of of like are and probably the ones that people don't sing as much they i can't escape it you know they stir up in me such emotion and the other day i was i had a wedding in baltimore i was driving with with with my friend who's laboratory which i was pretty surprised that he was so fluent in this we listened for two hours we listened to old miami boys choir tapes and we listened you know like just like and it was so beautiful it was so good i had such a such a good good energy um you know that's another thing we should talk about one day you know make jewish children sing the way they should be singing again you know like you listen to the tamima's kites you know at least these songs and this and now it's all about like what kind of dance moves they do on stage and it's like no corrupt yourself don't corrupt the kids you know let them like you know be okay whatever that's for next episode um [Music] so this song is is there a particular that jumps out of you i mean anima is always going to be to me like the only animal and i ever want to sing [Music] it's like it's just there's no room for any anything else there's no that one i'm not people know that one so much but it's like ah we have so much you know rip there's a tape of him and the the the recording of him screaming out he's like we don't need their music we don't need their music like we have our liquid we have our music that's like when i think about it like it's so i guess it's it's true it's favorite a-town cat song my daughter asked me the same question today she prepped you exactly we had it we had her prepared for the she asked a bunch of random questions today right last night last night by the hopper asked me this thing and negan that's you know on the album that the only problem with le mancha is that it kind of like took away from all the other beautiful nightmare on that album [Music] it's like i don't know that adult alum and that album is like it's very is very very special and [Music] yeah i mean it sounds cheesy but like you asked me which one of my children do i love the most you know but i really i really do like feel that way you know about about the negative not that i wanted that yeah is there a song is there a song that's come out that you say i wish that was mine that touches me in a way that one of my niggunum would i wish that was my do do people ever offer i know in the music industry people don't always appreciate this you know we've spoken to other other jewish musicians about this that songs are bought and sold meaning we associate a certain song as being that musicians but they didn't compose it they bought the right to that song so do people try to buy anton cat songs that you've composed or it's totally separated out yours are yours theirs are theirs i don't i i get emails every week like every week from people that are looking to buy songs looking to sell songs mostly people looking to sell songs and i really appreciate it people like look at me and they you know they they they want me to give my my last comma you know to them and they want me to sing it i i really barely record other people's music you know and i don't i should stop sending them to you yeah people send it i always respond and i always listen at least a little bit just me you know just to make sure that like i'm giving everybody the right respect and you know so some things are a little bit more interesting than others um but uh yeah when i hear a good and i know this is because i don't know if this is because hashem guy and her i have had i i've had my own niggun that i've been successful and popular but i don't i don't think that way like i don't i don't i don't think like oh i wish i did um you said that when you when a negan hits you or you sit down to compose it i'm sure people ask you that all the time you come into this room you get off the pelton you sit at the you take out the guitar and you're like okay i'm gonna work on a now creativity on demand or it's more you know all of a sudden out of nowhere you're humming if something comes along and oh i have a new i never sit down to write a i never sit down okay i'm gonna write a right now so i pick up my guitar in a strum and i allow myself to explore you know what's coming out yeah meaning i do that like knowing that's gonna happen yeah but but most of the time it's just me you know just it just happens to be honest it's just it's it's a certain spontaneous but like you know the other night i picked up my guitar the daffod just a strum and then i just started singing like but it wasn't uh it wasn't wasn't forced never force it out if you find yourself forcing stop you know and and then continue continue a different time you have a favorite katnigan famous favorite shalom cat song my brother has so many gundagan ah so many goodness i i [Music] he hasn't thinking that he composed an honorable side once which i think is and he has an imam and also which is like really really beautiful and he has a lot of nagunam that like he's very busy next israel in the front and the show he doesn't he doesn't put out as much of his own music as as he has time to so but but i know a lot of them because you know i just know and he has he has so many he's he's hashem he's awesome what a wellspring the cat's family what a wellspring it's really uh it's really really amazing it's such a beautiful thing we're we're super grateful for your time this has been a really eye-opening conversation so much to think about so much you challenged us with um you have music dropping new music coming out yeah yeah i haven't i have a new uh a new well the big news is that live in jerusalem three is happening this is the semester circus commercial i say that west circus um it's gonna be like i'm so excited i mean tickets already like selling like a lot and and i'm really really looking forward to the the the bigger news of that is that i'm investing in making it uh you know we we we video the night professionally with you know multi cameras and to put and the original thought was to put out you know like clips of it and put out but we're gonna we're gonna set up a live stream access for all the in and around around the world to be able to watch it you know pay a little amount for ticket to to purchase the the ticket to go in but but i'm thinking like how nice would it be you're sitting in boca in the beautiful what 120 degree weather you know over sukkah but sitting in the sook at 2 30 p.m with your family you know like everyone does what they do at night find saturday but like superb but a nice schmacka brunch lunch you know together put some nice speakers on and then watch it watch it live so that's we're in thank you that's exciting so tomorrow tomorrow or today i don't know i don't know when this episode is coming out but uh um a new is coming out tomorrow hashem it's wednesday can you can you give us any preview any preview oh baby here we go [Music] foreign [Music] i'm releasing it as part of like the excitement for the the live jerusalem concert so so excited everybody's going to check it out nobody we'd rather celebrate our 100th episode with thank you so much for giving us so much time giving us so much to think about well and you know i'm not i'm how long you've been there up there but it's it's in the shameless ferris you know the good the spiritual energy and the richness that's coming out of poca but has become the capital of the in america and it's not only the weather it's not only the lifestyle it's the fact that there's not only the losses [Music] there's hashem so hashem should give you much strength to continue your voice according to um [Music] we can't wait to all be live permanently in yerushalayim together together thank you so much thank you bye bye josh brodie okay what about the conversation cats extraordinaire got a little preview of the new niggin that came out um inspiring conversation thought-provoking conversation a little controversial even conversation i was getting texts my phone lighting up as he was driving about the impact of non-jewish music on jewish music some of the clubbing and the singing what were people saying are they agreeing are they disagreeing it was actually both sides you know some people were texting me and saying uh he's 100 right it's gotten out of control you know how did this seep in and others people say is this really our biggest problem you know if kids that want to hear that beat in that rhythm they want to dance like that isn't it better to be doing it to jewish music jewish lyrics and i can hear both sides you know i think it's something we should be conscious of and mindful of and thoughtful of but um you know but i can hear both sides but it's interesting but he definitely felt very strongly he might be one of the last one of the fewest who are out there who are really composing his only goodness singing those nagumunum who do not have that beat that pop that hip-hop you know his weddings are labor like if you've been on the dance floor it's wild but doesn't have the club atmosphere i don't know if he's the only i don't know if he's one of the last but there's a lot to think about there a lot to unpack there yeah i love how he spoke about that you know you can sing a for ever you know people get bored sometimes of songs i'm gonna try to get into that i haven't it's been a while since i yeah took a look at yeah i even put on one of his songs on the way to the way to school with the kids this morning the one we were singing at morty's house the other night it's just um it's catchy it's great the power of a is that you're not constrained or distracted by the words it's just like it's a rhythm it just moves you and it's also a loop right it just it just keeps going there's no clear or natural end so when there are words you're distracted you're thinking about you want to get them right you want to hear them right and when it's just a tune you're just singing the in a tune so you can get lost in it much more yeah different lagoon at different times you know i didn't mention in the conversation with him but we know the power of music at boca raton uh we were inspired actually one of the great ideas of dan katz but we put speakers outside and inside so when you walk on the bocaton synagogue campus if it's not shabbos or jantiff it's not the three weeks of sphero there's music playing and at first whenever free people first encounter it this little cynical like it's a shul why is there music and then always within a couple minutes they're like that was great you know i walked into daven and that really impacted me maybe i'm down maybe i'm distracted maybe that's the mood we've got it outside we've got it in the lobby and you walk on the campus and you hear music you have a great playlist she's got an amazing apple music playlist many people i don't know for the right donation to the brs global we should give the link to the playlist she's got a great playlist that plays at brs plays in our house all the time 24 6. got music indoors outdoors music is enormous yeah big i don't think a lot of people feel the power of music the value it does it does so much it inspires i can't go anywhere i mean the one thing you were you guys were talking about i didn't jump in at this one point but talk about you know listening to music and and and you know what you do when you're listening and what you what you hear i hear music in my head i have a playlist going on 24 7. there's always a song going on well you're you're very musical and you always are listening to music i don't know if i've ever shown them behind the beam before but i know when rabbi brody is in a meeting or we're sitting there somewhere and he's tuned out because all of a sudden he's a drummer and all of a sudden on the table on his chair with his with his feet with his fingers so what do i do i always do this to you in the middle of a meeting it could be we're out of sheer i and you always answer me right away because you're playing an actual phone and playing it in real time yeah yeah it's a playlist in your head yeah wow so it was good it was great it was great singing yeah great seeing rabbi moskowitz amazing let me just share a few more we got a lot of people who weighed in the 100th episode we're celebrating we're going to wind it down yankee schwartz and arden listen to the podcast having missed just two of the earlier episodes many stand out if i had to choose one he writes the interview with judge rookie fryer wow a second judge fryer of the night first that i requested that as an exceptional episode her ability to articulate stated positions with a plum interesting great use of a plum was enlightening and refreshing her life achievements are admirable and the adulation of fanfare she has garnered are well deserved to me however if there's one thing i'd sing about the podcast it would be robert gobert's signature closing remarks stay happy stay healthy stay holy sign for the torah command of condition to you it rare it is rare to consistently receive constructive admonishment to stay holy if ever at all that message rings in my mind often as a reminder everything i do throughout the day no matter how much mundane it may appear should be invested with kadusa work would be devoted to kurdish choosing to be yeshua what we do permeate kadusha it may be viewed as wrote and often that subtle message is powerful your number one fan wow number one yankee schwartz where did that come from do you remember where when you started doing that no it was in corona i was just thinking about stay healthy everybody want to be healthy stay happy people are struggling to stay happy and i don't stay holy that's that's where we're meant to be conditioned to you so did you write it down the next week so you should remember the order yeah yeah not the order but i did write words i don't even know if i'm consistent with the order naomi gross i've been a fan from almost the beginning i'm honor of shai shakhtar's what's app group he forwarded the episode of btv he was a guest i look forward to watching it live most weeks so many wonderful episodes it's hard to pick favorite one looking forward to episode 100 bonnie winerab a member of our show so many the one i enjoyed the most were the one with the wives mothers and the episode with you'll have a big shout out you mentioned the mothers the moms was a great episode i also have to thank our wives who allow us on wednesday nights to work around behind the bema and your has been a guest host several times now every time she's on i get a flurry of feedback that says she's got to do it more often but she's shy and she doesn't think she adds and she's not sure she wants to be on and i always thought what are you talking about people love you the feedback coming keep the feedback coming keep the pressure on your heaven we want to hear it i'll tell you i'll tell you what i want it's the 100th episode i don't know maybe it'll be 200 300 500. i want to do a kids of rabbis episode your kids are a little older my kids are adults i got three mayor i want to get my kids your kids on i don't think the world hears from children of rabbis not not trying to see them as victims or get sympathy just essentially go behind the beam with what that's like i don't know what that's like i'm a rabbi i would love to hear what they have i've never been the child of a rabbi yeah right yeah so anyway yeah so uh that was bonnie weinreb she loved the wives and the moms that was great howard j meyer barrel wine ellie housener the episode with elana twig was my favorite i told a few of my friends to listen to the episode as well one sent me a flyer she was going to be the five towns for initiate karen ashville's i said let's go we soon realized it would be a tuesday morning so let's see if she comes to a stamp she should able to squeeze this in we raise 9 000 for the shake hair and she says wow so someone watched behind the bema and then connected with her and then raised almost ten thousand dollars for the sheikh kharan ashraes that's amazing without behind the bema we would not have known about the mitzvah thank you for giving us the opportunity okay dory goldman hello fold my favorite we got a lot of positive feedback from hilla fold hillary was great a lot of food for thought we got uh it's like isaac friedman when uh [Laughter] what happened my favorite behind the bema moment is whenever goldberg was thrown off the stream and moscow it's filibustered the ending but then robert gobert came back to end it right nice my other favorite moment was when niece and black's kids entered in the middle of the interview nice favorite guest tied between mayor kay and the disco rabbi both didn't have the easiest lives they're using it to their advantage inspiring great interview favorite episode hands down the mom's episode the moms talk about their kids did my mom send that one in yeah it was cool to hear about oscars played the violin but gold played the clan it was the opposite moscow it was clarinet i was the violin anyway he writes i played guitar and drums like rabbi brodie does nice guys stephanie gross says it was thanks to her we had remarkables motionled stewart says ramosa weinberger marcia koplarsky avram freed come to mind and uh anonymous anonymous rights top guests ready yeah countdown judge rookie fryer alvin fried revenge of levine saul blinkoff beatty deutsch followed closely by rabbi marquez i'll be sir kaminetsky and laurie palotnik lisa weber big fan from pomona muncie new york close friend of the minskys i really enjoyed meeting your mothers just one of my favorite isn't that interesting can we just pause for a moment we had on like again huge rabbis prime ministers prime minister chief rabbi billionaires new york yankees judges right and and how many people have written loved the episode with the mothers yeah shout out to the mops go mobs time to bring them back unbelievable susan pollock i didn't see them all i think daryl horn was quite impressive i really enjoyed the program liz michelle mazel tavan 100. she writes my personal favorite she enjoyed my francesco remember when he came on and uh liked when i co-hosted with benjamin michelle she enjoyed that and she liked uh lynch lifer ceo of regeneron and revoir as well those are what stood out in her mind there are others we've got comments live tonight our good friend lenny friedman he writes my favorite episode with two when i got a shout out we love lenny friedman he deserves that shout outs every week he's great and uh chef garish always an avid listener who mentioned that ramirez shapiro is a close relative followed chef gesh followed closely by another avid listener sarah newcomb who writes we love the mosquitzes sarah newcomb joey newcombe's mom soon to be a resident of boca maybe we'll get joey on soon and look all the comments come in some of them even in english um amazing really beautiful so we thank all of you for joining us tonight a little longer episode as we've celebrated 100 100 brody triple digits 100 100 don't say hashem wants 100 episodes there you go this is fun we invite you to listen to our other episodes of partial perspective living with the munna sitter snippets turn friday into arab shabbos 10 minutes of meaning we've got a lot of torah in podcast this is the fun one that's the hobby on the side join us for the torah keep listening to the to the uh fun hobby zachary sullivan says rav machlis was his favorite one uh daffiomy says i don't know who dafyo is but thank you mdy maria venegas says something in almayor or something to something etan cats but i don't speak i don't speak uh spanish someone would love to see an episode with yehuda i don't know if they know that yehuda is now a proud member and resident of bogorotom okay that's right so we got a lot more to celebrate in this hundred episodes so we'll get them right now hang on let me as we go forward we'll talk which of which of the guests are residents of boca interesting we'll need our fact checker to come up with some good trivia and lists if you want to catch up on old episodes we're referencing all these people you can go on behind thebema.org.com and or you can go on youtube on my page and you can find all the old episodes you can listen to the podcast on every podcast player you can find them they're great so give them a big five stars yeah don't forget i'm not supposed to say that but you can go ahead say five stars it helps us move up the the rankings so that more people will find the show and then more people will find the torah that the other rabbis end up teaching so there's a lot that comes about ten thousand ten thousand you know what we didn't mention we should be so proud of the bomb shelter outside that is painted with the behind the beam a logo bomb shelter behind the bema logo we don't have an update but maybe we'll share it next week after last week's jonathan donath the great dr jonathan donah founder of dailygiving.org you know how many people signed up you get the email so you saw the bump you know we're very grateful by being able to feature special people in fact we've had so many heroes of the jewish people you know joe giller and ellie i don't want to start naming and leaving anyone out but we've had great heroes daily giving got a bump and there's a bomb shelter outside of state road and money was raised to help the farmers and shemitah and that's what we want people to be attracted to not our fun banter but the guests and their inspirations so we do appreciate that helping that supporter but brody you've been part of it since the very beginning it's amazing on the facebook i'm just wondering is that bomb shelter is it like more popular than the other ones could be i wonder you know it's limited space in there but we hope everyone's safe okay we need to go to our bomb shelter it could be i don't know so rabbi i just want to end by thanking you you've been with us since the beginning you've been a part of it from the start and these last few months has been particularly we appreciate i would say also this is an interesting trivia not only how many you have more wardrobe changes than a long island girl at a pesach program over the course of behind i just thought yes i did just think of that right now but not only do you have more wardrobe changes yeah you for sure you for sure have called into behind the bima from more the most bizarre places yeah you were once on the side of a highway you've been an airport you've been an airport at the gate at an airport you've been like the back of a car i've been like under a car you've called in from all over listen you got to do what you got to do and i i i loved the show and the only times i had to miss was really just because there was no wi-fi there was something there was just literally no way it was on the moon but it's been such a it's been such i don't know the comments they just named himself da fiomi and they write last week my grandmother was very sick in the hospital unfortunately died later in the night and as i sat with her connected to a respirator iv lines and a monitor in between saying video until him i listened and watched behind the bema with the guest daily giving and it helped a lot to ease some of the pain so i want to thank you wow wow thank you daphyomi we're so sorry for your loss you should find comfort and strength really sorry but thank you for sharing that with us it really is inspiring we appreciate that very much you should find only only comfort so robert brody thanks for coming for this ride coffee talk that's right and it's not over yet we're just getting warmed up just getting started the best is yet to come we actually have some amazing guests coming up i can't wait um we're excited waiting for a big confirmation coming up uh before rosh hashanah somebody wants to get a message out to the jewish community and thinks behind the beam is the way to do it so we'll see if it happens it doesn't happen but it will be uh it will be if he doesn't make it i got a big message i'll i'll give it you'll get it so whoever doesn't make it up thanks for your loyalty and always tuning in thank you for all the people who help us thank you for our many sponsors over the 100 episodes so we appreciate all that money people all that money it's not that much money to sponsor but the people who sponsored behind the bema it goes to behind it goes to boca raton synagogue it helps us teach torah helps us build community helps us spread the message it doesn't go to us we don't get dinner or lunch out of it but i want to thank everyone thank tonight sponsors again mom and dad mom you like the most popular episode mom thank you mom and dad for all that you do and for your generosity and for sponsoring tonight a big happy anniversary this episode is so long it's almost not your anniversary anymore but a big happy anniversary to charge them extra for the extra time we should should double double cost for the double episode thank you to eight time cats and uh until next time until next week stay happy stay healthy and stay holy we're out