These Podcast Clips Had Everyone Talking in 2025

The phone rang. We need you at Harzel. >> He was standing there. 12-year-old kid. God runs this world. There's nothing that I control. We came to the United States as real refugees. >> I got to see the fruit of it. You never know. >> Probably went home and cried a little bit. >> I would have to explain what a podcast was. It was like a footnote at the bottom of an article. >> I show up every morning and I don't know what I'm doing. I vowed [music] I would never gatekeep my knowledge. >> It's like somebody plastering a billboard on every major thoroughare. [music] to get it. None of your business, Oshi. None of your [music] business, Michael. >> It's the None of Your Business Podcast hosted by Michael and Oshi. >> Happy New Year's everybody, and welcome back to an incredible top moments of the None of Your Business Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Greenfield. With me is Oshi Schwarz, and we want to thank you, our subscribers, our listeners. We're looking forward for 2026, but right now, we are looking back at 2025 with all our top moments. Thank you again to the Prime Source production team. If you're a healthcare facility or any other operation looking to cut your cost, check our website out at primesource x.com. First up, we have the incredible Jonathan Pard. What an interview this was in Israel in his office. One of the most raw and controversial conversations we had all year long. What you're about to hear is not theory. It's pain, betrayal, and moral decisions that have no easy answers. Check it out. remember um the night of my wife and I were celebrating um our second wedding anniversary. So I arranged to get rid of the kids had a nice bottle of wine, nice music and the phone rang and I put it on speaker and it was a friend of mine who's a uh military rabbi and he said we need you at um Harzel and I said why? He said we have too many bodies and we need you to help dig the graves. So I said, "Why are you calling me?" And he said, "Because I know you'll keep your mouth shut." [laughter] So I and I was kind of trying to explain to him that, you know, this is a special night for me and my wife. And all of a sudden, I see my wife walk into the bedroom with a thermos of coffee and she says, "Go. They need you more than I do right now." >> So transformed. And I spent the night on on Herzil, Mount Herzel, the military cemetery with a complete cross-section of Israel. There were no arguments. There were no political debates, nothing from guys full of tattoos and metal piercings all the way over to um I was filling the white sandbags. And as the sun came up, uh I looked at one of the uh coffins and uh I knew the guy and um it was very difficult at that moment to kind of balance out my joy of celebrating my wedding anniversary with a wonderful woman with the loss of a wonderful guy with six children and a loving wife. But um I wasn't really angry or depressed at the situation. It's war. But I was depressed and very very angry at the people who led us into this trap because that man should have been alive. He should have been able to go home to his wife and children and he should have lived a wonderful life. uh he was a professional soldier but he he should have had the chance to have a a full life and that was taken from him and that also is part of Israel. It's not that the enemy takes our lives. We're accustomed to that. What we're not accustomed to is having our loved ones offered up as a sacrifice by our presumed betterers in the government in the military. That man should not have died, but he was betrayed and abandoned by the same people that betrayed and abandoned me. On October 7th, uh my security phone rang. It's a Shabbat. I was getting ready to go across the street for u services, Shabbat services, and I have to answer it because it's glowing red. So, and it was uh the telegram um the Nukeba GoPro of what they were doing and my wife looked at it and she said, "You know, this is sick. What is this like FA? I mean, is this a movie?" And I said, "Uh, no, it's real." And she started crying. And at that moment, my life changed. How so? Up until that moment, I had assumed that I was the exception to the rule. My abandonment and betrayal was an outlier. Um, but what I realized on October 7th, watching those videos, those horrible videos, was that the entire country had been abandoned and betrayed. And that's when things began to change for me in terms of my the possibility of me going political or having any association with the political process aka the swamp in uh in Israel. So you go from moments of joy, I'm getting ready to celebrate Shabbat, to absolute fear and anger and um a feeling of nakama, revenge for what happened. I I have refused to wear a yellow hostage pin because the whole movement, the left has taken over. Uh and I warned certain people about that. um they changed from being anti-judicial reform to you know prohostage to get them out to prioritize the uh rescue of the hostages uh to the exclusion of everything else and it was meant specifically to undermine the credibility of our conservative coalition government. So I I didn't wear a hostage pin. And when confronted by I remember one instance uh near Kikar Paris where they used to gather in Jerusalem. They they the they left this this woman came up American Anglo was screaming at me where is my hostage pin? So I looked at her and I just said do you know who I am? And she said yes. I said well did you wear a pin for me? >> And she said no. Why should I? you're a fascist. Okay, that that was and I thanked her for her cander on that. So I wore a pin that said Nakama because the yellow pin reminded me of the yellow star that the in this case the the enemy made us wear. Next up we have the amazing great friend of mine Rabnoi Roberts. And this story starts with a shy 12-year-old boy and ends with a life completely transformed. It reminds us that believing in someone can change everything. Check it out. >> I came um to be involved a little bit with with you know was a kid that was dropping out of high school and and this this father came to me and said, "Do you want to do you want to teach my kid?" I'm like, "No." He's like, "I'll give you 20 an hour." I said, "I'll start tonight." Right? In those days, it was a lot of money and I didn't really know what to do. My father you should be healthy and well is a master and I said to my dad what do I do I'm going to get paid real money I'm not a teacher what do I do and he taught me the greatest lesson there is he says believe in the kid that you're sitting in front of love him encourage him and when a person is valued and they could believe in themselves you don't know what you're capable of I don't know what I'm capable of but it but negative limitations in your head will definitely stop you so I brought this painfully shy kid into my house and my wife's American you know she's baking cookies and like hey how you doing? And he's like, he couldn't even answer. And it took like a few weeks until he opened up and he was looking forward to the cookies. And I'll never forget this day as long as I live. And I think it was the biggest gift Hashem gave me in my early career. This little boy knocked on my door. I thought someone was being murdered outside. There was a thump on my front door. And it was drizzling and raining cuz it was England, right? And he was standing there, 12-year-old kid, maybe he was 11, I don't know. And he was doing this. He was crying and he held up his Gomorrah test and he said, "I got I [laughter] got 100 and this was a kid who never thought he could achieve anything." And I'm telling you that moment I melted with him. It was just like such a beautiful thing to see to see that the I didn't really do anything other than care about him and and at the same time my wife sat me down so she's unhappy. Um my brother was learning in Ken Jiala picked up the phone two days later said to I don't know what do I do I had my whole rabbi I thought you know I might settle here and grow here and go to school here and get a degree here etc. And my wife said, "I can't do this." And two days later, I got a phone call from my brother who was one of the first members of a coil in Jibralta 35 years ago where Jibralta was very traditionally um a [snorts] safadi community, but not necessarily, shall we say, a Tory community. What we know, I mean, they were beautiful people. I have a story about that in just a moment. But they wanted to to to further the Tory growth of Jibralta and they wanted to open some schools and things like that. And there was somebody there, the our current president of the community, who wanted a mentor and a and a tutor for his children. And two days after Dav I I need a change, Jibralta picked up the phone and said, "Do you want to come?" And I remember we flew into Spain and we drove down this coast road. It's called the Costa del Soul, the coast of the sun, gorgeous palm trees. It's like living in Hawaii. It's just nuts. And I remember us being in the car on the way down. And she's she looked over at me and she said, "I don't care how this interview goes. We're moving here." Right. really. >> And I moved there on a 2-year contract >> from Atlanta, Georgia. >> Right. From being 8 months in in Gates Head, right? Wow. >> My wife's like, "Okay, we're going to we're going to move here." And almost three decades later, I'm still there. Um albeit [clears throat] in a a morphing role just at the moment, but it's a special place. And just to give you an indication of what the kind of place is, I know I said a minute ago, it's not a Torah place, but an unfair characterization of it. very deeply spiritual, beautiful people. I remember one of my first I was 22 years old when I when I moved there and I came as a you know a youth director Madri I don't know like rebby a high school rebby you know teaching a bit here and there and you know being [snorts] a mentor to to the teenagers and I walked into shul on Shabas morning there's four very beautiful shs in in Jibralta >> withund >> yeah yeah some not they're not like you would think in American schools you know this one's one and this one's one no they're all the same and they came out and say the exact same. There's just families hundreds of years ago came and a slight different min. So they say this over here like this and you should know for the the four shs there isn't really enough you know peanut butter to spread to keep it evenly. So they they're closed during the week and it's one is open during the week and and everyone goes to that sh and then 3 months down the line we'll all go to that sh and three months down so they do a toranut they do a a rotor. Now that the community has grown, two of the smaller shores doesn't doesn't fit the daily minion or the daily minanims because the community has grown so much by Hashem. So the smaller they all open on Shabas and they all open in Yamov. But one of the small shores that I went to Abuham I walked in on Shabas morning and I saw this near 80year-old man stand up for me and exactly I did a double take. I'm like does he think like secretly I'm you know the god lad I mean there's clearly a mistake here. So I I put it to bed and the next week when he did it again, I'm like I was decidedly uncomfortable. I think it took three or four weeks until I got to know who this man was. His name was M Garson. Um a man who could probably quote most of Tanak who could lane any para of the week without preparing you know um you'd see him in the street. He just whispering to himself he's just saying to him or whatever it may be you know this is a man you know he was impressive by any any stretch of the imagination. And I went to him and I said to him, you know the Torah well, you can learn any para then you'll know I have a to stand for you, right? Not the other way around. It's very awkward. You know, you're standing for me. And he looked at me as if I had insulted him and his family. And he did this with his no, you are the Torah. You came to teach the Torah. I stand for the Torah. >> Wow. And this was like I had I hadn't done anything yet. But if I represented that that's I think encapsulates what Jibralter is. Here we are with the amazing Saki Majeski. Thank you Hashem for Saki. After losing his father, Saki discovered a philosophy that reshaped his entire outlook on life. This is about grief, simplicity, and choosing so what over what if. Check it out. >> I like the way you actually listen to a song and you know right away who composed it, where it's from, who You're like a library of information when it comes to music. >> I think so. So, >> yeah. Again, he's not going to say yes. >> You should own [laughter] it. Just own it. I know. Well, it's not hard. >> Again, if you follow me, then you know if you >> I didn't ask you if you could do algebra or if you could do calculus before. >> Has anyone ever said I Y K YK before out loud or is it just something you write? >> I don't write it, but I've seen people write that. >> For a long time, I didn't know what it meant. Yik >> until somebody like actually explained what it means. I hate those I hate those acronyms cuz I got to sit there for a minute figuring out what the context of the >> started with BRB. That was the first one that changed. >> Not LOL. LOL wasn't first. >> I don't know. Maybe BRB be right back, you know. >> Yeah, but LOL was around for a long time. >> Could be still alive and still still kicking people. >> But now now there's much more LOL's added. Now there's 15 when Yeah. >> Or just capital letters. >> It used to be, you know, really annoyed me that started and people like picked up on it and it became a thing is KK. AK, two K's instead of >> people write you with a small K on purpose. >> Just a small K, >> you know, >> cuz you know that they changed it cuz when you write K, which means you went out of the way >> by design. >> By design. >> You did it by design. >> I saw his face when I said >> sneaky devil. You did this. What's your subliminal message that you're sending me here? It's like you're not so happy with what I said and it was like it was like K type of thing. That's correct. What is that? What's up with that? >> Wow. You know, I know we've been learning a lot on this podcast because what's the 2K's all about? What's What's How did it happen? >> Oh, she remember the original acronym? ASL. >> ASL before BRB. Way before. >> Oh, she's not going to remember this. >> I don't know what ASL is. I don't know what ASL. >> If you had AOL, then you remember location. >> Age what? [laughter] >> Oh, is that what it is? Yay. It's age be location. Is that what you just said? That's great. Uh, as I did not know that. Very cool. >> Yeah. >> Okay. We're aging. We're aging ourselves. But anybody who knows what ASL is on a Jewish chat. >> Another detour. This is a detour day by the way. >> Major detour. >> Um yeah. Anyways, I just and I kept on taking music wherever I went. I got married because you know all that music was always my life. Then my father passed away and during co but not because of co um and you know when you're going through that there's a lot of different things that can that you can go like there's many different ways that you can take it and I like to see the world and because I'm a simple individual in my head I I'm not worldly. I don't know technology. Everyone knows. I'm just like, you know, I'm me. I just go with it. I'm a winged type of guy. I don't plan. My wife does all the planning, all the like everything like I just go with the flow. I'm a real go with the flow type of guy always. And I always see the world in two ways. And to me, it's black and white like that. But it's kind of in terms of people, what if and so what, right? You could be a, oh, what if this doesn't happen? What if this does happen? What if it doesn't go my way? What if? What if? What if? You could live your whole life of a what if? or so what? So what? That's kind of like my motto of a so what. And when I when my father passed away, I was like, okay, I could be mad. I could be angry. >> How old was your father when he passed away? >> 74. >> You were close to your father. >> Yes and no. Yes. I I mean, I got a lot closer to him after he passed away for sure because obviously you're not going to have to, but if you have, >> makes sense. I could understand that. >> You end up realizing how the connection >> you realize what you're missing. Yeah. >> More than No. No. I realize how exactly like him I am in so many ways and in my whole life I was like no I'm not I always thought I was going to be opposite that's not who I am this is not me >> like you know when you're a kid you're you know you you're you know like my brother would say oh you and you and Taty Burke the same you know like >> to say how much I wasn't I would always say no I'm not and I would chase out and chase you know arounded and all of a sudden it's like wow this is amazing my mother is the greatest greatest man I ever knew but that takes a while and >> during Shiva so like the second so I had no Shiva really because we all My mom sat in her house. My brother sat in their house >> because of co >> because of co you couldn't be together. >> We all got together for the for the I feel like we're doing talking about sad things right now, but we'll do it quickly. So we all got we had 10 people at the was in the heart of coy passed away on April 20th 2020. So I was actually at night for 19 2020 heart of co we actually all had our our whoever the rubs were at the time told us that we who was there rais school for me in Brooklyn where my father >> died from TVAS >> his son. Oh, >> he has a has a shoe and a flat brush when my parents live on the 30s 35th Street. >> And he said we had to go home and wash our clothes even that we were wearing >> even though you're not supposed to during the 70s it should ever change >> because of infection >> because of whatever it that's what the height of it was. Wow. >> And we all sat separately and I didn't have really people come over but I didn't even really have >> terrible. >> Yeah, it was it was but it was also good >> because I'm not like the rest of my brothers in many different ways and I'm we ended up making like three or four fabangans in my house at night in the backyard with a fire pit. everyone sat like around and separate and we just sang and I spoke about my dad and we just I'm a big believer in the illumination of bring out the positivity bring out the good you can you could be upset but you know and one night so the or the second night William Bloomson came over the the one who started TH and his brother wasn't there but Mikey Moss who's one of my and these two we grew up together in the 30s so we've been friends since we're four years old and they're like you know they came over and we were for Brinky we were talking like and I said something I don't know what it was I think so much whatever like, "Oh, you're going to be our biggest, you know, thank you guy." I said, "Get out of my house." Like legit, just get out, bro. Legit story. Kicked him out of kicked him out. I'm on the move. Get out. The next night, my friend Mikey came over again and we were talking in my backyard. He goes and he started doing it again. Think he sh" I'm like, "Dude, stop." Like, "What are you doing?" >> Yeah, >> it's just me and you here. >> He goes, "Suck, you want to know the truth?" He goes, "When my mother," I don't know if I don't know if I'm going to say this if he wants me to, so >> we'll ask, but he said, "When my mother passed away, but he lost his mother and his father. His father only died two like two years ago. But so when my mother passed away, he wasn't as he wasn't religious at all. And he he went through all that, but he went through a tufa where he was like, I could be angry at the will and say, why me? Why me? Or I could just be like, okay, I have to figure it out and be happy because that's what my mom would want me to be and that's what I need to to move on. You you can't live a life of sadness because it's just forget about not healthy. You can't do it. >> It doesn't work. >> Yeah. with regret, with anger, with aggression. It ends up leading to you being angry at the world and you're ruining your relationships with your family and your kids and your wife and your partners or your boss or wherever you may go. >> If you live with that on your shoulders, you're you're killing everyone. Not forget about killing yourself. You're killing everyone around you. And I don't mean physically killing, but in the sense of you're just you're >> you're toxic. You're hard to be around. >> You're slapping everyone down with your, you know, with your own issues. But if you can hone in on those issues and realize that everything is from God and this was the biggest awakening for me where I you know saying the words thank you Hashem is much different than saying hashem and I I realized that because my whole life I said barashem barem good barash badm but the words they weren't explained >> so they just they flew off your lips and they probably still do to anyone today. Yeah, >> but the words thank you Hashem were English words. And I know it may sound silly and ridiculous, but when you say them and when I started saying it, I started processing it. Thank you, Hashem. And then I would say for what it was and it meant, oh, I did just say thank you. I didn't just say bless Hashem. I didn't say bar because it didn't bless. >> It's more like you're talking to him directly. >> Oh, and then I started saying thank you Hashem for my kids quietly to myself. I didn't tell anyone thank you Hashem for my wife. Thank you, Hashem. And I started just saying it. And then it started meaning something when I was like first I was just saying it as a joke you know think see and then it just started and it's just like it's like a weight off your shoulders when you realize that everything comes from God then nothing can possibly be bad cuz everything is for the good when you have that moment of clarity of saying God runs this world there's nothing that I control. >> Next up we have the incredible Ellie Kohanim. Some stories don't just inspire, they remind us how fragile freedom really is. In this clip, Ellie takes us from a childhood in Iran through revolution, escape, and survival, sharing what it truly means to rebuild life from nothing. Check it out. >> Normally, I would say like, let's go back to when your life got interesting. Like, don't take me back all the way to the beginning. But with you, I actually do want to go all the way back to the beginning, okay? Okay. >> I want to understand like where you were born, where you grew up, um what your life looked like at that point, a little bit about your family, and then when you made your way out. Let's let's go through the motions. Unfold all of this. Unpack all of this for us. Let's start from the beginning. >> Okay. Oshi. So, I was born in Iran, like we discussed, um to a Jewish family, and Iranian Jews are uh one of the two most ancient Jewish communities in the world. We trace back to the first temple in the Bible. Um when uh Jews are forced out of uh Jerusalem and into the diaspora, they go to Babylonia, ancient Persia. And so um the Jews in Iran were there predating the Islamic conquest. And so we were there for thousands of years, uh approximately 3,000. And uh fast forward to 1979, there's this Islamic revolution. Ayati comes in, grabs power. The king at the time, the sha of Iran is pushed out and the Jews suddenly find ourselves under threat. There were about 100,000 Jews living in Iran at the time under the sha. Um, you asked what life was like for for the Jewish community. Uh, certainly and I would say for a huge segment of Iran, um, there was a flourishing middle class. There was so much prosperity. there was oil and the sha of Iran was modernizing the country and that was part of why the radical Islamists pushed him out because he uh instituted anti-hijab laws. He brought again modernity, prosperity um and western flavor to Iran. So if you see pictures of my mom in Iran in the 60s and 70s, she looks like she could be in New York. She looks like she could be in Paris. Really fashionable latest styles. Um so 1979 Islamic revolution 100,000 Jews and um one of the first things that the regime did was they executed the president of the Iranian uh Jewish community Mr. Habib Banayan and that was when the Jews in Iran understood that we were under threat if they could kill the president of the community >> under what charges? What was their >> I think they called him a Zionist spy >> which is like the you know the typical thing Zionist. >> That's the go-to. >> Yeah, the go-to. Everybody's a Zionist spy. And so if they could execute him, they could execute anyone. And so that was when my my family and uh majority of the Jews of Iran began our escape. We were so blessed and fortunate to come to the US and be given refugee status. And uh so we came to the United States as real refugees in contrast to let's say uh quote unquote um you know the asylum seekers who today are coming in through the southern border. Um, we were actual political refugees understanding that we could be killed for being a religious minority in the country we came from. >> Yeah. And how old were you at that time? >> I was about six and a half. So I started first grade in the US. >> Wow. Do you remember that time period of actually traveling like to the like do you remember that at all? Any memories? >> So I have a child's memory of Iran. I remember our house. I remember I have a memory of um during the revolution there was a lot of chaos in the streets and there were um people just shooting bullets into the air. One bullet landed in my cousin's bedroom. My own father had done business with Israel in the 70s. He had a large construction works company and he had hired Israeli engineers. And so he uh what happened with my family in particular was that he had lent people some money during the revolution tried to uh to collect and the person said to him, "Kohanim, come back again. I'm going to denounce you as a Zionist spy." And so that's why my father decided very early on in the revolution to leave and we got on an airplane and left. After that point, we were on I think one of the last flights. They closed the borders. >> Wow. So just in the nick of time. >> Just in the nick of time. And how many in your family? >> Um, so we're five total. Uh, my parents and three children. So older brother, older sister, and myself. And, um, I just want to share we have a real American dream story. So again, I'm so blessed and fortunate to have been raised in the US. Um, my older sister is the first Iranian-American elected judge in the United States and my older brother's a doctor. So my parents, you know, they hit all the check marks of Jewish parents, a doctor, a lawyer. Did your parents uh up in heaven before they came down and they were grabbing like you know different luck and different things. Did they take it all and leave anything for the next person? >> I I think my parents are amazing people. >> I mean you're all very under accomplished you know [laughter] I mean all three you know you guys went 0 for three there. That's very impressive. >> Thank you. >> I'm curious you left people behind. I'm curious about that. Like when you left like you knew people that didn't make it out and what was that vibe like? Like oh we're coming we're not coming. >> I have to interrupt. Do you see the stark difference between us? You see how empathetic he is? >> He's immediately thinking about all right. So you left people behind and that must have been a your friends, your cousins, your family. >> I'm impressed by the success and I want and the glamour. That's what I want to know about. That's what you'll learn a lot of differences between. >> You're a great balancing act. [laughter] >> Um and Michael, that's a great question. So we did uh so we got here 79 in the early 80s. We did still have family left in Iran. Eventually all of my immediate family, thank God, left. So they either came to the US or majority went to Israel. That has been a great advantage for me in life because I am very outspoken against the Iranian regime. And partially the reason I can do that is that they cannot target my family who's still left behind um for it. A lot of Iranian dissident, journalists, opposition figures, um, are always worried about any family they might have back home who will get targeted. I mean, that's part of what the regime does is they target family members. >> Next up, we have the incredible Yasi Green. This next clip starts with a boat in China and ends with two strangers finding their way back to Yiddish Kite. It's one of the most unexpected Kira stories we've ever had. Check it out. >> And we're back. >> And we're back. one of these trips coming back from China from a city called Juhai which is a place where you go with a boat from Hong Kong because Hong Kong is connects it's contiguous you can drive up the the new territories and straight into China you can drive straight then there is a uh the the the whatever the Yangy River where you have to you have to cross it with a with a ferry got it with a a boat it's like an hour so this and you you land in a city called Duhai which is a very commercial city where they manufacture. This is the beginning of the f by the way. Every time you you went into China and you came out, it was a sh of making a goal every single time you came out of there because they could have forgotten if you if you got lost there. That's it. Nobody would ever know who we're going to call who Ghostbusters. Anyway, [laughter] so so I'm coming back and I'm one of and I'm very very nervous because at that time started the Palestinian crisis was around that time there was and I see this couple that are looking at me. the the boy is wear the man is wearing a a baseball hat and the and the and and the woman is is um also they're very very beautiful looking people very classy looking people but very very middle eastern >> and they're looking at they're talking to each other they're leaning on the on the gun of the boat and they're looking they're looking at over at me the whole time like unabashedly and I'm getting very uncomfortable that this guy this part of the Jew and they figured for jihad's sake let's they want to throw him over into the water the Chinese river was the end of it I literally had the stupid thoughts and this went on and on and I'm waiting and then I don't see any land anywhere and I'm waiting for this Hong Kong to show up already and all of a sudden I noticed from the from the corner of my eye they're they're coming to me they're coming towards me. They come towards me and um they ask me you Jewish and I figured sure this is I put two and two together this you know >> it's over. >> I said yes I'm Jewish. He says well where are you staying? I said, I'm staying in the Hong Kong Hilton and uh why there is there is a there's Shabbat. This was like Thursday. There's a place where you can do Shabbat. I said, there is a kabatan who's Sadi. He's the one that opened up the entire Far East. Today, there is millions of people already. And but he is the cap. He is the general of that all like like Rabbi Lazar opened up Russia. >> Rabbi Ason opened up the Far East. Some people don't remember that anymore because it's so big already. But he is the father. And as a matter of fact, there was a hotel called the Hong Kong Hilton which had room 401 was the room that they had rented. And that was where the first Kabad House of the Far East was. And I met him and he told me, he says, "Yeah." And he says, "Yass see, would you Friday night? I hope we'll see you by minion." Where minion? What? You know. So he told me 401. Okay. So I told these guys, I said, "Look, yeah, really, where are you?" They told me, "They're on the other side of Hong Kong someplace. Is there a place maybe we can get a place where to be for Shabbat or or we can come like that?" I said, "Look, I I'll tell you what, when you come, I'll hook you up with this with this Rabbi Out." And we became very very good friends. This whole Shabbat, we we became, you know, they spoke. They asked me a lot of questions about Yiddish Guide, him and her. I found out they were two single people. They were living together at the time. um they were, you know, they were not they were not connected very much to Yiddish yet and so on. I have nothing to do with with Kiru and today by the way everybody's into Kiru. >> Yeah. >> I don't know. I didn't know what that is. >> I come from a world where you know just okay just stay stay in your lane. I'm I'm very happy here, you know, like that was that I did a whole thing came to me later on in life and and um they they spent chabas they wherever I eat the meals they came they ate by by Rabbi Ason and then M Shabas they said would can we take you out for a walk and I noticed that they're asking me questions about Ashkafa all kinds of questions Msiah and and the reason why I happened to be at that time in the right place because I'd been learning Ram Khal's forum with the Rebi for a bunch of years. It was very new at the time. Aral came out. Uh it was it was translated by by um I forgot his name. He translated their hashm he translated dun. I said we we start today the whole world is busy with it. But then it was beginning and I was very excited to share and they were they loved they apparently they were very cerebral. They were very bright people very educated French. They're Frenchies, by the people. They they lived in Paris and and it got so far that um I was going on Tuesday. That Tuesday they asked me if it's okay if they can if they can drive me to the they can go with me to the airport because they want to spend another two hour. They know I'm going to have two hours of wait. Can they spend another two hours with me? And um I said sure. and and uh they sat with me for two hours again and again non-stop asking me a question about Yiddish kite about my life about about whatus is and every kind she would throw a question from this side he and then he would interrupt and and as throw a question and we're getting closer and closer to the flight and I'm saying the flight is to San Francisco it's a 12 15 hour flight they went they had gone ahead and they had bought themselves tickets they didn't tell me and they got me no no no business class ticket they just got the three front coach class tickets I sat in the The two of them sat on the side and I see they're walking with me to the plane and I'm saying I mean you got to go. No, no, no. It's okay. We're still walking you. That's the kind of people that they are very like very sne very very very all kinds of you know you can say that they're dressed incredibly well very expensively there. That baseball hat was not was not one was it was a Yankees cap designed by you know by one >> clearly affluent. >> They were incredibly affluent. the sneakers. Today, everybody wears sneakers. Those days, he was wearing sneakers, but his sneakers were Montana, which cost whatever. Anyway, I get to the plane and they're coming onto the plane. I said, "What's going, well, we're still going to be here." We asked, they said, "We can go on with you." And and uh and they're sitting down with me and um the plane is going to take off in about a half hour, 45 minutes. And I keep telling them, "Look, you're going to get Yeah. Yeah. Don't worry. A little while. And suddenly, they put on their >> their seat belts. >> Their seat belts. And they're >> strapping in. >> They're strapping in. They're coming. They're here. She takes out a little uh one of these cassette. You know, remember those little cassettes? >> Yes. >> One of these a 12-pack. She opens it up with her with her teeth and and and he brings out this little tape recorder and he's talking to her in French. Give me give me a tape. He's reaching over my back. They kept me going for 12 hours. >> Wow. >> Nonstop. Nonstop. Nonstop. Non-stop. And fast forward they got married and they have 18 other couples who were their best friends who became from because of them. He sits and learns day and night. He is Bal Makob. He is um he's a holy person. He thanks me for his whole life. Fast forward. You want to know what the message is? The message is you never know when you can say a good vert a good v to a to a person and change worlds not now you know hashem showed me that time you know sometimes you do it and you don't get to see the the fruit of it you know but I got to see the fruit of it you never know. Next up we have the OG of Jewish podcasting Yakov Langanger himself. Before podcasting was cool in our world someone had to explain what it even was. And this next moment is about vision. It's about persistence and creating something inspirational before anyone else did. Yakov, there has been a time though where our company was actually like brought into a trial when a patient uh passed away from choking on food. >> Oh my gosh. >> And uh they called us in as expert witnesses because we understand the world of procurement and supply chain and you know what kind of food product was it? What the manufacturer was? Exactly. Yeah. >> And uh you know, so I just I find that whole world fascinating actually. So that's a guest that I would love to have like someone like that to just learn about that. And >> I I have a guest suggestion. I mean, we can do it off here. He's in that world, but he's always looking for things and he's so well spoken. Harry Rothenberg. >> Oh, cool. Yeah, he's great. I mean, at the end of our program, we do ask you to pick somebody. >> Okay. So, maybe it's going to be Well, right now we have Yaka Lango, not Harry Rotheberg. So, we'll we'll put him aside for I want to get to know a little bit more about you. >> Sure. ask and I want to go back again. U so when was that first moment that you decided I'm doing a podcast or was that even the first thing or did you do something else prior to podcast? >> Yeah, sure. So I made a WhatsApp group. It was called I don't remember exactly but it was like let's smoo or something like that with my wife and my friend Benji Win who's a photographer, great guy. Um, and he's like very creative and and I said I I remember saying like I want to interview it was like Uncle Moi and Yakushwaki and like Rob Eton Feiner. I said we see all these people and I would love to just smoo with them like get to know them cuz no, not for like the art school book about their life after 120 or not for like one of these like radio shows where like they're promoting an event coming up like you're here to promote the event. like I actually want to get to know them. And that's where it started. But of course, like I was just busy and like it just didn't, you know, manifest. And then um Nahi Gordon reached out to me like 2 3 months later said he wants to do a podcast for Meaningful Minute and the rest is history. I'm like >> so he was already Nah Gordon was already podcasting. >> He wasn't podcasting yet. No, he he wanted to make something called the meaningful minute podcast and >> Oh, so that was his creation, his idea. >> You want to do meaningful Minute? And then I'm like, well, I I don't want to just interview the Rabonim that are, you know, creating these like short videos. I mentioned the idea and then kind of like fuse the together the idea of like >> awesome great people and also like people that we all know, but like for me, Uncle Mishi, I don't know why I'm like I really want to get to know him. Um, yeah, that's that's where meaningful people. >> So, the both of you decided let's do it together. So, you guys became co-hosts, you guys were partners >> and you started that podcast and it was called Meaningful People, I think, right at the time. And how long did that go for? >> I did that for I don't remember exactly. It was like I think around two years. >> So for two years. >> Around two years. Yeah. >> And who who's getting the guests like who was you know who's doing it? >> Uh I think we both we we were it was like a partnership. We were both doing it >> and you guys were alone. So you were hustling it out. You guys didn't have a lot of resources I imagine. >> No, not so much. >> You were doing a lot of the editing, producing a lot. >> I think the most uh annoying thing about that process was this was in 2020. We actually started in 2019. And in 2020, I whenever I would reach out to someone, I would have to explain what a podcast was. And they're like, >> if they were like more like sheish, they would be like, "It's a share." I'm like, "No, it's not a share." And they're like, they're like, "Is it like Oprah?" Like the other side, they're like, "Is it like Oprah Winfrey?" I'm like, "What? Do no one know what?" Like, I did not realize how few people knew what podcasts were. Yeah. >> Um, some people did, but most people I had to explain what it was >> and they >> It was a challenge. >> It was a I remember with Rav Gav's like a Revy of mine and like >> Where was your studio? It was on Central Avenue. >> So you had a third party place where you both went to and that was not not >> It was No, it was Naki's office. That's where we did it. Oh, it was in his office. It was in his office. Yeah. >> And that went for two years. >> It went for two years. >> How popular did it get at that point? >> It got very it was it was so popular. Um but I think it was also like there was barely any competition. Like there wasn't so many. I remember the the the for me the first Jewish podcast was forgot his name. Rabbi Kuriloski. I forgot his name. Really awesome. He's in the cure world. It's called Jews. I think that's what it's called. Like he was he was doing it for like two years before that even. Um and I listened to some of the episodes. I'm like, "Oh, it was great." Um but aside for him, I mean there were there were I don't remember who was at that point, but but I I always remember for me like the big shift for me was like it was always like okay, it was great and and I was doing that and I was I was working as well. Um and I remember telling my wife like this is like I I I just can't like it's two full-time jobs. like I can't do it. And at that point I'm like I had the idea for Kosher Money and my wife's like you're crazy. And I'm like listen at when I first started this it was so hard but like as time goes on it's a muscle. Like it gets it does get easier. I'm sure you guys could relate to that. Like between episode one >> I hear from people all the time that they see a difference in the later episodes versus the earlier ones because like anything else you got to master a craft. You got to learn it. Repetition always helps. Uh practice makes perfect literally. >> Um and I look back now at our first few episodes and I cringe. Yeah, but but it's good. If you're not cringing, it means you're not improving. Like you're just doing the same exact thing. Like you have to look at your first off and cringe. Like that's And even in two years from now, you watch this one, you should cringe. Like I think it's a good thing. Exactly. >> Um but yeah, so so I just Yeah. I'm like, listen, I've been doing this for long enough and like it was just it was clear that like and I I had an idea for Coach Money and that's an issue and and a podcast for women with I had the idea of Charlene Am enough, but and and my wife's like, "You're crazy." I'm like, "I think I could handle it." And slowly but surely it's it's Yeah. >> So after your two years you parted ways with with he continued to do meaningful people >> and I remember at the time it was so hard for me cuz like for me at at that point I did not have children yet. So for me it was like it was my baby. It was it was so my baby and like had to like like you put in all your effort into something and like to give it up it was it was very difficult. >> You gave it up simply because you wanted to shift and do it something different. It was like it it it it was a great experience, but at the end of the day, like we're two different minds and he's great and like he had his vision, I had my vision, and it w we would always I think you could listen to it. We would always have like just different creative ideas. So, for me, it was it was clear that like it it wasn't we were not going the same direction and it was very hard and and to the credit of a lot of friends and family, they're like, I'm telling you like, yeah, you could start at zero, but like you'll you'll be good. And it was just very hard to like really just also like part of it was like part of my identity. >> One of the biggest things about divorces is the shame that comes along with it is the people around you. You're afraid of what they're going to think. You know, are they going to look at me as a failure because you know and that's probably something that was going through your mind. >> Yeah. I I want to be clear. Anyone goes going through a divorce is way harder. It was so much easier. But but there are there are similarities for sure. >> If you read the Ammy or Mishbah, you know who Schlomi Zans is. And this next moment proves that vision always comes before validation. After years of rejection and crazy ideas that no one believed in, one tiny article changed everything and launched this man's career. Check out the incredible episode. >> So this is you're like 21 22 at the time. >> I was 22. >> 22 at the time. Okay. >> So >> this is like 10 years ago. This is 10 years ago. >> So I bumped [clears throat] into Turks at Simka and I was like, "Hey, aren't you Turks?" He's like, "Yeah." And and he was very nice. He gave me the time of day and I said, you know, I really want to get into this line of work that you're in. Like I want to start writing for magazines. Can you get me in? He's like, yeah, I'll make some introductions for you. And um he made an introduction for me to a couple places. One of them was Ammy. And then they started taking me seriously. So like I would they they weren't asking me to write anything, but it was like they you pitch us an idea and if we like it, we'll we'll we'll greenlight it. So I would pitch them ideas and most of the ideas they said no to. Like you know like I remember one of the ideas was like why don't you give me $600 so I can go to Jordan and I want to go to the caver of Aon Cohen on his yard site and write an article about it. They're like no and then years later that happened. >> Yeah that's a pretty good idea that that's it was a great idea. >> That's not something people would read about you know >> but no one no one I guess at that time no one saw my vision. There's like like it's just like this kid who wants us to pay for his travel. I was like, "No, you don't you don't understand what I'm going to build." But they didn't see it. I saw it. So, I just kept trying. Like every year around the yard sites, I would I would call Mrs. Frankfurt or from Amy's like, "Hey, you know, it's that time of year again. Should we do it?" And she's like, "No, not this time. Maybe we'll think about it." And then in 2017, so I guess it's just about um two and a half years after I got married. It was literally this time of year, it was end of November, the Labavage Kinashim was taking place. And I don't know how, but I convinced someone in Kabad to get me a ticket. And I went to this thing and I noticed that the all the rabbis were walking around with power banks. I was thinking like, can't you just like get off your phone for 3 or 4 hours? Why do you need a power bank? And then I realized that every rabbi is like a rabbi, a therapist, Kadisha, suicide helpline, anything that needs to be done in their community, it's all on their phone. So they absolutely need the power banks. Little epiphany that I had and I I wrote a word like a little piece like maybe 150 words. I sent it to Ammy. I was like how about this? Would you print this little piece? Like actually it's really cute. We love it. And there boom they printed it. And once they printed one piece then they just started coming to me like why don't you do this story? And that story started sending things my way. >> So that was your breakthrough story. >> It was like a it was like a footnote at the bottom of an article that someone else wrote about the Kenneth. >> Wow. and they spelled my name wrong. [laughter] >> Interesting. So that was your first like >> So there were other Sorry. There were other articles that you wrote that were not submitted besides the one that they denied. >> No. Yeah. There were some things that I submitted that that they denied. None of those have ever been printed. Right. >> But there were ideas that they didn't greenlight until after that happened. >> Tell me about other ideas that you because you're not just a writer. You're like a walking uh storyteller. Like you're not just writing a story. You're creating the idea, the concept. You're there. You're vis. It's like, you know, I I guess I, you know, I'm just comparing it to, let's say, my life and I'm walking around, I put on something on status, you know, you think of creative, you put it up there. But you're taking it in, you're you're putting it into a beautiful story. You're taking the thoughts and you're putting it out there. So that happens to you a lot. >> Yeah. >> So what happened after that? How tell me more stories that happened? Like what are the stories? >> So I I remember after that I was >> Tell me when you really impressed them or impressed the world. >> I didn't impress them. I so basically after that one they're like they're starting to take me seriously. So I asked for a meeting and I walk into their boardroom and it's like this big conference table and the publishers there and and all the editors and I say okay so I have this crazy idea. Okay. So here's what I want to do. I want to travel to, let's say, 50 countries and we're going to do a story about a kabad in this country and in that country and every week we'll have like a column about in this place cuz I figured this is a way I could like travel the world and mix it in with Judaism and and it's going to be great. And they're like cool idea. No, it's it's just not going to work. We can't do kabadat every week. You know, we could do kabat some weeks, but there's so many other groups that that would want to be featured and it's just logistically it's going to be very hard. And so that was the end of that, but and I ended up getting a column that was a weekly travel column that I did for a bunch of years. So all these ideas were changed a little bit, different iterations, but they ended up working out in the long run. >> I've seen someone I I don't know if it's on me or someone that does uh traveling where they picked a a city and a town and they highlighted all the things about the town. How is that is that what you guys were doing or is >> it I mean there was there were a few years that I had that. Yeah. >> Yeah. Where is the AMI headquarters? Like who are these people that are making these decisions to greenlight not to like this sounds like a really big business. This sounds like they're running a big corporation. >> Amy is is a big corporation. >> They're a pretty big Jewish media outlet, right? Like they're responsible for a lot of the news that gets put out there and they're a reliable source, right? Like if they post it like you can has credibility. I mean it's a pretty big deal. Is that right? >> I believe so. >> So where are they? Like where's their headquarters? Like where? >> Bar park. >> In Bar Park. >> Yeah. Now, recently they opened another office in Lakewood cuz a lot of it's interesting, but you know, New York is kind of like Brooklyn is losing its uh it's not what it used to be. >> No, no, for sure not. >> It's being taken over by cameras, by banks, by it's not, you know, >> Montani. [laughter] >> Yeah. The Brooklyn stock is certainly declining. It's, you know, it's not what it once was. >> I last week I said, you know, I was talking to somebody and I said, I think within like 5 years Lakewood might overtake Brooklyn. And everyone in the room was like, "That happened a long time ago." >> Yeah, exactly. >> Really? >> Next up, we have the amazing, wonderful Shimmy J. What an energetic episode this was. The next story is the definition of a blessing in disguise. A moment that felt like total failure that turned into the launch pad for an entirely new life. Check it I think the amaz I think the amazing part of the three of us just sitting here is that we all know that in exactly one hour we're getting up and we're going to have a kumz all night >> and celebrating shabasimal my mother my father it's her birthday on her birthday it's that was her name but anyways continue >> so basically pitchbash baby was great I was dating a girl at the time and she said to me you have more potential than sitting behind a desk selling baby strollers maybe you should go meet with Mosha Edelman my brother-in-law um and got an interview, hired me on the spot. Six months doing home care sales. I went for a raise. I was making 40 grand. Went from 36 grand to 40 grand. Then I was a real giver. I got an Avalon. And >> love the Avalon. Paid by the company. >> No. >> Paid by you. That's the cheap Lexus, by the way. >> Yeah. They told me no raise. I said, "What do you mean? I just wanted a couple, you know, extra." I was doing very well. I should have got in a race. They didn't want to give me a raise. And then Abe Krauss and Ellie Frankle hired me at New Extended Care. >> No way. >> Yes. >> Ry and Ellie. from Ellie. That was our first thing and I had no idea how to market a nursing home. No idea. >> Hold on a second. That's where we probably first met. I I did all the purchasing with them >> for when the pens were there. I did it and then when they sold it to them, I took over >> and that's when I got to meet those two amazing people by the way. Love them each. >> Great guys. Wow. >> A funny story and I say this over a lot. I was working there. They gave me even more. I got 80 grand salary and six months in I got the census up 10%. I learned the business on the fly. I had no idea what I was doing, but I Googled what's short-term care, long-term care, what's a what's a referral? Um, and then Abe, and he takes credit till today, he called me up. He said, "Shimmy, are you uh in the hospital?" I said, "I'm on the way to the hospital." He saw me in the pizza shop eating lunch and I was leaving to go to the hospital. He said, "You're fired." And he fired me. And since And then from that, I went on to Miss Park. >> Did I miss something? What's in the hospital? No. No. What happened? >> Rounding. He wanted to know if I was rounding in the hospital. >> Oh, I'm like, "What? Did something happen to you?" Okay. Okay. I was getting lunch but he felt that I wasn't in the hospital lying to him. >> He thought I wasn't being truthful and I was in the I said I'm on the way to the hospital. I was middle eating lunch. I was on the way. Fired me >> till today. He takes credit. He said if I didn't fire you, you'd still be at the Newark extended care making 80 grand a year. >> Ah that's great. >> I've heard you in the past say this story but you've said it better. See now you said you were actually on the way to the hospital in the other ones. >> No he didn't. He said he didn't go. I was getting ready to go. the way I've heard you say in the past, you saying that, you know, look, you know, I actually was it was, you know, I was taking it easy and I was doing it and and he he caught me >> and but but you what you were saying in the the point was that you never know what you think is the worst thing in the world. Can you imagine him after, you know, he was caught in a lie, right? We've all done this, right? Where are you? At different levels of your life, you know, you have a boss and >> by the way, in his mind, it's not a lie. I have friends that tell me this all the time. I'm on the way to the hospital. I'm eating, but I'm on the way. I'm saying me like I've done this myself and I would think I'm lying, you know. But why? Because I have my ownness. You don't pay me by the hour. You pay me to get the job done. I have a full day in. I'm taking my time eating lunch and I don't need you to micromanage me and you're asking me questions. Oh yeah, I'm working. >> Right. And happens to be he caught him and he caught him not. But what he thought probably at that point was like the worst moment of his life. I just went from strollers at 36,000. I worked my way up to 80,000 now and now it's all gone. I pay the Avalon bill, >> right? It's all gone. That was your biggest That really was your biggest blessing. >> It was really rough, but it was the biggest blessing because that Nathan Freud >> took me to >> Tell me what happened. >> Nothing. He fired me. >> What did you do? What did you do? What did you do? But he lied. I get it. What did you do after he fired you? What? How'd you find another job? You started >> I'm telling you. So, uh, Nathan Freys called me up. My uncle Yasi Burnfeld. Uh, >> you're not understanding what I'm asking. You get fired and you're sitting there in the middle of your lunch and you're eating. What did you do? Oh, right after that. >> What? >> How was your life like? You just got fired, bro. >> I probably went home and cried a little bit. Maybe laid on the couch. I don't know. I was It was It was a rough time. >> I'd like to talk about it. Okay. I want to hear the exact detail. >> It happens. It hap people get fired and it happens. And I'm saying the way you recover is everything. So that's what I want to >> One thing I got to say. They gave me six weeks pay. I knew I had six weeks to deal with it. >> Got it. >> So I wasn't But I remember going home and being very sad. Talked to my father about it. Um and right away I went into mode. Let's let's go. What's the next thing? So my uncle, >> so you reached out to Nathan Frey. >> My uncle told me Nathan Frey is looking for a marketer. He went and >> Good for you, by the way. It took you minutes. You cried and then you got back on the horse. That's what I'm saying. That's what I wanted to hear. That's what I was curious. >> We didn't get into a hole. >> That's what I'm saying. >> Yes. But when I got divorced, I was also very very down. >> I don't even know that you were divorced. And I'd love to get into that. So we'll talk about Let's go back. No, we're going to go through the timeline. Continue. Yeah. >> This is after my divorce. >> This is already after your divine. >> After my divorce, we was learning. He was still learning while he was married. >> Okay. I didn't realize. Okay. Continue. Yeah. So you were in Carlo. >> I was in K for four years. I learned from I learned >> How did you skip that? We in Pishbash. Where was this? >> I learned in Long Beach. I learned >> Oh, after Kylo, your first job was a 30,000. I thought you were a bach to working. >> Oh, no. Kylo. >> Next up, we have my friend Judah Gutwine. Sometimes the biggest blessing comes disguised as being pushed out the door. This next clip is about courage, mentorship, and the terrifying leap from salary to ownership. Check it out. >> So, I segueed and I digress, but this is what's important. He says to me, you've developed that acumen. You've done all this digital marketing >> manually. >> Manually on the ground in person, >> on the ground, in person, on the internet, from our facility, whether blogging, whether social media, four major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, all of them have their place. and all of that digital marketing to bring eyeballs to us. Why don't you parlay that into an independent full-blown marketing agency to the healthcare industry? I'll support you in it. >> I'll I'll invest my effort, my time, my training, my brother-in-law. I'll I'll give you the gumption and the impetus to get this off the ground. You'll be you'll be great at it. >> And that's exactly what I did. My brother-in-law, >> he became your partner. He didn't become my partner which m which makes it all the more astounding. More like a mentor makes it more astounding. Kudos to him. He had no vested interest other than looking to help to train and the continued mentorship. >> Unbelievable. Unbelievable. >> Purely for you to become successful. And this is this is a situation where you're leaving him, right? He's sending you out the door, but he's setting you up at the same time. >> Correct. He says, "I can't keep you on salary. I can't pay you more." And by the way, not only can I not pay you more, but it's a shame for you to stay even if I could. You're worth more on your own. And so I'm going to help you make it happen. So he didn't just cut the cord. He supported me on the on the way out. And I built this company with that level of support and confidence cuz let's let's face it, I was always an employee. It's a scary venture. It's the you know the fear of the unknown. As an employee, you're on salary. You get a paycheck at the end of the week or the end of the month or bi-week, bimonthly. A lot to be said for that. >> Sure. >> This is the conundrum. Everybody salary ownership. And then the owners tell the employees, hey, it's very lonely at the top. And when you have trouble with income, revenue, you got to pay. Payroll doesn't stop. And then who takes the hit in tough times? Who's got to tighten the belt? The owner. So there's So I was scared going from a steady salary to uh starting a business. and he helped me and I started Skyare Media. Initially we were doing just digital marketing. So we were doing uh search engine optimization. We were doing social media. We were doing reputation management on some of these major platforms like caring.com and a place form.com, wellness.com. These are all the equivalent of like tripadvisor for hotels. This this would be the equivalent for people looking for a solution for an elderly loved one who needs help. And basically that was what we were doing to make our clients shine. And then subsequently as we evolved and as we morphed we undertook new responsibilities. We got into the graphic design game. We got into the traditional marketing with you know rebrands and flyers and trifolds and bifolds and chachkis because I got into a place where people were coming to me and they were saying you know we want not only the social media but we need somebody to rebrand. And then I'm looking and I'm saying taking a lay of the land. I'm saying if I'm gonna push them away to my competition because I can service this need and I'm not a turnkey operation super. >> You got to have the full ecosystem. >> Got to have the full ecosystem otherwise you're in looks to look elsewhere, right? >> So I started doing all of that stuff as well. But it started from internet marketing >> and and really that's where that it's at. And I always say, you know, if you have a terrible reputation online, it's like somebody plastering a billboard on every major thoroughare saying this place, uh, you'll excuse me, suck and it sits there in perpetuity online till the cows come home. It's incredibly damaging because I was mentioning earlier that this is a datadriven industry. How do you quantify lost revenue when you don't even know you squandered the opportunity? Right? In other words, what what do I mean by that? the people who go online looking for a nursing home and they hit the Google business page and one review after the other. If you want your dad to die, literally, we're not talking about a burger joint, a nail salon, >> healthc care is vicious. It's brutal when the reviews are nasty because it's not just like, oh, the burger was cold or they chipped my nail. It's like, "Oh, I wound up finding dad in septic shock." Yeah. On a weekend where you had like agency, you know, temps, you know, people on that that were there perdeium who don't give a hoot. >> And my dad died, you know, maybe it's exaggerated. Maybe it's even fabricated. Who knows? But in the court of public opinion, >> it's incredibly damaging. Those people don't bother calling the admissions director. They just say a pox on this place. I'm not placing dad there. So again, it's lost revenue. you don't even know you squandered. So that's why it's so important making sure that the you know the the nursing home has a great reputation online because if they don't it's like they're pouring water into a cup. All the traditional marketing all the leaison's going out and they're doing a job fair and now they go to a church and they grease the skids. They're giving gift baskets and whatnot. But it's like the the cup that they're pouring into has this gaping hole on the bottom. the hole is the internet presence that's lackluster or terrible and they're wondering how come we're not filling our beds. Yeah. What's the matter with census? >> And they don't realize because they really don't look good online. Next we have the amazing amazing Anger. Every artist has that moment when they stop working for exposure and start respecting their own value. In this clip, we discover the hustle, the humility, and knowing when it's time to raise the bar. Check it out. >> I released a nice video. Yeah, it was Zaltz's band. >> Very cool stuff. >> Yeah, he's good. Shal money. Good sound. Very good sound. So, so I gave my grandfather said he says, "Keep it." And then I bought myself a stramo. So, what was I going to say? >> $1,000 Shriml. I'm just Maybe I got two. That's how much Shrimals cost. Very expensive. Like a wig. >> Yes. More than a wig. >> More. They can pay eight. They can be up to $15,000. >> Now, wigs can go also crazier, by the way. But yeah, but that's >> No, but the average dry mill is like $3 $4,000 just like >> what's it made of? I'm sorry. I really don't know what fur It's made out of fur. No, but >> what kind of fur? >> You guys know. >> Okay. For six grand. I'm curious. It looks like you know. >> Yeah. Like what? >> Like if I'm buying Bitcoin, I want to know what I'm getting. >> Yeah. Always get two always. >> Yeah. We have a straight >> always. This is going on forever. I don't know. They always go. >> But the regram can cost 2500. It's not so expensive. But for $6,000, two stramas is not over. It's like a decent amount. >> I don't think I bought the strama. I think I had a guy, you know. >> Who's saying get your wedding? >> His name is Sally Gold. >> Great question. >> Is he still Is he still around this guy? >> Yeah, he's aided singer. >> How did he make it to your wedding? >> Oh, that's a because it came to my wedding. I had a problem. Who am I going to take? >> I was I was uh like I don't know how prominent I was, but everybody knew who Anger is. >> The locals knew who you were. >> Yeah. The business knew. The locals knew. and and whoever I was going to take, I was going to be hurting somebody. >> So, Sally Gold was a very good option for me because he was a veteran >> and he was good at it. He was a good friend of mine. He just fit and I booked him and I had a lot of singers come over. I had a lot of say that the only Z I have to remember Benny Freriedman. But he was the official guy. I know he is going to start Shuma and when he he's going to even every wedding needs to have one guy that is carrying the wedding and has a responsibility. >> He's the primary singer. Yes. I I I can't tell a guy, "Yeah, I have five singers there and nobody's taking charge. Everybody's waiting for the other to do it." >> Exactly. >> So, you have to have one guy. Anyway, so I want to go back. So, you're asking about prices. So, by that wedding, I went for free. I got 250. Then, I started going for for the kuna. They paid me $300 and I would make my money by overtime. After 11:00, it would be another $100. So, that's where I would feel I made my money. So, because all the weddings would go past 11, so it would be $400. And then the different takuno host was 450 depending. And my grandfather, he was a partner and he told me, his philosophy was don't sit at home. >> Take jobs. >> Take jobs. You get an offer for $200. Go sing. >> Don't worry about how much money it is first. Get users, get followers, start building your brand. Smart guy, your grandfather. >> Yeah. Yeah. You like it? >> Yeah. Sounds Is he still alive? >> No, he passed away a few years ago. Um, >> he got to see you in your prime, right? He got to really enjoy the successes that you were enjoying. He got to see it be he must have felt very proud. >> He must have been super proud cuz he was a part of your journey from the beginning >> and he believed in me and all the other cousins some one was a chef, one was a drummer and nobody felt like Zaja didn't give me any startup money. Why? Why was he better? So yeah, he definitely gave me >> So he created some politics also. >> Good old talk to Z. Talk to Z. I didn't do anything. probably also picked up on your talent ultimately >> and yeah, this is a big part. He wanted to be he saw the talent and also my father wasn't alive. My father was his oldest and it was a kind of a way, >> you know, he took me in and he he he raised me kind of >> interesting. But at the point when he said like whatever take it was already maybe a year or two that I I I I I felt I put in a lot of work in these takunas and I felt I told him zi450 this is the bottom I can't do a wedding I can't do I'm not going out of my house less than 450 and and that's what I said no but you said you love my ze but I think that my way you by the way is the better way standard yes it happens to everyone by the way happens to everyone so and So we have, by the way, the old adage, if you're good at something, never do it for free, >> right? Never do it for free. That it's it's your right. This is your talent. Don't just give it away. You have a minimum. You want me to get out of bed. You want me [laughter] to work for you? This is what I charge. >> I'm curious. Was Was it at that point that you knew it's going to be A CAREER OR >> OH, I want to say h E L. No. But a big no. Wow. H L continue. >> I I did like four years where I was just spine blit I was spitting blood you were you were sweating that ass >> really really I did I didn't have these fancy bands I had I had the the the the cheapest musicians >> all of them are great good people >> how were you getting income besides this then you >> I didn't need income I was a ber I was a I didn't do it for the income I did it for the fun I I love to do it and I just I started >> he was hustling he was not get it at that age of course makes sense >> yeah so I I had no idea that it's >> instead of washing cars for $100 he's singing and getting So 450 your gig other than that. >> Yeah. So I started 450 then it got to 4 550 750 and then it got to 11 and then when I went from 11 to 14 that's when a big change happened. I had my my my then producer my musical producer Napal Schnistler. He came into my life and and he told me to up the price and he's he he he was a big producer. So just being in his avid in his space atmosphere yeah >> gave me courage gave me confidence just just made me feel good and he started telling me oh that's when I changed my name I was named and I it wasn't then it was maybe a little bit earlier that I made it oh when I made a business cards maybe I wrote I wroy but I felt doubbish very I didn't like it even I didn't like I thought if only my name was Mah Schnitzler It's like a name everybody. It's good. It's a singer or Lipa Schmelzery is like so foreign. It's like maybe that's what I looked at it. >> All these things sound the same to me. >> But I hear what you're saying. Okay. >> Um so I changed my name. I also changed my hat. I used to wear aen hit. You know the different hats the sat wear. Anyway, it's all thing. >> You know about hit? >> No. Guys, >> next up we have the amazing wonderful Phene. Every once in a while, we hear a story that quietly changes how we see the world. This next moment is about breaking expectations, overcoming fear, and discovering a love for learning where no one thought it was possible. Check it out. >> Do you like study uh do you learn? >> Because I'm hearing now throughout this podcast a few times you're dropping some of these pearls of wisdom from like I think you mentioned the Kazones or something earlier. No, you mentioned somebody was a name or whatever and then uh Mahamelik and then and this and Gumar and Do you learn like in your spare time? >> I do. >> What do you learn like >> Well, we did a CM on Zara this morning. >> You learned the whole of Gumar? >> Your kid by with who? >> Part of a Shir. >> What? >> I'm part of a learning group. >> There's a collection of women that are sitting together learning Gumar. How dare you? >> I [laughter] know, right? >> No, no. This is just news. I did not know that this uh exist. Women learn >> garamara. >> Well, yeah. Gamarra is I guess a little bit different than what we're used to in our world. >> Michael threequarters being don't learn Gamarra. Yeah. >> Okay. And uh >> I don't think learn anything more than >> Who gives this year? Who who's who's uh >> um I learn with a women's group called Hadran and the Rabanit who teaches it. Her name is Raban. Michelle Farber. >> You learn Rashi and Typhus and everything. >> Is I mean it's Dafomi, so it's faster, you know. But we do learn Rashi and little Tus. Yeah. >> Every day. Yep. >> How long is this going on for? >> Um, I started 18 months ago. >> You're kidding me. >> No, I started with Bakama and uh I'm about in two weeks I'll be finishing. >> But what what are you getting out of this? What are you searching for? Like what is the enjoyment? >> I can't believe I'm speaking this this might be the part that has to be edited out. I'm not sure. We can continue this conversation, but I don't really talk about this in >> I don't care if we keep it in or not. For me personally, this is fascinating thing though. It's not uh how how does this translate into relevant things for you? like how is this helping you in your in your a man has a mitzvah to learn so he learns garra it's part of it you know and and there are some educational things you could take away don't get me wrong but like avo I don't know like what are you like what what life lesson did you get that oh I'm going to incorporate this this is great or I'm a better person >> you said she's trying to learn a life lesson from >> why else would she be learning >> well let's first answer that question >> you find it stimulating >> I I just love it I I don't even know how to answer that I wish I had a more uh I wish I had a better Well, what drove you to it? Why did you decide one day I would like to learn Gamarra? >> I think I had this itch for a long time. I was very intimidated by it. I had some learning difficulties growing up, specifically with reading Hebrew. Um, reading anything I can read very well from left to right. I didn't know it at the time that the issue that my brain was having was reading from right to left. Um, and people thought I was faking it because I'm so smart and I never had a problem reading, but Hebrew just was so frustrating to me. It took me really until one of my children was struggling again 30 years later to realize that there's new research out there and apparently it's a thing that nobody knew about when I was a kid. I could not wait to leave high school and be like I never want to open a kamish again. It's not my subject. I really flunked out of all Hebrew subjects. Um >> and then you discovered why. >> Yeah. Yeah. I still have I I I can't believe I'm saying this out loud. I'm feeling a little nauseous even talking about this cuz I'm so >> This is my hypnotic uh that I'm doing me now. I'm very private about um this piece cuz I still I haven't figured it out and it's like scary for me to talk about it also because I love it so much and I don't know why because I feel like an idiot. I show up every morning and I don't know what I'm doing. It's 18 months and I still feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water >> but I I I love >> So it's a challenge. You like the challenge. Can I ask was that your first exposure to learning uh since high school or was there something else prior to that? >> So till 2016 I don't think I read a single educational book. I read novels only novels. In 2016 something switched. I don't know what it was. I picked up a book by accident. >> Fell in love with it. Wanted to know more. >> Do you remember what it was? >> Yep. It was called The Language of Emotions by Carla McLaren. Um she really had a great way of breaking down every single emotion, what it's there for, the movement in the body. Kind of tied into what I said about Mel Gibson and the different breaths, right? tied in over there. To this day, that book is very foundational in this one of the courses that I teach, Vessel, which is on self-development. The third module in Vessel is called the language of emotions, which is the name of her book. It's built on that. I mean, there's more hashkafa put in because Torah also has different words for every emotion. Like, there's like 17 words for anger because there's many different kinds of anger. Right. >> Right. And if you know the different breakdown of which angers and and when they're used and what uh how they move through the body, you understand that not all anger is the same. Some is healthy. There's an appropriate time to use the different kinds of anger, right? They have a different breath pattern. So these things were fascinating to me. Um but I didn't like learn. In fact, in 2012, my daughter was rejected from every like nursery school in Brooklyn because it's really hard to get your kids. >> Jesus. It starts right at nursery. >> It does. where they start like being selective about which kids are taking or not. >> My god. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, um I was very I was very disillusioned with with Judaism. Not as a religion, but as in why am I here? Like this is not this is not like what? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I was I was not I was not a fan. Not a fan. And I was very un I was so unhappy. It was a very difficult time in my life. I was also pregnant with my third. And he was a miracle baby because after cancer I knew that every baby was going to be a gift. But after our second, we were told we would never have more kids. And so this third child was was an actual miracle. Like the doctors didn't know we like we we could never get like we couldn't get pregnant. Oh, we had a fourth child after that after 10 years. >> Wow. Good for you guys. >> Another miracle child. But I remember being pregnant with this miracle child when my daughter wasn't getting accepted into school and thinking why am I doing this? >> Yeah. >> Like what is like what is this? I fought for this life. I fought for these kids and then they can't even go to Jewish schools. I was very disillusioned. >> It's one of the darker things in our >> culture is when it comes to schools. And um and by the way, I want to go back a minute to the thing about the Gumaras. I don't want you to think >> No, I'm coming. I'm coming. >> No, but I want to I want to clarify something. I'm a Michael knows this and I've said it on this podcast so I have proof. I am a big advocate for women doing anything a man can do and I want my daughters to to know that their path is open for anything. I don't care what it is. So, I'm all for it. I just find it so interesting that out of all the things you want to do that a man does, this is what you chose to follow. That's all that's all I was pointing. Yeah. I was like a little surprised. I didn't I hope I didn't come across. Let's say this together. Let's say together. >> We listen and we don't judge. >> We listen and we don't judge. Okay. Next up, we have the incredible Abby Woolen. This next story that she shared is for every parent who ever felt like they were drowning while still trying to smile. Abby was running a growing business, raising kids, and barely sleeping while watching her marriage become passing ships in the night. Instead of pretending everything was fine, she did something radical. She opened the books, shared the failures, and invited the world to watch as she fixed it together with their help. What followed didn't just change her business, it created a movement. Check it out. I have a child at home. I'm trying to build this business. My husband and I were actually passing ships in the night because I would get the kids off to school. I would then go to work. I would come home by three. I would then, right, because all my kids were coming home. Then I would get them all the dinner. I would get them everything they needed. I would do homework with them. My husband would walk in at 7:00. I would go back to the studio, work there till 2:00. >> Wow. >> And then come back home. And he was getting up at like what 5 to go to cuz he was he's in construction. So he was up and out like very early in the morning. And he would do bus. And so like we were just passing ships in the night. my son was having these issues and my stores couldn't get enough of it. And so at some point I just said like enough like enough enough. Um because I wasn't I wasn't also making enough money. Like I was working so hard and I wasn't the profits weren't as good as what it should be. Right? if you're working that many hours and you're working that hard. And so I decided to do something called the 30-day challenge. And I was like, I'm going to figure out what's wrong with my business. And I'm going to take you guys along the ride. I had a followers and I had in at that time Facebook had mitig mitigated to or migrated to Instagram. So I'm on Instagram. I have about I don't know 4,000 5,000 followers at the time. That was a lot. Like this was like a really early new it was like 2015 2016. And I'll never forget, I ended up getting online and talking about it openly about business. This was before, you have to remember this, there was no education on YouTube. Nobody was talking about entrepreneurship on YouTube. And every person that I would go to in the women who were in business, if I asked them business questions, they were like, "Figure it out on your own. I figured it out. You'll figure it out." Like, nobody would give me like, "Well, how do you look at like what are COGS? What are, you know, how do I figure out how to price something? Did I even price it right?" Like, nobody would help me. Um, my husband finally found somebody with inner our shul who would sit down and he was a man and he actually gave me a ton of support and a ton of help and I vowed that I would never do that to another woman that if that if I would never gatekeep my knowledge. Um, and so that's when I I just started talking about it like here's what I'm doing. Here's what my pricing was. This is why I'm failing. This is why I need to fix and I'm going to do it. And all of a sudden, I went from 4,000 followers to 10,000 followers within like a month or two. And people were just hollishing for the knowledge. They just wanted to like it was like almost like opening up the floodgates. And from there, I started to do a business challenge with other women. And I started teaching them and I had workshops and I had classes and I started to pivot into this education piece. And at the same time, I grew my profits on my not too shabby business by 20%. So, it was amazing. and I wasn't working there all day and I was able to be home with my son and it was like I was able to like focus on him and it just like the whole thing just opened up. I was like wow like I really understand this and I need to get this back. And at the same time that that was happening, uh, the Jewish women entrepreneur, JWE, I don't know if you've ever heard of them. That's an organization for non- for women, um, she came to me and she asked me, Kaya, um, Kaya Pal Fishman, she said to me, would you consider helping us run the new the conference in 2019? And I said, uh, yeah, absolutely. Before that, I was I was an educator. I was a teacher for 14 years prior to growing my own company. And I ran that conference. We had 500 women there and like I was obsessed with it. I I just it was it was amazing. We had all these women. I remember saying there's two things that I really want women to get. Number one is I want to open up the floodgates of China. Nobody understands how to buy in China, how to sell in China, how to how to get product from China. And we had somebody who literally told them everything from beginning to end. It was like amazing. And the other thing that I really wanted was uh a Shopify representative because Shopify was so new back then but like it was the biggest e-commerce site and we had an actual Shopify representative come to conference and give a class and people were just the women were just I don't know I don't know how to explain it. They were like sponges like just taking in the knowledge and then from there I helped the JWE find help I helped them grow get funding. I walked out and I built my own agency because uh what I heard from women mostly was well if I had more eyeballs on my product or service I would make more money and we we all know that that's not necessarily true because that's only one marketing is only one tool in jewelbox but I figured maybe that was my way of getting more like helping more people and so I built a marketing agency because once I first because I wanted to help more women grow their businesses and second of all once I did the conference people just started like coming to me. So like neural covid hit by the way co hit in 2020. So that was right after the conference. Uh ka 247 came to me and said hey we need to raise $1.5 million. Will you help us? Well really they needed to raise 1 million but we raised 1.5. Um we actually did supermarket sweep at Evergreen. We did like a huge celebrity like I don't know if you ever watched Supermarket Sweep in like the 90s. It was like my favorite TV show. When you were sick you would watch it. It was on TLC. It was a great show. But basically, you have like these guys and women, they're like running down a supermarket with their like shopping cart trying to put things in. So, we did that with um 24/7, raised 1.5 million. Then, Ton Shabas of Rockland County came to me and they asked me if I would, you know, help them, you know, do a campaign. I did that for them and then slowly but surely it's just like snowballed into like a a a fairly large marketing agency and we work with some very big clients like American Dream, the Alter Hotel, uh Yahad, which is under the OU. So, >> I got I got to be honest. I'm overwhelmed. >> You need to slow down, Abby. Wow. >> You're giving it to us all on one leg, you know. >> That's great. It's great. >> It's fantastic. >> I'm thinking like, okay, now's the time when Oshi says slow down. >> Michael, it was in the tip of my tongue, but I was [laughter] and one way I wanted to be respectful and I also like I you're on you're on a roll. >> You're on fire. >> You're on fire right now. I didn't want to stop you, but a part of me is thinking like I got to remember that so I can come back. I gota remember that. I got you. I heard like three or four different big things. >> No, no, this is great. It's great, which is uh >> which is amazing. And you're a powerhouse. >> You really are. Uh congratulations. >> And uh I'm like inspired by this. I'm motivated by what you're doing. I just want to go back to the office right now and go back to work. I'm like, what am I doing over here cigarette? Look what she's accomplished. I got a lot of catching up to do. But we got to dial this back. We got to start somewhat from the beginning. We always say, what does the beginning mean? I don't want to hear when you were an infant. We we want to go back to when things somewhat got interesting for you, you know, when uh you started getting some notoriety in your life, you know. Let's let's take me back to the earliest thing you can remember. Who are you? Next up, we have my friend Judah Gutwine. Sometimes the biggest blessing comes disguised as being pushed out the door. This next clip is about courage, mentorship, and the terrifying leap from salary to ownership. Check it out. >> So, I segueed and I digress, but this is what's important. And he says to me, you've developed that acumen. You've done all this digital marketing >> manually. >> Manually on the ground in person. >> On the ground, in person on the internet from our facility, whether blogging, whether social media for major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, all of them have their place. And all of that digital marketing to bring eyeballs to us. Why don't you parlay that into an independent full-blown marketing agency to the healthcare industry? I'll support you in it. I'll I'll invest my effort, my time, my training. My brother-in-law, I'll I'll give you the gumption and the impetus to get this off the ground. You'll be you'll be great at it. >> And that's exactly what I did. I brother-in-law, so he became your partner. >> He didn't become my partner, which ma which makes it all the more astounding. More like a mentor. Wow. >> Makes it more astounding. Kudos to him. He had no vested interest other than looking to help to train and the continued mentorship. Wow. What a guy. Unbelievable. >> Unbelievable. >> Purely for you to become successful. And this is this is a situation where you're leaving him, right? He's sending you out the door, but he's setting you up at the same time. >> Correct. He says, "I can't keep you more on salary. I can't pay you more. >> And by the way, not only can I not pay you more, but it's a shame for you to stay even if I could. You're worth more on your own. and so I'm gonna help you make it happen. So he didn't just cut the cord, he supported me on the on the way out and I built this company with that level of support and confidence cuz let's let's face it, I was always an employee. It's a scary venture. It's the you know the fear of the unknown. As an employee, you're on salary. You get a paycheck at the end of the week or the end of the month or by week by monthly. A lot to be said for that. Sure. >> This is the conundrum. Everybody's salary ownership. And then the owners tell the employees, hey, it's very lonely at the top. And when you have trouble with income, revenue, you got to pay. Payroll doesn't stop. And then who takes the hit in tough times? Who's got to tighten the belt? The owner. So there's So I was scared going from a steady salary to uh starting a business. And he helped me. And I started Skyare Media. Initially, we were doing just digital marketing. So we were doing uh search engine optimization, we were doing social media, we were doing reputation management on some of these major platforms like caring.com and a place formom.com, wellness.com. These are all the equivalent of like Trip Advisor for hotels. This this would be the equivalent for people looking for a solution for an elderly loved one who needs help. >> And basically that was what we were doing to make our clients shine. And then subsequently as we evolved and as we morphed we undertook new responsibilities. We got into the graphic design game. We got into the traditional marketing with you know rebrands and flyers and trifolds and bfolds and chachki because I got into a place where people were coming to me and they were saying you know we want not only the social media but we need somebody to rebrand. And then I'm looking and I'm saying taking a lay of the land. I'm saying if I'm going to push them away to my competition because I can't service this need and I'm not a turnkey operation super. >> You got to have the full ecosystem. >> Got to have the full ecosystem otherwise you're to look to look elsewhere, right? >> So I started doing all of that stuff as well. But it started from internet marketing and and really that's where it it's at. And I always say, you know, if you have a terrible reputation online, it's like somebody plastering a billboard on every major thoroughare saying this place uh you'll excuse me suck and it sits there in perpetuity online till the cows come home. It's incredibly damaging because I was mentioning earlier that this is a data driven industry. How do you quantify lost revenue when you don't even know you squandered the opportunity? Right? In other words, what what do I mean by that? The people who go online looking for a nursing home and they hit the Google business page and one review after the other. If you want your dad to die, literally, we're not talking about a burger joint, a nail salon. >> Healthc care is vicious. It's brutal when the reviews are nasty because it's not just like, "Oh, the burger was cold or they chipped my nail." It's like, oh, I wound up finding dad in septic shock on a weekend where you had like agency, you know, temps, you know, people on that that were there perdeium who don't give a hoot. >> And my dad died, you know, maybe it's exaggerated. Maybe it's even fabricated. Who knows? But in the court of public opinion, it's incredibly damaging. Those people don't bother calling the admissions director. They just say a pox on this place. I'm not placing dad there. So again, it's lost revenue. you don't even know you squandered. So that's why it's so important making sure that the you know the the nursing home has a great reputation online because if they don't it's like they're pouring water into a cup. All the traditional marketing all the leaison's going out and they're doing a job fair and now they go to a church and they grease the skids. They're giving gift baskets and whatnot. But it's like the the cup that they're pouring into has this gaping hole on the bottom. the hole is the internet presence that's lackluster or terrible and they're wondering how come we're not filling our beds. Yeah. What's the matter with census >> and they don't realize because they really don't look good online. >> Yoshi, sorry, but the people wanted more Stefan so I had to give it to them at least at the very end of 2025. From everyone at the None of Your Business podcast, thank you for watching. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for commenting. and we look forward to bringing you more amazing content in 2026. That's a wrap.