#120: Behind the Bima: Eli Beer & Nachman Seltzer

Rabbis Ephraim Goldberg, Philip Moskowitz, and Josh Brody are taking you behind the Bima. 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 Bima. Good evening. Wednesday night, 9:00 p.m. I'm Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg joined by my colleague and dear friend and fellow marathon podcaster, Rabbi Joshua Brody. And we're here to take you behind the Bima. We're here to take you behind the Bima, Rabbi Brody. Just 1 week ago, we had a marathon marathon global edition of Behind the Bima, 4 hours, 8:00 p.m. to midnight. And the truth is that was only half of what we were going to do. Right. Next year, we said, "Please God, if something else will be built, we'll be in Jerusalem next year, 8 hours all the way." We want to thank our sponsor tonight, Real Panama Tours, the realpanamatours.com. If you haven't been to Pana- Have you ever been to Panama? No, but I know if I do go to Panama, I'm calling Real Tou- Tours. I mean, there's nobody that does it better than Real Panama Tours. I was privileged I officiated at a wedding in Panama, so I was only there for 1 night. I didn't really get to see much of it, but beautiful country. I They say they have per capita more kosher restaurants in Panama than anywhere else. And if you're going to go see it, my in-laws went this year, they loved it. If you're going to go see Panama, call the realpanamatours.com, the realpanamatours.com. You didn't use Real Panama Tours, if I remember. Right? So, when you got there Right. And but you had you had to take like a very bumpy ride to get to the Yeah, like the edge of a cliff. It was It was a So, you got to use Real Panama Tours, and then you'll avoid those problems. It was an adventure, but it's worth checking out. It's worth checking out Panama. Anyway, last week's uh global edition, we've been getting tremendous feedback on the marathon. We had six, seven, eight, 10 How many guests did we have? Great conversations, each one in their own right. Really diverse guests, great conversations. You can find it online. You don't have to listen to all 4 hours in one shot. Do it incrementally. We got chapters and we list, if you want to skip right to what you were up to or someone that you want to hear. There were some great conversations that happened. And I told I I told my mother-in-law about, you know, we got uh Ellie Beer and and and Rabbi Seltzer and she's like, "Well, I'm not finished yet with the uh the the marathon." Like, "Well, maybe skip it and come back. I don't know." Yeah. It's interesting. Some of the Not Not that your mother's older, but older people and technology, they're like, you know, they figure that out. It's not not so simple like when you can go back to it. How do you go back to it? How do you skip even How do you skip ahead? How do you listen to a new one if you didn't finish the old one? Yeah. It's simple. Right. We take for granted, certainly for our children, I would argue to a large extent for ourselves, technology is second nature. Like it's instinctive, it's intuitive, we figure it out. But for people for whom it's not as natural, it's a real barrier. Yeah. Let's say I'm I'm very close to someone, related very closely, someone who might have ended our behind the Bema last week, who who is not as in tune naturally to technology and she says to me regular, "I'm at a disadvantage." She always needs my help. "Why can't I find this? How come I can't do this? I'm not even What's my password? That's drives me crazy. No one can hear me or how can So, you and I would like fiddle or play or Google it and figure it out and it's it's a disadvantage to the people it doesn't come as naturally for. Right. Can't take it for granted. No, but how many times it's a This is what happens. I'm not saying which members of my family cuz it's not just one, but it's like, "Okay, we got the user ID. It's probably your email. Now, what's your password?" "I don't know. How am I supposed to remember my password?" Right. Right. Passwords become a big issue. Right. What are your uh Pesach plans, Rabbi Brody? Uh I can't believe First of all, breaking news, you know, Simone's in Israel right now. She She's there, okay? So, Sunday, check this out. Pesach Now, this is not the breaking news you thought. Oh, okay. Different news. Hey, Pesach. This is This whole closet right now is Pesach. I did it. I did it. We put all the Pesach stuff in there, but there'll be some other breaking news coming. Might be a little more exciting. you in Boca? You're in Boca for Pesach? You'll be here? I'll be here. Yeah, I'll be here. I'm very excited to be with you. Got a very, very exciting uh program there. I love it. Not to say well cuz you don't have to cook and clean. I would argue I Who do you think did this? Yeah, exactly. This tape didn't happen by itself. Let me just say you could be cynical about other men, but if you're a rabbi, you work as hard for Pesach as any woman out there. So, you could be as cynical as you want, but as despite we've got to answer a million shylas and we've got to memorize incredible ingredient lists and we've got to host a pre-Pesach workshop and do a lot of selling of chametz and we've got to do koshering and we've got There's a lot There's a lot of going on. And with all that, I love Pesach. Right. I love it. I love the family being together. I love the seders sitting around the table. I love the meals. I love the matzah. I love I love liberating ourselves, freeing ourselves. Freedom. There's really something for everyone at that seder. That's the best part. It's for older folks. It's for younger kids. It's everyone really takes something away. It's special. It needs energy. It needs energy. It needs love. No matter what you have to bring to Pesach. And then you hear the people are going away and they're complaining is like the worst. Yeah. I got to pack. I got to go. They're going to Panama maybe with their Can't fit it all in four suitcases. Yeah, I got to change my outfit so many times and you can't do laundry. How am I going to do it? And I have to go. I have to go away. We are hosting Shabbos Hagadol at our synagogue. We're hosting meals. It's going to be launched. Maybe it came out already. I I didn't notice if it's out. It's out, but you can sign up both Friday night and Shabbos day of Shabbos Hagadol. So, I actually I don't know what we concluded in the end cuz there's a committee and I am a arm's length away. I don't know what the conclusion was, but some argued that the meals at the shul for Shabbos Hagadol should only be open to people who are home for Pesach. If you're going away for Pesach, cuz there's limited room. We don't have room for a thousand families to sign up for Friday night dinner, Shabbos lunch, Shabbos Hagadol. Some argue it should only be available to people who are staying home for Pesach. You know what? We'll have two two prices. Like you have member and non-member. You're staying home, you get a discount. You're going away, you get paid premium. I'm not saying you should be punished if you're going away. I'm just saying I'm just saying you shouldn't be awarded. That's all I'm saying. I I I I tell you the truth. I'll tell you the truth. I might get in trouble for everything I've said already, but I'll tell you the truth. I feel bad for the people going away for Pesach. I love sleeping in my bed. I love sitting in my own home. I love davening in my shul. I love being home. Yeah. I will tell you it is nice. I did a few years. Never. Never. I feel for the people who have to go away. That one night I ran a ran a youth program one of the hotels. And actually I'm just just for the people that do go away, it actually is pretty nice. No. Food's great. You don't have to you know, I mean you have to deal with the youth program, but it's uh it was a lot of fun. I got I actually got something very exciting to share. Very very exciting breaking news. This week I just finished safer shmos. And began last I guess this past Sunday just began Vayikra. And there's a great new app. want to I don't want to burst your bubble, but you do know the whole Jewish people are on that schedule, right? Well, then I can say that I'm happy to be part of that whole world of people that are studying Shnayim Mikra together. First time going through Chumash Rashi finishing finishing Breishis and now Shmos, but It's amazing. But it it is amazing. It's amazing. Cuz it trust me like you say I know I know a couple Rashis here and there, it's not the same as actually seeing everyone. But there's a great app and I just signed up for it. I don't even know how they got me. I don't know. It's called All Parsha. Maybe it's cuz I have All Daf. All Parsha. And there's a guy on there his name is Rabbi Resnick. And I thought it was a Kiva Resnick. That's why I actually listened to it, but it's a different Rabbi Resnick. And what he does he does every pasuk, he does every Rashi. he reads it very, very quickly. And it's a great way just to, you know, if you're not a good reader, to at least become familiar and then you can go back in the parsha and you can read it, you know, do your own close or whatever, but it's such a It makes it so easy. It makes Yeah. Right. I love your excitement for the learning. Vayikra Contagious. It is contagious. You have found your Vayikra, your calling, Rabbi Brody. We had our great annual journal dinner this week. First of all, a few things that and we want to bring our incredible guests, but um we want to thank everyone who was part of the global campaign. Our global campaign was an enormous success. The global campaign last I checked, I didn't check right before we came on, but we are at 106% of our goal. Our goal was $150,000. We're at $160,000. It's still open. You can still give. You enjoy Mind the Beima, you enjoy the shiurim, you enjoy the audio, video, reading the articles, the parsha perspective write-up. You enjoy it all. You've been inspired to start learning because of Rabbi Brody. You can still go on and give. You know, our website is mindthebeima.org/global, but I'm really proud. We are really grateful. 106% of our goal, which um it's only because of you, so thank you. Thank you to all those who are generous. Thank you you took the time. Thank you you clicked the link. Thank you you're partnering and empowering us to share and to teach and to spread the message. It really means a lot to us and from the bottom of our hearts. You can still give, but thank you to those who already gave. And our shul dinner was beautiful. What a night. We had three great honorees. The Michels, the Kamenetskys, the Halperns. We had You want to talk about the um mentalist? I love that mentalist. Mentalist was great. I'm still trying to figure out how he did what he did. I think I figured it out for the one that you and I were up on the stage. You figured that out? I don't think you did. I can't say it here because I don't want to give it away, but I think I figured it out. He was great. He was great. Slight of hand. He was funny. He got me, he got you, he got Ben Shapiro on stage. He got Benyamin. He got He was really, really impressive. He was a lot of fun. It's important to have fun. You got to celebrate. You got to celebrate. you the most impressive part and then we'll bring on our guests. At our dinner this year and the and the chair people of the dinner deserve all the credit. This was all all because of them, the Walks, the Rosenblatts, and the Lenners. Great job. The dinner opened up with total learning. Yeah. The dinner, which was a sold-out dinner, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people, the room was a massive base medrish for the first few minutes of the dinner. And every table was pirkei avos for each person. And each table was assigned mishnayos to learn. And the entire room, in memory of Esti Moskowitz, lilinishmas Esther Tila bas Rav Gavriel Penchas, the whole room, the dinner began with everybody learning with the person next to them. And in 10 minutes a siyum on all pirkei avos was made. And we made a siyum, and that's how the dinner began. And we were showing love and and connection to Esti, to her family we miss. Gave a tone to the dinner, but it also gave an enormous tone to the dinner of of Torah. Yeah. The dinner began with a massive base medrish of people of all backgrounds, different ages. It was really best part. It was incredible. Yeah, it was really incredible from Boca Raton Synagogue. A guy who maybe you're having you know, they're learning, they have a seder, sitting with J&F, I was sitting with Federation, sitting with someone that never been to our shul before, just signed. This is Eli Beer and connected us with someone. He says, "Okay, let me find out about Boca Raton Synagogue." The guy signed up for the for the shul dinner before even coming through the to the shul. Amazing. Amazing. It was an amazing night. All learning. Speaking of Eli Beer, so glad to bring Eli Beer back. Eli Beer was a guest of Behind the Bima. We made him wake up in the middle of the night. It was after he survived being in a coma for 30 days, almost dying cuz of corona. He went back and he he shared with us his story then, but the reason Eli's back, he's worth continuing to talk to, of course. Eli's one of our heroes and our dear friends. But Rabbi Nachman Seltzer, who's written 45 books, wrote a book just now with ArtScroll called 90 Seconds, the epic story. The epic story of Eli Beer and United Hatzalah. And we're really excited to be able to have them to learn more about Rabbi Seltzer's writing, how did he become a writer, what does he write about, Eli Beer and his story. So, without any further further ado, exclusive exclusive here on Behind the Bima, Eli Beer and Rabbi Nachman Seltzer. We are incredibly excited behind the Bima with the exclusive first interview together between Rabbi Nachman Seltzer and Ellie Beer, the brand new book, incredible new book, 90 Seconds, The Epic Story of Ellie Beer, the founder of Hatzalah United Hatzalah and the incredible work it's doing. So honored to have you both here. Ellie, welcome back. Rabbi Seltzer, welcome behind the Bima. We're really excited to learn more about the book and of course all the story and the work that went in behind it. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me again. Ellie, this time we didn't make you wake up in the middle of the night and baruch Hashem you're healthy and well and not just having recovered from an illness, but it's great great to have you back again. And Rabbi Seltzer, we're we're all together with the rest of the Jewish people. We are incredible fans. This is just the newest book. It's one book, but we know that you've written 45 books, which is mind-boggling. Classics like Living Legend, The Insider, Incredible, The Rebbetzin, the Zera Shimshon series, and so much more. Writing regularly, a columnist for Hamodia in your magazine. Before we jump into this book specifically and Ellie and his amazing story, but just give us a word about your background. How'd you get into writing? How did you become such a prolific author? If you look up on the If you If you Google what like the six rules to become a successful writer, one of them is to not have gone to college. That That's one of the rules. If you don't go to college and a professor doesn't shape your your your style, so you'll be a better writer. So I I really followed that rule, but I took it a step further. I didn't go to high school. You didn't even finish high school? No, my parents moved to Israel when I was 14. So I went to an Israeli Yeshiva Ketana. So I I basically jumped from ninth grade straight into a Yeshiva. That was that. No higher education. So how do you go from no education, no English, no writing to being a prolific author who's putting sentences together in a way that people obviously feel makes sense? Um so I think Torah V'Daas is a great school, you know? I I was there till fifth grade and it gave me a lot. So, I really got to represent that. Torah V'Daas. I hope my parents don't my mom doesn't Your your writing is your writing is a post fifth grade level. Uh, well, cuz after that my parents sent me to a Yeshiva elementary school, so it kind of ended at fifth grade my I would say official education ended there, so so it's kind of been Torah V'Daas. So, you're going to give it up Torah V'Daas, they're great school. But what what made you want to sit down and write? When did you decide to write a book? writing I I always liked writing. I was good at writing. I won creative writing awards in school and and as I got older I would read every book that came out of the library in Surasky next to Yeshiva and I read every book I could get my hands on and um and I started telling people in Yeshiva and my Yeshiva that I could do I could do this. I could do this better. And they laughed at me. They said, "Nah, you can't." And I said, "Okay, we'll see." And uh then a friend of mine was uh cousins with Rav Moshe Dovid, who was head of Targum Press, alav hashalom. And Rav Moshe Dovid went to the shabbos once and Friday night we sat at the table and I told him all about the books that Targum Press put out. He says to me, "If you ever write a book, come to me." So, when I wrote my first book when I was 23 years old, called The Edge, which later became a movie, I um I went there. I went to to Targum Press and Mimi Zeiger, who I was a big fan of her work, she was the editor-in-chief and I walked in there and I started telling her all about the books she wrote and she and then she took my first book and we're still working together now uh over 20 years later except she's at art school now and I work with her art school. But, since my first book, pretty much working with Mimi Zeiger. That's incredible. Now, Ellie, you didn't go to college either, correct? That's correct. So, I'm going to get in trouble Ellie, you know my parents and I'm going to get in trouble from them for saying this, but so something that you both have in common, you've been incredibly successful in your fields without a formal education. Did that Now, most people need an education, we endorse that, we support that, we promote that. But in both of your cases, do you think the fact that you didn't have a formal education, did that somehow position you better or give you more strength or were you not cut out for that formal education and yet that same energy that maybe not made you not cut out for the formal education gave you the success in in what you're doing? Ellie, what what do you think? Well, I graduated when I was 12 years old. So, I had less years than Rabbi Seltzer. Um and I learned in Israel in cheder. So, I think I really think if I would have continued in the school that fits into my my my needs, I would have probably it would have it would have been easier for me. Thank God, um my parents were incredible and it's in my book it's it's actually in the book about my childhood and the difficulties I went through as a child in school. But I think that I I should have stayed a couple more years. I graduated too early. I could have been more successful and probably probably have an easier time. Interesting. Had you stayed longer. Now, this book is sitting behind you, Ellie, 90 seconds, the epic story of Ellie Beer the United Hatzalah. Um I've already been through a good part of it. It's an incredible book, as always well written, Rabbi Seltzer, and really draws the audience in and the story itself is so amazingly compelling. What's the background to the book? ArtScroll doesn't often I This might only be the second case of ArtScroll where one of its branches putting out a book of somebody who's still alive and Ellie should live many, many long years and healthy years. I think the other is Living Legend, right? The Disco Rabbi who's been on Behind the Bima. An incredible book. An incredible. An incredible. Okay. are And our manager was Salam. Okay, so I guess I'm wrong that there are there But it's rare. The genre I started. I started a genre which is to write about people who are alive. So, so what what led to this book? You know, Ellie doesn't have a long beard, and he doesn't have big payots, and he doesn't give out big brachos, and yet this story is unbelievable and incredible, and and we've all been touched by this work. What was the catalyst, or what what launched this relationship between the two of you and the desire to tell the story in this way? There's two things. Ellie Ellie met Rabbi Gedaliah Schustalowitz. Someone introduced him to Rabbi Gedaliah Schustalowitz, and I guess the I the idea was to write a book. And I I got a call from from Gedaliah at the to tell me he that he wants to write a book about about, you know, United Hatzalah, and he wants me to do it. Now, obviously, I know Ellie from 20 years ago, cuz the choir was at the first United Hatzalah concert with Avrahamfried and Ohad. I know Ellie for years. He used to know me as a writer, but I know him for many years. And I was like I was like, "Gedaliah, there's no way in the world that this is going to work." He's like, "What do you mean?" I said, "Ellie Beer is so busy. He He doesn't have what it take He can't. He's He doesn't have time to He's like, "He's very committed." I said, "Okay, I'll call him." So, I speak to Ellie. Ellie's like, "I'm so committed. Come meet me." And the next thing I know, he pencils in 2 and 1/2 weeks of his He basically I sat with him for 2 and 1/2 weeks in June. Every day we sat for about 4 or 5 hours. And we And we spoke about his life. And I saw he was so committed that I dropped whatever I was doing, and I put his book first, and I And 2 months later, I I finished writing it. Wow. 2 months is what it took to write the book? After the interviews, 2 months of writing. So, he was so committed that I just, you know, when I I see a person is so committed that I I just I'm like, I'm going to match you in your commitment. Wow. Wow, tremendous. Are there stories in in the in the book that that, let's say, Ellie wanted included, and you thought just as a writer it wouldn't work, or vice versa, that you thought would work, and Ellie didn't want in the book? There's stories in the book I didn't include just because I I included the best stories and it's a lot. It's almost 500 pages of incredible. We we definitely cut because it was too big. So, we had to cut. So, we cut we just left, you know, everything there is like a winner. Everything's hard. Everything's just impact and strong. Um so, yeah, we could have written much more. But also I I I told Ellie, you know, my rules when it comes to what I include, you know, there's a lot of stuff that's a lot of stuff United Hatzalah's history and there's not everything in the history is pretty. And um you know, if I was writing a different kind of book, maybe for the New York Times bestseller list, I would have included other information, but there's certain things that I'm looking for, my audience is looking for, and Ellie heard what I was coming from and he agreed with me. And we agreed to do this book, you know, in a way that that clients are going to going to love and it's going to inspire them. Um we're not we're going for not we're going not necessarily sensationalist. We're going for just quality, inspirational. Really, it's the most amazing book because if you think about it, here's a person who dedicated his life to saving people's lives and he's doing it in the biggest way possible. And it's it's just a mind-blowing story. And on every level and every way and every way you look at it, it's just incredible. Well, we'll come back to that comment because I'm I'm fascinated by it in terms of the motivation of the book, the whole genre of hagiographies versus telling the whole truth. We'll come back to that. But Ellie, why was it important to you? Why is it important to you that the story be told right now, right? It's a big deal to put yourself out there that the book's being written about you and about United Hatzalah. Why now? Why not 10 years ago? Why not 10 years from now? Why is now the right time? Well, I over the years I had many people offer me to write books about myself, about the organization. I didn't have time, first of all, and second of all, I didn't see a purpose for it. I'm not looking for kavod or anything. I'm looking to grow the organization. I didn't think by writing a book it would add anything to the organization. After what I went through exactly 3 years ago, and you know because you were there in Florida when I was sick and I had to fight for my life. I was in a coma for a month. It started yesterday. Actually, today is the Yeah, yesterday is when I went into a coma 3 years ago. I was worried what's going to be with United Hatzalah. Would it would it succeed without me? Would it continue without me? I was worried about what's going to be with United Hatzalah. I knew I'm going to die. I didn't have a doubt. I'm not going to I'm like the doctors didn't give me a lot of chances surviving. And I said, "If I wake up, I want to grow this organization to be much stronger than with me." Meaning, I want to have United Hatzalah sustainable in the long way, meaning for the next 100 years. And one of the things that came up when I was in New York, I met with Ali Ottoway. He says, "Eli, we need a book about your life, about United Hatzalah." And I said, "That comes into the whole plan, my 5-year plan of making United Hatzalah sustainable." What were the other parts of the plan? Well, I want to grow the organization to be, you know, running by itself. I don't want it I don't want God forbid to happen again what happened to me 3 years ago. I was worried what's going to be financially. I run around the world traveling 200 days a year. I travel so much my kids call me a Venus Shamayim. And I'm in trouble if God forbid I would have died then. I was worried what's going to be. And thank God I survived, but also the organization was able to survive this. And one of the things I want to make sure we have next leaders. I want to buy I want to find the next leaders of United Hatzalah. Uh you know, the successors of of myself, of others. And by writing a book, getting thousands of people inspired to either join the organization as volunteers, as leaders in the organization, as board members, as supporters of the organization. I thought that would fit into my my vision. Rabbi Saltzman, was the goal when you were writing the book to accurately tell the story of what was or to try to inspire people for what can be? Meaning, is it about Eli, a remarkable person, and telling the story of the extraordinary life he's led, or to write the book that everybody who reads it drops what they're doing and says, "I want to join United Hatzalah. Either want to be a medic or I want to write a check. I want to sponsor the next ambucycle." Or a combination of the two? I think that when you write a book about Eli, you don't have to try to inspire people. You just write the story. So, think about when you write about Rabbi Grossmann, Rabbi Wallerstein, you don't have to I don't try to do anything. I write I write the story accurately. And and I don't embellish a key who say. There's no embellishment. It's I just told the story. I went through the whole book with Eli after I I wrote it. I kept to what he said exactly. Eli, back me up over here. Every detail, right? Was what you said. Well, you went ahead and you did due diligence, I could say, on every story, asking a million questions and asking other people. You interviewed 25 other people. Wow. Um which was incredible because it wasn't just the story from my mouth. Uh Rabbi Saltzman went around interviewing while I was not here. Two and a half months I put into getting interviewed by him, but he also did while I wasn't in Israel. I was traveling. Um he went ahead and interviewed many, many other people, including past uh people who are leaders in the organization and just regular volunteers. And I like that because Nachman says we need to say the story as it is, the dates, the years. We have to have this as a It's It's a history of the organization. And and I really think this is a testimony of when you do things right, the story comes out beautiful. Uh that was the point that it's not about trying to I wasn't writing it with the goal of trying to inspire people. I'm trying to tell the story in the most accurate way. And I think it it's you can't help but be inspired because it's really a one-in-a-generation story. Is it frustrating for you, Rabbi Seltzer, whether it's this book or the genre as a whole of writing with living people that the story's still being written, but your book had to get published with a close? Do you do you get frustrated like, "Oh, there's another chapter. Oh, there's more." or we have to put out a new edition of it, or there's more that's happening? Until the last day there was information being added to the book. Literally, Ellie's Turkey Turkey. I wrote that last piece two two weeks ago because of what happened in Turkey. Ellie's like, "You have to add this piece to the book." So, we I mean, like if we would have put it out in another two weeks, I would still be writing now about this book. Basically. Wow. And but it's okay because in 10 years from now, maybe we'll write a follow-up. I don't know. We'll see what happens. You know what? Ellie should live a long and prosperous and healthy life, and he'll have many, many more stories as he has every day, and eventually we'll document the next installment. What what's your what's your takeaway from the book? When you say he's extraordinary, the story's extraordinary, which part stands out the most to you that when you heard it and when you were writing it, you said this is really the most exceptional part. I hope people will see what I see. First of all, he There's so many things, but here's a person who who doesn't let anything stop him. He has a goal, and his goal is to save lives. That's his goal. And and he'll talk to you and he'll talk to you whatever it is. He learned along the way not He made mistakes, which he talks about in the book. He He made mistakes, which was that he thought when he talked to people, you have to only talk about United Hatzalah, and he learned that you have to talk about baseball and you have to talk about fishing, you got to talk about grandchildren. He He got that. He's very good at that. But really, what's at the end of the day, the motivation Yeah, he loves people, but really deep down he really wants to save lives. And when you want to save lives, everyone who meets him is is saying, you know, I love this guy. He He wants to save lives. How could It's a universal message. Nobody could argue. It's not like, you know, I hold of you Shiva, I don't hold of you Shiva, hold of hold of hold of this, hold of that. You don't hold it's like no one is arguing. Everyone from the most, you know, liberal left-wing Jew to the most Hasidic heimish Yid, everybody feels we need to save lives. And he really believes it and does everything he dedicates his life to this. So, first of all, that's that's unbelievable. That's a huge message that comes to us. So, you could take that message, you say, "Okay, I want to do I want to accomplish whatever it is." So, you're going to go with that and take this When you have single-minded dedication to a course, nothing can stop you. The world is your oyster. This is For example, I mean, Elitzur Feldsberg tomorrow is going to come to the shiur. Um he told me 10 years ago when he moved to Rabbi Chemish gave to my shul, he sat on my bench, and I got met him 2 days later in in Big. And he says to me, you know, I really impressed with David Hofstetter. I really impressed with what he's doing, a businessman, and I want to learn from him. I want to do that also. That's what he told me. So, I told him David Hofstetter I said, "You should know, because of you Elitzur Feldsberg started his shiur and he's doing what he's doing because of you." He didn't let anything stop him. Rabbi David Hofstetter didn't let anything stop him. He had a lot of a lot of stuff that came along and stopped another person. So, I'm saying, this is the idea. And every person can learn from this from this book. This is one takeaway, that whatever it is that is important to you, your your whatever it is that that passionate about, your dream. You can do it. Learn from Eli. Nothing will stop you. You have a dream. You have a great dream. Your dream is to cut through traffic. 90 seconds. My my my nephew was in my house this morning. My wife was watching him. His mother is working. This kid is allergic to milk. Like he touches milk, it touches his face, he's he's throwing up. He's he's I don't know what's happening to him. This morning his his cousin had a chocolate spread sandwich. The kid ate it. Allergic reaction. My wife called 1221. Less than 90 seconds later that's our guy who brought us the book is in the house. He's like, "I'm back." This morning. But that comes from this little guy from Bnei Brak who couldn't make it in school, got kicked out of every school he was in, and today he's Mr. Saving Lives of the World. I guess it helps if your name is Eli. Eli Stefansky, Eli Beer. These guys are on fire. Let me ask you, Eli, when you go to a place let's say like Turkey and and you see there's an emergency, you want to save lives. Is there is there sometimes opposition or is there an obstacle where you they're saying you could bring a small group, and you want to bring a big group, or they say you can't come, and you say we're going to come? At what point do you stop fighting or and you get maybe, you know, I want to say a little disappointed, but you you figured you wanted to do a lot more than they were let letting you do. Well, I think first of all, Nachman, thank you for these kind words. You know, if I had to choose anyone for my head spirit, I would have chosen you. Thank you. You wouldn't have done it cuz you didn't know me then. Yeah. But I just want to say that I think that there is not one day that I don't feel like I can't do this anymore. There is not one day in my life I didn't have a easy day in my life building this organization. Including today. Including going to Turkey. You asked me about Turkey. We got a phone call a few months ago when the Turkey disaster happened. We got a group of of almost 30 greatest paramedics and rescuers and psychotrauma volunteers. A guy that works in the Ministry of Health heard we're going to Turkey. Called us and he says, "We don't allow you. Ministry of Health don't allow you to go to Turkey. Who are you to decide to go to Turkey?" He says to us, this guy. I'm not going to say his name, of course. And he and and Dovi Dovi calls me up. He says, "This guy from Ministry of Health doesn't let us." I said, "Call him back and tell him I don't I checked in the internet. I didn't see the Ministry of Health of Israel are in charge of the health in Turkey." I didn't see that in the internet. I said, "Who are you to tell us where to go? We want to go to Iceland now to help people in Iceland." And we said no to Ellie, I just wanted to interrupt for 1 second. The old Ellie would have said his name. I'm just saying. Ellie learned a lot of lessons. It's true. Well, I'll tell you something. When we started AmbuCycle unit. The AmbuCycle we were the first ones in the world to think of people are getting delivered food by motorcycles. Pizza Ori, 35 years ago. Richie figured it out. Remember Richie's Richie's pizza? He used to deliver pizza on a motorcycle. I said, "We are going on calls for saving someone's life, choking. Someone's choking. Someone's baby choking." On an ambulance, four wheels, we see motorcycle bypassing us, going in between the cars and arriving to the scene long way before we get there to the same exact location. They ordered a pizza and someone's choking in the same location. I said to myself, "If I ever choke, I'm calling for a pizza." And that's what I had in my mind that if I ever choke, I'm calling for a pizza because ambulance will never save my life. I started I one day went ahead and I took a motorcycle with a box. I put a defibrillator in the back. I put oxygen. I get a phone call 2 weeks later from the Ministry of Health in Israel. This is almost 30 years ago. We're going to arrest you if you do these motorcycles. This is illegal. No one gave you authorization. You can't just do it. You have to ask for permits before you do any motorcycle delivering a defibrillator. I said, "Well, if I ask for permission, I'll be 90 years old before I get I get the permission. I'd rather do it and then ask for forgiveness." And that's what happened. Years later, we got permits for all our ambucycles. And not only that, people started copying us all around the world. And I say you need some chutzpah. You can't give up. Every day I have something, an obstacle that comes up. And I say, "Ah, I can't do this anymore. I can't do this. Yes, today today everything." But I say, "You know what? I remember the ambucycle story." And I say, "Look what happened since that one ambucycle." We have 1,200 of them saving lives all over Israel. We go out to We have 5,000 volunteers with their own private cars. We're going We have volunteers who are driving garbage trucks. We have four garbage truck drivers who with a big garbage truck have a defibrillator, a trauma kit inside the garbage truck. And they're they're picking up garbage all day, but if a call comes nearby them of a kid with allergic reaction, Wow. it's urgent. They go and give up their They throw the garbage on the floor and they drive with the big garbage truck because they're nearby and they save a life of a little child. So, you Do you ever get pushback going to Turkey or that you went to Ukraine? Are there people who say, "Look, United Hatzalah is for Israel. Take care of the Israeli people and let others let other rescue missions, let others step up and go elsewhere." What What is the motivate you that whenever there's a disaster anywhere in the world that Hatzalah be counted among those who show up? Well, for a few reasons and I love that that question because Rabbi I was by you when the war in Ukraine broke out. I was by you for Shabbos. I spoke by Yeshiva. In the best shul in Florida, in America, sorry, in America. And maybe the world actually. And I was by you for Shabbos. I was there for Shabbos and we got a phone call about a little No, no, he's he's good at he's good at raising money. We we understand. Yeah. And that little girl we needed to be safe one day old. And we needed to send teams. It wasn't our job. They have the Red Cross. The Red Cross should do that. Who knows? They have another the UNICEF. The UNICEF, the UN should go in there. But we took the responsibility. We go out to save people's lives everywhere in the world, not because they are Jewish. We go save lives of other people because we are Jewish. Mhm. And that's what we did that Shabbos when we just started to send teams into Ukraine to start saving people's lives. Yes, and we got pushed back from people saying it's not your job. It is our job. It's our responsibility. If my father told me stories that was going on 1938, 1940, when my father was a little kid, if they had more people caring about Jews in Europe, more organizations that said, "Yes, it's my responsibility to go in." Although they weren't dealing with Germany, they weren't dealing with with Poland and other places, but more organizations should have gone in there and saved people's lives. And I say the same thing in Ukraine. The more work we put in, even today, we save more people, we help more people. And many times we see we're the only ones there, unfortunately. Rabbi Seltzer, coming back to you for a moment and and when Ellie we'll come back to Hatzalah, but just want to talk more about the books and the writing and the difference that you're making. You're an amazing storyteller. Your books, including the book 90 Seconds, including the book about Eli, it comes alive because there's an art, right? As as Rabbanim, Rabbi Brody and I are involved in giving classes and teaching and and also in writing in a in a much more limited way, and we're trying to tell stories. What do you think are the key components of telling a story effectively, whether it's in writing or whether it's orally? What's important to tell a story in a way that it lands, that it inspires, that it tugs on heartstrings? What are the key ingredients to telling a good story? So so when I write when I write um true stories, then I usually write it first person and I put myself into the mind of the person that I'm writing his story. So I'm basically speaking from his mouth. I'm telling his story. And I try to tell it you know, with all the details like Eli said. You know, details are really what makes the story, right? If I tell you that you had you went out to eat, so I'll tell you I'll try to tell you what restaurant it was and what you had. And what car you drove getting there. And it really you know, that's fun. What is it? So years ago before you know, Srully Besser does this very well. He he he writes about the Jewish experience. Before Srully did this, I started a little bit before Srully and I did a certain thing where I I don't think he took from me cuz I don't think I don't I don't think that's what happened, but he also he does this. We did this similar thing where for example, I wrote a story and a person was driving up north in Israel. So I wrote a line like something like as Yaakov Shwekey swung into Ma Ma Ma Chaim swung the car left onto the Kvisha Bika. What what was going on over there is basically I'm I'm show I'm taking the the reader into real Jewish life. You see yourself in the story and that's really what a good storyteller does. He brings the reader in by by by showing this is really you know, this is could happen to you. This is similar to your life. And and and and when people feel connected, as my father when I first one of our first series in my second series of short story books, he said, "Call it it could have been you." Oh, it could have been me? Oh, wow. Or I have an amazing story about you. Oh, you have an amazing story about me? Like Yes, it's all about you. You're the reader, I'm the writer, we're we're together, we're friends. People feel like we're friends. They know me. I know them. This is us. This is Klal Yisrael. It's it's Klal Yisrael stories. So, people feel connected. It's it's really How did you discover this? You discovered Did you tell stories when you were growing up? Did you listen? Did you sit at the table? Did your parents, grandparents who told stories well, or rav? Did you hear others? How How did you discover this core nekudah in in effectively telling a story? By trial and error? Or you heard stories in a way that you said, "Oh, they're doing it right. That's how I want to do it." Um okay. So, growing up, my mother would read from from Nachman of Breslov. I see this every Shabbos. So, this So, I heard the greatest storyteller um every week. And um and I also had the good fortune to go with the Pirchei rallies and hear Rabbi Yitzchak Erps, who's like he was the man of a thousand voices. And he was a great storyteller. I learned a lot about storytelling from him. And I went to Camp Toras Avodas, and he was my rebbe in Camp Toras Avodas. I heard a lot of stories from him. I learned from the the master. And I saw his plays. And later when I got older, I was in Dor Golde and he was in Dor Golde and I asked him to do plays he had done in when I was a kid in Toras Avodas. I was able to learn how to write plays from him. The way he wrote plays, he taught me how to write plays, how to act. And and um I learned a lot from great people, from from Mimi Zeiger, from Reb Leib Zeidler, from Avner Gold, from Marcus Lehman. I learned I read every book I could get my hands on. I I learned from the best Jewish storytellers. My mother read me a a lot of books. And I took I took and I took and I took from them. And then I found my my voice. And uh you know, I I develop my own voice but really it's all about connection. That's what storytelling is. You could be at a shul or a person is talking and no one's listening and the moment he says I want to tell you a story suddenly the room quiets down and everyone's like oh, let's see let's listen to what he has to say. There's something about stories that that's really the key today and the most effective medium of of communication is with stories. So so Gedalia's lot of what you wrote in Ellie's story Gedalia's going to be coming up behind the Bima. So he he he brought you Ellie's story and it's so compelling of course everyone wants to jump on it. Where do you get your other stories? You're between writing and Indian and the books that are coming out story books. Where where do these stories come from? People call me people email me people stop me in the street. Um people come to me like for I'll give you the let's say you have the book about the Rebbetzin Rebbetzin Jungreis. So there the family went to a a certain writer they they didn't feel that it was they didn't like it just didn't work. The connect it didn't it wasn't working. And um they didn't feel that the writer understood what they wanted to to do about the Rebbetzin and then they were speaking to ArtScroll after speaking to a few people and and and they said go go to me and this it was a it was a great it just worked amazingly well and I one of the people I interviewed there was Rabbi Saul Gellis. So I I really liked him very much. I thought here's the man with the book. This man has a story so that led to that and then he called up Rabbi Saul Catsburg and the insider Rabbi Saul Catsburg called up Rabbi Grossman and Rabbi Grossman just called me now about a book that I just finished writing yesterday about the Rebbetzin of Square and um Oh. and it's just really one thing leads to another and I just at the kever which is Rabbi Brody and I were just there the Rebbetzin of Square. Okay so I just finished writing the book yesterday and I and I really feel Hashem has sends me my projects really sends them to me and and he shows me what he wants me to do what I want to write. There was something that was you know here here's a safer that was missing 250 years nobody even knows about it. And now it's a a mainstay. Every shul, thousands of families learning Shabbos, Friday night, Shabbos morning. It's It's a huge thing. It's a revolution. All from a story in a newspaper. So Wow. Yeah. You're both You're both Israeli. Is there Is there Is there uh a Hebrew edition coming? I I grew up in America till I was 14. I went back to camp and Yeshiva in America. Okay. You both live in Israel. Yes. That's Where most of the the country speaks Hebrew. Is there a Is there talk about doing a Hebrew edition for for the for the non-English speaking public? Well, first of all, I I'm getting calls every day. People are texting me, volunteers. We have 6 and 1/2 thousand volunteers who want to read the story. Many of them don't know English. And they want to read it in Hebrew. So, definitely will come out in Hebrew. But, I just want to add to what Nachman says. When he called me, when I spoke first to Gedalia, and then I I met with I knew I knew Rabbi Seltzer for many years. We We worked together in the concerts. And I never knew he was a writer. I don't read books. My father had a bookshop in Bayit Vegan in Rechov Pishga. My father had a sforim shop. The only books I read were Hebrew books. Like Lehman's books I loved. And I loved stories. Stories what brought me. I think what saved me in Judaism was stories. I think I I could have ended up something else if it wasn't for my father and the books he gave me to read. And I Over the years, I wanted to You know, over the years, I I never had time to read. And then when Nach Gedalia introduced me to Nachman, I actually said, "You know, I have a friend who introduced me to a few writers, Neil Blair." Neil Blair runs one of the biggest agencies for writers in the world. He J.K. Rowling is his client. One of his big clients. But, he has a lot of hundreds of writers. And he said I He introduced me to a few people to write the book. And I met I met a few of them on Zoom and spoke to them. I didn't have a connection. But I met with Nachman, I had such a connection. I can't explain it. I was like magnet He like He was like a magnet. I I couldn't leave him. I really don't have time. I don't have zitzfleisch. You know what zitzfleisch is? I'm totally no zitzfleisch. And I'm sitting with Nachman and I'm telling him my story and I'm going back in memory and I'm crying. Nachman, how many times did I cry? You cried a lot. I was crying a lot. Yeah. And and Ellie didn't want it to finish either. When it finished, Ellie Ellie misses it. He He wants it to continue. He didn't want it to be finished. Yeah, and I said was it an element of therapy? Was Was it a sort of therapy going back and telling these stories and reliving? Was it painful? Did you reopen things of the past that you almost wish you hadn't or or it brought back pain? It was really definitely therapy and I told him he's the best therapist I ever went to. I never went to a therapist, but if I would have gone to a therapist, I think he would be the best one. He knows how to get the story out of you. The fact that he asks you, wait, so what did you eat? You had french fries? And then he goes into you. He gets into the story and like I'm thinking, yes, I had french fries and I had salad and I had that and then he starts asking deep into the story. And all of a sudden I start crying because I remember about that bomb attack with David Applebaum when I saw him on the floor murdered with his daughter next to him. Nava. And he starts asking me questions about it and all of a sudden like, what did they have around him? Like I saw ice cream on the floor. I saw like he starts getting into your brain and like I realized that this was really not not only writing a book, this was therapy for me. Wow. Rabbi Nachman Seltzer, what are some of the mechanics of how you do this? Do you record the interviews and later go back and listen? Do you type or write them as you're asking the questions? No, record. I I must add Wait, wait, I want you I want to answer this question. Rabbi Nachman Seltzer is the most kosher rabbi I ever met in my life. He doesn't have He doesn't have a smartphone. He doesn't have WhatsApp. He has this old Nokia I got a new phone, Ellie. I got a new phone. Look. Oh. I got a new a new phone. No Nokia. I miss my old phone. Here's my old phone and I miss it. I miss it very much. But, you know, and I have this new one, but I miss this one. This is great. I So, so everyone you're recording this recording 1998. I have my recording device. This is my recorder. I record Ellie's life. This is my phone and this is the new phone that I'm using now. But, this is how I have to communicate with him. A guy who travels around the world. I have to He doesn't have a internet. I can't just call him. internet, excuse me. What are we doing now? Yeah, but he has a computer at home next to his phone. Yeah, on my home computer, that's right. No WhatsApp, which is I don't know how you survive that way. That Ellie's like Ellie says to me, he's like here's this phone that opens up like a book. He says, "Can I give you one of these phones?" Like that that phone. I said, "Ellie, if I wanted one, I would have one. Thank you." It's probably actually how you write books in 2 months. You have no distractions. You have no things buzzing and beeping and bopping and hopping and a million things to get back to. You're able to really focus without distractions and produce and I I admire that. People need me. They can reach me on the phone. They can email me. Ellie, tell me, who gets back to faster than me? By the way, my my chief of staff here, Batsheva asked me, "Would Do we have to remind Nachman about this call? About this?" I said, "You don't have to remind him anything." He has He's more organized than any one of us. And it's amazing. You never miss a meeting. You never miss a call. It's incredible. So, walk walk us through the mechanics. You take out your ancient recorder. You record all the conversations with Ellie. It's a recorder. It's state of the art. State I sit down with Ellie and we start talking. Um Ellie starts telling me stories and um I get into those stories like he said. And uh till every detail's clear. And uh I'm I'm not writing down anything. I'm not jotting down anything cuz I need to be completely focused on what he's saying. And uh later on when I go back to write, then I'm listening to the interview, so his voice is coming across because I'm listening to him speak as I'm writing. And um that's why his voice is there cuz it's I'm listening to him as I write. That's the mechanics. And that's why every book is different. Nobody sounds the same like write notes? Do you first write out sort of a transcript of everything he said or no? You listen and you're writing the book as you're listening. Yes. Exactly. Wow. You press stop and play a lot. Yes. And then it's a puzzle because, you know, we jumped all over the place. And so I have to figure out how to fit everything in. So it's a puzzle. Every book's like that. It's a puzzle. We're everything goes and it's a very interesting thing and I watch as it as it comes into being. It's a beautiful process. It's something special. And it's every time it's again a beautiful process. Wow. I always thought a lot of editing by by by Mimi. Who made the editing mostly Mimi? No, uh Suri Brand did the editing. Mimi is like the consultant. She like decides if anything needs to be re-reached, you know, changed, like move this around. She didn't really She liked my order. She didn't really make any mi- much changes. She did change I started with a with with what I feel is one of the best stories in the book. It's after Ellie was was already better and um he didn't want to come back there to Sura. He wanted to stay in Florida. He wanted to retire. He couldn't come back. He was He was so down. He was so depressed. And Ellie Polak called him up, the CEO, and he's like, "When you coming back?" And he's like, "I'm not coming back." And Ellie said, "What do you mean you're not coming back?" And and Ellie said, "I can't come back." And then he said, "What are you talking about? We opened this whole call center of of of people who did crazy stuff and we did all this so you should get better. How could you not come back?" And then Ellie said, "Tell me like the most amazing story that happened cuz of that." And then he Ellie Pollock tells Ellie Beer the story about this lady who like I don't know, 90 or something, living in in Where was she living, Ellie? Bat Yam in in uh Bat Yam. And this lady ran out of candles over Pesach. She's a Holocaust survivor. She ran out of candles. And so she calls out ZAKA's hotline. Now look, Ellie said call pizza after he's joking around. This lady calls out ZAKA's. She didn't even know about the hotline they opened up to do stuff. She called out ZAKA. And you know what? And and so this Who comes to her? An Arab volunteer comes to bring her candles. Right? And he comes upstairs and he sees and he joins her for the Seder. And it's the most incredible story. This Arab guy is sitting with this Jewish old lady. He brought her She had She had food, but she didn't have candles. And he brought her candles. And he says, "What's with the candles?" So she explains that the candles goes back to the Holocaust. And she wipes off every person. And if this dude they're crying together and and and she said, "You should know if I wouldn't have had those candles, I would have died. You saved my life." So Ellie hears this story and and Ellie says, "I'm coming back." I'm coming back. And when he lands in Eretz Yisrael, he gets off the plane. And there's like 700 people waiting for him. Right? 700 vehicles, ambucycles, vans, ambu- And he says, "I want Where's Where's Ibrahim Ayuti, right? It was Ibrahim Ayuti? Where's Ibrahim Ayuti? Is he here?" And he calls this Arab volunteer over to his side. He says, "Ibrahim, why'd you do this? You know, where's it coming from? Why'd you join in at ZAKA?" And Ibrahim tells the story. He's a truck driver and he his truck he took You know what? He was in an accident and and and he said he was lying on the floor under the truck and suddenly he sees two ambucycles come, you know, and they saved him. A from guy from Jew saved an Arab. He said, you know, I want to join this organization. And and and that was and that's so I started the book with that originally. But Mimi said that it's that it shows Eli at too vulnerable. It's it's it's not Eli. So we're we're not going to start like that cuz it's not really Eli. Eli's upbeat. Eli's enthusiastic. Eli's infectious. Eli's nothing can get me down. So it's not really Eli cuz you know, so we we she moved it to the to later on the book. But so that was one thing that Mimi did cuz of a consultant. She makes She tells me like, "No, you got to And I always listen to Mimi Zechar. She's a very smart lady. And um And yeah, so Baruch Hashem we had a great team of people involved and we had great editors and great and really amazing people at the United Hatzalah team was involved. It was a lot of people really working very hard to to turn this book into the epic book that it is. Were there things about Eli that you thought you knew but then all of a sudden after speaking to him you you just saw a whole another side? I I didn't know Eli before. I didn't really know who he was. Or United Hatzalah for that matter. I didn't know. I didn't know. didn't know? No. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know the story. Now I know the story. It's a whole It's I I'm I became Eli could tell you. I gave him Eli out of the money that you paid me I gave $3,000. I bought a defibrillator. I gave him money. I gave back money to the organization from the money he paid me to buy the defibrillator in Beit Shemesh. I could say that Nachman got connected. And he he himself I feel like is a volunteer. Although he's not on an ambucycle but he he really put his whole soul and he's supporting United Hatzalah since then. I actually you know, I I can't take the opportunity not to raise money. So while I was talking to him I'm saying, "Why I'm not raising money for Nachman?" So I actually got him donate. And he gave it he gave it from his heart. He said, "Eli, I want to give." And and this this the truth is I could sit with my with anyone, my family members. I could sit in the gas station. I once landed in New York and the customs stopped me because I had some they thought I had some stuff that like I had some gifts for donors and they asked me what it is and I explained what United Hatzalah is. So, the custom person started saying, "I can't believe it." I said, "Could you donate to United Hatzalah?" Like the guy was Jewish, he gave me a $180 donation. How could I not accept That's amazing. Eli, you're a beast and a machine and it's all for the good of saving lives. It's all it's all for Klal Yisrael. Reb I know you also have a connection to music. You were involved in Led a Choir. You've been involved in in music in a in a meaningful way. You produced an album of all English songs and film. You have so many parts of your creative soul. Do you think they overlap? Rabbi Brody and I had Abie Rotenberg on Behind the Bima. I asked him the same question because he's a songwriter and he's also written books. Does it come from the same place or a similar place? Do you think that somebody who's creative and artistic can express it both through word and through music or they're two different the two separate altogether malachos and just happens to overlap in you? Yeah. I don't know. There aren't that many people who do both. Hm. There's a few. Mostly either you do music, you know, or you or you do writing. I don't I don't see many writers who are producing I mean, It's really best that he does write lyrics, you know, he does do that. He wrote for Shwekey or uh but in general, I don't see that many uh Yeah. I don't know. So, in you in you, do you think it comes from the same place or you happen to be blessed with both skills? Is there an overlap? Do you use a similar Are you using a similar part of your brain and of your neshama when you're writing a story, when you're writing a song? Songs I find come they just come. They suddenly pop into my head and there's a song there. It's like usually when I need it. It's like if I need it let's say I decide I'm going to make an album tomorrow, so then I start I would start telling me songs. I would find like I would start composing songs cuz I need them, you know? But I don't usually make songs and I don't make them at all. I have a bunch of albums for the choir, the Shira Chadasha boys choir five albums and I did an album of English songs and here and there I make songs like I did a song for I did two songs for Ellie's for you know, Ellie's sheer. One is Kineret Mitzvah, the other one is the song about the DAF, it's about the Yomi. And so here and there I'm still making I did a song for Dear Shiko or Radin or Tzur Badash with with the Radin. So I do I still do some songs but I find that if the song comes to me, it just comes to me. It's not like a huge process. It's more like I mean actually turn a song into a to take it from the idea and to actually until it's actually something you can listen to is a process but it's a it's a quicker process. It's like it comes to you, the idea comes to you, the tune is there. You know, and you move along and I'm not writing I'm not trying to write lyrics that are like, you know, it's just like I don't try to write a great American novel. I'm not a novelist. I'm not writing like, you know, literature. I'm not doing that. I'm not looking for the Pulitzer the Pulitzer Prize. I'm not, you know, it's not what I'm looking for the critics. It's not about that. I try to be very clear. My song lyrics are you understand what I'm saying. There's no question. You know, you're not metaphors and it's not deep. It's just it is what it is. The story is clear. What? And what did he mean when he was right writing that? Yeah, you know what I mean? It's pretty clear. You know, there's a room full of people. That's what I meant. Yeah, so anyway. Is it Is it a United Hatzalah song coming? Is there anything in the works? I don't know. We'll see. You know, it's it's got to be a it's got to strike. You know, the the concept strikes and then I'll go to Ellie and say, Ellie, I just thought of the most incredible song. You want to do it? And we'll see what happens, you know? I'll tell you a good time to do it would probably be coming close to Sukkot. Chol HaMoed might be a good time to compose a good song and come back together in that way. You mentioned before about Seltzer that what when you write a book, you're trying to inspire, you're trying to tell the positive. Your goal is not to record an accurate, honest, objective depiction. No, no, no, no, not accurate. Accurate, I'm saying, but I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you're not accurate, but I meant your goal is not to capture the good, the bad, and the ugly, every component of an intellectually honest, not that you're intellectually dishonest, to suggest, God forbid, but that's not the goal, right? People There are cynics who describe ArtScroll books as hagiographies, that they're they're only telling the best of and the good parts, they leave out the the other. Is that your philosophy in general? Was that a philosophy with this particular book, Eli? Were you part of that decision that let's tell the the prettiest and best parts of the Hatzalah story and the Eli Beer story? Let's leave out because as the reader, right, the the pushback sometimes people give is, you know, you open Torah, you open Tanakh, and our greatest Avos and Imahos, you we are given the Rebono Shel Olam self does tell us not only their most shining moments. The the Torah does depict people's struggles and even their failures cuz that's what we can relate to. You talked about the core of a story is being able to relate to, and we're inspired. So, if we read a book where Eli Beer was born to start Hatzalah, save lives, you know, be unbelievable in that way. Well, I guess I can't relate to that whatsoever because that's not me. So, was that a coordinated decision about this book? Is that a philosophy about all books? And is there a downside to it that the reader struggles to see themselves in it because it seems sometimes easy and like it's just a linear path to greatness without the ups and downs. A very good question. And the answer is, first of all, the people do not have a right to know. Hm. That's number one. You know, people think that people have a right to know, who says? They don't have a right to know. That's number one. When I When somebody opens up and and is willing to share their life, it doesn't mean you have the right to know every single detail about them. You have a right to know what they're willing to share. That's number one. Number two, you don't have a right to know Lashon Hara. You don't have a right to know Rechilus. You don't have a right to know anything that's going to portray someone in an an unflattering and negative way. You don't have a right. That's number one. We can put that on the side. Now, when it comes to Ellie's book, and I try to do this in all my books, there's a very honest picture of Ellie Beer in this book. We tell Ellie's challenges. We tell about We don't We don't try to sugarcoat Ellie and turn him into something he wasn't. We This is not a kid who was a brilliant child, who was a child prodigy who was finishing Mishnais by there. He says, "Nah, this is a kid who got kicked out of school. This is a kid who went to Yad Vashem every day cuz he had nothing to do with himself." And he was walking around. This is a kid who had challenges. This is a kid who was 14 years old. He needed something to do, so he got into Ma'avar. That's number one. Number two, Ellie was very very very It was important to him to make it clear that he made a lot of mistakes. And he We went into that. We have whole chapters devoted to mistakes he made when it came to relationships and how he learned from those mistakes, how to fix that. And sometimes mistakes come out much greater things. But this is down the real story. This is not a story of someone trying to sugar sugarcoat. This is the real story. It's not linear. I mean, you know, it's a real story of a real person who has real challenges, who who had a lot of hardships. And Ma'avar was a war. We couldn't get into it cuz that's like another whole book. We're not going to get into Ma'avar. But that's a war that's still going on. Every day if we wanted to get into that, but we didn't want to. We chose to focus more on the positive. But that doesn't mean we we didn't tell the real story. The real story That's the real story. There was challenges from within. If you read between the lines, in certain parts of the book, you'll understand. There's a I'm I'm not saying There's a lot I'm leaving out, but read the lot Read what I'm saying and you'll understand how much he had to deal with. I don't want to get into it. Remember, there's people who are who are alive today who were part of these stories. Right. I got to be very careful what I say about those people. Ellie, were you concerned about that? Are you concerned with the book depicting those parts of you? Do Are you worried that your children and now kind of our grandchildren will say, "Well, I guess I don't have to go to school cuz I just read about how dad used to walk around Yad Vashem all day. He was kicked out of school. Well, first of all, I I want to be honest. I didn't go to school. I was kicked out of not only one school, out of every school. So, I I didn't do well, and I wanted my kids, thank god, my kids they had they didn't have an easy time going to school. My kids did not nothing was easy for them, either. Um but they went to school, and they finished school, thank really Baruch Hashem. And I always told them I could have My life could have been easier if I went to school. Look, I learned how to read English on my own. I didn't know how to read English. I didn't learn in school how to read English. Till the age of 25, I couldn't read a sentence in English or write a sentence. Till the age of 25. And thank god, Hebrew I'm okay with. I was always good with Hebrew, but I didn't read English and a lot of things, math and other things. And I did business when I was 14 years old, you'll read. I did business. I I I did a lot of crazy stuff in my life in terms of education. got to Harvard. And by the way, yeah, I went I have three I went to three sessions in three years in Harvard. After, by the way, when I went when I was accepted to this program in Harvard, it was a three-year program sponsored all by the World Economic Forum. And they asked me for my my high school degrees, my college degrees. I didn't know what to send them. I didn't have anything like elementary school degrees. I didn't have. So, and I finally did what I I went there. I for the first time ever saw what a school looks like. So, I really had challenges in my life, and I was very honest about it. Not because I wanted to say, "Oh, look at this. I was such a you know, look at that Look what came out of me." No, I wanted to show young kids even though you go through hardships, never give up on your dreams. That's really I want to inspire other people with my story. And many many people give up on their dreams easily. And other people say, "No, it's stupid. Don't do it." And this is a story that if you read it and I and I know kids are reading it. I have I got a few I read kids 9, 10, 11 years old are reading this book and they love it. It's easy to read. And they're telling me that they can't let the book and like my some of my staff they give the kids to read and they they're not letting they don't want to go to school today. One of my people here said, "My son didn't want to go to cheder today because he was reading your book." Wow. That's gratifying. Rabbi Seltzer, who's somebody you haven't written about yet that you still want to write about? Um Well, you saw Catskills kept on kept on telling me that he really wants me to write a book about Benjamin Netanyahu and his relationship with his his with the firm world in the sense that he has a lot of There's a lot of of of Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu that people don't know about. There's a lot of depth over there. Notwithstanding the politics of the man. There's a lot going on. Whatever, we'll see about that. I don't know. That's as as a as a little bit of a pipe dream that Catskills has, but one never knows in this world. That is something which which I I know. I've seen that. I'll tell you I I I find that the books that I I I I fought for I didn't get. And the books that I didn't think I was going to get came to me. And so I know I don't get excited about these things because if it's supposed to happen, it's going to happen. A book like it it should never have happened. It should never have happened. It should never He has no time. It shouldn't have happened. There's no reason it should have happened. And it happened. And and he calls me up. Every so often he calls me up. Are you up there? He tells me. He We love each other. We became like I was with Ellie in a restaurant. We stopped to eat lunch when we came back from a trip together and we ran into Rabbi Grossman. We had a whole meeting together in the restaurant. And Eli these are people I don't know like I'm with these people and like they're like incredible people and it's all coming together. It's it's just I don't know what's going on but uh Eli, in your little recording thing, you have a few recordings that are very dangerous. You should be very careful about them. People you interviewed like David Friedman told you some stuff that I And that's with David Friedman. He you interviewed him for a couple hours. Keep that recording very safe. What is it with you? recording. No, whatever. no no one's got tape recorders to hear them anyway. It's okay. Don't worry. It's safe. a good recording. Who else would I want to write about? Um I don't know. It's it's it's a good question. It's a Every time I think you know, I'll tell you a few years ago, I was I was having a meeting with some people at ArtScroll. It was after incredible. And this guy who works at ArtScroll was like "What are you going to do now? Like what how are you going to top that book?" He he was getting like upset. I don't know why. I could understand. I was like I thought we were coming here to celebrate. You know, the numbers were off the charts and this guy is like he's like "Yeah, but what are you going to do now?" I I didn't I really didn't understand. I was like I don't understand you. He who brought us to this point will take us further. And I I it's like it's it's such an important lesson. It's like don't worry. It This is what Hashem will will take you further. Hashem will give you more ideas. There are other incredible people in the world. Maybe I don't even know who they are. Like a book like Inside Their Homes was about people no one knew about. Right. A deek in the story from Jerusalem that my friend Rabbi Amram Greenwald knew cuz he went to meet them and when he was learning in the mirror. So I don't even know what's going to happen. I mean I know what's what I'm writing about now, written in the Rebbe and there's a a couple other amazing books, you know, um you know, that are in line. But who knows what's what's coming tomorrow? Someone could could reach out to me and and it could be like the most incredible book you know, Ellie's book is really up there. It's it's it's a really amazing book. But you never know. Like Let's just savor the moment. Savor the moment and enjoy. We're proud on Behind the Bima. We've had many of the names we're discussing from Rabbi Grossman to Ambassador Friedman. And uh I interviewed earlier this year Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz. I know that you have smicha from his kollel, the Jerusalem kollel. first I was the first group from the first group of of Younger Light at the Jerusalem kollel. That's He would he would make an amazing book because his story is extraordinary. Somebody who's a rav in Sanhedria or Chevron and yet his mind is on klal Yisrael and outreach and aish and who's a possek a world renowned and he he he's such a complex and and with a smile a simchas achaim despite what's on his shoulders always happy and smiling. I'd read that book. People asked him. People asked him. I I didn't ask him. People went to him and asked him. But he he's not ready for that. Um also another person that one day I want to write a book about is my rebbe Rabbi Nissan Kaplan. I want to write a book about him one day. He's he's upcoming gadol hador. I I think that I'm b'ezras Hashem in the right time spent Shabbos with him a few weeks ago. We were both at Project Inspire and I got to spend some private time with him. I'd never met him. I was absolutely blown away. Just blown away. Rabbi Nissan's wife zichrona livracha Gittel was my main staff. She was in charge of all our Wow. Even the day we should take her she didn't want to leave the computer. I went to visit her in the hospital. Rabbi Nissan was there with all his kids saying goodbye to her. She was very very sick with with the machla. And she was holding the computer. She says, "Ellie, I don't want to let it I don't want to I have to give all the information. Nothing should be missing." And she was in charge of all our data of everything. Millions of millions of lines that she was in charge of all the information of emergency calls. She was a brilliant woman, and so they could Wow, wow, he's he's a special person given what he's been through and and also his ability to put it together to have a simcha and to to teach Torah and to model Emunah. Really, really extraordinary extraordinary person. There's so many people and and really everybody has a story to tell, which is which is extraordinary. I just uh spent time actually last week on behind the Bema. We had a little bit with Rabbi Kalish. And Rabbi Kalish was saying there's 8 billion people on Earth and each one has a story. And everyone has their own story to tell, and if you just listen, not only talk, we would hear other people's story, we'd all be we'd all be inspired. So, Ellie, what's what's the next chapter when when Rabbi Salzer has to put out the next edition of this book of 90 seconds? What will the next chapters include? What what's your goals? What are you trying to accomplish? What's what's up and coming for Hatzalah? What will the next chapters contain? Well, I never did my I never ran my life according to a book that I want to write. So, I don't really know. I mean, I'm leading the organization's growing every day. Challenges are growing. As the organization grows, challenges grow. I want to make sure what I want to really make sure during my lifetime to see the situation and no one dies unnecessarily. Mhm. We can't stop death. That's something I realized. You know, you can't stop death. The biggest, richest guys in the world want to stop their death. They're they're paying billions to to find a solution for for their age. I know people will die, but the question is if someone doesn't need to die, how do you make sure he doesn't die? Many people you go to funerals of people that could have been saved. And that's what I want to prevent. And that's all I'm focusing. I'm focusing in 90 seconds. That's all I'm doing all day. And the second thing I'm focusing in is something that I think that I should My father always told me. My father always, as a young boy, my father always said, "Make a kid a shishkin." Never do a chillul Hashem." I can tell you as a young boy, I once was holding a cigarette. My father saw me, he was very upset at me. My father said, "That's a chillul Hashem." When someone is holding a cigarette, it's a chillul Hashem. And I remember my father, how upset he was. Mhm. Me holding a cigarette. He says, "It's gaiva and it's chillul Hashem." What image. Wow. He says, "You have to do a kiddush Hashem." I think this book here is a kiddush Hashem book. And I told it to Gedalia, I was worried about one thing. I have a lot of supporters to Atzalah. United Atzalah is supported by people like Mark Russin, who you know very well. Sure. And and and and and even uh um the uh uh uh Bocelli uh Andrea Bocelli. Veronica Bocelli. Veronica Bocelli, who's not Jewish. I want them to read this book and feel connected to our article book, which is hard. They're not going to read the Rebbetzin and get connected. Or maybe maybe they are, I don't know, but it's not something they would It's not something that would connect to Rabbi Grossman. Because it's a religious book. He's a rav, he's everything. This is something that I told Gedalia, I want to make sure that every human being, no matter if they're Jewish, no matter if they're from the Satmar Hasidim, Reform Jews, and non-Jews should read this and get inspired and want to get connected to the organization and to to the idea. And I hope and I told this Gedalia it's it's Nachman, please, when you write the book, use terms that people could understand and not not from more important from and if you read it, you'll see. It's it's completely different than what how you wrote other books, I think, right? Well, Rabbi Grossman also his right-hand man, Rabbi Nachman Doner, went through every single line of the book to make sure that every single word was translated if there was a question on the spot. We translated it, we clarified so there should be no cuz a lot of people who read that book are also people who aren't religious or donors of Rabbi Grossman, and he was very, very careful. In general, look, I'm writing for the Frum public, so I don't have to be that careful, but I do try to make it clear, cuz if you never know who's reading, and I I want it to be very clear for everyone. But yeah, definitely this book, that was a definitely an objective to make sure that we um keep it clear. There we go. And they have your pictures document they have pictures here of Reb Bunim, Reb Chaim Kanievsky, Reb Reb Elyashiv who helped Reb Elyashiv this organization was started in the house of Reb Elyashiv. With Reb Elyashiv sitting with me for almost an hour together with our people. And and Reb Chaim Kanievsky, but on the other hand, you have your pictures of supporters, men and women who are supporters of United Hatzalah, and you have pictures of them as well. And I love the diversity of of this book. It's really open to everyone. And Mark Gerson's going to read it, Reb Erica Gerson, and people in Bnei Brak who we learned in Brisk Brisk College or Brisk College. It's amazing. Rabbi Telsner, thank you for all you do for Kol Yisrael, for inspiring us, for telling the stories, for lifting us. It's really, really extraordinary, and we're deeply appreciative of your time. And Elliot, it's an honor to know you and call you such a such a close friend. I'm I'm proud my brother is a member of Hatzalah volunteers, an ER doctor, and he's also a rebbe, a great talmid chacham, but he's a volunteer for Hatzalah in Gush Etzion. My parents, there's a picture of them in the book. I'm honored there's a picture of them, and I think they're involved in in helping uh produce the book. And you even mentioned Boca Raton synagogue in the book, so we're we're honored to know you and And your sister and my nephew is going My sister and my nephew is going into the army this week, went to Ukraine uh to volunteer with Hatzalah, so we're we're a very, very proud family, and proud to know you, and incredibly inspired by by all of your work. So, Rabbi Telsner, we can't read wait to read certainly the Rabbi's a story of how I met your parents in the book. It's in there? I think so. I think I I would think that's a story you can't tell, cuz I know I know story. I was there for it. That goes in the in the other room. book will be all the secrets that Warren put in the book. Exactly. couldn't put in the book. It's going to be in the un- If you buy a book, buy 10 books, we'll give you the uncensored book. Well, that's for the biggest donors. Give an ambucycle, you get the un- uncensored edition. But thank you both and continue not written by me, though. That was not written by me. I didn't Yeah, somebody else. We'll get We'll get somebody else. Hashem should bless everyone to continue to use their gifts to to impact all of Israel in such extraordinary ways. Thank you for your time. It's been an amazing, amazing conversation. The exclusive first conversation with Eli Beer and Rabbi Nachman Seltzer. 90 seconds, everybody should get a copy. It's for people of all backgrounds. Buy it on Amazon. You put 90 seconds on Amazon, you find it. Or on ArtScroll's website. You get it anywhere and it's It really is. It's a It's an easy read and it's an It's also a insightful, intellectual read. It really captures everything of all levels and people of all backgrounds. So, get a hold of it. It's really It makes a great gift, too. You never know. Who knows who's going to read this book, who's going to start the next life-saving effort? Right. That somebody will read a book. So, if you buy it for yourself, you gift it to someone else, the impact one person has on another, you could change the world just by giving this book and this story inspiring other stories. Maybe 10 years. The royalties are going to United at Sela. That's important people know. The royalties are going to United at Sela. I'm not getting royalties from it. Dedicating this book to save more lives. So, it's Nachman helping with this whole thing and and ArtScroll are amazing. Really, they were incredible. It's fantastic. Maybe Maybe in 10 years with the second edition, they'll call it 60 seconds. Oh. Oh, I like that. 60 seconds. Now, 90 seconds right now is in half of the country. But the goal is that 90 seconds will be in the entire country. That's Eli's goal. After that, he needs a lot more volunteers. So, that even in let's say on Fish of Bika or on on the 90 on the way to Eilat, right? Where there's not a lot of people. Now we have helicopters. United Hatzalah has helicopters. Right. He says, "All right, that's his goal. 90 seconds everywhere. Not just in Bnei Brak, or in Jerusalem, or Tel Aviv, where there's so many volunteers, but everywhere in the country. And if you read the book, you see that in other countries, and in Dubai, and in India, and other countries around the world, all want to learn from Eli and and actually adapt what he's doing, because it's really groundbreaking. It's really a chiddush that was waiting for someone to say, and and Eli was the one who gave it to the world. And kiddush Hashem, keep making a kiddush Hashem. Thank you for your time. We're looking forward to uh part two of the book, and part two of the conversation. Thank you. Eli Beer never disappoints. Eli Revachman, wow, what a conversation. Rabbi Brody, what about what about the story? Were anything that Rabbi Soloveitchik said anything Yeah, first of all, you introduced him by saying 45 books. I'm being honest here. I mean, again, it's not a secret. Have you read 45 I've read I haven't read 45. I don't think I've read four books or five books. Well, you got Breishis and Shmos, that's two. That's true. Okay. Okay, so I'm getting there. How many books in Shas? I'll I'll tell you, you know what? In a couple of years, I'll be there. You're there. You're on your way. Magic 45. he's a great writer. I love Isn't it interesting that two people with no real education Yeah. Look at how much they succeeded in their fields and in their ways. I wanted to get into that part. We didn't we kind of heard it, and then it moved on. Yeah. But it actually makes you think, you know, I I actually believe that there are some people that are just not cut out for school, or not cut out for the school the way it's done right now. I don't think I was one of those boys, and um You know what? I I want to tell my mother, you know, if you didn't push me through JAC, I could have been something like really amazing one day. Eli did say that if he didn't go through school, he'd be even better. But who knows? Yeah. Who knows? We're not just to be clear, we're not praising or lauding or celebrating people who didn't go through school. What we're saying is sometimes the very attribute that makes it hard for some to get through school is the very attribute that will make them succeed in other ways in life. Right. Yeah. And boy, there's the test in their ways. Really, really amazing. It is amazing, both of them. Very special. Very special. So, you see is it true, I heard a rumor he's writing your book, is that happening? I can't I can't speak about difference is that you don't need someone to write your book. You can write your He grew up in Teaneck, he grew up in Teaneck, now he's in Boca. What what kind of book? What are you going to write? Uh the parsha book. When you write your book, we're all waiting. Everyone's waiting for the t'filah book, the parsha book. It's all coming. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be like a Netflix series. He's going to drop 15 books at once. But we do highly recommend everybody 90 seconds great book. You can buy it on Amazon, you can get it from Artscroll. Makes a great gift. And I haven't finished it yet, but it is a great book and I'm enjoying it. Knowing a lot of the stories, I'm still learning a lot more. And it motivates you. You read it and you're like, I got to do more. I got to save lives. I got to do something. It's really great. Want to thank our sponsor Real Panama Tours, the realpanamatours.com, the realpanamatours.com. Check it out and tell them Behind the Bima sent you. Next week, Rabbi Brody, do you want to maybe hint who our guest is next week? It happens to be what's interesting about this next guest is that he's a he's an athlete. He's a very, very famous athlete that even if you're not so familiar with sports, but it happened to be I was into sports for 1 year. It was 1 year I moved to America in 1985, 1986. I was in fifth and sixth grade. Let's just leave it like that. All my friends, I'm just telling you it's it's that's all I got. That's the last time I checked in and checked out of sports. 1986, we'll take it from there. Next week, come on a time warp with us back to the year 1986. Until then, stay happy, stay healthy.