When Torah Meets Technology

hello everyone and welcome to the oh you podcast hello everyone and welcome to the U podcast today we have the honor the big coved for us of having with us Rabbi Moshe schwed who is the director of all Torah it's a pretty big title to be the director of all Torah that's a lot you do a lot we're excited to have you here we wanted to start by welcoming you saying because we have to translate into Lakewood and make sure that uh that everything is above board that everybody knows I live on Lakewood everybody knows now okay why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself my name is mha really it's mha pined but once I got into the business world you know I just dropped that and some of my family members weren't too happy about it so so everybody calls you MOS at home most people call M and there's a story behind that I'm named after my great great grandfather who came to the United States of America in 1913 wow he came to Baltimore and he was a town Le of the NV wow Josh look at this for those who don't know Josh and we maybe we'll get to that a little bit later Josh gives a weekly short she on the na on the para platform on your platform you encourag me to do it we'll talk about it a little bit later on so my namesake was a wow inin so his son which is my great-grandfather um when I was born and they gave they gave my name after his father he wanted very much that I should be called by both names um and and we kept we kept to that and just to jump a little bit further when I got married my father-in-law who you probably don't know who he is um his name is MOA ziml so that either since I was he's called mosa Mishi yeah so I was called mha p and he's called Mishi that that was good that was okay 20 years later we have to you know revisit that but probably read by schwed now so that's good so you were born I was born in M born born in M raised in M went through Elementary School in M two years Bago local M high school then I went out of town to Long Beach I was there for six years went to a to learn in the brisker yiva he asked which one and I I was there for a total of five and a half years as a b and I got married I moved back there so I lived in AR for five and a half years and I I still feel very attached and I love going back and I love people that I work with know that I love um speaking Hebrew if you want to go with the Hebrew we can for short to speak to the taxi driver very good okay and then when you came back married came back married I did the regular thing I moved back to Lakewood um my wife had a very good job she was a speech therapist and I was sitting in Yeshiva and I was learning um for quite a few years and B mag mag okay and there there's some people who learn there it's well yeah some people small yiva people ask me where I live um I say in a small town in Central Jersey and since we love you know we we'll get to this soon but we work with people who live in places all over so I I I can't forget the person I met in Tek New Jersey who asked me um is there a supermarket in Lakewood that the size of Cedar Market which is I guess the biggest supermarket in t um and you said there's nothing that small yeah there's nothing that small like probably 12 of them so um I moved back to Lakewood I was there for a few years in 2018 I was approached um by Rabbi elephant who knew me and he was giving a DYI share here and he said the U wants to expand their online presence um with the da do you um know anyone that could do this the truth is I asked my wife if somebody's phone number which I think she had in her phone and she says why don't you just ask him if you could do it so I asked him and he says you probably could I just can't hire you because you know says call Rabbi Steven wild so I mentioned him he was the one that you know I from jumping a little bit but he got a he had a very close relationship with step Alam and he had gotten money to invest in broadening bavi learning um so I was brought on to direct the content and from there and I really directed took that and pull it out like a year project and we launched by the CMAs in 2020 and barem we had EC bbam on board sitting here in the room who was a tremendous a partner to get this off the ground because I literally when I started I could ask Josh you know what you are and and um UA stands for uh not UA see I still don't know UI and ux ux is user experience UI is user interface very good okay so I didn't know what those two words for this interview very good I didn't know what those two things stood for right when I started but we had we had there's a lot that you didn't a lot a lot you didn't know you're sitting and learning I'm sitting and learning you were sitting and learning in 2017 18 right yeah it's actually for two years I was teaching in the afternoon second seder I was going to M every day which wasn't something that was going to be long term but it was good experience in a this Mish what learning with guys what age were you teaching it was older guys it was guys in Bas Mage post High School post High School guys um and it was a great experience and I I loved it but I knew it wasn't going to be long term um so when this came along I actually I had no idea what it would be right I didn't know what it would be when I took the job I thought I would spend most of my time like preparing shrim or like figuring out content content to go on um but like with everything in life y things evolve and one of the things that I've learned from my parents and grandparents and rabam is you got to follow try to follow and try to see where hasm is guiding you andem I think I so you started in 2018 August 2018 again this is met with Alan Fagan who was sitting in this chair back then Alan and he asked you how large how many users do you think you could get for Al what was your answer I said if we have 10,000 app downloads I think that'll be a success and when we launched in 2020 I think we got 25,000 downloads like a week after the cmass right so we knew and now four years years later four years later after par Mish all were north of 185,000 app downloads now to truth be told not everyone who has the app on their phone uses the app every day no there's probably a number out there of how many apps people have on the phone they they don't use sure probably hundreds the fact that they have them means that they're already it's a good start it's a good start instead of the phone maybe being a distraction for other kinds of things uh in in not healthy ways and there's enough we could talk about which is a great conversation you know that that's that's worthy conversation I'm sure that was a question back in 1819 when you're about to launch this and think about websites and apps and what are we really doing and and back it wasn't wasn't that much earlier than that when there was a big aifa at uh City Field right I mean I don't remember what what year that was that said you know these phone things trouble Torah technology Judaism and technology is something that is a struggle and a challenge in every sector yeah across the Spectrum wherever you are everyone is struggling with technology how to use it how much to use it how much it should not become a distraction to your life right and it's something that has to be considered and and used for a good purpose I heard um there's a rabbi Feldman in in Atlanta and I heard a story that uh first thing in the morning uh you know he he he types in and he types a uh and there are two possibilities you heard the story the two think he published it say the story he published magazine Atlanta Braves all off right and you have a choice right so like but the fact that it's a choice the fact that it's not just the Atlanta Braves the fact that people can pick up their phones right and I have my my reminder uh my thank you hasm reminder no matter what that okay when I pick it up I have an opportunity to do something that's a bad distract or something good the fact that we have something that could be good good and now you have aldaf and and different modalities different kinds of things that are available there and Al mishna which has grown into Al mishna Jr which we could talk about and at different levels Al paraa I I I I was blessed by you to encourage me uh I don't know if you remember the story you you you came to me and you you asked if I would I would do a little Shear I said no like how many times you said no to doing this podcast I said no a few times and it happens to be uh my father was nifter my father was a big lover and so I said wow this is might be an opportunity to do something with some of his Torah some of his thoughts and and now we're we're finishing up three years uh incredible and you probably feel like you've gained I immensely from the NV not only have I learned from the NV but I've been in kuso with my father for three years right and I I I I owe you that just even not just as a user but as as as somebody who's able to share right and now we've launched at least in the beta all right so it's just going and growing and going when you were sitting in 2017 and 18 learning in base manage doing a little teaching could you have imagined uh you know five six years later the the breadth and the depth of the Torah that you that you're sharing with the world no I could not have imagined and I would lie if I say I thank every day for it but when I remember I tried to just take a step back and thank Hashem that I have this opportunity to be able to um facilitate and allow people give them the opportunity to learn the breath and scope of people that are using this literally range from kidish Williamsburg who barely speak English to people that are not Orthodox they're non observant you know you you said you thank you Hashem to for putting you in this position we thank Hashem for that and we thank Hashem for you and one of the one of the things and and it's a theme in in sort of in our conversation so far but it's something that you do not sure if you recognize that you do it but it's a man it's it's a genius management tool and it's a genius relationship tool which is you saw an article from Rabbi Krauss never met Rabbi Krauss before you sent him an email thanking him for the article and talking to him about it you saw somebody came on and signed up for a you reached out to the person you saw somebody was doing something you reached out to them this is something that you do right where did you learn that this was the the right way to engage people that right it's something that we we could all learn you have an opportunity somebody somebody let me go say thank you for writing an article let me go say thank you for giving a donation let me go say thank you for signing up for ad do and it's led to all kinds of great stories and and and further relationships it's a great question I didn't have any formal training for it I would say it's in intuitive but I don't take the credit for it I thank God have wonderful parents and grandparents who are personable people and they always and I would say it's part of my education from arim is is looking and and recognize there are people out there people you could have an influence on and it's it's it's part of my personality but I I grew up with parents who always had people over I talk about my grandparents who were Holocaust was both my father's father especially who I grew up with um had a tremendous influence on me he was someone he was literally a learning and machine a simple balabas um you know was first in diamonds and then you know worked in other on other areas but someone was up every morning learning at 4:30 in the morning he was somebody the the friendliest and warmest person he was in the nursing home feeding people yeah every single morning wow every shabas when he moved down to Florida he started a biger in West Beach so he was someone always always with a good word for people so that's probably where it comes from but again we got to we you got to pay attention you got to pay attention and um that's that's the that's where you go so all of a sudden now right it's not one all and it's not just content right there's Five Alls there's and who knows where it's going each of the alls has grown number of deliverers and number of uh you know programs and different kinds of options and then there's content and then there's fundraising and then there's managing and then there's uh UI and UA and ux and right you know and all these things um so your your job is is is pretty full um you also have a family canara how many children I have eight children canara oldest is I think she's 19 youngest is four um and I'm the oldest of 11 so I grew up with large family and so that that that also when you have downtime if such a thing exists what you what doing my downtime so it's commute the commute from L yeah I don't usually listen to the alls that was a layup I was feeding you know that was you of course you know I love um Jewish history certain Jewish history speakers I like to listen to um Rabbi Dr D cats is always fascinating and and a good laugh um there's Aubrey hir from England who's fascinating elazar BR is somebody who's uh who's fascinating um I I still have a little bit of my know baseball fandom there you know so I may check in check in on the Mets yeah it's the Mets I like to I like to read um and spend time with my family yeah we're going to do some rapid fire questions let go okay um now sometimes they say rapid fire and people people give long answers and you're not you're not going to be held to it what is a musthave dish at your shabis or Y of Y of table for my for my family they have to have their soura which they make and i' I got to bring one for Josh because we've uh I'm ready yeah we got okay so we're on film we owe Josh a a homemade soura good save him 20 bucks in the bakery that week five tobs is a little more than that but okay yeah yeah Alda is learned in how many countries across the world you want options you don't have to give me options no okay so in the world of technology is something called IP addresses and you could have your IP address in Iran or in Iraq maybe there are Jews in Iran learning using olda it's possible but even in places where you probably don't think there are any Jews it's in as many countries as there are in the world that's where olda is is is access we fix this answer then because what we have officially is 54 but that sounds like I don't know where that 54 is way more than but again it's it's a it's like saying how many how many countries access uh Gmail it's literally that in what year did Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes start the OU as a union for Jewish synagogues 1898 1920 1943 so the OU was kind enough at the end of every single one of their correspondents they write the OU was founded in 1898 I got it you got it what's your go-to safer to pick up and learn I'm going to be a straight up plug for this person whose name is ruri Tiger URI tiger sure you could find his story on behind the Bea podcast with Rabbi eam Goldberg talk to him um I did a conversation with him um with RAB elzar brought one minute brief description who this person is grew up non-observant in Tel Aviv um became observant listened to the whole story speaks perfect English because he loved watching TV with all the English subtitles in Israel um has a whole story how he became from got married was learning in K during and came across of called actually honor of's C it says so that was like his uh his primary safer and he started writing questions to and Ki respond and says please keep on writing I like what you're asking me and after a couple years he said I got to go visit this Rabbi you talking about someone who didn't grow up observance and this is 25 years ago so wasn't a household name and he went to and he's like your deer who writes to me says yes from that time on he became R's proof reader wrote If anyone goes to's Farm's Farm are little little letters that are inclusive of yeah everything manuscripts everything and this person became his proof reader he took videos of him talking to real conversations he has hundreds of hours of videos of him talking to he became extremely close to and he started writing for so he wrote a it is a mindblowing written like it's it's it's an incredible safer so right now that is my go to safer and he includes everything he has yes I got to pick it up yes yes okay beautiful this is an opportunity you've done this already with me uh once walking around the halls uh I think on all pars maybe all do you get to ask me question turning the tables what gave you the energy and your passion for learning Torah so I think there's something that has to do with my my family and where where I grew up um you know just my father being a rabbi my mother learned herself so like in my family there there was that and I think over the years just you know having role models and teachers uh who we excited about who elevated who sometimes probed and pushed me Beyond you know what I thought I knew or what I thought capable of and so I really think it's you know again it's the role models in the family and the role models outside the family that that that helped you to to think Beyond who you are and and and think in Torah that's a great answer and I think we both could share even though we pray every single morning we beg and we need to do that yeah to make Torah sweet Torah is not always easy and someone shouldn't think that it's going to be like it's G to be easy but when you work and you do it properly and you find if you need a mentor or someone to talk to there there are times some maybe you can relate to this there are times you feel like I just don't want to go away right it's not always it could be come once a week even right like just this is so sweet and like I just want to keep on having more of this so you know and and what's amazing is that uh at my Advanced age I'm still meeting people who are showing new sides of Torah uh in ways that uh I never really thought possible so for example we've spoken about my rebi rasi zakutinsky went to a Shear of his he gives a weekly Shear on chabas um where he begins in in the gamarra and it sounds like Yeshiva a brisker I went to the gush so I learned a little bit the brisk right and it's it's a gamar and you have the B and you have your sh and you have two you know and you you have and you're going through it and the r and different LS in the r and there's the rash and the and he brings it in and then he says and so from a pemus perspective and this is something I had never heard before and he pulls a thread and he brings that thread back through the entire C and so here I am learning Torah in a brand new way and it's just an amazing thing with Torah that it can be become fresh and new every single time you think and that's and to be inspired to have these people who are who are inspiring role models who thinking in different kinds of ways uh it's just it's just amazing and it's it's a testament to you you keep finding a lot of these people who are who are now popular lot more we could talk about and there's a lot more more do with everything in life but we focus on what's what's you know what's important so along those lines in order to to send us off uh we ask our guests to give us a braa for the for the OU for your colleagues for for your participants and all the alls uh give us a Braha please there one that really encompasses everything just says you know so he says two words which encompasses everything but really we ask hem that he should fulfill everything that we we ourselves don't even know what we need we just know that we need to have the the basics right good health know good family and and we ask hasm please take care of everything that you know that we need and we should have energy and we shouldn't waste our time important oh we we should recognize you know what's important and how I it's always joke around people like you asked before like what are you doing your downtime so some some people say like I do this and do that I say I wish I you know I wish I could do that also but I prioritize how how I waste my time you know it's that's and we should all we should all be able to recognize our and the things that we need and be successful amen and we with that we send it right back at you sometimes we know what our La wants sometimes we don't even know your story is you didn't even know you thought I want to learn maybe I'll do some teaching and now you're doing some teaching right and so even the things that you are you know are in your on your heart should continue to give you strength should give you growing Torah for the amen thank you