#117: Behind the Bima - Bernie Marcus, Founder of Home Depot

from Boca Raton Florida rabbis Ephraim Goldberg Philip Moskowitz and Josh Brody are taking you behind the bema the BRS Rabbi schmooze about contemporary issues and talk to special guests who give up behind the scenes look at how they got to where they are and what keeps them going welcome to behind the bema good evening Wednesday night 9 p.m I am Ramaya from Goldberg joined by nobody me myself and I a little solo intro to the incredible conversation that we have tonight but proud and happy to bring you behind the bema it's been a long few weeks as probably many of you know our beloved's family lost their daughter as to whom we'd have been so hard for and learn so much for and get so much stucka for and the Jewish people around the world did everything for and for that the family is so incredibly grateful we're broken and heartbroken and uh last week rather than behind the we had a conversation with Rabbi Dr David Fox who is aside from being a tremendous Tomahawk I'm a great Rabbi a world expert on the issue of trauma and we had a conversation about trauma and grieving and loss and reaction and speaking to children and you can find that as a bonus episode on out of the Shadows on the out of the Shabbos podcast or you can find it on the YouTube channel it's well worth watching but we took last week often as the family continues to agree even more now up from Shiva of course the moscowas are very much in our in our thoughts and in our filos it's been an action-packed week aside um from that sad and sorrowful thing uh event that happened of course in all of our Lives we had our annual movaxian trip to New York we had a number of men who went to New York and met with Russia Shiva rabbanim Community leaders in an effort beam of action to learn to grow to be inspired to yearn to uplift to enrich and it was fantastic I can't wait to share some of the amazing personalities and insights and wisdom that they shared with us there is so much to reflect upon and to share is really incredible and Brody actually was with us still traveling as he's want to do that's why he's not with us tonight but I'm looking forward to having the conversation with him and sharing and bringing to you some of those very special moments and some of those experiences also last week an incredible conversation to our dialogue and debate Ben Shapiro Rosenberg on the issue of anti-Semitism unfortunately continue to see it continue to rear its ugly head more and more and more in just more horrific episodes I was just speaking to someone today is it that there's more anti-Semitism or because of media and social media we know more about it now the ugly people spewing their hate and vile Venom someone has a cell phone so they're recording it and they're spreading it and they're sharing it but it's always been there does it feel like it's more than ever it's just we have access to it more than ever either way we have to be utterly intolerant of it and do what we need to do to eliminate to wipe it out we can't stand for it it was a fascinating conversation where does it come from where does it originate what are the things that we can be doing should we always seek to cancel or should we seek to educate we had on behind the bema my good friend Myers Leonard who really excited and so happy for him was signed by the Milwaukee Bucks is back in the NBA a story of redemption of physical healing he had injuries and emotional spiritual healing I think nobody deserves a second chance more than him he did really everything you heard it in our behind the beam interview you could find that one and watch that one too but this question of anti-Semitism when do we Embrace and when do we make someone our friend and when do we lift them up and when do they become our Advocate when do we confront or cancel and when do we try to uh um address them in a way that is intolerant of them so these are questions that we discussed an amazing two-hour conversation and I'm really really proud that the conversation I hope was a model an example of how to disagree agreeably that Ben Shapiro everyone knows is more to the right conservative yeah Rosenberg who was a of course objective uh journalist who who writes for the Atlantic but perhaps is assumed to lean more to the left and yet while they disagree vociferously and vehemently on so many things we had a beautiful dialogue and and you didn't see before the event or after event the Manchester kite and the friendship uh between the two because in the end of the day two practicing passionate Jews have so much more in common than there is that divides them and we need to focus on that it's more exciting and fun and provocative when we focus on divisiveness and differences but when we can start with the Baseline the foundation of how much we have in common and then we can explore those differences in a meaningful way without any vitriol or name calling and the like it's so much more productive and and really proud and grateful that we we did that for two hours and if you haven't watched it it's well worth it most things people watch on one and a half or two speed then and yet year you have to watch on point five speed to really be able to hear it but you can find it also on our YouTube channel or on a bonus episode of behind the Beamer you could listen to it a podcast player but I really recommend two hours of their of their wisdom and insights much they disagree much they agreed on rather and some things they disagreed on that are worth hearing and listening and considering what they disagreed and why they disagreed which is really really well worth it but tonight's conversation also we're going to talk to Bernie Marcus founder of Home Depot Home Depot a national chain that we're all familiar with many of us shop that where would we be where would Jews how could Jews make sukis without a Home Depot but he came from very humble roots and humble beginnings immigrant parents grew up really in poverty and his dream was not retail and Home Depot he wanted to be a doctor where that dream go wrong and how did he end up this incredible successful founder of Home Depot who today spends his time on philanthropy described he's working harder on philanthropy than he ever did on Home Depot but he's a proud and astonished Jew proud of Israel proud to be Jewish and we'll get into that conversation about anti-Semitism as well so grateful that Bernie a fellow Boca resident agreed to this conversation without any further Ado it's a privilege to introduce Bernie Marcus it's a great honor to be able to go behind the bhima with the great Mr Bernie Marcus who is so accomplished not only in the business world but in the philanthropic world and as I said before we begin Mr Marcus was so grateful for the difference that you've made locally in our shared community of Boca Raton really across the United States and particularly for the U.S Israel relationship what you've done for Jews around the world and for the Jews of Israel were so deeply indebted so thank you for all that and thank you for joining us today all right my pleasure so I want to start with the following question in in reading your book and then learning more about you um I noticed that there were two major moments in your life which others would have described as rejection or failure moments that other people might have been negatively impacted by um first of all the dream of being a doctor of after two years pre-med courses applying to Harvard Medical School being accepted on contingent you'd have to pay a fee for being Jewish and you said that you owe Harvard a big thank you for denying you entry it changed the trajectory of your life and the second was getting fired as the CEO of the handy Dan Home Improvement chain 1978 what you described as the best thing that ever happened to you so what role did failure or rejection have in your life and failing forward what would you say to other people who run into hardship how to embrace that failure and in fact learn from it and recognize the good in it well I will tell you this Rabbi most of the very successful people I've met have all had a period where something happened untoward that they didn't expect not prepared for and devastating and this is the difference between people and it's in my life now I'm 93 years old I've I've been the retail business for I don't know 60 years I've been around people all of my life and there are two kinds of people there are people who when they're rejected or something happens to them a setback a real setback there are some people that spend the rest of their lives talking about it dwelling on it living the moment and it drags them down and they constantly blame others for whatever happened to them and they spend the rest of their lives miserable and unhappy uh fortunately my mother kind of prepared me for this and said there are things that are going to happen to you in your life and you have to move on the key was move on and uh it wasn't easy I mean the setback you know I have my heart set on on going to medical school becoming a doctor what Jewish kid doesn't right but I really wanted it I I didn't want to be because of my parents I wanted it because I was interested in medicine and as a kitty I mean 13 to 14 years old I knew the body I understood to have a body work when I went to see my doctor I would discuss it with him and you know he would look at me as always crazy a little kid discussing I would say tell me what's wrong with me and why not just tell me what's wrong and what could I do about it so that was one thing so I wanted to be a a medical doctor and my life was thrown around and of course you know what happened Rabbi is that we had the end they had a a uh a quota system in the medical school every single medical school in the United States had a 10 quota on Jewish kids so unless you had money and you could buy yourself in you weren't going to go to medical school wow it's amazing how we live life and life turns around over and over and repeats itself I think that the similar things are happening now in the United States it's not going to be easy for Jewish kids to get into school major schools why they'd want to go to Harvard or any of these schools is beyond me anyway because all they learn is what what is not good for them and what is not good about society and what's not good about freedom they learned socialism and uh maybe it's good thing they can't get into schools and maybe they go to smaller schools where they really get an education and not promulgated and and Brainwashed the way they are in most big universities I'm talking about Yale I'm talking about Harvard I'm talking about all of all of these schools have the same thing we're seeing that now the the Jewish kids graduating our Jewish schools it's no longer merit-based so it's no longer your achievement your IQ your SAT score in this wave and this New Movement today of of trying to make everyone equal an equal opportunity and you remove the differentiating factors which are what allowed you to rise Home Depot other success stories we're seeing them have to find Alternatives because it's no longer a merit-based and we're seeing that begin to unfold yeah it's unfortunate and uh most of them have to uh work at things awoke if you get involved while with the woke world and you agree with all those philosophies then you can get into school otherwise you're not going to get into these schools now let me tell you something what we're seeing today is a repeat of what they saw during my lifetime and I'm talking about the 40s and 50s it's coming back I see the same thing happen I predicted it 20 years ago and I knew this was going to happen in the United States you have schools being taken over by the woke people and parents are in the dark and don't know what's happening with their kids uh you I'll tell you one thing you have people here watching this you better watch what's happening with your kids even in the private schools the private schools are no better than public schools they've infiltrated these schools and taught them that socialism is good capitalism is bad and that is a dangerous thing capitalism is what created myself my whole life uh my my success in life uh the fact that it may uh a wealthy Jew who now gives most of his money away was created by the the absolute uh system of being able to sell stock make money uh treat your your Associates well treat your employees well but build a business and build a business on good values and then end up with a lot of money so that you can help the rest of the people in the world which is what's happening with me and you are in extraordinary ways that that philanthropy which I noticed and we'll get to part of the philanthropy uh focuses on Jewish causes and while you didn't end up in medical school I see that you do a lot of philanthropy with medical uh the medical arena in trying to help people Advance medicine yeah it's still in my couscous yeah right and so I'm still interested in medicine and we're doing a lot of things in medicine we have as you know I'm very much involved with the Boca Regional Hospital we opened a Marcus neurological Center uh if God forbid you have a stroke and I'm talking to you and all the people out there that are watching right be sure you end up at the Marcus neurological Center uh it's the only place that treats what we call bleeders and if you're going to die from a stroke it's going to be from a bleeder right it's the only one in this community uh Within Reach and I'm talking about from here to Miami that handles this and handles it well so that's a bit of advice for you uh for the Marcus neurological Center and we set it up to do exactly that and handle all of the things we have a wonderful doctors there just wonderful of course since it was taken over by Baptists they're adding on to the hospital they're now building a new hospital that's right and you live in this community and I I would advise your congregants to commit funds to help this the best hospital in the world you don't want to have to have a treatment in New York City you don't want to have to fly back to New York City to be treated for something we want to have those those treatments here right around the corner so that you can survive absolutely and it has a wonderful reputation and we're so deeply indebted to you and your family for for that among the so many other things so when you look back at your life now you're able to you know with the benefit of hindsight say not getting into medical school is the best thing ever 1978 getting fired was the best thing ever but did you feel it while you were going through it were you able to even stop right then and say this isn't Pleasant and I don't want this but you know one door closed but another door is about to open no it took time no no I don't think listen I don't think I'm that strong uh there's a moment of grieving uh why me you know why are they taking his dream away from me of course I was young when I couldn't get into medical school I was like 20 21 22. and I actually quit school I quit everything and and hitchhiked down to Florida and I tell a story well I was out on us one hitchhiking South I didn't know where I was going my mother had no clue I packed my bags I just left the house and a car pulled up and it was two Jewish people in it and I happen to be speaking I am I grew up speaking English in my house right my parents for Russian immigrants and I saw they were Jewish and I started to speak Yiddish to them and they adopted me on and they said to me if you would thrive you drivers were going to Miami we'll take you so it was a three-day drive and we stopped off at motels and we ate and by the time we got do we got down to Miami we were Mishra and they had an extra room in their condo and they invited me to stay with them which was great and I stayed with them about six months I had a great experience for me as well my mother didn't know I was and this was the now this was the healing now I started thinking about what I was going to do and my mother's influence when I finally let her know where I was that I had to go back to school you know Jewish people you have to be a doctor or lawyer you have to be something so I applied to pharmacy school Dental School chiropractic school I was accepted by all of them I took Pharmacy because I could live at home because I had no money and my parents had no money and I got into Pharmacy and of course I hated Pharmacy but it boarded on the retail and one thing leads to another and I ended up in a retail business working for two guys from Harrison which is all in my book okay from dust and you'll know that it was not an easy transition but I found out that I love retailing it was like in my blood it excited me and and all of my past my medical disappointments etc etc went away because I found a new life and that was servicing people giving them what they wanted and creating a value for them and I love working with people and training people and in retailing I had such access to that my career Two Guys was great and I think it was the basis of my whole retailing and Home Depot had portions of what I learned at two guys from Harrison and the two guys lessons carried me through uh the rest of my life and I found myself in love with retailing which I never felt out of love with it but my love for being a Jew and understanding what it meant to be a Jew and how fortunate I was carried me all all during this period of Time how my my support for Israel which I'm sorry to say many of your congregants today have lost the love of Israel they don't understand that the reason they're successful is because Israel survived during the wars and Israel became a great state and anti-Semitism actually disappeared during the time when Israel was declared a state after the next maybe 15 20 years uh it wasn't until the Obama years that anti-Semitism started back up again in the United States we had a free ride we were living here just like everybody else and we weren't in danger but I'm sorry to tell you that I think that Jews are in danger today I really feel it I see it on college campuses I see it in where people are attacking Jews but we're in a a yamaka uh you know kids are in in colleges are afraid to wear a star David because they're attacked so this is not a good life that a good world or we live in and I'm we're doing everything the Marcus Foundation right through a lot of things to offset that at the huge concern and you know something about it because I know that when you were a child you write in your book you faced anti-Semitism there were bullies who beat you up and at 10 years old you earned the respect of a gang who invited you to join and that that's what got you your protection so at 10 years old right so 83 years ago uh what helped fight anti-Semitism was connecting with the bigger bullies if you were part of a gang if you were part of the muscle then then the Jews were protected but what do you think are some of the things that we should be doing today we're seeing anti-Semitism as you said whether violence on the streets of New York or whether messaging hate messaging here in South Florida a swastika was broadcast was projected onto the side of a building there are significant people are no longer ashamed they're not embarrassed to tweet or to post or to text you have popular podcasters Joe Rogan who just this week I don't think he's an anti-semite but he promoted an ancient Trope connecting Jews and money so some of the old ways of handling anti-Semitism aren't working and the organizations that have spent millions of Jewish dollars and of others to fight anti-Semitism have not succeeded because it's rearing its ugly head so what what can and should we be doing what do you think and what are you trying to influence how we can impact anti-Semitism well we we recognize this about 20 years ago actually predicted what was going to happen now and um I was reminded yesterday I had a visitor and he said you told me that you know about this 20 years ago yeah and and and how right you were I'm sorry that I'm right but you know people like myself I mean we talk about uh philanthropists that are really concerned about it that are aware of it the problem is that most people are not aware of it right most people don't understand it's happening on college campuses it's very difficult for kids to survive Jewish kids they're being attacked constantly by the administration by their professors and by the Palestinians on and by other anti-israel Jews may your congregation probably has some Jews in the universities that belong to some of these organizations that are anti-zionists hate Israel well if you hate Israel ultimately it means you hate Jews as well you know we got eight million Jews over there and they have to survive so I am meeting with all the people that I meet with there are so many different uh ways that they're trying to turn this around and they are investing a lot of money and energy the old organizations like ADL don't work really don't work anymore and I say this to you bluntly they're not a good organization they're more concerned about uh the Muslim population anymore about the Jewish population and so what do you do well we came up with something that we think is a positive among other things we have a lot of litigation that's going on at universities all over the country trying to punish these people and administrations for allowing this to happen but we we started something called Rue one Route One r-o-u-t-e-1 and what we do is send young people who are in this sophomore and Junior years in high school to Israel for a three-week period before they go they go online and they have to spend eight hours we pay for the trip by the way they pay a small portion we pay the biggest the bigger portion so it's called root one and I would suggest for your own congregation anybody in your congregation that's in that age limit age limit that you should get them on Route One we're sending this year uh last year during covert we had 4 000 people four thousand from all over the country this year we're gonna have five thousand next year about 7 500. and they're going to go up every year from there the three weeks that they spend there is not playing games and having parties they're learning about Israel why Israel's there why it was formed why is that why is it was a it was a desperation to get to save Jews from all over the world and give Jews a Homeland because they weren't welcome anywhere and eventually they were thrown out of every country which we see now being a Jew in France is not a good experience being a Jew in the UK is not a good experience a Brussels with Germany it's the same thing all over the world the only place you feel safe is Israel and Israel needs our support whether you agree or not they have Politics the way we have politics I I don't leave this country because I disagree with Biden all right I'm still an American he's still a president I respect the fact that he's the president I don't have to agree with them but I don't leave the country these people are being pushed out of France and in England and other places and they end up in Israel and it's the only place they're going to survive I would hate to think that all the Jews in the world have to end up in Israel I would like to think that we could live in this country the way we have in the past but if Jews don't wise up and they don't begin to understand that it's right under your nose and they say well now it'll go away you know it'll disappear it's not really anything uh yeah through history that never served us well when we you know you know the holiday of Purim is coming up and everybody salavechik had an insight about the holiday of Purim he said you know what the miracle of Purim was there was a man who rose up Haman and he said what he planned to do to the Jews and the Miracle is we believed him because throughout our history you know the people get up and they threaten and they say explicitly their feelings are what their intention is we excuse and we rationalize and we explain and we and the Miracle is when we say you know we believe them and we better do something about it and we've got to believe him with anti-Semitism on on the rise you know I think we think one of the biggest responses we have to have is to be a proud Jew a practicing Jew a passionate Jew when Jews cower and Jews are afraid and Jews apologize and Jews are defensive for being Jews and when Jews are ignorant as Jews and Jews are disappearing as Jews we shouldn't be surprised when other people also want to erase us but when we stand up proudly and passionately and when we practice this I think we're missing an opportunity I wonder what you think about this Mr Marcus on these campuses and elsewhere you know the the kid who's being told you can't wear the the Star of David we should be telling him look if you're going to be harassed or discriminated against her being a Jew you might as well learn about what it means to be a Jew so let's leverage anti-Semitism as an opportunity for outreach let's Inspire and let's let's awaken this next Generation to be passionate proud practicing Jews who tell the world I'm not going to apologize I'm not defensive I'm not going to stop wearing and that's what you're doing send them to Israel which is which is brilliant to come back from that three-week trip to be proud and knowledgeable and practicing Jews you don't want to stand down that's what that's what you did right when you were 10 years old by affiliating with the muscle you said I'm not going to stand down I'm not going to apologize for being a Jew I hope I hope this is a sermon that you're teaching in your synagogue because many conservative rabbis don't do this around the country we're really make more excuses than they do uh telling people that they have to be proud of who they are listen how much do we contribute to the society think about what Jews do in every part of society in science in look at what happens in Israel every phone in the United States is part of an Israeli piece in it every plane that flies is flying because Israel made a part that that makes that plane fly and here in the States you think about all things we've done in medical science how many medical science uh people I meet who are Jews around we're we're helping society and we're helping this country get better and we should not be ashamed of who we are and we do it because of the strength that we have of Judaism and our bodies this is what we have to do yeah it is the courage and we have to have courage because if we sit back and we don't fight they're going to run all over you and to allow people in Congress in Congress to be anti-Semitic and not get a kick him the hell out of office then you have to be ashamed of yourself and I'll tell you one thing you better get involved with politics because if you think politics is the other guy's problem and not yours then you're making a very big mistake you think about some of the Jewish members of the house that support AOC in here and her gang of people they they support them every year they know better than anybody else in fact they're worse than anybody else because they know what the problem is and when I speak to them individually they say well you know we're going to change them you're not going to change them right they're going to change you which they already have because they support them so I think we have a lot to do with from your side from learning that we have to be who we are and be proud of who we are we are great contributors if you look at the world of philanthropy right Jews Jews are involved with philanthropy I think I think they'll remember the number was something like between 15 to 20 percent we represent a half percent of the population and yet most of the philanthropy in the United States comes out of Jews and the Jews unfortunately are supporting universities that are worse enemies I every time I pick up the paper and I see it you give 125 000 120 25 million dollars to a place like Yale a place like Harvard a place like USC it makes me sick how stupid can you be you're like feeding the enemy we get we do things with universities but we do programs and we control it whatever we give them we know where it's being spent and it's not spent on woke it's not spent out building a sports arena that doesn't help anybody it's built on on making these kids smarter and so I I think before you give money to universities use your head use your hand how is the money going to be used you're putting some of these Universities at Harvard and sitting with billions of dollars and billions billions and yet you go to Mass General and it's a crap house spoken Boca Regional Hospital will have a better facility then then the one in Massachusetts because they don't put the money back in they're Bankers they're there their bank is running running money making money each year and people continue to give them money how in stupid is that yeah you know the story they tell about the the frog and the beaker that right the you have a pot of water and it's a very very slow low flame a slow boil and the the Frog will boil to death because it's going so slowly doesn't realize that it's going to be killed so the Frog boils to death and the this low flame in this low and that's what's happening around us as you're saying there's an assault on our values assault on on our identity there's an assault on all that we believe and that brought us here and it's it's happening systematically but it's also happening in a way which is a little bit nuanced and people are contributing to their own demise in that way and you know that you know we're Orthodox but every denomination every stream all of us need to take pride and lean further in don't lean out from your Judaism don't take off your Judaism lean in be more proud more passionate more practicing and and encourage others the Beauty and the contributions like you said Mr Marcus Jewish people are less than a percent where a tiny fraction of the American public but did you know that 20 of kidney donors in America are Jews 20 and let's promote all the positive and let's unapologetically and unabashed and not defensively let's share that now you you in the book you talk about it you've shared that in your early days of of raising money for Home Depot you were stereotyped as a Jew and and what was that experience like was that anti-semitic or did you feel more of a responsibility that if your stereotyped as a Jew you've got to carry the Jewish Banner Jewish identity what was that like no no I I have to tell you something my partner also like it myself we're very proud of being Jews and I used to talk about sadaka I would go before these audiences of anti-semites and I would talk about sudaka how Home Depot invented sadaka for big companies Home Depot Whenever there was a hurricane when there was an earthquake we raced to help the people that were our customers and we didn't care about what their what their religion was we didn't care if they're Christian or Muslim or anything we help them because it was the right thing to do and we talked about sadaka and Jews this is what drives Jews most Jews that's why we you give like you said 20 percent uh nobody else gives that kind of percentage uh except for Jews and we have to be proud of what we are I am I have been and I always will be and I'm a promoter of it and I tell young people when I meet with them but they should also on Route 1 that's what we teach them Rabbi and the crazy thing that happened to us we thought that these people they have a very extreme three weeks and it's not smoking pot it's not drinking beer at night it's really understand the state of Israel by the time they come home and I've talked to many of these kids the one thing that shocked us when I say what do you learn most on this trip and they said how proud I am to be a Jew not a Zionist but a Jew we thought they would come back pure zionists they did they were supportive of Israel but all of a sudden they wanted to have Shabbos they wanted to have a candle lighting on every Friday night they came back they talked to their parents and they say we want to lie to get a lie to Campbell on Friday nights we want to have a Shabbat we want to have the their family sit down together we want to go to the synagogue together and every single one of them I mean a bar none and this was the shocker of Route 1 that they came back feeling this way and many of them went back to Israel well and and and and decided that they wanted to either live there or or get more training for like another year so it was Israel taught them how proud they were of what they accomplished when you look at the Middle East it's Barren it was sand right now they're rebuilding the Negev they're just rebuilding it right imagine a lake in the middle of the negative and they're building it like in the middle of Negan in Beersheba and you know before Israel we was formed Jerusalem and that whole area is a swamp with malaria and and all kinds of terrible things living there and Jews turned it around today Jews are 90 self-sufficient on water it's amazing and meanwhile the Arab world is busy trying to destroy Israel instead of learning from Israel instead of saying you know let us be like Israel unfortunately we have the the Abraham Accord and that's spreading and I hope there are more countries I hope that Saudi Arabia and that he joined his group because what they're doing is they're learning how to make their own country better by listening to the Israelis the Brilliance of the Israelis imagine 90 percent of the water having a lake in the middle of a Beersheba well who would ever do that certainly not in the Arab land so um we have a lot to word and we have to be proud of what we've accomplished and what happens with these kids on Route One they see all of this and they say holy mackerel they can't believe it um what's the organization called um uh Birthright is it organization that shows all the inventions that come out of Israel it's it's brilliant I mean I I've seen things there that I don't believe where blind people can see where uh people who don't talk and communicate and they have a process for all of this stuff incredible where did you develop this love of Israel did it come from your parents what what age were you your first trip to Israel and where's your favorite place to go in Israel um I I've been involved with Israel for about 40 years uh I've been active when I ran Home Depot originally I had no time but if you remember 40 years ago I don't know how old you are I thought Rabbi Goldberg but 40 years ago they were going to pass a law on who's a Jew I my in other words if you weren't born a Jew and if if your grandparent wasn't Jewish you weren't considered to be a Jew and I got involved with it and and I worked together with somebody like George Schultz and we formed Israel democracy Institute in Israel which is today the most powerful organization in Israel and it's non-political but it helps make the laws that keep Israel safe and strong and Democratic and uh I've been involved since then so 40 years ago I remember going to Egypt and to uh to uh what was it was mainly Egypt and I saw the poverty and then when I crossed the border and I went into Israel it was like going from you know about a hundred years ago or 200 years ago into modern society and I was shocked I couldn't believe that they did what they did in such a short period of time so I I was I I've become a lover of Israel I think I have problems sometimes with their politics but for crying out loud they're saving Israeli Jews they're saving Jews from all over the world and they're piling at Israel now they're coming from Russia they're coming from the UK they're coming from France and I know personal experiences of people who have left France because it's not safe for Jews in France it's not safe for a Jew in France and that's amazing because Jews have been part of the French Society for forever but they're going to drive you out or wherever you are and if we don't change you here in this country in 25 years they're going to drive us out of this country as well it's time to stand up be proud Jews Now's the Time to fight back yeah first well first of all your passion is incredible I wish that you know people half your age quarter of your age would have the same passion for the future of the Jewish people like you do for Israel it's incredible and I think I think they have to understand it first if you don't understand it if you're oblivious of it and you're naive when you're stupid then you're stupid because you don't understand what's going to happen to your children and your grandchildren and maybe you don't give a damn because you won't be on this Earth I give a damn and I really worry about where my grandchildren are going to be and where their children they're going to be in the years to come and I want this world to be a safer world for them I don't want anything for nothing right I don't want retribution you know we've been we were slaves for 2000 years knocked out of every goddamn country in the world we don't want retribution just treat us with humility treat us with respect that's all I want don't attack Us in public because of Who We Are our religion which has nothing to do with how we conduct ourselves in this country I mean if you look at half the hospitals in the United States they're built by Jews go to NYU langone and look at the buildings NYU langone every building is a Jew every single one hospitals you go to every hospital in the world it's all built by Jews so you know I think about the things that I did for Crown Of Love I built an aquarium in Atlanta we got three million people a year I've been there yeah my kids my kids loved it thank you you're welcome we don't say you're allowed to come in if you're a Jew if you're a Christian you can't come here if you're a Muslim you can't come here if you're if you're black you can't come we don't say that we want everybody to enjoy it and this is the mod this is the motto how Jews behave themselves but when somebody puts a finger in your eye you bite that goddamn finger off you don't take that crap we are powerful as Jews and we have to fight back use your power stop hiding exactly exactly Mr Marcus we need more of that you could be 93 years old you're on the front line for us it's not an age we need that that passion and we need to stand up and we need to be proud everybody cowards apologize don't tell them don't show it's the opposite you know you see this in in Israel when did Israel make peace Israel made peace with Egypt Israel made peace with Jordan Israel made peace when it had governments who were strong and powerful and proud and the ones who were ready to make concessions and apologize and live in fear have never yet made peace peace comes people respect you when you respect yourself they respect you when you're proud and you're strong that's when they respect you that's what brings the peace that's what we need more of for sure are there projects out there that you say to people running the foundation that you only wish someone would come to you with this project I've got money to invest what are people not focused on right now well you know I I think that you have to look at the bottom line if you're going to go invest money let's say in Israel just to get your name on a building doesn't mean anything what effect is it going to have on everyday life we got very much of uh the Moga David Dom uh we went there about I don't know seven years ago and we looked at it where the blood supply was imagine 98 of the blood supply was it in in danger every single day every time a rocket came over they could have knocked the blood supply of Israel 98 of the blood supply of Israel you want to talk about you want to getting the jugular vein and killing somebody they if the Arabs had hit this place and they showed me how they move from building to building from room to room to save the supplies so we got very much involved in building a new blood supply area is three stories on the ground a direct hit can't put it out of commission right it's self-sustaining it's got its own its own engineering and a direct hit either from a bomb or a rocket or even poison gas they've made every single thing available so everything so the blood supply is so when you're in Israel and God forbid you have an accident you're going to know you're going to get blood the IDF knows they're going to get the blood and you know it's it's the kind of organization that has the ability to save lives in Israel and make Israel a stronger place that's the kind of place that we support so we we pick out places where we see there's a bottom line on campuses we we have we we support places like Hillel where we know there's a bottom line and we do involve ourselves with a lot of litigation where the administration allows things to happen and believe me the administration is made up of Jews and they allow anti-Semitism on the campuses and they're like they'll make noise you know keep quiet maybe it'll go away it's not going to go away it gets worse so we sue them put title six and once the threat of suing and the cost of money hits them they stop backing off and they start acting like the way they should have been and listen we had in Atlanta where they put a in the uh in the on the campus where the kids live signs on every door Jews get out not Israelis get out Jews get out you're not welcome here and the administration just allowed it to happen and we happen to give a lot of money in different programs to the university and we like other people we got them all together and we threatened that that was it if you didn't solve the problem you're not getting any money anywhere and we got together put pressure on and sure enough they act in the in a heroic way and did the right thing so I'm just telling you it kind of against don't allow this crap to happen what do you think about Mr Marcus what do you think about the following idea I had a friend whose son was at a prominent ivy league institution they have a hello there and this is a kid who served as a lone soldier in the IDF before going to this ivy league so he put his life on the line to fight for Israel and he went and he asked the hello director there let's put an Israeli flag in the in the lobby of the hill and the hello director said you might offend people Israel is an occupier Israel's this we can't put a flag so I thought to myself and you're the one who could get this done why don't we make it an official hello policy that the lobby of every Hill has an American flag and an Israeli flag and every Jewish kid on that campus will know that's a Jewish Embassy if I feel threatened or I feel in danger I want to be around other Jews I see the American flag and the Israeli flag in the lobby of every Hill in this country what do you think about that I think it's a good idea bye-bye Goldberg I'll work on it okay thank you it'd be fantastic you've been very generous with your time I want to talk at just Home Depot how couple minutes because how can we not learn from from one of the most accomplished people in in history of this country and building something that when you started it with one and two stores and now you fast forward 2 300 locations half a million employees a market value of 330 billion with a B dollars did you dream when you got fired and your reaction was let's go start our own store you started with one story you had to borrow money raise money did you ever dream it would become what it became and I would argue you mentioned when you started with retail two guys I would argue maybe your retail began when you were a waiter in the Catskills having to serve all those Jews the Catskills that's retail business right there no so what was the secret of your success what was the secret I actually believe that we would have 1500 stores I actually believe that which was you know way off the off the charts but I knew that the United the people this was such a great remember before Home Depot started people had to go to a an electrical store a hardware store a lumber yard in order to do something you had to go to 15 stores right but the contractor this was a nightmare in order to build the house that's why houses were so expensive and we made it Easy by putting it onto one roof and we made it easy because all the prices were a third less than what retail was at that point and then we had people in the stores who would help you do a job so I can't tell you how many businesses we started I mean thousands of businesses contractors who are now in their own business small businesses a contractor building a house redoing a house remodeling a house uh plumbers everybody loves the Home Depot because it makes their life easier it's much less expensive and time is money and so even when the world is suffering I mean retail is suffering around the country Home Depot is doing well and I want you to remember Home Depot has never forgotten sadaka we are still very much involved in giving and helping organizations around the country that are meaningful we give the things that mean something that help people and so I'm saying to you and your congregants why would you shop anywhere else um why would those two core values right you're supporting the values of Home Depot I want you know I always I'm a Home Depot guy all the way before sukis you know the Jews around the around the country we're the biggest Home Depot before the holiday everyone's got to put up their sukkah and you got to buy the lattice and you got to buy the screws and the now Jews we don't know what we're doing when we walk in this comedians they're lost in Home Depot they don't know what they're doing where they're going but everyone and your stores are so amazing I'm sure you know this already but some of the Home Depots put out a whole circus display and they make everything available and easy and support the Jews to be able to put up their sukkas it's fantastic those values we love it yeah thank you thank you you said that you said that one of your secrets to your success was surrounding yourself with people who are better than you what did you mean by that surrounding yourself with people better than you how do you find them is that true for our business too in the synagogue well you know what if you surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are you end up with a better product it makes life easier makes your life easier unless you're insecure I'm not insecure author is not insecure so we went out we got people that knew more than we did in the financial area in the internet in in retailing itself we hired some Geniuses guys who were real promoters we allow them to flourish and they flourished as they flourished we flourished we became the marketing place in America for new products and more importantly for teaching people how to use the new products and so our formula has continued through the years and does it even now but sadaka is still a heart of Home Depot I mean whenever there's a hurricane I could tell you when is the threat of hurricane let's say here in Florida the trucks already are loaded with batteries with generators they're sitting on the ground right now waiting for the next hurricane or the next earthquake or the next and they travel all over the country they're they're in place ready to go so that people that need it we know we're going to be able to get there so it's a big part of our country our company and everybody that works for us is proud of the fact that we're there for our customers which is the most important thing of all and the people that work for you stay for a long time they wear how many years they've been there and it's not a business that turns over that tells you a lot about the culture of the business that the people stay there you've also spoken about the difference between what you call customer service and customer cultivation what's the difference between the two well customer service is just selling somebody something if you come into the store and you want to buy a faucet we would rather teach you how to save your old faucet at a third of the money or a tenth of the money and then you go home you find that it works and next time you come to the Home Depot that's where you come because we teach you how to do it right we're not interested in making a big sale in other words nobody's on commission so that when you come into a store we don't care what you buy as long as it's the right product that helps you and that's all that's all we're concerned about and that's the philosophy of Home Depot so uh and everybody that works for us knows this uh we had I just got a letter from somebody that told me they had a whole big problem that they had to uh fixing their house they needed certain kinds of pieces of lumber and they had no way to transport the lumber to the house and our guy in our store cut the lumber down to the pieces that he needed he did it in the store it fit in the car and when the guy got back to his house it fit together so he basically half the job for the person and he waited for him it was his time off he had already checked out and he waited for him to come back and and bring his car he had a bigger car and the guy wrote me a letter and said I've never had this experience before this happened to me last week wow that's amazing do you ever go undercover to our local Home Depots here in Boca because they know me they know when I walk in I I usually wear a cap you know baseball hat or something and I slink in through the lumber yard but it takes them Maybe 10 minutes to identify me and before I know what I'm surrounded by people so right but listen I'm happy I'm out of there 20 years that they still remember me if you ever need anything we'll pick it up for you don't just let us know we're happy to go get it for you nobody nobody knows us Mr Marcus you're incredible your energy I I saw you said once uh recently at 93 you're working harder for philanthropy than you ever did at Home Depot so thank you for continuing to work for the Jewish people and work for freedom and work for the values that we hold dear and thank you for for going behind the Bima know that we're just down the block from you you've got a Congregation of rabbis who passionately care about the same things as you standing up for Israel standing up for the Jewish people and we have a congregation we have a night for Israel all the events that we do to stand up for for Israel and stand up for the Jewish people and we're excited to partner together and we thank you for all that you do all right thank you make sure you get your children South Morrison Jr on Route One absolutely very it's very very important we're going to encourage it for sure we're going to encourage it thank you all right thank you very much I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did it's amazing somebody who's not a young man is still so active and passionate and vibrant and really so much to share in such an eloquent way it's really refreshing to see that pride and that passion for the Jewish people and all of us need to get involved and whatever our capacity is but we all have the opportunity to try to influence our surroundings and fight for the things that we believe in that we care about and that we want to make a difference on and Bernie's one example of it you should continue to have many more years and continue to do many great things we're so grateful to him for having been on behind the bema thank you to Glenn gosh for his help with that connection and for arranging the opportunity and until next time stay happy stay healthy