You can do kiruv! All about ExhibitJ Staten Island! - Status Island

One, two, three, go. >> We have this thrilling station. She came to us now. She's shabas. >> You involved kur. You support kur. It's carm. Your mission is to prevent the hurban. This is one of the best grills you can find ever. You make of one. You invest in one. That's one. All the mitzvah going to go to you. The best majority of the of the Eden are disappearing. Kov is number one place for the mitzvah. We're here on Forest Avenue in Staten Island and we have here exhibit J. We have Abdu Shandelov. How are you? How are you? >> So take us in. Show us what exhibit J is all about. >> Okay, let's go. >> First, I see you have a lot of pictures on the wall already showing people what's going on over here. Events for boys, for girls, London. Israel. That's our new center here. Just renovated, moved in. Before we were in different shows, now our new place. We already outgrew it. >> So, this is our new place. >> Our new place. >> Wow. It looks amazing. >> Thank you. >> And um let's hear first a little bit about the what's the situation of the yen in Staten Island? How many secular Eden are living in Stat? Um, no one really knows the number, exact number, but it's around 40,000 for sure, 40,000 secular Eden. Um, most of them are Russian Jews, some Israelis, some Americans, but about 40,000 even that completely disconnected. >> Wow. And like what's the percentage of the of them that they intermar? >> Oh, that's a that's a very unfortunate thing here in St. Melan. Um, the number is probably close to 90%. which means only 10% survive. >> Wow. 10 90% get intermarried. There a lot of wonderful Italians here and they love Jews unfortunately and that's what happens here. So it's a real real fight to to save them to get them back. >> Wow. So first let's see. Let me I see you have a ping pong table. >> Oh yeah. >> So you make it fun for the people to come over here. Let's see if you know how to play ping. Let's see if the rabbi by the way. You think a rabbi has to know how to play the game or just play to get connected with the student a I need to I need to be able to win them. If I don't win, they're going to think I'm like I'm a loser. >> Let's see. Okay. One, two, three, go. >> You see right there? >> I lost. >> Wow. Okay. So, you don't just um give the speeches. You really connect with the >> Yeah. With the students. >> It's not just me. We have a big team of uh our staff uh rebbitons. We have a lot of volunteers. Community is very much involved in everything we do here. What do you see since October 7? Oh, let's pick up the both. What do you see since October 7 that people are people more interested in coming here or less? >> Uh, after October 7th was a major uptick in interest. Um, I I have a business and I had to downsize my business around October October 17. I downsized my business to fully focus on Kira here. >> Oh, wow. Because it became more busy. >> Yeah, it's busy. There's people were interested. Why? Why is it >> the real real reason? I think because people lost friends and community. Now they have like the best friends not on the Israeli side and they now now they they're not part of their circles anymore, the friend circle anymore. So now like what what's what's next? They're looking for community, looking for family. Uh we have people that lost their best friends overnight and then they came to us like I want I think it's time for me to go to my my brothers and sisters to go to to >> but we need they feel family comfortable. >> Yeah. Yeah. They kind of knew about it. They felt it but they never did it and this kind of gave them very strong strong push to come and explore. So basically the the first step was just to feel belonging to feel like there was a fear in in the world and it's still same it's not nothing changed much little bit change but not much anti-semitism is still strong they feel >> closer they feel warm warm together family together so that's why they come and they bring their friends uh we at I think we just we at least quadrupled our our staff impact our budget within those few years for this reason to give them as much as we can >> I think it's also because they think like why why is everybody hating us so much? Must be something is in it. >> Yeah, for sure. For sure. This was a big question asking and uh they realized that the only place they can find is probably something Jewish. They could come to us and get the answers. >> So tell me a little bit more about the programs. What type of programs do you do here on a typical day? >> Oh, we have just this week we have a program after program after program. Uh so so we have a >> let's I see here the painting. Maybe tell me a little about this painting. >> This was just uh two days ago. Uh we have the girl uh monthly ladies night out. So we have a that's the someone was sitting with the girls showing them how to how to make this beautiful things and to to connect paint night >> and you said you do it with peers. So it's like they come >> they were sitting here like they were like the whole place was full of girls a lot of uh our girls and people from from the community local community girls same age similar age with them and they would talk to each other and they said you know what this this girl was like she's from she has good life she's nice she's amazing I also want one like her they become friends that's the best k instead of rabies rabbit is trying to do something let do it to each other >> maybe tell me a little bit your history and how is different Kur today like I I know people look at kur like uh they think of certain some yeshivas where they in the in the past they used to teach like we're going to prove that there is a god and that's how they'll make the car. How is that? Tell me a little bit about your history and about how it's different today. >> Okay. So um al regular office >> my history is so I I was born in former Soviet Union was still Soviet Union communist Russia and then im immigrated from Soviet Union from Russia after it collapsed to to Germany I became from myself in Germany I started youth center when I was 18 years old. >> Oh wow. >> And I was one of those products of cure myself of my my own my own cure. >> So you have experience of yourself. Wow. >> Oh yeah for sure. So from 1998 >> thank God till now and uh that's how we started and eventually I went to yeshivas and America Berlin different places different places and uh somehow said I'm here instead >> wow so how is it different the than today >> uh it always changes it always changes there are in in my own understanding there are three big kufus that changed uh my parents generation It was you prove God exist. Hashem is real. Torah is real. Okay. Rabbi have no choice. I going to start keeping Shabas. It's over. My generation when I was in 90 early 90s. Uh it was more meaningful like show me meaning purpose. It's more hard. First it was moy and went down to the to the lake to the heart and like you show me it's purposeful. It's meaningful. I'll do it. It was like like a starting point entry point. Nowadays boy goes with the >> it goes in the book. What do you mean like they come for shabas food is good the families have such wonderful buys I mean different levels but compared to what they have they have no shamilies husband talks to the wife parents talk to children talk to parents no one's on the phone on show >> we don't realize what we have >> yeah we have we have treasure chest like right here in in our backyard so they come and it's like wow I want this not about meaning not about purpose not about proofs it's just like I want to have a good life >> oh it's not even about meaning in life. It's just about a good life. >> Oh, a good life. Right. No, once they they get into this, they see like this the Torah is relevant. The mitzvah makes sense. The the Torah is like so beautiful and so like real like and relevant to what for my my life, then they say it feels it feels right and it makes sense as well. >> It's a different stages. >> Very interesting. Let me hear about the library. What is this? Is this um they read it over here. What do they do with this? >> So this No. Uh so this is like uh one and two. These two two parts are you can borrow a book and take home read back whenever you want. Just register here. This part is very unique very exciting one. If you if you like any of the books here say permission to receive. Oh this actually this very popular one what angel taught me taught you. So so they can take one book home and build their own library. So we have an event we put books on the on the table >> and people can choose take one book it's going to be yours >> and then slowly but surely whenever they have time they can look at it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We encourage them to read it like put on your bedside table and hope one day they'll read it people actually read it and change the likes because of this uh >> very interesting project. So you have a library they could read they could borrow or they could take one this one they could take a present. Wow. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um let me ask you how >> one more cool thing if you want to see actually we have this filling station. So we have a Sephardic for right-handed, we have a uh the Ashkanaz right-handed, Sephardic left-handed and Ashkanaz they come here with with the re and they can put on film as well. >> Interesting question. If they're coming if they if they're becoming now about which which one do they start putting on or >> depends who they are? >> How do you get um how do you reach out to people? How do people hear about exhibit J? That's a great question. Uh main source of of uh uh people coming to us is word of mouth. I started 12 years ago with one student, then she brought another person and then eventually word of mouth definitely. >> So there are happy people that come here and they're happy from the information. >> They bring their siblings, bring their friends to us. Uh and we have people that work for our uh so social social media. Uh I'm not very professionally involved there where people are actually involved on on social media uh marketing direct outreach like they found people that look Jewish to say hey I'm Jewish and they >> oh they found like Jewish names and Jewish people looking at let's say they go some Jewish kind of event or they went to Israel okay Israel said and they reach out to them and and get >> they do real k outreach they try to find people and >> get them from the streets get them from the streets we have another thing what we do this the other parts of social media is where students not there but their parents are there so so we have we have a information over there. Her parents and the parents sent send the kids to us. It's one girl uh she came to us one of our social events her father sent to us just go find find your husband. >> Oh wow. >> She came to us now she's show us. >> Oh wow. So sometimes the parents send their kids they want their kids. >> Yeah. Depends different part of social media like we're trying whatever it takes. We also used to have program trying to do more of this for for parents parents age. They come to us they see what we do. I like it and we have quite a few of our students came because of the parents >> and oh you're saying sometimes the parents could also come because of the because of the kids >> and yeah it goes both ways goes both ways >> you live near a proven Frankenstein um >> yeah yeah that's my community >> what does he say about this uh about this organization >> oh he's a something very very powerful uh few years ago I asked him what's the what's what's the mission of exhib what's our mission here and he told me that your mission is to prevent the hurban I'm like, what is do you mean? What do you mean? I'm just like this Russian guy barely speak English. Now it's better. But back then I would barely speak English. I know what I'm doing. And I can't You're >> doing good. You're speaking nicely. >> Yeah. Like many years back later. Uh but uh you have to prevent the I'm like what is it? It says when you didn't work was not a major 20% came out 80% disappeared. So now we are even in the worst mats. The amount of psycho rhythm, the completely disconnected brothers and sisters, it's like a crazy amount. Now we are very close to our own we is on the way. He told me is on the way and we have to do something about it. We can't make them disappear. H and I'm like okay thank you for such a major mission to give to me but how can I do it on my own? And he says first of all you shouldn't worry about it. So Elio Hanov is involved with us like he's doing he's doing here and I saw so many miracles like they happen daily basis. I see them like definitely on weekly by daily basis. Wow >> how it happens. So that's that's always definitely that's our mission and we'll be to whatever degree we we have to be. >> What's the success level like? What's the success rate of people that you get to come here? >> Um so that's a very good question. Excellent question. So >> first let me see. I heard you got a new grill over here for your events. Let's see. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. That's true. This is before they really want to see our most most popular beverage station. >> Fancy coffee here. Like really fancy. >> Very nice coffee. >> Everything is beautifully neat. >> Beautiful. All new. >> Wow. >> And we have a a lot of Russians love hot tea. They have like boiling water here. Boiling water. It's right here. Don't need anything. Ready for refill the water. We have We have drinks. Now it's not refill. We refill them. We have like some snacks. >> I see you have wine also. Don't don't tell others. Yeah, we have anybody. >> No, no, definitely. >> Thank god. >> Wow. It's fully set up. Nice stuff. >> Yeah. So, we have a little kitchenet here. Still have organ. We have like nice uh fridge with stuff. >> You see, we have a stack for for barbecues. >> Oh, wow. >> Don't look at the whiskey. It's also important for for cure a little bit. Oh, it's raining. It's okay. So, this is very very cool. This is one of our most coolest thing. This is one of the best grills you can find ever. We take care of our students. You might want to make sure they get >> they get >> This is a big >> This is a serious deal. >> Two. There are fridges here. Like it's the whole thing. >> Wow. >> Uh when we have barbecues, this place is packed. It's packed. They want to go on the roof. We have to tell them, "Guys, get out of the roof because it's like it's not it's not safe anymore." >> Wow. >> Go here. It's packed place. They connect. They enjoy themselves. And uh thank god we have a very good good good barbecues. >> If the campaign will raise enough money you'll be able to make a more grills for strate will cover with Hashem's help 75% of the entire budget. So whatever people we raise at this campaign whatever people give each dollar goes for the entire year. >> It's a big big big thing for the trips for the events for the rabbits everything. >> You um you do a trip to Poland once a year. >> Uh yeah. Yeah. This is one of the best uh transformational experiences that that we give here. >> What they go by the concentration camps? >> Yeah. Yeah. We go to to different wars to eleions. We go everywhere like all important places awitz. Um and what we show them we don't want people get Jewish pride from going to this to this uh uh uh trips to Poland. It's not our goal. Jewish pride happens as well. Our goal is to show them that when the during holocaust there were so many people they were heroes they were keeping Shabas they went filling during despite all the Nazis in so we showed them we learned about different >> people stayed with the Yiddish guy despite all the craziness like in the middle of of this gay >> wow >> and they by the end of the trip the students like wow if they did it under those circumstances we can do it and end of the trip we asked them to make commitments and they commit and people started doing many mitzvah just for the for this experience seven eight days pack we give them two days in Prague like to make like light more exciting because like very heavy it's heavy and very exciting we dance we get I get out out of camping over there we dance I'm like wow that's like so many emotions it changes their lives >> wow what's the story about the about the the girl that got uh that got married in France >> oh so so was one student uh so one student called me was actually a little bit different. So one guy, one of my students calls me and he says, "I'm on the way to to France now to to propose to my girl, my girlfriend." And he says, "Why am I calling you now?" Says, "Only my parents know about it and you know about it." Says, "Because I am going to she's I would never have dreamt to date Jewish girl." It's from intermed to date Jewish girl is because of exhib. So I'm called you for you to know I'm going to do it in a few weeks. >> I was just just uh a month at this and his parents came over to me and they secular Russian Jews they came over to me and say thank you so much for putting our son on the right path. I'm like wow that's interesting here like they don't they're not like from and I told him you should just know your son won the lottery. >> Wow. >> It's if I mean 10% is better lottery but 10% is a it's a scary scary number only 10% chance and he he's in that number. >> Wow. CBJ does change the number. We do change the number. We have to fight much harder. >> Oh, let's go back to the question I asked you before about the success rate. So people ask what's the success rate? So first, what's your main goal of a person that comes here and what's the success rate? >> Okay, so we have different levels. We shoot for the stars when once when when a boy girl come to us from the street goas to I look I look at at them as what's going to be to your grandchildren. We want to make sure your grandkids gonna be super from excited for each and be fully integrated in in the in the in the community. So the goal is to go from zero to 100 >> 100 how it's process change requires requires time and it's process um that's highest goal we have those people quite a few of them now almost everyone who comes to us it's 100% success because at different levels someone comes to us and says you know what I I like the Jewish people it's not so strange and they come to our events when their kids going to decide to explore this this this path they're not going to be fighting against them. That's first one level. That level I I actually I don't want to uh date go anymore. I going to they're Jewish now. Another person starts putting feel on daily basis. We have those people as well. Quite a few of those people, right? So the success rate depends like everyone's being touched. If you want to see that be people being touched, they're going to change in certain different levels. That's for sure. It's like close to like maybe 90% success rate. Now to get to highest level definitely not. It takes time. Some people come to us and they start in filling started doing some other mitzvah or starting Torah. We have people doing Torah like on weekly basis they're not true yet brings them brings them back. It takes 10 years takes 20 years. I've been doing it for many years. I've been doing this for since 1998. So still Europe. So Germany and and I see people that with didn't see any hope in them. 10 years later 20 years later now they build huge families. >> Wow. So you're saying that even if it's not such a a big amount, there are some people that goes from zero to 100, but everybody else is going up a level and it could it could affect the other people their their generations >> affects them also affects their friends. They do a little bit and they tell their friends that friends get interested their friends become it's like brings the other one. >> Yes. The whole like team effort. >> What's the sigula if somebody first of all let me see I see you have updated equipment over here. You have state-ofthe-art stuff. What do you show? Oh, we spoke about do you show here the proof that there's a that the toilet is right. >> No, not proof but whatever whatever needs to be shown. We have this nice professional screens whatever they need >> professional good equipment everything we want to show is a top level we invest a lot of money to renovate this place beautifully. We have a great AC we have actually just put split split system unit. This is very great for our students. >> Well, everything is top >> everything. Yeah, we don't save money on giving kids students best experiences when they come here and they stay here. It's still not full there. We're going to do more >> even more. >> Yeah, we just started. We just just just started. >> What's the What's the sigula of the of helping of helping doing kurif? >> Um I think there are more more than one cigula. So once ago I just saw not long ago from um at the very beginning of you can see like the first the first and it says it's that's >> you involve kov you support kir it's carbalashem the second part of the post talks about you bring behema you bring this and this kind of animals to for carbon that's for for everyone else for most people not if not ze to go to that level of being involved in kira okay okay they have to bring kmanos because if you do kov you help other other unit >> it's even more than a kb >> it's more than a carbon and he says at the end of that of that he says >> it's only minor people for this for this civil minor people because it's not it's not so exciting it's not so attracting attractive but this is like where gold is the another one I I saw Alas he says Um he says that you cannot re reach the level of someone who is involved in kuru the level is higher than of the higher or the same level to check of like there's a level you get why this is one reasons you make of one you invest in one that's one all the mitzvah going to go to you. >> Wow. >> So you might not like see like much of your own growth but it goes all to you. >> Wow. So all the mitz that person is going to do goes along with this. >> Yes. You you give little little money for for for this for this for this year and you just never know how much you get from this. >> It's very interesting everything that you're telling me because some people live like you said you told me before like some people living in a bubble like they're living let's say in Brooklyn and Staten Island wherever they're living in Israel and they see so many um religious people. It looks like it looks like most Eden are religious but really it's a it's a >> yeah it's an illusion. We we live in the bubble in our from communities which is beautiful because that's we want to stay strong for our kids give them great upbringing but mitus is is the best majority of the of the Eden are disappearing it's like dying talking spiritual just disappearing it's a spiritual holocaust it's worse than in numbers wor physical holocaust which happened to Eden >> wow >> um so that's that's a challenge we don't see it and that's why I had a very hard time to to get people in invested to invest in in cur because like what's curve like it's not an idea it's not an idea like they're real people out there and they've been changed if if you give them something just connect the pin youth the main name of the game is pin youth and connect to pal youth give them little that's it they wake up they wake up >> and once these people are lost then they're lost >> they're lost forever yeah yeah for sure it was one one I forgot the name I have to check the name someone I saw big big name uh he says that he he feels the cur is number one place expert talker he says I have to check the name I can I can check it soon number one why he says if one call closed down so they didn't go to another call to not use sh >> I mean I'm a call I love to be every morning >> but if you close down one organization or don't give enough funation they can couldn't reach out to more people they lost forever they're not going to come to another organization that's it they lost >> wow >> so that's that's it's a definitely in terms of the what to massive >> everything is important but but it's it's it's It's I mean for sure my from dying from London. So he told me it's a it's a nefes old one. >> Wow. All the special one. >> Yeah. Because they they they're lost. >> What's the story you were telling me before also by Shashidis? First of all, how many people coming by Shal it's a big event by Shalid? >> Yeah it depends but usually we have a it depends. We have a from small from 5 10 to 25 people. So whatever different different. >> So what was the question you you posted them? >> So I asked my students who here wants to marry Jewish was the first question. Everyone everyone wants to marry Jewish. Everyone from from the street all most of them were not connected to anything Jewish. And one actually one one girl tells us uh she's second generation Russian Jew here. So she says before exhibit J I wanted to I wanted to marry Russian and it will be Jewish. Okay. It's cherry on top. It's also good. Um, and now needs to be Jewish. And if it's Russian, it's also good. >> Wow. Very interesting. >> And then I asked them, I as the students, okay, fine. Now you you are you good to go. You'll be you'll marry Jewish. Amazing. One part of success is here. What about how do you make sure that your your grandkids going to marry Jewish or your kids going to marry Jewish? How you going to make sure you're going to have Jewish grandkids? You know what he told me? They didn't know first answer. They try to figure out and they said the only way for them to to also marry Jewish is if we are going to be passionate about our own Yiddish about to be proud Jews like why would they do it like there's so many distractions there's so many things out there like Yiddish should be exciting for you the only way to make it exciting if invest in themselves so that's what we're doing is we make our our pint Eden excited about their own credit and they themselves grow and hopefully generations to come is going to be major major impact one youth We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of people different from for now. >> So we're going to say the information where um where people could donate. Let me just ask you. I'm just thinking now interesting question. Is it the same kurv for people that are becoming bou the same as as people that were born from and going and and went over the is the same type of k or totally different? >> Very very different. It happened to be we have quite a few students that came to us like of the d and uh we usually try not to mix them with other separate a separate type of >> usually they became from you would not know who they are from our own own communities like some of people that you you know and you don't >> you could help them also but it's a separate type >> they could help the way to do of the d the way we do is just love and acceptance because it's emotional thing often times people go >> they know already what's right >> they know just it's emotional Our students are clueless. They the um the what's called the tom they completely like they're so like they don't know anything >> and you if you put in the same room someone who's all there together with them it's not good it's not good match because they're going to give all the trauma all the challenges like there there's no point so we try not to not to mix the workshop right now some there are people in Israel different parts the room regular from families because of exhibit room but that's not what we were doing. Okay, I see you have your comfortable chair. Let's sit down and give the information um where where people could donate. You have the links handy. You know the information or we'll just put on the screen on the description. >> We can do on the screen and you could hish old fashioned way. >> Okay. >> You do charity sh Wow, that's nice cops you give out to people muggs. >> Yeah. By the way, I I would like to give presents. >> Okay, >> that's for you. We'll put it in the status island office to remember about the kiff that you >> charity.com EJ EJ's exhibit J >> charity.comj easy link >> easy go there >> charity.com/ej you could go there and what if somebody that's listening to this if somebody wants to if somebody that's interested in becoming a more yiddish I you never know where you put we put it on so many platforms whoever sees it if they're interested what's the website for um >> the website this should go to >> or if somebody wants to be a mentor or something. >> We're looking for mentors, >> volunteer peers, >> host for shabas. >> Oh, you do that also. Hosting >> community. We want communities is very much important for for cure here. People come to this shabas. We're going to pic group most of times when will in initi volunteers men just to come to talk to for the for men to talk to our boys teach our boys some Torah is like a foundation that you saw this like um so what's the website? >> So exhibit exhibit j.org. >> Okay, perfect. When is the campaign running? People could give could donate already now, right? They could get grab this, >> of course. >> And still Sunday and Monday. >> July 12th, 13 is like it's going to go wild and crazy and exciting. >> That's when it's okay. >> Getting live, but it's live now. Unofficial live. So, you just start now. Why not? >> Wow. >> Okay. You should have a lot of to do all the and I hope all the followers all the people watching will grab this. It's a it's a everything that we spoke about. Thank you so much.