Rabbi Nachman Seltzer – Angels in Orange

[Music] hello everyone and welcome back to inside art scroll with the books you read and the people who write them come to life today I am privileged to be joined by prolific author Rabbi nman Seltzer thank you Rabbi Seltzer for being here thank you so much a great treat it's for me you live in AR all we' trying to get you here you don't come to America that often no and now that you're here we got you to come into the studio here in rawe and it's a it's really a pleasure to to be here it's a great place to be thank you so much the warm friendly confines of Art scoll Headquarters and I would say art scroll to which you've contributed so significantly I called you a prolific author if I'm not mistaken you're probably the most prolific author today in the art scho family many many talented people but I don't know if anyone has written as many books as you have and not just writing books but bestselling books and we have over here angels and orange actually the the the back of this book does not have your titles right usually the books do um but this book angels and orange has been fly barem thousands of copies as of this conversation it's it's at over 15,000 copies people can't seem to get enough of it well well just talk for a moment before we get into your career and and other things talk about the response to angels in Orange it's it's really off the charts the book came out what like three and a half weeks ago yeah less than a month ago less than a month ago over 15,000 copies and not stopping I was just in a store yesterday in m and I walked in and and the one of the guys was telling me how every day he's he has to re replenish the the whole setup and as I walked in there was a father buying the book there for his daughter so I signed it for her okay and uh and and really it's an amazing thing that that even 10-year-old kids that are able to read the book and they get the idea of what happened but they're not it's not scary for them which was the very delicate we tried very much to make sure that it's everyone could read it it's not it doesn't have that factor of you know there's really disturbing Elements which tone down so it's that really delicate balance to make sure everyone understands what happened but not in a way where they can't read it like you can read it and you're inspired by it but you also you're not like turned off by it right but I I I must tell you that I'm I'm blown away I may be your biggest admirer in the sense that I have no idea how you do what you do this book is on October 7th October 7th was four months ago I know I think I have an idea of what goes into writing a book how in the world did you put on a book in really a matter of a couple of months so what happened was so Ellie we had a conversation two weeks after the war started that's when we discussed the idea of writing the book and then I started interviewing that week and then I sat down a week later three weeks after the war started I started writing the book I wrote it in a month Mish in a month I wrote the book how how does a person physically first of all you write beautifully the talent that you have theam gave you it's just the all your books the it flows and it's interesting you have an engaging style of writing every single book and so that that's we could say that gave you can I know you use it so beautifully but just the physical act of writing and there's editing and there's rewriting how do you eat do you sleep we have your wife here out of watching do you speak to her during that period of time has a work so so um D book it was very very I was it was very intense uh I was I was working every night meaning when I'm not learning with not teaching I teach in a few seminar five schools so if I'm not doing those two things or not with my kids let's say so I was very intensely sitting M from morning till night till 11:00 at night writing and it took them longer to edit it than it took me to write it that's yeah the postproduction took longer than the actual writing do you find that the time that it takes for you to write is really dependent on how good your interviews were and and are so I mean I really try that every book I get I have like the material right but you know the I did I really had it very clear over here you know I I I spent a lot of time talking to the to the volunteers I had the material was I had it and off we ran and you know it didn't have to be as long as some of the other books it's about it's essentially about one day right so for one day it's enough it's it's a book yes yes now when you interview people for books whether a book like this or biographies and and things like that do you record the conversation always yeah you record you do it by phone you don't have to do I have a recorder recorder let's say I'll talk to them on Zoom let's say so my record is there recording the whole conversation and then after that I just I I I upload it to the computer and then I listen to it while I'm writing that way I'm able to capture the the unique voice of the person I'm listening to have you ever had where you thought that you were recording a conversation and you and it and one time of Zoom when I was starting to learn Zoom so I I I had to interview yob schi and his wife about the person I was writing about and I went from the second interview was over I went into another Zoom interview with someone else and I didn't realize that if you don't let the the zoom interview upload so then it doesn't it it wipes it out yeah so so then a second after I got off the the phone with the next person that I I just I wrote down everything that they told me while it was still fresh in my mind cuz I I knew I had to do it other that's like the ultimate and Nightmare where you think let's say this conversation with you you think we're recording it and it doesn't record uhhuh um you now live in AR you obviously didn't I moved there when I was 14 when you were 14 you grew up where I grew up in flush e7th and OMP oh wow yeah and then my parents I moved to Bar Park when I was and you learned where in your I learned tvas tvas then Barak I was in I was in Stalin I was the 55th and 18th 19th Avenue and then when I was 14 my parents moved and so that was interesting trajectory most people don't usually go that direction I was bar but especially at that age was it was it a difficult trans challenging very much language wise culture wise everything challenging yeah uhuh yeah very much this is such a typical cliche type of question but did you see yourself at that point having uh a certain nitia towards writing were you always literary I was always lary I didn't plan on being a writer even when I was going with my wife she asked me what do you want to do I was like you know I want to open a choir which I did maybe I psychologist you know which I feel through writing is is kind of it's like Nation psychology almost right in a way but I didn't say I want to write books but But as time went on I always read I read everything I read everything really you're a reader always everything I get my hands on I read and when I was a b iniva so one of my friends was related to MOSI who was the head of impr press and he and I went to vavas and I told him all the books that he that he put out he said me if you ever write a book he says you come to us so my first book The Edge I went to to R MOSI and that's where I met Mimi MIM was the editor of of of T so when Mimi moved to art girl she called me up and asked me to come to art girl that's what she brought you over she brought me to Art scroll and that was when I was in the middle of writing the network and that's when I went to art SC and that's that's where it all kind of moved into high gear and the rest the rest as they say is history the rest is history and you've been pumping out books several a year sometimes four five a year depending on uh on you know what what projects come up and Zar shimin and and really it's it's been an unbelievable uh an unbelievable run of biography just getting started you're just getting warmed up byebye it's just getting started can I know if that's the case and chol is fortunate because what you've contributed so significantly till now I can only imagine what's going on and and what's interesting also is that despite your success Karu um you don't seem to be resting on your laurels you're you're as energetic and as motivated as ever to take on the next project which is interesting what what keeps that fire burning besides obviously for parosa reason so I'll tell you I get tremendous feedback from the Jewish people uhhuh I get a lot of feedback and it it's literally changing lives and rim and teachers are using my books to teach their students and people are becoming from from books so and people are learning Z thousands of families every shabas Lear so you know how could I not be motivated right right you know that's a great thank you Hashem what can I say do you do you find it to be hard work when you when you have a new project do you literally en writing is is enjoyable for those who do it well but it's not always it's not always fun you know yeah you know what they say if you like what you do you don't work a day in your life so right exactly I love what I do the the the that's hard the element that's hard is the solitary you know element that you're sitting by yourself you're sitting by yourself but the feedback helps you know and that's very very important MH there's a lot of feedback and so funny you mention the feedback I remember when I uh when I started working yed many years ago so Rabbi lipitz the editor made a comment to me I don't even know if he remembers about people writing anonymously and I think if I remember correctly he made a comment that people who write anonymously can't do it for a sustained period of time because the feedback of the readership is so crucial so fundamental to the success of the writer that that person who's doing it anonymously is missing that component and and from what I'm hearing from you that's so much of what keeps you going yeah is that feedback it's such a crucial part of the process just so yeah and that it's very important very important component um do you find you've written biographies you've written novels you've written real life type of stories is there one genre that's more difficult than the other to write novels novels are harder hardest because you have to come up with the plot every day have to right right right and lumus you have to you know the network is lumus it's like you have to hold cup you have to keep it's like whole okay that's hard it's hard to do that every day and and and the truth is that we the Jewish people don't appreciate novels as much we don't because it's not true so why should I waste my time Kil waste my time so for me it's like if I'm going to put out a book let me write a book that are these books the biographies are books that they're like novels this is a book that's like a novel but it's but it's real so it's it's it's true and you know so right say that uh truth is stronger than Fiction right so you know and the proof is in the pudding because the S you see no no comparison right we know the numbers we know the numbers do you find it difficult with biography specifically when you're writing about someone you didn't know and you have to now paint a picture based on the portrayals of other people but the truth is it's it's not someone you knew personally do you do you have a challenge with that I tell it's it's Le it's much it's much better people ask me how how how you know you broke you did this new thing where you write about people who are alive right it's a new thing you're you're took d grman as an example right he grman RI Wallace Ellie Beer you saw cats over saw GIS these are all people who are alive and doing great things the answer is it's like I give them a mush it's like you have a let's say a great grandmother who was worth $20 million so she could wait till she passes away to give her children and grandchildren money or she can give it them she alive what I think will make the family a lot happier when she's alive when she's still alive and she could see and get NAS from the from the money and see the pleasure that she's bring to her family so here also I'm talking to someone who's alive you can tell me the stories himself I get the information from the first person is so much more effective I can ask him what happened I can I can milk him for the details in a much in a way I can't do for someone who passed away so obviously it's much easier and you get much better information when the person is is alive it's much someone someone commented to me on that that there's actually a cultural difference that that's so much more of an Israeli thing to write about someone who's alive whereas in America the America Torah world people would be a little more self-conscious I don't know because you know what are people going to say what are people going to say but let's be honest if if we were being if we weren't worried about what people going to say all the time so then we would do things you know we would do things wor what are you stop worrying so much what people going to say if you have an important message put it out right right right and if you have to Market it a certain way you Market it it's your doesn't matter if you have something you want to say say it don't worry so much right right so true now you're you're very multifaceted you're doing writing you also teach in multiple seminaries yeah and you're also a producer of films one one film one well one film one film which may be more coming but you did the edge which is a huge huge hit and from what I understand it's still selling still it is every yes still being you collabor with tremendous talent and maybe we could get you and together to do the network and to do some other of your novels yeah um but that's very interesting talk for just for a moment about that direction not writing but film producing and acting okay so I'll give you the truth is it's no it's really bar P it's he's the one who gets the credit you know he took my my book he he changed it into a into a script I went over it afterward he's the one he's the he's the he's the real talent the brain and I and I you know I was there as like kind of like the I was overseeing to make sure everything I have a lot of experience in working and producing I want to call it entertainment because not so much it's it's more than entertainment educational educational material it's it's to just I know what the firm world I know what the firm World likes and I know what's what what's not going to work and therefore I was very I was in the position able to tell him like this is okay this is not okay no we have to change that and I picked my battles certain things I just didn't get involved in but certain things I I was like no this has to change and because of that there was there was no negativity when the when the movie came out no negativity just you know just positive feedback really positive feedback from people Everyone loves it everyone it's like it's an amazing thing to you know one person one one one uh malal of a certain of a certain Yesa sent me a letter so I called him up he said you know I see the name you know your name is on a book and you're making a movie I said said clearly you didn't watch the movie because if you watch the movie you would understand how important the message of the edges and I and I went through every I went through with him I explained to him why he was important what the lesson was how careful we were making it and the fact is the B also need kosher entertainment right not just girls right true and the boys and girls the the feedback is is a is a testament to how much it reson it became a cold classic everyone goes to and they act out scenes that they saw on the bridge the entr to to clarify how viewers it was filmed in we Ed from l so when people go to the spot where it film they recognize yes they all B girls they acted out they have to all have to run down the thing by the inat where the terrorist blows himself up people acted out it became like this thing you know have one that's very interesting so you you do writing you've done film making you're also very musical yeah um you had a choir for 15 years the 15 years sh um you were writing books already then right so you're doing a lot of different things just talk about your musical career for career okay I went to I was in Miami Boys as a kid experience one and two and it I got tremendous amount from be I think all the boys in the choir did right very I mean he's probably one of the most talented people in the Jewish music world he's a big very he's a very person and and from there I always had a dream to my own choir which I did and it was a journey but I think to me that was like an example to do that anything in the music business is I know you you worked on an album yourself it's everything is like grinding Stones very in the music business very hard business not you weren do it it's not a business you weren't doing it for the money I mean were you was it was parosa I made Five albums we were on a bunch of other singers albums we did a lot of things but uh you know it got to a point where the music the industry changed couldn't make CDs anymore and the music became and Israeli and I just like you know it's a different market today than it was 20 years ago yeah so I said I have my writing I don't have to reinvent myself I can sit on my right right CL drinking it up and so that was it it was time you were you were composing right composing composing producing directing all that singing yourself also well the a little bit not much not much not a lot of singing but it's interesting how the music industry has indeed changed yeah in America the people who are who are making money are doing so on performances performances and production and not right produ you know big Productions not really the albums let's say you're you're a producer so let's say you have a studio so you're making money as you're an arranger there's money to be made the singer less money to be made it's a funny business it's it's a it's a fantasy business it looks nice it looks like people are making money but it's you know I don't know how much money they're actually making I don't or at least the the top the top tier are so let's say there's thousands of people in healthcare and thousands of people Healthcare making big money and a music thousands of people trying and how many people makeing money right it's a it's a business a few dozen maybe yeah wow um but the truth is like I like to say about you it's it's all it's all music it's just different uh different Avenues there's a music of writing that's right and there's a music of of of song and there's a music of film it's all they're all different messages right it's all about connecting connecting it's all about connection right um wow I wanted to ask what you do so well what you're doing here is connecting this is also this is also connect all connecting you're connecting with the people that they you know they want to know about they want to read they read this far they want to understand the people so it's connection it's all connection that is a good point speaking about connecting a person who has connected very uniquely to many people through the medium of Tyra is our good friend mutual friend rebell stefansky yeah I want to bring it up because here you are a very well-known writer bar you're successful in what you do and then when rebell stefansky became a shame D in the world there you are sitting to his right right and then you're fairly uh you know wellknown recognizable name and face um and just such a unique Dynamic of what rebelli did and you have a a very special vantage point of kind of being on board with rebell before he became well known correct uh just a total totally as an aside very funny thing uh one of the things I did in the past was I was the editor of theia magazine for theas hired me to be the editor I had a piece there you had a piece there and we put together um uh a unique magazine and just as an aside and I spoke to abelli about this when he was here for an interview um I reached out to Big mag here and we were doing features about different sh and for whatever reason at the time this is January pre January 2020 the C masas was January 1st 2020 um it was before rebelli became well known across the Jewish world and he didn't make the cut it didn't make it to the magazine and he was laughing afterwards because you know you could say he had the last laugh kind of cuz today him biggest the biggest magest I would say people know of him and rip born the numbers is the biggest year he's the biggest year yeah yeah so and he didn't make the cut the magazine you know he was kind of laughing theam has his ways if he wants someone to be he'll be but getting back to you um talk about that relationship and talk about the fact that you despite your busy schedule you are there I try to be there every day try to be there every day yeah so that it's a very interesting relationship I'm in SCH one Friday Friday night and a man he's not there and suddenly he's there literally Larger than Life in he sits on my bench now this is where in ra you lived there I lived there for over 20 years now I live in gimin but then I lived in Al and then in walks the sky he sits down next to me on the on my on my bench he looks familiar to me I say to him you know he say sh what's your name Ellie stanski um I said wait you look familiar you were in Ami an Amy lunch break I said to him he's like yeah okay great what are you doing here I moved to ra so become friends right away became friends and now that magazine article was about about his business about his business yeah his real estate bus realate yeah became friends right away and he told me a lot of his stories and he was one of my in and you know time went on Ellie kept on trying so Ellie had a dream re Ellie had a dream he told me the first one of the first time we had a conversation he told me he's very impressed with d hste I've written much about him also and d right because he and I say this in you know he's not he's a very but he changed the world Andi said I also want to do this okay and he told this to you randomly just we had a conversation right when he moved we he told me a story about himself great story and uh whatever ever so and and as time went on reab kept on trying to to to do this he started BR Friday night and then then he did a recap of the of the week's da the seven da Thursday night and then he started and he would always ask me can you please come and when to Any Time came to to see the shear please come you know Shas please be there I need them to see you there and so when he started giving the shear he said please please you know I learned that anyways my friend asked me to come kakim and so uh I came and it it the the shear developed from a you know neighborhood Shear into a Shear which is affecting K on a global level right and I have a unique role in that Shear is that I sit next to him I'm like the M you keep him in his place yeah in a way we we have us ear back and forth now that was pre right we always had an interesting what do you mean yeah of course you started before he built yeah simple room and you know a grp but surely and now it's say it's the biggest sh in the world and I'm and I'm there everybody if I'm not there people like you know how come you're not there it's a certain add a certain element to the you call it the show you know he's the star and then there's like the always the you know I'm there always like gu it's interesting very interesting I feel as you know to be there it's it's helping clel and therefore I I I I made songs for this year and I've written articles for this year and maybe we'll do a book about him one day for the share and theud is that again this is how can we help CL Isel and it doesn't matter exactly you know what there's so many ways whatever ways you're you know here I am and hasem sent me the you know gave me yeah so of course I'm going to do what I can you're like what you can give the sh yourself you're coming to someone else a share like yeah so what it's fine I I I could come and sit next to someone and hear a share from someone else and help develop it's all good I I I get plenty of feedback it's and and you know now this is 7:00 in the morning every day is that when down at 6 6 6:30 in the morning follow there's another afterwards and uh people like said you know the respect with you and him is uh is great and it is we respect each other tremendously we're a good friends friends and uh I'm very proud of him I'm very proud of him I'm again take me back to when you were sitting in the inas in Ramat PES when it was a smallest year yeah take just a few years ago right three four years ago uh did you anticipate you knew reell stall you knew what he brought to the table I I didn't could you ever could you have ever seen the explosion I didn't see it coming I didn't see it coming honestly I didn't but no I'm fixed it he saw it coming he was also one of the founders and no I'm always Rabbi Noah fix I teach in his Seminary Tom dor and and he sort coming he and he was focusing a lot on on getting in the out outside world so he I usually see things I see Trends usually I've been I made videos before other people I made movies before other I've seen Trends but this trend I missed but you know what I got on board you know uhuh yeah it really is unbelievable I was in I was by the bellor when rebell was here and to witness the energy and the number of people who told me that they really had not opened up a gamar on any serious level before Rebel leir that's it is that tells you all you need to know that's people say to me like this and they have you know everyone has their I'm like first of all first of all if you could do it better go for it that's number one corre I'm like I don't believe in sitting and criticizing other people if you want to criticize the world is Big there's a if you fail you could do it better but he's doing something that no one can do he's a superstar and people want to touch the the magic and the magic is there he's he's he was if he wasn't from if he wasn't Jewish he could be the International Celebrity he's got it you think he would be he has that he's got it he's got the lar life Charisma he has it yes and he has it in spad he has the bu he's he's wealthy people want to feel like they want to touch the success and so and he's got it and you know what like you said so many people Yesa didn't work for them didn't work and now they're learning Tyro and they love Tyra to me that's like it's an it's ABCs it's a no-brainer what he's doing is unbelievable like I said I'm very proud of him I want to make one final comment when he was here in that Che and I interviewed him what I was more impressed by than anything else is not the size of the sheer it's a fact that he told me that on a daily basis he spends basically the majority of his day learning he he barely gots any sleep yeah he he he's learning with the with the young go and the K there right yeah yeah that's his RAB and he and he's he's really immersed in it it's not like a it's not a side gig he's the real thing the real thing he's the real thing he did it he he turned his life around and yeah it's unbelievable yeah I know he still has the house in Chicago but I he has a different house he sold that house he has a different house listen he he M he did it he went all the way like he's using what he has really for tremendous yeah and we're very proud very proud to say that we're we're you know we we've seen the growth and that more and more people are coming into the the realm of Li I think he's going to be I mean to me it's a no-brainer that he should be one of the speakers at the next is that it maybe they're listening hello the biggest mag of the world who do you have speak if the biggest m in the world all right we'll see how that plays if they don't then I'm going to have big questions over there I hear yeah um what's on the agenda for going forward's what's coming up Z is coming up okay that's coming out in March the Z Revolution something which we never imagined we didn't think we didn't know we we had some books we know you know like this book angels and orange you could have predicted yeah yeah but it was a story it's you know there a lot of it's also a very even very complicated very complex people know about the in his that his son who was that you learn his he's going to be a people know that very well but the actual T is difficult um thanks to I would say art scrs elucidated versions of their Zin which is that project is also coming to a close very shortly with the McGillis and people are going to be able to buy the whole set people are really and credit to people like re paskis who's the you know putting out the of the Zarin has done so much and other people to be ma that Tyra um but your two volume Zar that you put out alra together with stories just just flew off the shelf ConEd many people only enter world so people very excited about this I didn't know recently heard I found out recently that there's this WhatsApp group of ladies who learn it every day there like almost 2,000 ladies every day we learn it and I can tell you thousands of families learn it every chabas and it's a it's a m a Torah Revolution wow and so the beginning I thought okay I don't know if is coming from mice Farm but I a lot of people learn mice farm and and they lives were changed transformed wow and and what they wanted came the bras and the in every in every area MH from parasa to to children to to sh in every area people M yesu wow so so is one what else what else that's com so I'm working on iron of bells oh yeah a biography a biography not just the Holocaust part uh the whole part the rebuilding after after whole part the whole thing and I'm working on um uh a book I'm just actually here I'm going to be interviewing about R Ben um what's his name Ben David no Ben Ben benim was the chief Rabbi of the Syrian community in flush for for 50 years so we're writing a book about him now so I'm here to that's right and part of it I love the idea of giving Windows this in writing this to is windows are mirrors so mirrors it's your life you know what it is it's mirroring you the window is a window into another world that you're not familiar with so this is a a lot of people don't know much about the Syrian Community they know what they know they know Masis maybe but they don't know why the the Syrian Community decided to have you can't marry gam they don't know about that this is a window into into another world which is a very important world and I think everyone should know about it so that's another project I'm just starting now and then there's another interesting project which I don't know if I'll talk about it yet but very interesting project stay tuned well stay tuned there's a lot of interesting things coming up uh so uh yeah and here we go so I want to end by asking you as a as a writer and I have a master a master sitting in front of me I want to ask you what advice you could give both to people who write now but want to become better and to aspiring writers and really youngsters who are watching this unfortunately writing is a is a totally lost art I would say in The Wider world but in our world as well um writing is not maybe what it used to be people don't aspire to become maybe the next rnan Sherman or the next R Seltzer what what would you say in terms of giving people advice besides for reading which I think is is that's an elementary part if you read then you'll become a better writer what tips could you give to people so that the writing becomes engaging so that they could become much better at the craft Okay so so first of all when you're writing one of the things I do when I and I interview people is that let's say I'm talking to you about a meeting you have with someone right so I'll ask you so which restaurant did you go to and you tell me I went to a reserve cut I said what' you have I had a steak I said was it pepper crusted or was it it was pepper crusted how was it was it medium well was it medium well was it rare was it well done what' you drink right you really ask those questions yeah yeah and I really do and the reason I do that is because I am able to to to describe a very rich description of the scenes that I'm writing about that mean I I go down to the smallest details you know that's number one saying because painting a picture the more flavor you give it the Richer the result is he ask would you ever like you know embellish I'm like I don't call it embellishment I call it adding color I give you the color of the scene I'm not embellishing that's what happened there's no embellishment going on meaning you didn't make it up you actually got that information but let's say I didn't know that he had a steak I'm saying the point is theud is you want to you want to give over the Ambiance of a scene you want to describe it it's not embellishment that's what happened you want to take your reader and bring them transport them into the scene you're that you're describing that's what you want to do that's one thing there's uh there are many elements to to writing there's um when I write so I'm I'm listening to the voice of the person that I interviewed so I'm capturing the unique voice right it's not I'm doing it for memory I'm listening to them speak so that's why every person sounds different uhhuh uh this there there are many many if you if you break it down we could go from from categories to subcategories to there are many many I don't see tricks the tricks of the trade but there's there are many things but how do you how do you avoid sounding repetitions from book to book as say if it's a unique voice I know but you're at the end of the day you're you're the writer so it's going through your prism and every person has their vocabulary and the language they use so how do you avoid no I'm telling you that's really that's the key to making sure every biography sounds different is because I'm really capturing the voice of the person and therefore it's automatically different if you read RAB Roy newberger it's different than RAB yiis and it's different than Ellie Beer and it's different than you saw cats over right they're all different they all sound different it's just the way it is you know interesting so you're kind of just that that Medium do it the conduit conduit the conduit to bring it conduit yeah I'm helping getting it to so there's different things the short stories then it's more you know then it's not their voice necessarily but even there people tell me like wow M felt like you were there when it happened like how did you I think that's one of your one of your tremendous is that you really allow the reader to feel like they're there in the moment they feel like they're there they feel like they're there and that's that's what people love they really you do it you do it like very few others I I remember years ago I I I I introduced a concept which hadn't been done before which was the concept of bringing in like our culture into right I give an example I was writing a story about a guy driving up North so I wrote like as yakobi swung into Mama Yi swung the car left towards the road to the Jordan ra Valley so that was like no one had done that does that today very well but it hadn't been no one had been doing that to take like yakobi Mama and put it into a a story you suddenly gave it a a flavor and a color and you're like oh that's me I drive that road I listen to that album to that song That's My yeah so so people are seeing themselves that's my father said to me when we wrote the book of short stories it could have been you I asked him like T what what should I call it he's like call it it could have been you be like it could have been me me I'm here okay conect amazing you it's about you you're like it's about me oh okay let me I like that from a marketing standpoint that makes a lot ofense my very smart that's great but but it's true people want to read about themselves people want to be you know that's why they they love they love talking to someone who's interested to hear all about them like I'm sitting a person's therapy you know they love talking about their father I could listen I'm talking you know I'm listening to you for 50 hours you know you telling me your whole life I'm I'm here I'm listening completely on on this topic of your writing I'll I'll I'll give an analogy sometimes you'll speak to a musical performer and I'll say you know the the albums I put out 30 years ago I can't listen to it because it grates on my nerves my voice changed I learned how to use my my vocals better so on and so forth as a writer do you look back at your early writings and sometimes say you know what I'm so much better at the craft now I I you know I'd rather I get this question you know people tell me that like they see a they see that definite it's like that you've grown as a writer yeah but I mean like I look at the network and I love it I go back to you're proud of it yeah I worked very hard on that book I love the plot I love the writing I'm very I'm very happy with it I don't I look at it as as as a success right the Shadows these are I'm I'm proud of those books but do would you say that you you grew as a writer since then have you changed look yes I'm again I I'm happy with what I did I I assume the more you do something the better you get at it so so yes the family people say to me but you know we've we've people love those books also but yeah there's no question that since incredible things have have gone you know on a taken off on a big level no question from incred incredible was definitely a a change a shift in in sales and and from there things have yeah definitely I would say things have exploded bar we're very we we we thank we all know it's not us it's not us and we have to remember that everyone has to remember this that's the whole thing that's the whole thing and and if you know if I could say what can I say like what's me it's not you know nobody it's not me to decide like they I was asked to do this you know I mean Hashem sent this to me and and and it's not up to me whether people are going to connect to to it what's up to me to to to accept an opportunity is up to me to say okay I'm going to do it that's up to me right that's that's that's Hashem gave me the the ability to say yes so my job is to accept opportunities that's my job the things that come my way that's my job to accept it but it's not up to me how it's going to happen my job is it how it's going to play out how's it going to sell you know some books they sell a little some books don't sell as well right but it's not again I don't worry about it I don't worry about it it's like oh that's what at the end of the day it's what you wants this to fly this flying but I put in the same heart into every book you know but this is also we knew that it makes sense that relevant right now everybody wants to feel what's happening but I will say I'm going to talk from an artal standpoint and from a marketing standpoint that we know on the art and when we have internal meetings and conversations that when rman Seltzer's name is going to be on a book many people say Okay R put something I have to get my hands on it and that ultimately as a as a writer and as as someone who's on on at the top of your field that's a great I would say a validation and a compliment to you that people are basing it on your past success is is indicative of of future success amen and that should continue to be so amen amen I tell people it's like I have a deal with I'll make a deal with you you read and I'll write okay that's what I tell them hasal okay so that's that's what I what can I do keep on sending me the ability to write books the good projects and I and I will I fully intend to do my best to keep on doing them because I believe this is my should continue to to give you that he should continue to send you the the the and the intellectual capacity and the physical strength to be able to do what you do at the end of the day like you alluded to before it's all about connecting it's people connecting to each other it's people connecting to that's where you're enabling through these beautiful books I put my email address in every book at the back you know that way it gives people the ability if they want to reach out to you it says about to author and it says and I don't know I don't know how many people do this but I do this on purpose you want people to reach you yeah there they're my people they're my people so I respect them you know I love them they're my they're my people I go into swarm stores I thank my my guys by the counter they're my people they're en selling my books they're pushing my books they're my they're my people they're my guys so I go in to thank them uhhuh anytime I you know maybe that's the secret of your success that you're not this uh you know remote person working in in an office somewhere writing books you're you're connecting with the every email that comes in answer yeah I'm I'm you know you're there they're my people yeah yeah I admire that very much I admire that I I I would say despite your celebrity status you're still able to connect to the people and and really in the F world there's no celebrities yakob comes home from a concert his wife doesn't say take out the garbage what that is true we're we're we're married we have children we we we're we go to aim we we go to PTA meetings we're we're I'm I'm blessed as Su would always say and you say so have have a good bench love and I'm I'm lucky to be able to do something that inspires chol but you know I'm I'm I'm in a SCH I'm in a kahila you know I have my friends and and and I'm an AER and and I'm close to many people and many yeah and and yeah the whole concept of Jewish celebrities is funny it's a funny thing you know people it's really what I mean when we I know you mean when we mind mean by celebrity really it's not the celebrity culture it's really more than anything else it's name recognition that's what it is it's name recognition and based on what you've accomplished you do have that name recognition and and it excites people when you come out with something new by the way it is a fascinating thing that I've seen in my time here at Art scroll and you'll appreciate this also is that in the from world really probably reflecting the outside culture also people love new you could have the same book but because it's 5 years old people are like I'll take the new book even though it's a great book now you you do have books like incredible that even today capture the the imagination of people pick it up they totally taken by it I could say my children are reading it now they're reading incredible but people love new so new books always capture the imagination and people are always looking for what's new so M you should continue I had I had a a story when I when when I after incredible came out and I was talking to someone who works for a company no names okay and he says to me what are we going to do now like what what are we going to do what's what's next you know there's the PAC you hit like incredibl Incredibles like no book sell like that like rep kki s like that right right right Su fish P sold like that no books sell like that books don't sell like that or living legend did but at that time we had no idea he says what are we going to do he was like like upset almost I was like he who brought us incredible will bring us whatever needs to be what are you worried about right and I remind him of this conversation because it's the biggest we don't have to worry KES is going to and then came living legend and the rabbitson and Zar and and the World opened up and it's not our job to worry about what's going to be next our job is to do what hasem sends us to do and to do it as best as we can that's our job and then and then hasm will take care of the rest but that's our job on that note you continue to do what you do we thank you so much I want to thank You repon Who Came as well to be part of this and we appreciate everything that you've given to AR the from World in general I I love working with Arts scho I'm so happy that we're Partners I'm so I'm so blessed to be partner with Arts scho could I could tell you speaking I usually don't like speaking on behalf of AR it's not my place to speak on behalf of anyone but there's no question that the art scr family greatly takes great pride in the fact that you're part of the fabric of what art SC does and that your books are put out under the art school label it's it's a tremendous source of Pride because because of your level of Excellence and it's my it's it's m Mutual andalia it's such a he's like really he's like a standard of Excellence absolutely and it's such a privilege I'm so lucky to be part of this team I always tell them like I'm so happy that we're not just Partners but friends that like we see the we have we share the vision together of what we're trying to give excellence and just you know it's like each book is like another beautiful diamond to give C and people feel that way they want it they they love it they look at the look at the color look how beautiful is you want this book in your house you want it like it feels like you just went into the the you know the jewelry store and you bought his beautiful diamond necklace cuz it's gorgeous Ellie crony he does such great work and Brer and all but really the whole team like everyone is is like on a is on a on a level though the interviews you do everything in art girl is done a high level it's m you feel like you're just in like the gold standard of that's what it is the gold standard it really is the gold standard MIM came to me you know she's my mentor MIM is my mentor mine as well mine so just me almost every single book I put out was I'm almost at 50 books now be the 50th book is that it yeah wow that 49 or 50 depending on what if something else comes out first but when M there and she was with me the whole way you know and uh you have people like MiMi zon you know who a superstar she's a superar she she's like you called her interview The Matriarch her and liby the matriarchs of Jewish literature it's true from the coins of then the Egyptian star these are people who Mish set the ball rolling you know and and and I'll add and you know this as humble as anyone you'll ever meet she's so humble kiding she's the most down toe humble person and I she's like now pretty much my my editor like she like works with me and she's fantastic I started with her my first book tag of breast I came in there I was 23 years old I brought in my first book to her and true well I'm I'm embarrassed sometimes she says to me y would would you like to take a stab at the ad copy for this one and like the fact that she has the confidence to do it or sometimes I've written ad copy she's like do you mind if I use it for the flap for the book flap I'm like Mrs Aon please she's such she she unbelievable yeah Blitz he jokes but not such a joke he wanted to buy T press so he can get Mimi zon there you go no that's how good she is absolutely true it was K to buy a company to get M she's a gift she's unb we are surrounded by so many everyone she edits my book sometimes sir BR these are every single person Mrs Judy dick you know like these are these ladies they know sh it's not a joke true they've edited chass they know shash so we're surrounded by everyone here is like at the top at the top of their game was was so close to him he was the gener very close I used to go to at night these are everyone's unbeliev mayor mayor you know I I got to know him you know mayor called he used to call his U writers he'd be like I get a call one day after class acts came out no 48 he calls me up I remember I was taking out a kid one of my kids out for for ice cream or something's how you doing it's May's I'm like I just wanted to tell you we're it's a privilege to put out your books yeah uhhuh you know what how beautiful that is yeah cuz that that was R beautiful that's that is what a boss is supposed to do because I remember rer as well and he and he used to send me emails like that as well he he would say those typ he knew how to build people up he really built people up you remember you never forget it you never forget a line like that I always try to do that you know and it was his line by the way which Rabbi Sherman very often repeats that what art schol has is a genius cluster that's the term R Sherman I must have heard it a dozen times from him it's the genius cluster that was put together and the product that we see is is a result of of a conglomeration of all these talents being put together and being used wrote the overview yeah he wrote the overview that's very anything RN T and you walk into art school today it's like you walk even even by the way even in B Park you felt like in a certain sense I don't know if you if you felt this way but it was like almost like a a literary version of Google in the sense that REM designed the building like in a very artistic way everything is Artistic everything is like different and Cutting Edge like Google it's not like oh desks no there's like bean bag chairs you know it's like art schol is not the same like everyone else it's just a different a different way of thinking and it just always know when people buy a book they know it's a good book They're not worried is it a good book is it not a good book like they know if arel is putting it out it's because it it deserves to come out and that's that Temple so you know I'm so happy to be part of that to have my name together with their name it's a tremendous it's a big honor and once again thank you for being here and I could I look forward to being in touch thank you so much thank you so much thank you [Music]