Zevi Samet, Basketball Star and Yeshiva Bachur (Behind the Bima #175)

from boaton Florida this is behind the beima on this episode The rabbis sit down with the extraordinary zevi s a dynamic yiva Bucker and celebrated basketball star whose journey is as inspiring off the court as it is on zevi shares his unique story of balancing Toro learning with athletic Excellence revealing how every game-winning shot is a lesson in perseverance faith and self motivation join us as we explore his transformative path the sacrifices made in pursuit of Excellence and the powerful role of Torah in every facet of his life plus the inside scoop on our groundbreaking New Media Center a cat expansion that's doubling our impact and our record-breaking Global charity matching campaign that's going to raise $6 million in 48 hours all this and more behind the Bea welcome back to behind the Bea gentlemen great to be back together again one of the last episodes that we are recording virtually online we got a big announcement to make that BR jumped the gun and made already about our offline Media Center media Studio that we've built was leaked it was leaked to the media it's leaked it's an incredible set for behind the beam Mountain let's just say maybe other podcast interviews conversations coming up coming out of Boer tone synagogue we got exciting amazing extraordinary plans going on uh not only for our campus we'll talk about in a moment but BRS bad a new division of BRS which is BRS road trips going on the way Rabbi Brody came back from Panama with a huge group from BRS our diverse and we got a media Studio we got all kinds of new divisions that we are unrolling but now our real focus is our campus we are doubling our size doubling our impact doubling our inspiration doubling the light to illuminate the world doubling our impact on South Florida and well beyond and and we're doing it all to bring it to you we want to be able to bring Torah and inspiration and Jewish life and learning and uh everything that we do do bigger better more more connection more love more obious s more Outreach more Israel advocacy and we're really really excited about it we've been seeing it happen tractors the dirt the work the earthquakes from the uh shaking of the building the walls are going to go up soon and uh and we're not building it just for a campus and square footage we're building it to impact the world so we're really really excited and excited to get it out and we are in the middle of our campaign to make it happen not an inexpensive project but we're well on our way charity matching campaign by mosc tell about it charity matching campaign $6 million in two days 48 hours to be able to finish our campus to be able to go ahead and as you said it's not just brick and mortar we're building something much more special being able to magnify our impact on the world you know what's amazing about the whole project we've been planning this for probably since I've been here so 15 years okay if not longer and we happened like randomly happened on the para of truma we talked about building the mishan we didn't plan that by the way just for the record we did not plan that it just happened that way you know I listen to rabar Le which say dfom talks about dfom coincidences this was a building campaign coincidence that had happened at para's truma Rabbi Goldberg you gave paraa class you gave dr's about it what's the number one lesson our listen should be learning from the mishun for us building the campus I I mean the drush was not short so if I if I repeat it it's gonna it's going to take a long introduction to our great conversation tonight um I think it's here here's what I'll say about all good causes you know there's no end people knock on our door literally or virtually asking us and you could give away all your money and have nothing left and you can sit and debate and not sure exactly um exactly who to give and how much but I think there are exceptions where there's a major campaign going on there's a building and there's a game-changing transformation about to happen and in those moments we're called upon and and basically especially for the local population but really from all who benefit you can either benefit and gain and take and be an outsider and let other people pay for it or you could be experiencing something that you feel part of that you gave to that you are getting the NAS from and we made it very clear this campaign both to our members we did not Institute are not instituting a building fund mandatory campaign we're not obligating anyone to give it's got just like the mishun it's got to be nadiv le it's got to come from the heart it's got to be genuine and sincere and it's got to be because you want to do it and if you're going to come and benefit and listen and read and watch and learn and say but you know what I feel entitled I deserve it it's coming I'm not paying for it and God bless you enjoy learn you know again I'm not going to lie um when we do the global campaign every year and as we've been going through it right now we are in the midst of it right now it's an emotional roller coaster the amount of people who who give and contribute from countries around the world it is unbelievably meaningful touching I'm going to get emotional right now who say I listen I learn I feel connected I value I'm inspired absolutely I want to be part of it and I'm talking from $1 to add several zeros after that and it touches you in the most meaningful meaningful place but then there are people who text all the time um who listen watch read it's amazing it changed my life people who don't live here aren't members on top of that because they connect to the Torah ask you questions make me make meetings text you in what'sapp and you send the link and you say Hey you know if you value it it's not for me I'm not getting a new car it's not an addition at my house I'm not going on vacation doesn't pay for anything for me we're just trying to do more of that and pay it forward to others could you contribute $18 whatever it is some amount and they blow you off they blow you off you know so there's the emotional exercise and the avod of saying I'm only looking at who's given I'm only feeling grateful for those who get it and those who don't it's on them it's all from Hashem Hashem wants it to happen it'll happen it'll come from wherever it's meant to come from and the people who don't want the who don't want the the Merit of knowing they're part of it and what I I quoted from the T if you come into a Sho that you help build and you open a sitter you open a safer your entire being is immersed in it you feel proud of it you helped build it and that's a different dominating that's a different learning and the same is true for the she if you put on a podcast of of paruna behind the Bea anything Mas say three ideas in 30 minutes and you you made a small donation you you feel part of it you own it you're proud of it the difference it's making to others it's a you have it comes from the it comes from your so I I won't lie there was a point in this very emotional roller coaster leading up to and as we're going through it where you say to yourself you know how come then you think of like the most popular podcasters out there and you're like why don't they run an annual campaign and then you realize because they make their money by charging you they put up a firewall and they charge you a membership and yeah say well maybe that's what we should do and no no no Tor is free we're we're making it free we're never going to do that it's up it's out there anyone who wants can listen gain benefit it is accessible for all and we're not going to make it mandatory no pay wall no membership just if if you believe in it if you buy into it if you want to be grateful for it then if it's coming from the div La we're honored and grateful to have you as partner as investor and and invest go along on God go along on his people I'll tell you this go along on bokeron synagogue because our Best Is Yet To Come and we are just beginning I think we got a pretty good track record an excellent return and it's a guaranteed investment that will give you a return in this world and the next so go along on God go along on his people go along on BRS go along on BRS rabbis we got big things in store and you want to be part of it and have the Merit and the of of changing the world come on board and if you want to watch from the sideline be a spectated to it more power to you God bless you we love you and I I'll just say that whether it's local people or people that are that are tuning in from around the globe you know there's there's like you said there are two different categories of people there are people that are in and there are people that maybe were skeptical and they say you know what I don't think this is actually going work and we've all seen campaigns around around the world in communities that we know where they launched campaigns and they they they fell flat they just didn't go so there's always that part where where we we're feeling like what if this doesn't work we're in trouble but when you start to see so many people from all over the place saying no you're on the right track we're here to support you whether it's with the $18 or whether it's with the the million dollars whatever it is every single donation it's just another demonstration that we're we're on the right track this SCH is doing things which other schs are not and we're so excited for what's to come absolutely absolutely yeah so that's that's the emotional exercise and you know I never got my kids or family involved in it until now but this year our schz all hands- on deck and there are we're so proud of hundreds of teams ambassadors uh people everywhere who are made their link they're bit they're out there they're pounding it um and I know your kids my kids they're involved and they're getting a taste of being a rabis kids in a whole of way because they also feel that way they're like I sent the link to any friend or neighbor or person I met who said we love your father we love air and we listen so they said yeah thanks could you give to my page and you know they have modest goals it's not you know for them it's ambitious but it's not enormous it's you know relatively modest and it can get there with a few small donations and it makes me think and and rather than point the finger or blame others I'll just think to myself right I I I use Wikipedia not gonna lie when that when that popup comes up that says we're doing our annual campaign do you want to pay something towards it it's a nonprofit do I click it I use to far you when the Box pops up you know we're a nonprofit do you want to click it so we got to put our money where literally our mouth is and the things we benefit from then you know I think this is a big learning moment that the things that you benefit from you know and that don't have a subscription but you benefit from then volunteer give to it and be a partner invest in it see to me it's you know there's another element you alluded to it which is like the family comp I had this conversation with my children they said you're raising millions of dollars what do you need my ,00 what do you need my 5,000 what do you need my $100 for and my answer to them was for me the show's not just a place that I work it's not a place that I go from 9 to5 it's an extension of my home it's an extension of my family not just you guys every member here the building my office everything about this place is an extension to my family and I told my children I said I want you to feel a part of it I want you to feel invested in it and I want you to feel proud of it so when you're texting your friends it's not oh because my dad's guilting me or because my dad's the rabbi it's his job it's because like we're building an extension to our home not connected to our home but our spiritual home and that's the show the cutest thing is and I know you had an experience with one of your grandchildren but my seven-year-old Reena so she saw my older two children getting pages and getting excited and getting a little competitive about it and she started crying she wanted a page for herself so I made her a page for $100 I said Reena you're going to raise $100 you're going to get a prize she got so excited she got one donation then by Goldberg made a very generous donation on her page she hold tell tell him why I made the donation I Tex you I happened to notice and I texted you this is my favorite page Arena moscot's made a page and when you told her that what'd she say she said show me the money she said well he said that's nice he thinks it's cute but did he donate that's exactly what she said no so then she starts getting money in and she said well when do I get the money I said Nena it's not for you it's for it's for the show and then she said crying she thought she was getting the money but obviously it's really adorable and it's cute and I I do think that there's a real benefit of making it a family experience about teaching your children about the values of Sedaka about the values of community about the role that the show plays in your life and it's been uh enriching for our entire family wait one second we we don't get the money it's gratifying you know it's all positivity and it's all gratitude there are people around the world I don't know we wake up every day we won we won the absolute Lottery to have the privilege to teach Hashem Torah and to do it in a way that resonates and for people to share that they connect and that they want to help and the people who are ambassadors around the world who've taken on to make a page I told the story on on shabas morning that there's there's somebody who feels very connected to the Amun asir that it helped her get through a very difficult time and um was blessed with a baby recently that she named amuna because of the amuna that helped her get through that difficult time and she sent out to family and friends that in Lee of gifts here's my link please donate to help the place that got me through it through it Shear offer more shear and get the shear to more people and I mean wow that blew me away it moved me to tears it's so it's so powerful and so gratifying so we have the most blessed life on the planet wake up every day beyond grateful and grateful for the people who are who are partners and part of our family and we live in concentric circles certainly our local community is the central core part of our bitone synagogue Community but the BRS Global Community look at look at the behind the beam Community the messages we get about behind the Bea people who want to be on behind the Bea people that we want on behind the Bea these are all communities Technology's given that gift and we never would have asked for Corona we wish it didn't happen but it pivoted Us online in extraordinary ways that expanded our community and our family in really the most meaningful meaningful ways and the messages that are coming in and thank you thank you thank you and if you want to be part of it if you want to say thank you if you're still listening right now it means you're into it right you're now uh 12 minutes into it you're listening go to to BS online.org global beus online.org global whatever you want to do you know be an ambassador $1,800 we're coming to have dinner with you actually we're going to Israel and New York and Florida to take the people out for dinner we've given 1,00 and above from the global ambassadors but any amount want to give a dollar give a dollar 360 in a raffle and so on let me just repeat that uh website in case you didn't catch it charity.com BRS for bro another one that's the that's the global address we could we could do that one the charity.com one I could promote that one there it is charity.com BRS charity.com broo b r o i d e charid with a d charid d uh we had a great guest tonight zie samit fadeaway three-point game-winning shot and Wu winning the championship game uh he takes the player of the year award they're heading to the big dance division 3 NCA and uh and he headed to the Bas Mish Big B Torah has big big dreams of learning impact on his teammates and on others a real kidish hasem and I happen to know his family for a very long time it was great to get to know him and we're excited to bring to you this conversation so without that any further Ado be us online.org Global and our pleasure to bring to you zevi samon we have the privilege and pleasure tonight with speaking with the one and only the great zevi samit incredible basketball player more incredible Yeshiva B and walking kesem zi you just hit the shot that was seen and heard around the Jewish World wow what a shot first of all mov on the big win Ma on the championship mov on the player of the year mov on the big dance wow uh NCAA a lot of Ms a lot of great things going on and a lot to unpack together so we're grateful that you gave us a few minutes thank you so much really excited where should we start start let's start with the shot let's start with the shot was that play written up was it called do you know you were going to that spot and hit taking a fade away or was it just you got the ball and you followed your heart so I think the biggest broa for me is that like I really am not I don't watch sports I don't watch NBA um sometimes I watch college I didn't grow up with a TV so I never grew up watching sports so it's the big Brook is that I don't know Sports and I don't know about clock management as much so you know when I caught the ball I I started dribbling it up and I saw I looked straight to the coach I'm like usually in this situation we've been here a couple times before the season he called the timeout with 15 20 seconds left to call up a play and every time we did that I ended up never getting the ball back so for some reason I looked at him quickly he didn't call timeout so I said okay I'm just gonna keep dribbling and then before I knew it I just got to that spot and I just created some some space and just shot it like if I knew clock management and I knew basketball I probably would not have shot that shot um but um I don't know I I those are shots that like sometimes I'm in the gym and like I'll just play pick up with random people or playing and you know just create some separation in Jack of a sha like that so I definitely worked on it but uh Shan made it going at the right time so did you know it did you know it was good when it left your hands or not till it hit the net yeah the second the second second was out of my hands I said it was going in that's great wow that's great okay fny second if use my hands it's I know it never goes in you know I don't think I've ever had that feeling second left we're talking about basketball here that's the one where you shoot you know what going out of bounds maybe off your foot so zebie as popular and as widespread was as the video was I think what was incredibly special was the the picture later that night of you in the base medish and that the same person who can Excel win PL player of the year make a kesem with a yamaka and the way that you are on the court um could be back in the Bas Mish later that night um so what were you learning in the Bas medish what was that safe or open to um I was learning or sikim wow I actually I actually um wrote something up right after like I sat down to learn I learned the piece and then all of a sudden I'm like listen I could just keep learning and my mind's just going to keep going or I an amazing horror that I had I think I got to write it down and I basically wrote down that legit the right the piece that I learned was just talking about how you know like if everything you should be doing and all the honor you should be pursuing is lash shamay and at that moment I like I Clos the safer and I'm like this is incredible like hasham is literally giving me a kiss on the cheek like I love you like I just want to keep showing you what you're doing and I wrote down to myself I was like I'm a person that does not Chase honor like I live I live my life which I'll get to but I live my life by like the the the the line that we say in shs that I'm serving Hashem for truth and for not because people are looking over my shoulder and not for any other reasons and um you know like I don't do anything to pursue honor I would rather live my life behind the scenes do my own thing but Hashem put me in the situation and when I saw that and it said do everything sh even for the honor and you know the honor is not going to come to you you know and if it does come to you it's going to be for good reasons and all that kind of stuff is that I sat down I said I'm not here to chase honor and Hashem brought me an honor to use my platform to just Inspire more people so when I saw that and I read that exact piece the first piece that I opened up to in Shava I was like this is incredible now did you know after it went in how big it would be did you know that that was going to go viral that the picture in the Med was going to go viral at what point did you realize that this was like a big moment in uh the modern Orthodox World certainly in the Yu world and um and was that a test for your humility well it wasn't just the mon Orthodox World by the way mky mik big post it wasn't just a particular world I think a lot of people were proud to see a guy with a yamaka nail a shot and then head to the base managers yeah I mean it's a great question I remember my first second game in yu I played in Illinois Wesley in the middle of Illinois somewhere and it was like the Breakout game for me I guess you know I had 38 points it was incredible and I went back you know when I got back and you know from Chicago and I went to the base man and I just sent like one of my sh shim of like one of my sh like a picture of mikaz and she at like 12 a.m and he posted that picture everywhere and I'm like okay I gotta be careful what I sent like I was just showing to him like Paul is not life for me and I have more to life than than just basketball and at that moment like when I made that shot even right now I mean I think the biggest brashem gave me is that I feel like the most regular guy and the most normal guy nothing it's a big br that nothing gets to me I'm walking around Wu and people start making comments about like oh like I'm talking to zie samon like I run away from those people I'm like I'm just a regular guy you can talk to me I answer I answered every single person that texted me took me a couple days but I really responded to everyone with a with a warm message I don't just copy and paste and just say thank you you know so it's a big br that I have at the same time like I went to the base Meers that night because I wanted to learn and I wanted to to pay Hashem back the least as I could do you know like what else am I able to do and I love Torah and I want to learn and what else was I going to do go to sleep at 8 o'clock um and then I walk into the base M and where I usually sit is a row in front of raai will where he usually sits in the morning and um I'm sitting there and I'm like this is going to be a bad idea people are going to take pictures of me so I went somewhere else quiet and um and I was like looking around in the beginning like please nobody take pictures and then I sit down to learn I learn for like I don't know like for like an hour and before I know it pictur is taken and they sent everywhere and what goes through my mind really is just you know if people are going to be inspired by it great but I didn't do it for other people you know if I was doing it for other people then it would affect me a little bit but because I was doing it for me and my relationship with Hashem like and it inspires other people it's a win-win so are you are you in touch with some of the other uh great basketball players from Yu you know whether it's Ryan Terell or or or or guys like Tamir Goodman is there like a little club now that you guys are all in I mean I mean I'm friendly with Ryan a little bit because you know we both went through the system and we did camps together so I mean he texted me afterwards you know like way to play um but me and Tamir every Friday I send him a weekly dor that barash I've been doing every year every week for the last three and a half years so like he texts me like when these kind of games happen he's like good for you like hille like amazing things so talk about the rest of the team because you obviously barem you're B Torah you're steeped in the base medish as you said basketball isn't life you're able to keep it in perspective but not everyone on the team shares that approach to life I think that's what makes the team so unique and special and um appeals to so many people is the diversity of it so H how do people relate to that side of you you know obviously on the basketball court you're zeroed in you're a ball player but you're also not a ball player you also have a whole other side to you're Ben to um do you talk about that in the locker room do you avoid talking about that in the locker room um how much do you force it how much do you just learn live by example explain the the in inner dynamics of the Wu basketball team this is a great question um I actually just created a podcast I don't know how to do a podcast or anything but I created one because the guys on the team have incredible Journeys and I said that the best way like I said to myself like in the afternoon I learn in the night I learn I said either I just keep doing my own thing or you know what I spend an extra hour hour and a half a few days a week or once a week with the guy sharing how incredible their stories are so people can actually hear people know that guys are not religious but they put on fill and they come to our daily minm but nobody knows these stories and I'll walk you through a couple of them which is incredible first of all the when when I came in here I made a standard for myself of this is who I am as a religious Jew and nothing is going to get in my way I was not tolerating cursing I didn't force I didn't say anybody not to curse I just said like they knew I wouldn't curse shak's practice ended when I needed to go to minion practice is from 6:00 to 8: in the morning when when I had to go to Minion at at 8:00 practice ended at 7:40 my first two years in Wu and I said you know what I want to end practice at 8 and you know the guys keep begging me every day and I never budged but you know what how can I figure this out and how can I make this work for everyone so the first year I only accepted upon myself or took upon myself one guy named is Roy is uh red afro from Tel Aviv came in with earrings with a non-jewish Christian girlfriend and um we'll just skip till today but we are we are three quars done Ido safer in Hebrew um he teaches me the Hebrew whatever words I don't know we learned together we literally learned right before this um he doesn't wear earrings anymore and um he was actually dating a Jewish girl he puts on filling every single day comes to Manan him he knows how to doin he's into it he keeps fully kosher keeps shabas when he when he can for the most part that's one guy every single guy on the team tattoos not earrings religious not religious are all saying the whole day to be Aid every time that I'm in the locker room they know not to curse if they ever curse they say I'm sorry they switch the words to schnitzel and Falafel you know it is incredible if any guy curses I go like a and like I yell at them quickly and like they know but they just love me and respect me for who I am and I always like thought about it like like why is this you know and I think like like I remember I asked I asked of um of Aon Feldman I went to n for a JIS and I asked them I said why do I feel so close to Hashem when I'm when I'm around these guys and like what I'm doing cure of like if anything like I'm with these guys if anything I should be going down and he said that when you're doing cure of you don't have to worry about yourself and I thought about that I said what does that mean and I thought the more more I thought about I said you know what that probably means the more real you are yourself the more the only way to give over to someone is when you're real yourself and the more I want to give over the more real I have to be to myself so I'm basically focusing on myself the whole time without having to really focus I'm like worry about myself I guess so I guess like I always strengthen myself and always just try to keep learning but I think the guys see how passionate and how much I really love yedesh kite and nothing gets in the way of that and then on top of that which I won't take for granted at all I believe that my basketball Talent is the reason in I in for them of why they love me why why they respect me because I can score hoops and you know I can make buckets so when they see all that whatever I say um we do we have a team shakas every day five days a week um M and we are passionate on Mains like guys are guys are texting on the chat do not come to shakas unless you're gonna have passion on Mains we have like cut off times if you want to get breakfast like you got to be there on time but I don't force anything you want to come in you want to put ining great bar every guy got a pair ofing I got guys who didn't have it is unbelievable they love coming to indana we have team shabbatones after the game which is this was like my my which I'll tell you about um my like relationship with Hashem during the championship game itself but another one of the guys on the team his name is Ari schar he came in he also had a non-jewish girlfriend I told him I went hard on him I said you cannot date a non-jewish girl a week later she dumped him um he kept kosher the last eight days in honor of you know trying to win the championship he puts on son he's known as the vice president of our shakas he comes every day with passion on Mains he's like incredible like he kept shabas one week like he was at my house two weeks ago and he's like I'm keeping shabas um the whole team said they're going to keep chabas now um if we won the championship and and it's just like all day I'm with these guys and I'm just like I could walk in and I was at a restaurant last night with my mother and a guy calls me up or oron Jeffy calls me up he goes Ze I have a Shila for you he's like do I need to give do I need to give um poor a homeless guy money and like we're Hawking out the shil and again I don't know how the but I'm doing the best that I can and he's calling me like zebie these are two things that happened to me what do I do and all day these guys are just incredible wanting to learn and Doin and and team shabat tones it's like we started a whole movement of it called like while you ball be on the court should give you a my side I can't say any names and hopefully he won't kill me for saying this but after the game somebody um somebody gave me we'll just put it the math like this he gave me $36,000 for my signed shoes to the kid why did he give it to me because he loves the stuff that we're doing off the court and when my father came over to me after the game and said zebie give him the shoes for $118,000 I said 100% like what do I need my choose for I'm going to inspire this kid and we're going to get tons of money for the beyond the court stuff he texted my father an hour later he said I'm doubl and get 36,000 W so it's and I told all guys and they were like all right we're going to the Bahamas I said absolutely not this is going to oh wow team but I think I think the best thing of everything is they they really they they see how passionate I am when in their locker room they know not to say anything bad or if they do they say they apologize right away and I feel comfortable you know talking to her all day I'll be like I just heard a sick vort and I'll share it with them and they listen to me they're they're locked in they're focused and um we share VOR before every single game um in the locker room 20 minutes before we go out anybody on the zie anybody on the team who says I didn't sign up for this I want to play basketball I don't want to be indoctrinated I don't want anyone doing Outreach on me I don't want anyone trying to transform me maybe I should transform zie samit anyone says I signed up for basketball not for like the coach what about does the coach ever say that the coach is amazing we had him on before Rabbi Brody you were there I know yeah maybe he's like listen is not the base M where we gota we gota get that to the basketball Elliot loves it Elliot loves it but I I mean again there are certain guys on the team that I know that if I get too close to them about this stuff they'll Really Turn It Away um so I I really I think the best thing is I don't force anything everything is optional guys come to minim and they start talking I say you are not forced to be here it is optional if you want to be here you'll get a free breakfast but you don't need to be here and if you're going to come and talk please leave so like I do everything in a gentle nice manner at the same time I just show them I love you for who you are and I'm a Jew you're a Jew we might look different they call me a penguin because I wear black and white I call them a je just like me there's and I and I show them that there's no there's no difference between us so clarify one thing that eie for the people listening who don't know Wu how is the guy with earrings or tattoos or non-jewish girlfriends at Wu right it's Yeshiva University to Yeshiva are they there for the mahina program do they sign up just for the basketball are they recruited because they're going to be great for basketball how the the guys that you described how why how do they end up at Yu yeah so most of the guys came because of basketball and they recognize that they're a Jew and they want to at least pursue Judaism a little bit and it's a Jewish school some kids didn't want anti-Semitism at other school so they wanted to come to our school but sh University is for guys that want to learn serious all day at the same time guys that are just Jewish and want to learn the basics of Judaism and you know want to be at all Jewish college so it's the best worlds so I want to follow up with with an interesting question I think it's on my mind probably on other people's I happen to know your family I know your family well from your parents who who live near my M your dad was a great B at my daughter's shabas during Corona and mon so kudas to him he did a great job to to your your uncles who are dear friends of mine and one I went to Yeshiva with to to the Russia Shiva Yu and and your grandparents your grandmother who I knew and of course your grandfather so you have an amazing family great role model as they said on this path but did anyone or maybe internally for you ever feel it's got to be either or either I want to be like rabovsky I gotta be in the base meeders day and night or I'm gonna kill on the basketball court I'm gonna give it a shot I'm gonna see how far I go maybe playing in Israel in the league or or even somewhere else uh in America this notion you could have best of both did you ever feel like you can't like you have to choose either or is there a PC you or are there people in your life that make you feel guilty if you're real bent you're shiv Bak should be a mass m sitting the base measures the hours that are going into training practice now you just told us the impact you're having through kirv and others but how do you balance and reconcile those two lives that most people would see as a conflict and that you can't integrate but you're integrating them well are there role models and personalities are people supporting you and being able to do that did you come to on your own do you ever feel guilt between it how do you how do you figure that part out it's unreal question um so it all started in high school um I remember I told my high school coach coach Oz he has uh players in the NBA he has this guy Dylan Harper who's going to go number two in the NBA draft next year I played with him throughout the whole summer last year um I remember I told my coach in 10th Grade I'm like listen I gotta play division one basketball you got to help me I remember he told me the following line he said to me and it changed my life he said you're not taking basketball with you to the next world you're a Jew and we're gonna try to help you go as far as you can without breaking your religion and I'm going to help you get as far as you can without breaking your religion and when he told me that I was like if a non-jew is telling me that then how can I like think that basketball is my life I remember I was I was trying to figure out where am I going to go for Yesa and I went to a small Yeshiva it didn't work out for me and I went to raet in the end um and I remember when I first started in ret I was waking up at for Nate's and there was a Nate's minion right nearby I played ball for two and a half hours before morning seder and then I um I learned for like 12 hours a day and the older kids the Sha kids came over to me and they're like zebie listen like you're not going to play ball for a living you know like eventually you gota just stop wasting your time if you're getting up that early to play ball get up that early and just learn and it was like a lot on me and then towards the end of sha ala my first year in yiva I stopped playing ball for a good few weeks um and it was very very hard for me I started waking up five minutes before shakas started sleeping during my breaks I was wasting time felt like the biggest bum in my life I get home the biggest question was do I go shaa bet or not and my everyone around me all my reab and all my closest friends all my role models are saying you got to go shaa B it's lifechanging you have no idea what it's going to do for you and like in my mind I'm like how can I argue with them I know people that went shaa bet versus sha Alf I know what it's like how can I ever turn it down and every time I was like should I go to Wu but the coach said no pressure you could come after two years but still my reain were telling me I gotta come back another year and I was like how can I go against my reain we've been doing this for years and I remember my father I remember the whole summer I went to my parents I said I am bugging out out every night I was like crying to them I'm like I can't figure this out I want to learn it but I want to play basketball I don't want to give it up my father said to me the following line that changed my whole perspective and decided right on that on the spot that I want to go to Wu my parents did not push me either decision they said whatever you want to do will support you but my father said to me he said don't go to a place where you're going to learn more go to a place where you're going to be happier learning and when he told me that line I said you know what I'm going to be so happy learning with the balance of basketball because I could get up at 5:00 a.m. I get up at 4:00 a.m. and I could play ball for for a few hours and then it motivates me to learn the whole day and I started training again in the summer and at that moment I'm like I need this balance I went to Yu I put myself in a in a in a big big big risk because I'm talking to people at Wu saying well I want to learn tharm and I want to play ball and I'm gonna need to take School how am I gonna do this and I figured out in an incredible schedule to maximize every second of the day in order to do that and I was like really excited but yet all the kids my age were all in Yeshiva than the second year and I went to him myself and I think Hashem really really guided me tremendously that I was really able to learn the sarm I learned about like 10 hours a day I played basketball for four and I was able to do school workor and you know right away right after the video started coming out of me scoring a lot of points and getting fill in for guys and making a doing a bar mitzvah for a kid that went to nor NRE Dame High School you know people a lot of people started apologizing and said wow I didn't think you would be able to do this it was just very hard for me because everybody looked up to was it was very very hard for me to go against them and looking back now I 100% agree with them why they would say to go back shaab bet because who would have ever thought I'd be able to do what I'm doing now I never thought it but I think my my parents never gave up on me my parents just wanted me to be happy and be the best version of myself and my father said if you give up your basketball drive and your and you give up basketball you're gonna lose your drive for a lot of things in life and I think the person who I am today and the Jew I am today a lot of it is because of basketball now doesn't mean that means I need to play every day it means if I'm not playing and I was hurt for months it's still motivated me but the aspect of that I play basketball and I know what it takes to work hard and to get certain results and how hard I have to work for basketball anytime I'm in the base man and it gets difficult I'm like this is easy I know it's supposed to be hard and that's what life is for so how do you do it I mean you were just describing your day that sounds exhausting to anybody if you're doing 10 hours of learning four hours a ball you know it doesn't leave a lot of time for other things so walk us through your schedule what time you getting up in the morning um do you ever have bad days you drinking a lot of coffee how you getting through the day all right so uh I wake up at about 5:30 um sayos we go to practice at 6 we start warm up at 6:05 we go till 8 um 8 o'clock everyone showers we have team shakas from 8:30 to about 9 9:10 everyone gets breakfast um I'm interrupt surfa she and uh huge huge thanks to that I actually got this I learn with him every day morning Seder so that's from 9:30 till 12:30 we have Shear from 12:30 to 1:30 from about the 1:30 to like 4:30 slot those like three hours I mostly I get lunch sometimes I'll take a 20 30 minute nap it depends how tired I don't drink any coffee I I drink some decaf because it tastes good with some nice creamer but I don't I don't really drink any coffee um I take naps a little bit 20 30 minutes um and then within that slot I'll go get food I'll go hang out with the guys on the team a little bit in the locker room and I'll get shots up or I'll get working with with one of the guys on the team from about like 4:30 to 600 I'll go learn again um again it could be para it could be muser it could be kazara whatever whatever that time is more of like whatever I'm feeling and then from the six to like seventh slot I get dinner I'll chill a little bit um you know walk outside smoo with guys and then night Sader it could depend on the night um I used to have a Kusa then I did some stuff by myself some days I'll I'll help kids I'll learn with certain guys in in yu or need guidance in in Life or whatever guys want aoo or I'll do my own learning or I'll do Kazar and sheer whatever I'm feeling for those two hours like um usually from anywhere from seven to 10 but usually seven to eight slot I'm learning with guys on the team and then I go to Marv at 10 o'clock and I'm asleep by 10:30 10:45 sharp so I think a big broa for me is that I still try to have a balance of a social life but if I needed the social life as much as maybe other people did I would not be able to do what I'm doing so Hashem was able to tell me be so focused and so determined self-motivated that I've been able to do all this by myself so I try to also be as disciplined as I can when it comes to learning and and and meetings and things what do you do with your phone do you you keep your phone on is it it how do you everyone's probably got your phone number everyone's trying to get a hold of you you said you try to get back to everyone I mean it's it's it's gonna only get harder what do you do with the phone so the mornings are non-negotiables doings nonnegotiable like it's either on airplane mode or it's in my bag for me I believe that if you could see your phone you think about your phone even if you don't go on your phone so I try to put it in a place where I can't even see it so practice I'm not on it I'm not in it during shakas morning Sater I'm not on it um and then from the 130 to four slot I usually go on and check and respond to as many people as I can or whatever I want to do um and then I'll go learn and I really the problem is that sometimes I'll listen to shm on my phone so get a little bit hard but I'll either try to download it or and then turn it on airplane mode um but then the thing I go back to every day is I don't want my phone I want to get rid of my phone but then I look at and say well I'm about to post this on meaningful minute and I'm about to send this text to these people how can I throw away my phone because it's hard because it's such a hard balance because I definitely believe I'm on my phone every second throughout the day on good things I have no internet I have just calling texting WhatsApp and a few like the Jewish social media apps that I could post on like meaningful minute 246 not so much but at the same time like you know I'm doing it for good thing so it's a very very hard balance of what do I do so I just try whenever I am learning whenever I'm doing other things I say to myself during practice I don't check my phone so during learning I gotta try my best to to put it away Ze there's no question that you've got crazy skills I think maybe the younger version of me could have taken you head on but I'm at this point you've got a few you know you got to step on me or two but there's no question you've got crazy bass basketball skills is a CH are you living in the moment and enjoying it while you can or do you start to you can't help but fast forward and wonder where do you go with it there's two strikes against you right one is as great as you are and as much as I believe we believe you know you could dominate the NBA the reality is 0.01% of the population make it there and a lot of people spend endless hours trying and just there's there's a limit there's a ceiling number one and then of course you're a religious Jew and more than that you're a Ben Torah and you have shos in life you have goals and aims and you combine the two and the likelihood is that post Yu where you're you're you're starring in Every Which Way on the court and off of it what kind of a basketball career is there after that so are you able to live in the moment and say I'm loving it hopefully they'll hang my jersey from the rafters one day at Yu I'll be sitting at shabas tables 30 years from now telling the stories about my fed 3 to win the championship and it's fun while it lasts and it's good to go and we'll be pick playing pickup ball for good that's all or do you is there a PC that says how far can I push this how far can I take it what's the limit 100% so I think for me over the past few years I've been living my life of I'm doing I'm playing basketball sham shamay and I'm playing basketball because this is what helps me in my individual growth and connection to Hashem and helps me in my learning so that was my first initial thing when people ask me do you want to go to the NBA you play division one all these things I was like I'm not doing it for that if it comes okay I'll worry about that then but I'm doing it right now because it helps me learn better helps me come closer to and to be honest it help me with a huge platform to inspire but when I do think about it um you know as I've been getting um people reaching out to me there is hopes to go play in Israel and it's something that I'm definitely highly considering to go play in Israel in addition to going into Ken and inspiring and do some you know be a rebi out there in Israel I'm not sure exactly I can't tell you a map out my plan because I'm not sure um but at the end of the day if I had to jeopardize shabas for basketball I would never do that that's why I'm only saying Israel because I believe that if any country is going to allow me to play it would be Israel right um so as of right now you know there is potential hopes to go play the top level in Israel basketball um at the same time to go learn and just go to all the yeshivas and Inspire kids and do my own learning at the same time if Hashem decided that listen you know basketball's over and it's time for you to do something else I'm gonna try to use whatever whatever Kos that I have at that moment or whatever I have at that platform at that moment to give over as much as I can there's something about me that I just love and firing giving over for myself to other people so I consider see from today on tomorrow and tell you my whole plan but I think that I'm just confident in Hashem whichever plan he does have for me I'll be ready for it I think he's gonna make it to the NBA because he doesn't want to get to the NBA and hashem's is gonna put him there he's gonna be this massive kides hasem I'm just that's my BET right now could be it could be you're going you're going long on zie samit I'm going long yeah and he's gonna be like no I'm not even thinking about it I playing Israel I'm telling you this guy's going to be on like I don't the Knicks is is that a team I like I like the uh I like the investment I couldn't agree more with that did basketball always come easy to you did did you grow up and you were you were uh there there's like a two or threey old the parents sent me a video the other day showing me the kids's dribbling like I've never Brody makes you look or whatever but like this kid I've never seen he's like two years old and he's dribbling down the sidewalk he's got handles like I haven't seen a two-year-old so were you that two-year-old you were always good did when did you discover were you on every team through high school and always the star when did you break out yeah so I played every sport growing up my father opened up leagues in mon for me to play in um I played in some JCC leagues also some less religious uh just you know competition stuff I was very very good at baseball and football I was okay at basketball but I wasn't the best um then a certain point I'm like I'm not playing football in college I'm not playing football in high school and I'm not going to play baseball in high school and I just started picking up basketball um crazy stat is um I didn't even get accepted as a St student to TABC which that's where I went um you know I was definitely a nice hyper high energy kid in in middle school and those you know so I think that my parents did a great job at channeling channeling my energy and sending me to a school where maybe my family's ASA probably would not have sent me and but yet it was a it was a school that had 40 minute classes everything was 40 minutes learning was 40 minutes class was 40 minutes so it' be a place where I could sit and be able to handle at the same time it had sports teams um I actually made the team I missed first trial because I wasn't in school yet shout out for the second cut I made the team and I sat the bench my whole first year in yiva league on TABC um I played eight seconds in the championship game 10th grade so then going into that 10th grade summer I said I'm not going to Camp I'm just gonna train with trainers I came back in 10th Grade I was one of like the best players in the Yeshiva League we lost two championships by one in whatever one tournament we were up 18 to going into the fourth quarter we lost um 11 and then the Yeshiva league tournament I went 0 for 11 from three after a huge semi-final game and we lost by one in the championship game I only had seven points um 11th grade so I trained the whole going into summer going until 11th grade again 11th grade uh I had a new shot and it was a disaster in the beginning of the season um I was airballing it was it was really a disaster um and people were like so frustrated they said you spent so much work how did this happen fast forward throughout the end of the season I went snowboarding right before the playoffs obviously and I think that I'm good at snowboarding and think I could only do cool things so I went on a rail fell off and broke my wrist came back for the playoffs in like a totally tape T quarterfinal game I played we we beat frish and then the Breakout game for me was 11th grade against the RS semi-final game which I just started shooting it from really far of shots that I practiced but I thought that no one in the Sha league is allowed to even take um and I started taking it it just went and one after the next and then we were ready to play the championship game but it got canceled because of covid and then I didn't play SAR and then I trained the whole covid with guys that are in the NBA now guys that are top division one uh my coach really helped me out tremendously with that and then I got a lot better in in 12th grade we won two championships both by one point crazy games um yiva got a lot better came to Wu lost the first year in the semi-finals lost the second year in the Championships and was down 16 with 15 minutes left in the championship game this game and um I just kept fighting and kept believing and and we won a lot of lessons there for people listening it's so important because and people know Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team and you know that you see the final product and you see the video that goes viral but you don't know the work when the cameras are off and the spotlights off and nobody's watching and you're in the gym early in the morning late at night or overcoming the failure the disappointment the airballs the people who have success in life the people who break through they weren't born that way they put in the time they put in the work they killed themselves they lived with the disappointment and they learn to fail forward instead of failing backwards they learn to fail forward or all the cliches you know you don't lose you learn all of the all the cliches about it but the cliches aren't cliches there's truth to it and you're the you're the evidence of that 100% what else what about Brody wow I'm just amazed I I'm blown away I don't even know what I'm more more amazed by it's just it's you it's the basketball it's the learning it's the whole package it's very rare you hold on you're like yeah trained with some NBA players could you rewind to that part you're like yeah my coach hooked me up how do I get hooked up with that like how does that happen what does that look like where does that take place how does rabbi Gober get in on that three on three so I mean it all happened in high school I texted my coach um and he I would just say like you know any chance that you can train me because I want to get better and he goes he said yeah and I just kept texting him every night I'm like can we train can we train it was a point in 12th grade woke up every morning at 6:30 to train me um he never charged me in Penny throughout High School trained me at 6:30 a.m. trained I went then I went to school and I called him again at night I said can we train and he said to me you know like he texted me after I think I won my 12th grade championship and he goes every I just thought about he's like I was one I was just thinking about all the late night texts and early morning texts that I got from you and all the workouts that we had and it was just like you know it was a lot of pressure my 12th grade senior year we were down by a couple points in the championship game and he said before the game he says you owe me this game for all the training I've done for you and I got really nervous and we were down by a couple with a few seconds left I got really I'm like I'm done and we ended up winning but we all he just he saw my passion of how hard I worked and even though I he had NBA players and guys that were future NBA picks and college players they lacked not the NBA guys but the other guys lacked a level of work ethic I played with this kid named Nas Cunningham who was ranked number one in high school kid came to every workout with airpods with a coat thinking that he could like Crocs he was just like working out and that stuff and I would yell at him the whole time like what are you doing you're not going to be the best player people are going to outwork you and and I just outworked him in every drill he was six7 he was a guard and he dunked everything but I outshot him in every drill I outworked him in every drill and my coaches saw that in me and he said I need you to be around these players you know he brought me around Dylan Harper kid's gonna go top two NBA pick next year and he's like I just want you to work with him and you know I beat him in shooting drills but the kid 66 point guard who can jump out of the gym and could finish like crazy but he just saw the work ethic that I had in me and and he put me against these guys I played a guy Lester konas who's played on the Warriors precious auua who's actually I didn't play with precious I played with this guy Dominic Barlo but preu was one of his guys also so I played with I played with all guys is that your message in other words if we asked you like what's your message to kids teenagers adults cuz that's the theme to me like I'm listening to your daily schedule I'm listening to you playing texting your coach morning night it's that like relentlessness it's that relentlessness in schedule the relentlessness in ambition this drive that like nothing's going to get in my way is that the message it's the work ethic like if you had one message for kids listening for teenagers for adults what would it be so I think the lesson is don't think that you're gon to get what I got you know every person gets different things I was definitely blessed on how I got those stuff um hooked up with my coach but I think the lesson is and this is the bigest side I learned from my coach is that you can't as much as you can't rely on other people to help you build success I texted my coach a lot and he left me on Blue checks a lot on WhatsApp and he just ignored me I don't think he was just so busy with other stuff and I would plan my workouts around him answering me and him working me out and at a certain point I realized I got to work out regardless and I got to be productive regardless and get my workout if I do it with him it's a plus but if not I got to make sure I get my stuff done so don't rely on trainers don't rely on other people that are going to help you the lesson is you got to do it yourself and you got to be so self-motivated and if the other stuff come it's it's just a plus do you have that same level of motivation in the Bas Mish when it comes when it comes to Torah what give us the equivalent expression or manifestation of that drive that hunger that appetite that work ethic when it comes to Torah I think I definitely struggle with learning a lot more than I struggle with basketball um learning is very very difficult for me as growing up I just didn't have energy to sit and I could and sit still and it took me a lot of years till I developed being able to sit still um but I really just try to channel the motivation in everything of basketball of in the basement maners when it gets hard I say would I quit now if it was the fourth quarter and it was the end of the Seder and I'm like I'm tired I would I don't need to take a break and I'm like fourth quarter what am I doing you know and I say okay I'm pushing myself two more minutes a few more minutes for doing I say to myself okay doing is almost over do I unwrap do I take off my thill now or you know what well if it's was the fourth quarter we're up by 10 do I untie my shoes no you don't so I'm not going to take off my filling yet so everything and the things that I do and I definitely still struggle and I definitely need to walk around and stretch you know my says to me every day learn with a different guy in the afternoon he's always like he's stand up and stretch stand up and stretch you know because like I need to move a little bit but I really try my best to channel everything in Yiddish kite everything I have from basketball and and I think like it's such a it's I think like the lesson for anyone is take something that you love and think about what you would do for what you would do for that and try to even do a little bit of what you can for y if you could do that you know you'd be great but if you could put more of that effort in and more of what you do for for worldly stuff I think that Hashem Hashem cherishes every one of those moments you remind me the puz a person loves money they'll never be satisfied T so whatever that passion that drive that insatiable appetite you have Channel it into Torah in other words once you've tapped into the insatiable appetite related the same way you're describing you'd push I'd never take off my shoes don't take off my it's great I love it yeah re bro yeah I'm just wondering is is there like a like downtime not saying downtime where you're just gonna veg out and do you know watch TV or movies I'm just saying is there like you just go for a walk ever where you're not on the court and you're not in a safer and you're not giving muser to a basketball team you know just time for yourself where it's just I me time the last two years has been very difficult for me in terms of my schedule I didn't do any of that this year I relaxed a little bit and said like I need it healthy wise like health reasons like I need a break a little bit right I could see that right now by the way take the blood pressure but I think I think time in like five minutes guys we got I think I think the biggest thing for me is that I Journal so number one I Journal a lot so what that does for me is I could spend 30 minutes to an hour a day just just sitting on my phone or computer just typing or voting it in or I don't really write so much because then my hand really hurts and then I can't really shoot the basketball so I I don't I don't write that much like like a journal would take forever but I like write down every little detail and that's my downtime I get to talk about my day I get to talk about the things that I did good things I didn't do great what I want to do better at things that I'm not so happy with comments maybe people told me that I want to fix myself with so it's like every day I'm doing a in my life of like wow you know what these are great things I'm doing but at the same time I need to work on this I need to work on that so that's one at the same time basketball is my outlet B basketball is my downtime like I don't have breaks throughout the day it's whenever I'm not learning I go straight to the gym and I play so yeah that's why you're which which of your which of your samon uncles is the best ball player your dad or one of his brothers don't give an honest answer don't fall into Rab's trap going to hear this and I'm get in big trouble they're all good say they're all good that's good I want to see if I want to see if you're ready for the interviews for that are going to come after the had to director you know they're all great they've all had an impact on me I'm proud for everything each of them has taught me we got to get you ready for the for the here's the real question if you if you took Rabbi Goldberg on right now best to 21 would he get a point on you of course there you go hey Le got a couple points it's it's a Mitzvah to honor your Rabbi or something I happen I happen to you know I never played basketball once with my father-in-law I never played any sport with my the greatest father-in-law in the world I love him I love him dearly I've never played a sport with him I try to be like a cool father-in-law so I got three sons-in-law all athletes I you know I play with them especially when you know they're they're sealing the deal or maybe just after they get engaged and you you want to show him his boss a little bit so one of my sons-in-law was the captain of every team at Tor Academy where you went to school um he was he's a phenomenal athlete they're all great athletes and we're playing one-on-one basketball it's just like supposed to be you know pick up relax a little bit get to know each other and he's putting a body on me at half court oneon-one he's he's totally pushing me and he's but he's got that drive like to him there's no game there's no pickup there's no this is my father-in-law so I love that in him I love seeing that I don't do that I don't do that you don't I play one-on-one and if I get the ball I'll try to score but if if you get the ball I'm not gonna yeah wow all right that's respect RAB you come down to Florida by the way I want you to know when I play Rabbi Goldberg I don't show that same respect we have some stories another behind the Bea yes of uh of us tackling each other on the basketball I think there might have been some blood involved it got pretty it got can I share something how much more time do I have we got time so so I'm only saying this because um so I don't this video didn't go viral but I think it's very very big big message for a lot of people after the game I went to one of the big Yu fans after championship game and I said to him the following of my thought process throughout the whole game and how I was talking to and he said when I went to have the interview with the non-jewish reporter for the farming Dale team he said make sure that you share the message that you just told me and the reason why I'm G to share it is because I can't you know it's like a I forgot where it says it but it's uh you know it's a big mitz when you're supposed to you know uh thank Hashem and praise Hashem openly and publicly so I'm GNA do it straight out the last few weeks I've been dominating tremendously to Hashem to to help us win not for me yes it would have been cool because I put in a lot of work but mainly for the team and how much Yiddish guide it can bring to them and plus the people that watch us and throughout the whole game I remember said listen hashm we lost the last two years the stuff that I've been doing off the core with the guys I don't know if they'll ever do it again if we lose if we lose I don't know if they'll ever want to come to a minion again I don't if they'll ever want to keep a shabas again the whole year I'm talking about guys come we need passion of mains we need a shabus we need this we need that and they've been loving it and the whole game I'm saying to hashm listen I have complete Amun that we're going to win this game you might make it seem crazy to me and it might seem impossible to win but I know at the end of the day you're gonna help us win and you know what if we don't please help me accept it it might be very very hard for me but help me accept it and throughout the game the game's going we go down I we go down two with a two minutes left three minutes left in the half pick up my second foul my coach pulls me out they go on 11 no run to finish the half they basically they're up 14 going to the half we played them exactly at their Court last year down 14 we ended up losing by 20 they come back in the game we come back in and we start trading baskets I make a three they make a three I make someone makes a layup the other team makes a layup coach calls a timeout he said listen if you guys keep trading baskets you're going to end up losing by 14 points that's how basketball works that's how math works and the whole game I'm looking at the scoreboard we're down 16 points with 15 minutes left I said Hashem you're the only one that can make this happen like I can't just decide right now to Just Jack up every shot and take the crazy shots like it's not going to work like we're going to lose that way you're the only one that can make this happen I'm telling AEM if we win the platform that I'll be able to have to inspire will be tremendous the guys will want to come to Min him the guys will want to keep shabus and it was hard for me because who am I to tell hasem that and who am I to tell the guys on the team if you keep shabas we're going to win or if you come to Min we're going to win because I know there's a lot of people that that took my Approach after the game and DM my one of my relatives called me said one of like my cousins younger cousins he's like zebie I had a I had a sports game and he doin and he lost he's like so now what so it's a biggest it's very very hard to to tell somebody that one of the kids on the team told me he said if you could promise before the game he said if you could promise me that we'll win the Championships I'll keep shs for the rest of my life I was ready to stand there promising but who am I I can't do that so throughout the game it's getting crazier and crazier and I start making shots and I'm like sh I'm like this is nothing it's not a Kish to me like I told you I need to win in order to inspire people and in order for the guys to want to be more religious so every time I scored I was like thank you like this is part of the plan thank you we're down with like a few points with like a minute and a half left I take a pullup three off a screen I miss a guy catches the rebound misses a wide open putback layup I'm like at that point I'm like it's a minute 30 left we're down by four I'm like a shm like it's like we need a win like I was totally calm totally collected like hasm like this is all in your hands guy goes to the free throw line on their team their best their best free throw shooter this is the video that everybody saw so he made the second free throw but he missed the first free throw I get to the free throw line before he shoots I'm like AEM the only way to win is if he misses so you got to make him Miss he missed the first one rolled in and out was in the hoop rolled around three times and he missed I'm like Perfect part of the plan thank you and I caught the ball and I just went and I hit that shot and the second I made that shot I'm like what's so big about this shot I've been doing to you that we win so that these guys become more religious it was supposed to go in like great like yeah it might seem like a crazy shot but it needed to go in in order to help us win and then we keep going and the second we won I was like this is min tremendously like Hashem basically patted me on the back and gave me a kiss and said what you're doing for the guys on the team and what you're doing for the Jewish people is amazing don't stop and it was very hard for me up until then because I always out do I give up my own time for for for myself my own learning as both to the guys on the team do I go to a better minion where have more cavana or give up my whole minion time to learn to give up for the guys and they have a great minion and I was always King these stuff and it was very very hard for me and like when we lost big games throughout the season we lost three games by two G three games in the season like within our conference at a total of five points one on a crazy buzzer beater that went ESPN top two another one like we lost by one and it was just like Hashem basically said to me like everything that you've been doing was great and the guys now like you just got to keep doing it and you know one part of me afterwards like like so easy to just settle I'll be like thank you aam and I'll just take it in a run because can't change the outcome now I already won and versus saying like no I gotta get back to work and keep inspiring the guys and every guy said they're going to keep shabas this week we're going to Boston to playing the tournament so I think the big the big big message that I learned from the game is like Hashem really answers toos you're never gonna know when a lot of fos asked for never got answered at the times that I wanted to this one was so clear that it was m a sham down 16 points with 15 minutes left to a team that hasn't lost really at all at home never lost by 15 blew a lead down down up 15 and I said like Hashem like thank you so much and I think the when did you realize that first of all it's an amazing attitude and a beautiful message and and which is really this entire story but when you took you know you started out this conversation about clock management so you took that fadeaway three there was still a lot of time on the clock when I say a lot of time relatively a lot of time there was more than 10 seconds they had right they got the ball back how many how how much they had 15 15 seconds so they're down one 15 the game's not over a layup they win right a foul they got two shots they win so 15 seconds so even though you're feeling much better than you were a second ago you got 15 seconds to keep focused keep all the guys don't foul don't foul on a three there's still a lot that has to go right 15 seconds that probably felt like 15 years yeah the coach called the timeout and he said to me zebie you want to sit for defense cuz I was so tired and another guy goes yeah has Z sit I said I'm not sitting this guy one guy was cooking me the cooking me the whole game and he puts me in and this guy took a fadeaway pullup that he hasn't missed one all game and he missed it at that exact moment a guy got the rebound he made both free throws and then three seconds left we got the steal and um we won but yeah again I think I think that's what I'm saying Hashem put every shot the perfect time at the perfect moment a guy who hasn't missed a shot all game missed a game-winning shot for them a guy who had never missed a free throw like throughout the whole season missed that one free throw towards the end of the game I missed two free throws throughout the game throughout the season I think like before this game I had like 28 straight in my mind usually when I miss it like that I get frustrated I'm like you kidding me like I never miss this but in that game I was like this is all part of the bigger plan like we're gonna end up winning like everything's fine and I was totally calm it's a great message for life zie thank you for time we know you you're now we're now past your bedtime we're heading we're heading to the uh early morning hours for you but keep tagging keep growing keep learning keep hitting shots and keep being a kidish Hashem that's really uh I think the great story is look at life what you're good at and whatever it is use it as a platform for Mar to make a kidish Hashem we're proud of you proud of Yu and we're certainly cheering you on when is the next game Friday 115 in Boston Friday 11:5 we Ka I'm sure your dad puts it on his status the link every game so I'll just check his status to find the find the link for the game he's so proud is amazing we'll be we'll be rooting you on and uh whichever way it goes it's from Hashem win or lose it's all part of his master plan and we can't wait to see what's next for you so thanks for spending some time with us and letting us go behind the beo thank you so much have a good night