Tisha B'Av Live Show 2024 - A Little Bit of Light

welcome to the show everybody it's an honor to be back with you again unfortunately it's another year here on Tish but we're pastos Shalom says Kos is the moment of the of the shell Falling Away of the previous year and the life force the the life force of the next year beginning this is the beginning of the year starting right now and it's an honor to spend it with you together you know as we end it Tish I'm sure you've been watching lots of films hopefully project Inspire film which was amazing but I'm sure you watched a lot and heard a lot and saw a lot and I think here on the show for the next two hours we'll see if we can get under underneath maybe a theme or two that could tie it all together and I want to share with you what I've been thinking about and I think we're going to talk a little bit about today and what the show really is about you know I don't know you ever had that feeling before where you go to like either a Sho or a school or a company and you see people on the w they look so impressive and you wonder how that person became the president how that person founded the Yeshiva and how that person held up the community and then you get to know them and they tell you even though we know they're great they say to about of themselves they'll say I was I was a regular guy but we needed a show we needed a school I needed to step up and help the community but I never thought of myself as being this great person who was the it was at greatness as my friend aviel always quotes says greatness has been thrust upon us and you if you look at the world today and you go back a few Generations you see people that came in off the Holocaust wherever they were from and greatness was thrust upon them and they set up clly throl and when you talk to them they don't feel different than you but they are because when they were given the opportunity to step up into something bigger they did it's hard not to see this year as a year in which the world turned upside down and we're seeing and we will see people who were quote unquote regular people but greatness was thrust upon them and they became more and I think the question we have to ask ourselves is every one of us has that potential every one of us has the potential to do something great for Hashem for the Jewish people for the future of Torah and yides kite for for our nation and the question is will we Step Up will we realize that the time is now we don't need any more Global shakeups for us to look around and say it's now and maybe two generations ago there was was really nobody and you she someone stepped up and now there seems like there's a lot of people doing a lot of things but there's a lot of need the question that we have to ask ourselves maybe as Tish starts to come to an end is is all the inspiration that I got just entertainment or will it actually lead to some action will I change as a result that's what we're going to talk about today so let's begin right away with uh introducing my co-host Jessie Freeman is here executive director of project Inspire um y it's great to have you back on the show and be together again with you good to be back even though as you mentioned it is another tis above it's been many years now yeah um trying to figure out exactly how many years um but I think that I think your point is exactly right I think that this year has taught us first of all a lot of things um and a lot of these these lessons have sort of gone through my mind throughout Tish and I've seen a lot of the sort of the stuff that's out there and there's a lot of stuff we'll get to we'll get to that soon yeah but one of them is that you know I think this year everyone went into Tish with this sense of the feeling of I'm living in America or I'm living in ER Israel and like life is good and like our enemies is and we have the American government and we have the IDF and and who's going to touch us and we have money and in one minute we realize that like we're we're in hashem's hands and I think that not only we so so to speak the mainstream from Community has recognized that but it's gone way beyond that people have recognized it like you know and and in sort of sense I think ETL gold our film you points that he says we don't need a reminder of what it's like for our walls to be breached and our enemy to come in like we know exactly what that means now you know yeah I think you're absolutely I think it's funny I remember October 7th or yeah October 7th when we got the news of what took place in R st I remember us being like relax like it's what it's not that bad like whatever you whatever the rumors were it can't be that bad that's not how it works like it's it was a total breach in what we expected to be normal and like you said it was a an almost perfect sign that as much as we think we're in control we're really not right you know and and I think one of the things that I took from that you know being I I do live in Israel and I was in y at the time and of course you know everyone I think half of America was in y at the time you know was it was you stayed afterwards yeah right did say right and and you know there's this feeling of like okay this made you know tragedy just took place and like you mentioned it's like no it's not going to be that bad it was much worse than anything anybody could and that was sort of coming out slowly and you want to yourself like what can I do yeah um and you know that if you don't do something then you know all this inspiration to do something is going to fade right and I remember my wife said to me like you know at the very least you know we can go be Mel people yeah who who lost loved ones in uh you know in in October 7th and the you know uh in the festival and they were still finding bodies and and stuff and and so we got ourselves on this WhatsApp group and sure enough you know a day or two later this this message comes across that there's a woman she doesn't have anybody and she's sitting shiva and the and and my wife is like we're going so we go we go to woman this sort of puts puts in perspective like where we so we don't know who this woman is it's in a SHO and we we sit down there's this woman sitting you know on this low chair we sit down and starts to come out you know slowly like you start to understand what's going on this woman was an old elderly saric woman her she didn't have children she was married she didn't have children for 23 years she finally was blessed with twins twin boys her husband as we were sitting in that room had passed away 6 weeks earlier and both her twins were were killed in the Nova Festival they were both at the at the festival and they were both they were both killed on October 7th we're sitting in this room and you sort of don't know you know where to put yourself yeah don't know where to put yourself and the as we're sitting there there's a fromet that comes in and the woman calls calls him close and says Rabbi she says to him I'm not angry at God he gave them to me in one day and he took them away from me in one day one day wow and you sit there Wonder to yourself like am I going to be the one who's going to be M her yeah this woman is like a bubble of you know but I felt that was important for for for me is that constantly asking myself what more can you do what are you doing and I think that's the question we are all asking ourselves throughout the year and I think just you just I think what you by by saying I'm going to do something put you into a certain way I think that's the dynamic that I think we need to really discuss here which is you could have sat back and said I'm waiting for the thing that I really want to do right that's not it that's not it you know what that that's not so me you're like you're gonna go be like how uncomfortable could that possibly have been to go to some strangers nikum and you what was great about the story is that because it wasn't like you're not getting honored a dinner for it but it was real and it's a Mitzvah right and you were doing something now puts you on a path to doing more doing more doing more doing more and look at I know people who whether was taking on them you know certain daving or certain learning or certain I me you know my son-in-law would told me that Ina they had signs you know like learn B A you know whether it's a a soldier whatever it is like everyone but I think the point was do something and do something now yeah you know and that that's really we're going to disgusting and you know like I mentioned there's uh you know was a lot going around today inspiration wise obviously uh uh my friend invited me if I want you know he has he rented a big screen for uh you know for Tish you know because who has to go anywhere you know to you know super exactly you know but um but the truth is that when it came time to the project Inspire film this year uh we we put a lot of thought into the fact that we don't want it to be a tear J video of like this is going to be like oh it's a real sad but it has to have like you mentioned sort of an action point of like I can do something I want to do something and of course as as with project Inspire films it always features a from people who have gotten involved with less Affiliated Jews and have really changed uh you know the course of their lives um and so this year H you know we were searching for the stories that would have all these elements together and of course we did the uh we did one of the stories that we did was a story this fellow Omar Omar was 21 years old he was U he was at the Nova festival and he was kid he was taken hostage at the at the NOA Festival but he has a friend who was taken hostage with him who's then released right and the friend tells us how om this boy who a secular boy from a family in in herzelia is keeping shabas in captivity I want to play that clip we discuss it afterward this Omar shemtov [Music] as for [Music] foree fore for so here you have here you have this 21 year old boy in captivity keeping shabas who was who never kept shabas before he never kept shabas before his the reason he knew kiddish and there was a lot of question he did it as a kid it's a great film I I couldn't believe when I watched it it was really cool the mother who had heard kidish for the first time in her life when she was 15 years old and said this is what's going to happen in my house you know the whole thing is but the truth of the matter is that the inspiration that came from this boy and his friends and and the family of of keeping shabas really was uh and and of course the the people who have gotten involved in her life and this and the fact that she's keeping shabas now and the whole you know is really uh is a blowe story but I think that you know to your point is you know again I invite everybody at project inspire.com to watch the um the film a little bit of light but in there you know can't watch can't show the whole film on this on this program but you know this woman over here like takes on to and I'm going to show a clip about this afterward because I want to ask the audience to really take this on as well but you know takes on to reach out to this woman and connect to her and becomes s Kusa and become her you know her kid she like adopts her children and this woman said to herself like this is a time where I can step up she's a regular right again one of these regular people who were given an opportunity to really step up and did so and and that that really changed the course of their lives you know interesting I find that here's a kid here's a kid who was obviously had something inside him he always made kidish as a little kid he had this thing he had this potential and unfortunately he is where he is right now he's in captivity and what the guy said I thought was so interesting he said that um the I'm sorry the mom said that the closest thing they had to like real was was that kidish but they didn't have it in the house like mean they had it but right and it's so interesting how when you step closer to Hashem a Mitzvah a but like you when you step into the world of Hashem you all of a sudden feel like you're taking care of you got a guy sitting in captivity and he's got a bottle of grape juice and he right away goes hasham I got it and here's a kid who didn't grow up in a certain background but he instinctively knew do something and what he got back was a billion times more than he did yeah it's an amazing thing how we're so scared to act we're so worried that acting will take away from our life and hash's like you your like the ACT you do the step you take you get back so much more look at what this guy this one kid did for him for his friend for his mom for the whole world and and he's getting from it right it's an amazing thing it's amazing and again this is all like you know there's so much the world has changed post October 7th in fact I remember sitting with who said to me you don't realize Israel before and after like there's a change and then you don't realize there as much and the further away you get you realize like the world is not the same but it's also the openness the openness that people who didn't connect before and the people who were hesitant to connect to other people and step up you know and this this really takes us to this you know to our next guest which is you know this is entire the entire post October 7th world like you mentioned has taught us that like people have stepped up in roles that they never never thought they'd be able to do I mean here you know we we're you know just as an example of that and there's so many examples I everybody sitting at home has examples probably all of you watching at home are examples of it but we have we have um on we have on with us today um Y bersan yry bersan is a fellow who he's a father of seven lives in lives in Israel talk safe yeah for Telecom my communications and basically and we're going to speak to now decided to so to speak drop his business for the sake of you know of getting involved and I believe he's live with us now there he is how are you good morning but how are you wonderful to see you Charlie again how you doing nice to see you again and where what what time is it by you about 1:20 God bless God bless thank you for joining us thank you for joining us we appreciate you being on with us than you for having me tell us a little bit about this transition what you saw you're running a company you got clients you got growth you got stuff you're busy and all of a sudden something happens and now you start to dedicate more of your time to cherol give us a little bit of that what what took place in your mind and the decision that you made well I think to a certain extent um I think you mentioned in your in your hak I think I think Nike uh Nike saying is always best just do it literally just do it um October 7th uh T doing and here Ines I was blessed to have my father here my parents made Ali to Israel 1969 the sirens went off we went into the thing we was unfortunately we're a little used to it then suddenly we started seeing um like you know all of the boys getting into cars and running like you know getting on their my day bet their tah uniforms going like you know traveling away my son also uh he wasn't called up that day but he got a phone call to get ready and um I volunteered MAV also and mavid told us like you know guys like you know we're all on call like you know we've gone on to DEFCON 5 whatever you guys call it in the states and um and then the this the horror stories onar started coming in in M Shabbat when I went to uh uh one of my maada calls one of the team told us like you know there was a woman actually she was a doctor that had um chest pains and the Intensive Care Unit came in after we got there we're like getting ready to to bust her to the to the hospital and she says to her listen I don't know where you want to go because I can't take you to Kar because they've got tra like you know 300 coming out to like it's crazy and that's when the first time I actually actually heard what's happening and then I started getting phone calls from friends that got called in friends my age I'm 49 years old I'm an alaka already they didn't want to take me back that was a big problem um and then one of my friends actually works for my brother is a one of these staff sergeants and he was um he was a staff sergeant from uh the paratroopers uh reservists kativa he was a prate he was one of the brigades and and um and he said to me like you know uh we were called up already on K we already in Aza we were inar AA we fought they're taking us around we have nothing we have nothing on us we have zil like you know we literally came with with the shirt on our backs and I said okay what do you need give me like you know give me a list I'll take care of you guys and just to give you understand it a the Brigade is about 500m and 500 soldiers and he said to me well uh like you know that we were there for three days in Aza they took us out now to uh to practice for three days because they're preparing us to go back in we need underwear we need a million of different things he puts together a list he sends out a Google doc the entire uh the entire Brigade asking them what they need and he says to me like you know he sends me the list he says I need 500 tiot tias like you know the dryfit camouflage green tias like everybody all over the world was making and I said I said Rome 500 like you know you I know you have a lot of from people in the thing but why 500 he says I asked a Google doc it was an optin not opt out question you had to opt in everybody wanted wow there's no question that I need 500 together with my uh my brothers ymz we put together a an amazing project a fund raised the money and we were able to we got 500 packets out to them by the way most of them were in memory of uh of ysf Galia from bees I don't know if you know about ysep Galia a friend's son my my friend son my my son's friend also my son Schmo and him were the same exact age he was killed on the first day in karaza um and they got 500 packets including 500 tiot and everything else that they needed to the point down to the level of like you know that they should be able we got them nail clippers so they' be able to clip their nails for Shabbat wow and this this this to you this equipment went with them literally for the 180 days that they were in reserve duty wow wow wow you me so this is you sort of you know transitioned into being uh you know the supplier or a supplier of of you know to to a brigade this size but you also then had to you had your life going on including your business including everything else going on what led you to make a decision that this was somehow more important at this time like you know you have to step in and do something what you got to do I'm very lucky bar I have a a very a partner that's very close to me he's also besides which is our first partner second partner is my older brother yon and Yona stepped in and he ran the business day in and day out while I was able to come literally I think since the war started if I put on I probably accumulated the probably a month work of work of being a business owner a month work is more than the 180 hours everybody else works right but uh we're talking about like you know he was running the business day to day most of the stuff here and there when he needed me for questions or for for any consults I was able to give it to him but everything else I was literally like you know doing projects I was doing projects with uh boots for Israel with Yakir wock Donnie Donnie fine and MIT for opportunity d roseen the manen fund and like you know thank god with so many so many projects that we able to get so much equipment to the that the needed and still need just just yesterday I was able to give two vests fully loaded vests for twoim that are older Kim which are in the front lines in T and in Gaza at the moment which don't have the protective gear that they needed can I can I ask you know take us if you can into the moment in which there's a disconnect con between what you've done and what you need to do there's a there's a a fear that takes place in the mind of people that are asked to step up and that what takes place is hey I've never done this before but it has to get done and that's where most people stop they look into their brains and go ah not me so how did you overcome that Chasm how did you say what did you use to go to the moment where you said I've never supplied at this level before I am me but I must do this and then what did you draw on to find the strength to do it that's very good question but I think the answer is very simple when you're doing something that's not for you it's the sh sh and you do what you're supposed to like you know you have your skill set and you know this needs to get done like you know you said like I I I think I heard you said it a couple times God tells you I got this don't worry about it you do what you got to do I'm going to make sure you succeed and that's the point you have to come and like you know just understand it's not about you it's about the other person you're coming to help you're coming to do you're coming to help people through bad times and Good Times whatever it may be and that need things and families that need things you're coming to give hem is going to come do everything for you you just need to take that one step beautiful like you knowm opens up the world for you you just need to you just need to start you need to jump in jump in Hashem will do the rest for you it really is true it's I I I have to tell you on a personal level like you know I'm still doing this I love it again resources are dwindling we all understand that the the need is still there the real need I vet every need that's requested it's not stop somebody saying oh I just need this like you know cuz it's nice to have we don't do that stuff we only do the stuff that's good to have and must have but I know that Hashem like you know what he's he's able he's facil allowed me to facilitate I can't even explain it's mind bogging I sat down once with a friend of mine that audited me to a certain extent he said I wanted you to understand because I keep on saying I'm not doing enough and he sits down he sat down with a pen of paper and he said I just want you to understand what you've done so far now I I disagree with you it's not greatness that was thrown onto me it's an opportunity to help that was thrown onto meti and I'm very proud I'm very proud that hem chose me to try to be that to be that conduit to be that that that uh that pipe the pipeline to come and give and I love giving it's a beautiful thing I like doing I do love giving but it's he was able to facilitate me to do that which was amazing beautiful you hear me it's it's one it's 1:00 in the morning your time so you'll excuse me just for asking because there's a lot of people that are watching that saying to themselves listen could very well be a guy like YY bersan is in the cell phone business students this that tourists whatnot you know it it could be had the luxury of being freed up a little bit from the the lack of the rush in order to be able to do this but you know like I don't necessarily have that opportunity you know what was what's life like you know what what's the opportunity that was presented to you well I actually want to I want to do a on opportunity is always there you have to give what you could give you have to step out of your comfort zone yes you do you have to come go over to introduce yourself to somebody say good morning to the bus driver say good morning to the the to the janitor in your school smile be be truly involved be caring but the answer is like again I was able to because thank God I do have a partner my business was being run even if it wasn't unfortunately I probably would have been doing this anyway and again I understand because hashem's is the one that runs the show not me I have to when if there something needs to get done and I'm the person there I will I will be the one doing it hopefully I'd like to think every time I'm able to but I have to step out one has to step out of the comfort zone it's not easy but that's where a certain extent that's where like you know uh no pain no gain the little little pain that you do in order to step out your comfort zone you would not believe that little smile in the morning to your bus driver to your to your janitor to see how how you doing you would not believe that you stepped out of your comfort zone you said good chabas the that you don't really know you have no idea how much that will change what ripple effect what Butterfly Effect that's going to have on other people and that that is the smallest thing in the world might be out of your comfort zone but it's a small thing in the world to come and Inspire other people to do things well you hear me I want to thank you very much I know it's late at night thank you for joining us and thank you for the work that you've done I know you and so many others who have heated that call that you know that uh that that opportunity came your way and you grabbed it and took it and so continue doing your amazing work and stay safe out there thank you very much and B hopefully I mean you guys could make it back B for the Corban the morning we're ready we're ready yeah thank you this is you know child this is really the you know there's been so many examples of people that you know sort of sto what they're doing or changed directions or you know jumped in when opportunity ities and and again this is both on the we're find this both on the spiritual level the opportunity of being able to uh of of Jews being more open and therefore I can slide in and do something or the physical aspect of like you know this is supplies that were needed and mobilizing and doing all these crazy things we found it bothi and yeah it's it's there's a theme that's presenting itself for those that are listening and are with us today which is when opportunity comes your way you'll see this you saw it a minute ago you'll see it again it presents itself as something that is beyond what you've done before because there needs to be a gap you got to earn it you got to earn it you don't earn you don't just roll into making a difference you have to earn it and the earning is when you recognize the gap between what needs to happen and what you've done and usually it's I haven't done that and that's when some people go well then I shouldn't and then very few say well then I should and I think what I took from that conversation was here's an individual whose head life was heading in a direction and then saw a need and went out and recognized that even though I don't know how to do this there's some talent that I have inside me I'm a natural Giver I I and so he just jumped over that that that space and I think that's the that's the lesson of life I think the ability to jump over that space of discomfort for Hashem and he said it lishma it's not for you it's not For Your Glory it's for Hashem that little thing is is is what separates those that make a difference and those that don't right you know part of part of the the way the world changed and the opportunities that come up is because of course you know one of the things is like oh the Great America will come to you know but we we've met students and and situations here even in America that have you know anti-Semitism is on the rise we all know this and we feel it in different ways and certainly you know um kids on campus is a feeling this is you know all these protests going on but for This Ti of project witness project witness put out a film entitled uh red white and Jew yeah and that was produced by G Orman a big Productions and it's a story of anti-Semitism in America post October 7th which you know is on the rise we have a small clip to show you from that uh from that video we are the most resilient people in the history of human civilization the only challenge is is that every generation has to learn resiliency on its own we don't absorb it genetically I go around speaking about the Holocaust all the time more than I want to because I'm a witness and I got to talk about it and no one in packed Halls that come to hear my story nobody in that room is ever under 50 so that the shame of being a Jew and the absence the absence of any kind of substantive Jewish Education the notion that there is something of value in being connected to This Magnificent people and to the world that it inhabits is is substantially lost in the American Experience so how do you get these Jews that you're talking about that have lost their their connection to their identity it's like we're saying we have to start from zero but we're already dealing with like a situation that's magnified times 100 you know we want to say start bringing Jews back but already so far in this fight in this challenge in this in this environment that's become I can tell you I can tell you what I did on campus I convinced them that I was open and I convinced them that education and thinking about things was worthwhile challenge ing challenging challenging uh the existing values that's what college is supposed to do it's supposed to make you ask the big questions and particularly not to provide answers interesting and I I think what we're seeing here is maybe an understanding of some of the challenges on college campuses you know over the course of the year had the opportunity to take a whole bunch of those kids to Washington um it's scary out there I think if you're not on a campus or send your kids to a campus you don't really get it um and I think that the film just begins to touch on this idea of the clip I'm sure the film does it beautifully because they always do project witness is an incredible organization um and they have incredible films um but I think it's important for us to understand and what we don't want to do is really delve into this because it's too uncomfortable for us like I don't think anybody wants to say within 2 miles of my home are kids screaming Jihad which they are or go back to Europe or you know from The River To The Sea which is sort of like the most benign of them which just means wipe out Israel like that's like at least we don't want to even begin to understand of a rise of anti-Semitism in our comfortable place called America right it's going to be too hard like we're not ready right it also it also makes it scarier for people to step up in this because stepping up means that you need to know what the real issues are you know and that was that was part of the the stepping up post October 7th is that you have to recognize like how severe the need is there people I remember people asking me like really the Army needs this or really people you don't realize until the need you know till the need hits you to realize like you know what the role do to step up into I'll tell you what else is what I think is underlying this too is that I think that a lot of diaspora Jews myself included have been raised in a world of like keep your head down you know like don't agitate the neighbors right like you ask a you ask a regular yeah ex I love that you ask a regular American kid what is a kid Hashem he's like well when you give the slurpie to the to the UPS guy like if you're nice to the Gentile if you're nice to then that's a that's a kid like I'm trying to explain this also is when another family is making noise cre exactly you're if you're if you if you're in a public place and a fir family does something that's even it's within their right but the the non-jewish family is looking like really eight kids like and it comes from a world of like we're like head down so I'll tell you like a great story so there's there's a a friend of mine um who works in an office he's like you got to hear the story after this was um you remember when unfortunately the SCH and Pittsburgh got shot sure so after that week his non-jewish friend walked in with a yamaka and he's like you just convert he's like no he's like you're wearing a yamaka so he says to him like this he says I heard I read that Jews now are scared to show their Judaism because of what took place in Pittsburgh because they're now were he's like you guys are scared he goes don't you believe that you're God created the world like you're scared of you and of anybody like he created the world like you have the right to put on so like you know what I felt like I do something for you people I don't know what to do I'm not even Jewish he goes you know what I did I bought a yamaka so at least one guy walks around going like don't mess with me so you know what he did he put the yamaka on when he left his apartment just so that when he took the public transportation he had a yamaka on his head and then he took it off at the office he CU he wanted to like like be in solidarity with Jews traveling as if like it's open and like the guy's telling him something like that's the stals that we got to walk around with you know like I'm a yid right my father cre the world like you tell me I can't walk down sh Thea like and I think as a Jew in a diaspora Jews at least some of them not are not raised this way we're raised very Israelis have a lot more of this sure Americans are much more like let's keep to ourselves don't hatch at anybody like let's just be here and then when that starts coming in when we start hearing anti-Semitism coming close we don't want to hear it and this is like you said this is the moment to step up but everyone has to know what they have to do right it's interesting because our next guests are actually uh you know big deal that teenagers are waiting up middle of the night in Israel but there are two there are two young fellas who after the after the October 7th Massacre who basically both stepped up in their own ways and we're going to hear from them um we have two 15 year-olds AKA fine and K midore from RA chish are with us both set separately they do their own things we're going to find out from them uh we're going to find out from them hold on we have to yeah you guys got a um we're GNA find out for them exactly what they do want to welcome you in middle of the night both AKA and Kim welcome thank you thank you okay honor to be here okay good AKA let's start with you you're you're 15 if I'm if I if I have that right yeah right so it's it's post October 7th I'm sure you were in beish at the time hearing rockets and you know the world gets turned upside down like Charlie mentioned before and you're you're a 15-year-old kid which in Israel is like you know uh like uh what do they called midlife crisis at 15 you know no but but in all seriousness you decided that you had to do something you stepped up what was it that you felt you had to do and why so after October 7th I've always had the like urge to do something in in scenarios so after October 7th I felt empty I felt like I had to do something as a lot of people did so then I started to just go to bases and bless soldiers and then my father was uh with his Mitzvah opportunity he was doing a lot to uh to raise money and then I was helping him with that and bringing a lot of equipment to soldiers and that continued for three to four months and then at some point it just kind of died down a bit and again I had that empty feeling so I've always been active on social media so I started to do Israeli activism and just started to do what I could do on social media and fight the social media War right what let me ask you what what was it that you saw that said like you know I can I can do something about this like I have the ability to do something and what was what were you seeing on social media that was bothering you that felt that you felt you had to actually fight this so the main thing that bothered me was the lies and the false education that was the main thing so I try to just to fight the lies and I also put in some Jewish Education and just history of the Jewish people and everything and I just combined it all and it just it popped in my head like I didn't know any history before before this I knew nothing but then after I just had the urge to teach myself and then to teach others right I mean Charlie always says that when you you know if Al wouldn't have the map to show where Paris is nobody nobody Jewish would know where Paris let let alone history so so you started this you started a a way to get this message out to other teenagers and people your age as well so I I don't decide directly who my audience is but I do know that there are multiple teenagers who follow me and multiple teenagers who are inspired and educated by me and it it really makes me feel good and really motivates me to continue to do it did you ever feel like you couldn't did it ever cross your mind that this was beyond you yes very much so for example when I'm recording a video I always just like it takes me a few tries to get a clip or when I'm learning I'm like like because again there's so much false information it's like do I know that this is true so then I deep more and more like I go to the root of the history and I really just try to get everything and when I'm recording a video I always mess up like the failure always gets me but I don't let it stop me it gets me but I don't let it stop me so I always just continue and do what I do wow awesome let's go to you for you also were in Israel I'm assuming October 7th felt that you had to get involved what what is it that you you took onim so on October 7th like many other Israelis were locked inside our safe room the mad and I'm 15 I can't go down I can't fight I don't have a gun um my father also he was he's an American he made aah so he doesn't have a gun there and he was in the Army so we can't go fight um we kind of felt useless in a way we we looked outside we saw our neighbors which three years older than me two years older than me um and for us it's like we just can't do anything and we see them going we don't know if they're going to come back they don't we don't know when they're going to come back and it just a very hard time so around the 9th of October we got an ambulet and he brought stuff he brought like different food items that we got down to the closed military zone down south um it started off with like I got friends and neighbors and all the family and everyone um like you saw the whole Community coming in doing it and we all sat down we made hot dogs hamburgers all day for a few for like two weeks we started getting requests at some point for Band-Aids and like small stuff and then it roll to deodorant and boxer and one thing that's another now we're giving out thousands of different tactical uniforms boots T um tactical stuff gloves um hygiene stuff and we're just trying to help out as much as we can wow and you're you're involved with this really on an ongoing basis yes so it started off like I was I we sometimes and then at some point it just became more and more that we couldn't keep up I needed to do this like phot time there's days where I have 15 soldiers in my house from morning till night I my times are 700 a.m. to like 2: has times you have times you have time SL time who's who organizes your calendar I'm his manager I'm his manager how does it feel at 15 years old you mean listen 15y old kids are supposed to have fun and play ball and so now it feels like you're an adult and and you're you've sort of skipped a couple of steps so you know sort to share with us a little bit like what is that like what is it like to have a certain level of adult responsibility as as as a kid I'll answer that I'll go both you so it's like a lot of people tell me like like are are you too young they they ask me and I'm like how how am I meant to answer that but for the most part A lot of people are supporting me and I support myself I know that what I'm doing is important and I feel like I'm very much capable of doing it I do feel like I'm matured a lot uh a lot more than the normal 15-year-old but I'm happy that I did because I can accomplish a lot before I draft to the Army in a few years amazing well I I want to go I want to you I want you to answer as well so for me it's just yes it's complicated to do this also social wise emotional Wise It's very draining as I said before I'm busy with this all day at night like I don't go to sleep I have 20 30 40 50 soldiers I need to answer um between that the logistics are very complicated um so it is very hard it's also I'm young so people look at me like I'm like young and with time like I met different people I met a lot a lot of higher up people and at the end of the day I'm a kid and I get to enjoy my kid life but then it's important to realize that in Israel we it's different than some than whatever I see from America that we're we're forced at the end of the day not a lot of people sit inside a locked room not a lot of kids sit inside a locked room not knowing if tomorrow would be alive wow I one more it's amazing amazing you guys are able to step up into this in your own each in your own right I have one more question for you you just to both of you answer that there are many 15year olds or even 18 19 year olds that are watching this that are wondering to themselves like I might not get a situation exactly like this but there are opportunities that come up in my in my life meaning as a teenager like that come my life where I have the opportunity to either step up or say nah this is just not for me what's your message to the people that are watching this who might get an opportunity to do something big in their lives and are scared to take that jump just do it literally just back to Nike because like Nike exactly just do it because at some point you're going to see the impact that you made like I see the impact that others are making and that's one of the things that are driving me to make the impact that I want to make myself so every teenager should know that they should just do it because they don't know the impact that they could make but once they reach it they're going to not regret that they did it right so at the end of the day everyone especially like you see in our nation that we're all like one group right especially now you could really see it how like we have different people we have people from completely not religious to the most yeshivish the most everything and it's amazing to see how all like be together and how like we have different people we have people from um and we get to we see each other and at the end of the day whenever someone really believes in something right in the beginning we thought this maybe going to be a few hot dogs here a few hamburgers there we didn't realize what it's going to be now at the end of the day if you want something and if it's important enough you could do it right we thought that again we didn't think this is going to go anywhere it's been nine months and we're working day and night to continue doing our part of this because it's something we believe in and of course like if anyone else by the way that's watching this could and they come to Israel they could contact us to come to an army base and we do lunches and dinners and to get people involved so they can meet everyone right amazing amazing you guys are amazing thank you for staying up we appreciate thank you thank you keep it up thank you amazing thank you so much great this is just you know as we speaking examples of guys that you know no age teenagers that are no what no age whatever it is at any point someone has an opportunity to to to do they should do you know it reminds me laav in a very different way but it reminds me of stories that I heard about my grandparents other grandparents during that time of the of the Holocaust where 12-year-olds taking care of four-year-olds like 15year olds we have an incredible amount of potential and we just use things like age and this and that as as excuses but they're just excuses you know you know their their world is obviously turned upside down you know each in their own right but we've been discussing that since October 7th which seems to be the topic of uh of today and the time um many people become far more open to their own yite and to identifying you've had students on campuses that are sort of have to start making the choice of like wait am I or am I not or they're calling me a Jew I don't feel like one what does that mean exactly what do they know that I don't know exact right and uh and again I just invite everybody to part of the the project inpire film was exactly that is that you have families that all of a sudden are waking up to the fact that like like their world and what they believed in on so many levels has crashed and like what am I missing you know from life and the connection why do they hate me so much why does the world hate me so much basically picking up a mirror and looking deeper into themselves to find you know what is it that's that that I should be doing better so that you know that they hate me for so I invite if everyone if you're still watching you didn't get to watch um the project Inspire film a little bit of light on Pro inspire.com I know that some people are having technical difficulties um on uh logging into the show it's streaming live at yiva World on on their homepage as well you could click there as well as project inspire.com the link will take will take you there as well working on technical difficulties there was just brought to my attention um that being said uh our next guest was recently at a project Inspire men's Retreat an overnight Retreat that we had uh he's joining us now this Harry Rothenberg Harry came on the project inspired overnight trip and you told quite an amazing story and it would be crazy with the topic of the day and the time being what it is to not to hear it directly from you so Harry thank you for joining us thanks for the opportunity the invite and great to see you both um Charlie hope to see you on an upcoming trip hope'll be able to make it open the to the Holy Land um and to everybody out there if you ever get invited to a project inspired trip just say yes and if you're not invited just just invite yourself because in addition to the mentees the people who were trying to bring closer uh or Further Along on their Jewish Journey we need constant mentors and every bit of it the the classes the food the activities I learned a new sport I'm playing pickle ball now with my sons um they're fantastic trips they really are oh nice picture thank yeah so so Harry tell us a story that you ran into which really was goes to our theme which is not only that the world has become a different world post October 7th but the fact that people have used opportunities to step up and connect with people in a different way since then sure so my wife and I have very close friends a couple uh they used to live in Bic where we live they uh have since moved to Israel they spend most of their time there so when they moved there my wife's friends needed a new manicurist because it wasn't practical to have her manicurist fly from New Jersey uh to Israel every time you know a lot of flights have been canceled and it would be cost of so she had to find a new manicurist so she finds a new manicurist um secular very nice woman and my wife's friend is very outgoing and they kind of hit it off and she invites her over like hey you know stop by my house like socialize and you just being friendly and the woman says yes and stops by and so while she's over her house she sort of teases out of her the manicurist current um status in life her story in life she had been married uh wealthy fellow lot of money coming in highflying lifestyle three kids a younger daughter and then a son and another daughter who are teenagers and you know ask anybody with teenagers not the easiest thing to raise them and bitter bitter divorce somehow he's not paying any alimony um she had to go back to work as a manicurist trying to make ends meet very very difficult and so my wife's friend says to her listen you know you want you want blessing in your life okay I have an idea for you shabas she says listen I'm not a Dusty I'm not D I'm not I'm not firm like you you know thank you very much and my wife's friend PR say she says no I I I really think you should try it out when you try it out Friday night sit with your your your children and you know I I'll teach you the blessings you make on the candles you can buy a Hala or two and I'll I'll get you a game you can play with them I think they'll like it so she buys her a game and then the next time she comes in for a manicure she says so did did you try it she says no she say why not she well I I I you know listen I I told you I don't really one Shabbat and also I left the game in my car I didn't think you'd want me to go get to my into my car on on chabas Shabbat so she says okay try it next time so it comes in for the next maner did you try it she says yes she say how was it she says it actually was really nice she yeah she said yeah we we sat down and and we had the meal and then we played the game together and like we we haven't had time like that like practically ever it was really really nice so my wife friend says great here's what I'm GNA do I'm GNA get you a bunch of games you'll have one for each you know week of Shabbat you know keep it up and so she keeps it up and so over time she's keeping Shabbat Friday nights and my wife's friend is not shy and see the opportunity and so she says to her during one later manicure why don't you try the next day you know Shabbat really goes the next day it's the whole day until sundown money try the next day listen I'm no Dusty you know I don't need it I'm doing Friday night it's F it's going well Friday night right yes so why don't you try it on Shabbat for during the day I'll get you more games she gets her more games and she tries it so over time eventually this woman with her kids is basically keeping shabai and it's going very nicely does she know all the laws of Shabbat do we all know all the laws of Shabbat to the best of her ability and knowledge she's keeping Shabbat and one day she goes into for manicure my wife friend and the manicurist says to her I have to tell you a story she says yeah she says you know I told you I met a guy and she says yes and I told you it was getting serious yes she say well a couple days ago he said to me we have to talk and I was worried by the way he said it and we sat down to talk and he said to me listen you know I know we're getting more serious and I just need to tell you something I don't think we can continue dating and she said what are you talking about and he said well you need to know this I can never marry somebody who's not sh Shabbat Shar Shabbat she says what are you talking about I keep Shabbat he says what do you mean like you're you're secular you keep Shabbat she says I I keep Shabbat he says really she says yes I keep Shabbat she say okay we can keep dating and so some period of time later the woman comes in um my wife's friend comes in for manicure and the manicurist shows her her engagement ring and she says to her you didn't just give me Shabbat you found me a husband W okay now amazing right but Charlie I know you and you're saying solid story but there's no way the project inspire brought Harry onto the show to tell that story there's got to be more there always the next there's always the next level you take us to and there's the next level okay when I heard this I told my wife's friend I need to hear this face to face not that I don't believe you I want to hear it face to face so she brought the woman over because after she got married the woman moved with her new husband and their youngest daughter to paic New Jersey so my wife's friends and this woman sat at my dining room table and told my wife and I the rest of the story so so um after she moves to the states her oldest son is already out of the house you know past his army service doing whatever he's doing but the daughter the older daughter who's no longer a teenager had just finished her Army service she's still in the house and still has access to the family car and so the manicurist or former manicurist says to her daughter you need to make a decision are you going to continue keeping Shabbat because in Israel if you don't keep shabus you pay full Freight for your auto insurance but discount for keeping sh yes because the car doesn't move I didn't know this as a person I didn't know but apparently you want to save 15% on your car insurance go to GEOS shabbat.com that's a great oof who did that Pro Inspire like who who pulled that off well think about it if you're not driving one day everybody's off work right so less chance of an accident so she says to her daughter you need to decide if you're going to continue keeping shab because if you're not I have to put the car back on the insurance you cannot get into that car without insurance and don't worry I'm not pressuring you you're an adult I have enough money now with my new husband's income I can afford it just let me know and she says no Mom I thought about it I want to continue keeping Shabbat she says Okay a month or so later she's talking to her daughter and her daughter says Mom it's so difficult to keep Shabbat she says what do you mean what changed we've been doing it for for a while like for a couple years she says what do you mean what changed used to sit together we would play the games me and you and my sister and my brother when he'd be over now you my brother's not around he's doing his own thing you left with my younger sister you're with your new husband in in New Jersey wherever that is and I sit here alone you know none of our neighbors none of our friends keep Shabbat except for rare times if I go away somewhere I sit for 25 hours alone it's like a tiny tore I don't speak to anybody it's so difficult her mother says her again you're an adult it's your decision just say the word and put the car back on the insurance and you'll be able to drive I'm not forcing you she says no it's difficult but I've been doing it I want to keep doing it now this young woman was a very very big fan of music we' go to concerts all the time a friend of hers a male friend of hers wrote to her and said I got tickets to this awesome concert she showed me the text messages back and forth she writes back to him when is it in Hebrew he writes back to her with the date she writes back to him Z Shabbat he writes back to her Shabbat you keep shabas what are you talking about she never told this to any one of her friends this the first time she's telling one of her secular friends that she keeps Shabbat he writes back to her a you should be praised and that was the last text that she ever got from him because the concert to which he had gotten them tickets to which she absolutely would have gone along with him was the Supernova Festival so the manicurist the former manicurist now says to my friend's wife you didn't just give me shab not you didn't just find me a husband you saved my daughter's life wow now I'll tell you two things that number one okay you delivered Harry okay you got it you delivered I got it now now we know why we brought you on there we go so number one you know would this have happened anyway without her you know it I I presume you know hashem's got a lot of Messengers somebody else would have been the messenger right but remember those if you ever seen them I'm sure you have those old Renaissance paintings Caravaggio rembrand where a dark room and there's one person's face who's like lit up they're like beautific like that's what my wife's friend looked like while the woman was telling the story like I had a part in that and that is what project Inspire is all about don't sit back on your couch somebody else can sit on their couch there are plenty of couches around volunteer step up everybody's got a talent you have you have no idea what your wife's chicken soup and your corny jokes can do towards bringing somebody Further Along on their Jewish Journey just step up volunteer love spiral work wow great although I'd probably double down on the chicken soup but I I I I I couldn't agree with you more Harry first of all you told it beautifully and it was an incredible story um but I I think to really to drive the message home I I think there's a certain amount of embarrassment um lack of Courage lack of pride that we walk around with a little bit when it comes to yish kite and it holds us back from looking over to somebody and saying you're missing out I I I I think if we all walked around with a you know if me and you or if people had like some Inn on the future of AI that would make us all easy Millionaires and you're sitting with a manicurist who is struggling you wouldn't even think twice to tell her you got to take this program it'll teach you AI programming cuz that's like when it comes to money we'd be like all over it right when it comes to like Hashem and Torah were like I don't know it's someone else and I'm the same way by the way I'm not any better like I don't know I got tons of people that I work with that I don't say anything like I don't know it's not what they do and versus I have a treasure that's worth a billion plus shackel justed for inflation and You' have no idea what you're missing don't do it but like I got to at least share with you that I have been given this gift right and I think this to me this story is m not just that someone got saved I think the beauty of the story is that your friend who's not even a trained professional so to speak as if there is such a thing of a cur professional is just so persistent like she just doesn't let up it's I don't I think it's because she just loves this thing called Chavis like she's just like a happy awesome Jew who's like what are you crazy and that authenticity that genuine care that don't take no for an answer because it's super important to me like it's it's this H it's it's you can't turn around like you know what I'm saying there's a to that it's not aggressively it's and I think if we just let ourselves like just just breathe that we're the luckiest people in the world and we just want to share it with people I I I think that H would would would really would be inra would ingratiate us even in a deeper way and to me this story is so beautiful because it's really this wonderful woman who just showed up and was shocked that someone didn't get the beauty of shop and hashem's like I got it from here like I got to take I love it let me make this an amazing story I got Harry on I pay I got Harry on on the bench he'll tell it in about four months we'll work the whole out I got it from here but like just that you know that that's stepping up that's couldn't agree with you more and you're scaring me because as you're telling the story I'm thinking to myself that for all the work we do there's always that time when you sat next to somebody in a plane and they were Jewish and something came up they saw you open up something they saw you with your kosher food whatever and they asked the question and and and we didn't invite them for a Shas had the opportunity that's it and it's that simple just say hey want to come for a shabas that's it you have to love it my Su and no one should think that I do it because I don't to I'm always hesitant and planes and work and but it's because I don't love it enough and I think that if we just recognize listen if someone said to us that mashiach would come if 50 more people put on filling or 50 more people did something we would do it we don't we don't take we're not taking the moment for the urgency that it is and we don't take what we do as important as it is and I think a community that was given the gift of Torah mitzvos that pulls back and says wow the king of the world entrusted his greatest treasures to me if we just thought like that I think we'd be more like this woman and you're right the greatest moments come when it's like ah what's the difference like that's where you see it's Thea it's those moments where you could pass it on to someone else or justify it by somebody else or that's where you show if you care or not right imagine finding out like this is this is this you know it's it my head hurts thinking about it imagine finding out God shows you what could have been yeah that person s you on the plane this is what could have been but you didn't do it you didn't you didn't take that step and Sh imagine this woman being shown at the end of her days like this is what could have happened you could give this woman shabus and a husband and saved her's life and instead you were like hey thanks for the man like you're like what you mean what tremendous yeah that's why I put you there tremendous that you have take yourself but you have to take yourself really seriously you have to take your to do that you have to take your life seriously and that's hard Harry rock thank you for coming on and and and uh inspiring us have an easy rest of the vest thank you very much Harry you know this is a child to this point this is a you know rovski has this famous you know saying that he used to say which is that you know you picture yourself going on the S escalators up to ganaden and as you're going up the escalator there's an escalator coming down you know to Gim and you know you're at a certain point your escalator cross and you see your neighbor is on his way down right and your neighbor looks at you and you're on your way up and he says to you you knew about this you you knew about this escalator upal up and escalator down like you knew about this like why did you tell tell me you know and I think that's what Harry's referring to is that if we would take ourselves in the outcome more seriously then we'd be able to um we' be able to do amazing amazing things okay we got a guest yes we have we have Live guest now show just stepped up it's Notch now we going live okay we have with us here Rabbi AKA poik of Rage which rages Russian American Jewish experience our apol has been was in raged in Philadelphia since 2010 and has really taken hundreds of Rage participants toel um recently moved to pic right of course everybody ends up moving to pic right har said I have to move Harry you have to move so R PO is with us tell us R poic what is Rage what is the organization rage is r a j Russian American Jewish experience not a g I said g s sounds our line because people keep saying no I'm just wondering if the fast is getting to that I can't actually read but I got it so rage is a program we've been around since about 2007 and we bring uh students uh non-religious or soon to be religious students uh to 10 classes Shabbat tones all different kinds of programs and then we try to give them a free trip to Europe and Israel right I mean part of the part of the beauty of rage is I understand that you know we're sitting in Brooklyn rage operates in Brooklyn probably the last place that people think that there are Jews to be reached in Brooklyn yeah absolutely uh rage operates in many very religious towns is uh in Baltimore and Manhattan Brooklyn uh you know all over Philadelphia absolutely Philadelphia absolutely right and and so you're taking the trips to Israel and then you you're basically growing these students through your organization right it's a great um opportunity to be able to teach students learn with students and then go on an incredible trip with them and really bond with them and I always tell everybody that our really our our work really starts after we return because if uh if somebody comes on our trip and they're like wow I'm all inspired and then hey have a good day we don't see you ever again what's it going to be so uh we have the opportunity to bring them back and then they live in the community and go for shabbatones and go for all different kinds of things uh we've actually started other trips as well we do Poland Prague uh Vienna uh all different kinds of places just in order to keep students more involved and who is this wonderful student you brought with you oh so we have with us here David Abramson is with us as well poik uh bris go ahead David how how are you doing good good right P why don't you tell us who David is sure absolutely David is a wonderful wonderful student who started coming to our programs right before October 7th actually I'll let him tell his whole story uh he came with us to uh Poland Prague which was an absolutely incredible incredible trip and uh he's been growing incredibly over this uh really very short time and uh it's unbelievable really very very special student David uh first of all hello everyone thank you for having me um this is my first time fasting for Tish so my words please excuse you know it ends at 11 right i' learn I've learned enough God there's no more you now just Hashem putting words in it this point it's all that's all it's left it's always good for you David amazing yeah really than first how you fasting how you doing hanging in there yeah I'll get through harder than you thought or easier than you thought yeah I always headache you know every time but you know yeah it is what it is welcome to the team welcome to the headache I'll get better every time no you're in that's it once you fast once you go through this calendar it's you're you're in the crew you know we we celebrate together we we we fast together but your ability to step up and for the difficult times is inspiring so where you from D I'm actually from Staten Island uh forgotten burrow but yes there are there are Jews there I think it's called the burrow Parks did you know that yeah but by the way ever since the the sanitation the dumb thing was was removed from there like people don't even realize they're in standing on anymore you used to get this like friendly reminder as you pass by but like those days are gone right we love St Island very nice go ahead tell us wrote you to to rage yeah I didn't grow up uh very religious my family was like a yamore rashash porm kind of family monuk obviously uh but Judaism is always like an accessory to my life it wasn't a a main part of it and I uh my only connection to Judaism was actually like a Jewish Club I had on S Island because of Rabbi Zucker ncsy actually and then eventually on a whim I decided to join rage I was like hey maybe I'll check this out I heard about it from some people and then October 7th happened and honestly I don't know where I would have been like emotionally mentally if it wasn't for rage like to have them there to have such a community of like people who grew up just like me and they're also trying to find out you know why is this happening to us all of a sudden and to be able to go somewhere and uh learn not a secular secular reasoning but like Torah reasoning you know actual answers not just something like oh this is always happens to no just it doesn't make sense do make sense did you get did you get the feeling H how did you feel I guess when the world was coming around you I guess and and and you were experiencing anti-Semitism and what what did learning from the Torah perspective do for you as a as an answer yeah know it was crazy to see you know friends from high school that on October 7th were already posting defending pal iians um it just it's a complete flip around of like you know for since the Holocaust people have been kind of defending the Jews you know but all of a sudden it's not not the case anymore that it goes quick yeah yeah unfortunately um but from a Taurus perspective it it really it makes you think like there's there's a bigger reason to this you know it doesn't make sense the one of the things that we learn at range one of the first things is uh uh the 19 the 1940s 1930s in Germany was the time the Jews were most assimilated into society yep and it's because of that that they turned against us not because we were actually with our heritage with our Traditions uh learning Torah and there's only one way to to combat combat against it it's really you know being together and learning Torah yeah wow yeah it's it's yeah no I'm saying a you know David joined us here today but I'm sure there are many others like like David what have you as someone who runs a c organization seen in the development and the reaction of students post October 7th on this level yeah absolutely um I'll tell you an interesting story our our first class in Manhattan in our Manhattan Branch uh we dedicated to October 7th because it was right after it happened and we had like 40 50 students in the room and we're talking and suddenly two um two students got up and said please don't do this and we're like What are you talking about and they were actually on the other side one said I just don't want to talk about it the other said oh my best friend is Palestinian and suddenly we had like this you know environment of a little bit of strife and like all like 95% of the students are like all charged up Suddenly and those two so we had to calm everything down but what I did see was that people are really really feeling this people are really saying hey this is my people this is what really makes me go and they were very upset that here in a Jewish atmosphere there were a couple of people that were against it um so definitely it it supercharged a lot of people and uh you know there is always a silver lining if you could say such a thing um but definitely there's people that are saying hey I see this is my only place we had one person get up at a shabbaton and said I cannot hang out with the friends that I used to have and this rage is the only place that I can hang out with friends again because all those friends that I thought I had are suddenly on the other side and I I can't figure out why and this is the only place that I can be what's interesting is that Torah is many ways counterintuitive meaning you're raised in a certain way and there's intuition you develop but that intuition doesn't mean it's right it just developed and it always shocks me that it's intuitive to assimilate that's what keeps you safe right when you look like everybody else and you're not getting anybody's way and you talk and act and dress like people like if you go to a new school and you wear their clothes and and and adopt their Sports the kids will like you more but spiritually it's not how it works spiritually is when we're together and we're strong and we're unified and we're connected to Hashem people respect us so it's an interesting Dynamic and I want to sort of get both of your opinions on this is this this phenomenon that just sort of placed itself in an assimilated environment and how some people are picking up their heads and going who how do I deepen to connect so I guess from just to ask them both for your perspective what does having that Jewish Learning Community do for you in a world that it's counterintuitive to in an assimilated world and for you the question is what are you seeing now you've never seen before you've been doing this for a very long time is it the same world or is it a little bit of a different world well yeah go ahead dve so yeah it it does feel counter intuitive from from like going from secular to to learning more about things but it doesn't have to be that way and actually rage forms they they organize the program in such a way that uh Tor doesn't go opposite to science like we learn in public schools it doesn't go opposite to um many things that we've just been brought up with it's it's it's in line with it if anything it it agrees with it and it PR Falls It Forward um I honestly think there was a moment that that I had a before I actually joined rage that was like a catalyst and it was either everything has a purpose or nothing has a purpose it can't be can't be one or the other you can't have something oh this has meaning but then that's just whatever coincidence and I just wanted to find more about that specific thing um and you know learning things like National Revelation which I've never heard of before joining rage it's like insane that like no one has told me this before and it's incredible uh by the way for those that are watching National Revelation is the concept that God gave the Torah on Mount sa to masses of people and it was the first really of any religion that claims what the only one right that claims in history that they have gotten the Torah in front of mes right not this one met that one without getting into specific list that one you know this is an entire nation go ahead yeah and it's it stumps a lot of people because like they've never heard of it and they don't have any you know they can't say anything to it because it's it's true and uh just the T Torah it simplifies things in some ways yeah it complicates things but now you know what to study it's not like nothing has meaning so now I got to figure out what is important what I'm going to decide is important in my life no tour is important you you study that and then you you can decide make decisions based off of it w beautiful you you're yeah absolutely you know we were talking about before about the Poland trip that we did we many years we've been going to Poland to the concentration camps to the ghettos and uh it's powerful it's always a very powerful trip and we always have students come out wow it's lifechanging this year was unbelievable for all the students because they literally saw firsthand what's happening right now happened then and it's like literally watching it seeing uh the children cars taking children it was it was incredible and that really brought home to everybody that history has taught us that really the only way to be Jewish is to be Jewish as much as we're trying to be Jewish in so many other ways like look through history time and time and time again every time we didn't act as Jewish as we should boom so it was it was an incredible powerful lesson and a lot of people who came on that trip really grew especially David and others as well so I think that's that's a big lesson wow amazing both you AKA and and David I you know we're here project Inspire his message really to to the world and to our community is that post October 7th the world is more open and we as religious people go around we have this wealth of knowledge like you were explaining like all stuff that you didn't know about before this was exposed to you but like now is an opportune time to meet people and they're more open would you say in your experien is that that is what people are open to now 100% I I have some friends that like now they're keeping Shabbat with me you know like just on on a whim you know because of everything that's happened you know they they don't have a Beau have a choice basically it's sort like an identity thing yeah actually I speaking of the uh the Poland trip uh I went and it was it was it was crazy experience crazy and everyone was saying that people that have been on the trip before it's different this year it's different and you can really it's it's palpable you can feel it when you when you walk around uh as as a group like it you just feel it's it's so much more powerful and then I went on a trip to Israel actually also called AA enough and we tored a kibuts near ODS and in the kabut we sang the shma and I couldn't help but recall to when we were on the Poland trip when we were singing the shma in the gas chamber it's it's never hit us like this since the Holocaust really yep and now people are thinking twice about maybe Judaism has some something to it man amazing well now was the time now was the time thank you so much thank you so much for being here enjoy I mean make it through the rest of the fast you're doing great to me I'm I'm sitting here trying to like fathom that like this is your first you know tissue but it's one of the greatest sweetest moments of being a Jew is this that second you look at your watch and the fast is over there nothing I'm telling you and it's worth 25 hours for like it's over like 8:42 and you look up and you're busy 8:43 you know and all the food becomes important it's just I'm looking forward to that feeling for you it's it never gets old I can do this it never gets old and when you when you have that moment a few minutes you'll be like ah it was worth it and and David by you being on this show you're helping everybody at home get to that 8:43 moment so you should know you have a part in that as well so I want to thank you both for being here very much and thank you for all the work that you do spread the light keep it up inspires doing incredible work thank you thank you keep it up amazing you guys you guys are amazing and you know we're we're actually discussing here you know you mentioned near o which is uh a a kibot that I to sit down and interview a woman for the project Inspire film a little bit of light that's showing on proje inspire.com and I I want I want the audience to pay attention to this clip because there's a moment on our video where this woman religious woman from bite vagan is trying to figure out what she can do to connect to the hostages the hostage families Etc and this this thing comes out in their in their Community where take on a hostage meaning make a place for the hostage at the shabas table you know do good deeds in Merit of the release of the hostages and this this the story and I'm going to speak about this because I want people to let us know if you want to get involved as well you can contact us I want to show you a short clip of a moment a transition moment for this woman Margalit who sees a video about Shel Shmo the mother of Omar who was featured in the little bit of light uh little bit of light video or project [Music] inspire [Music] for [Music] for for a [Music] women have here welcome back um yeah I want I want to just just double down on that because you all watch the we all watch this little clip of uh this Margalit taking on a hostage for her family and um she put you as you saw she put the picture of Omar at the shabas table she told her kids about her about him they did different uh they did different Mitzvah and stuff as a for the for the hostages and I know that we're very far from the plight of the hostages sometimes we whether we live very far we're just disconnected it's not in our community it's not in our life but here's a woman who took on um to put this this uh hostage at her table and to do and to introduce her family to this hostage um I want to just appeal to all of you that are watching this there any of you that would like to do a similar thing in which you're you're focusing on a hostage and their family you don't know the impact that it can have of course clay but even to the families of knowing that people across the world are thinking of them are ding for them are doing MIT please email us at info Pro inspire.com that's info Pro inspire.com and we will connect you to a hostage and while we're at it if we could please have in mind in our twas Omar Ben Shelli Omar Ben shell and Alexander Sasha Ben Lena Leia who are featured in the film both these are hostages that may they come back speedily back to their homes back to Israel in good health okay Charlie we're we have a amazing amazing guest with us yeah we have a great guest here today uh Yakir walks us with us right now uh Yakir tell us a little bit about how the past nine months have been for you I mean we this whole sh by the way this should be simple because Yakir is an occupational therapist in elementary this is all you know life is going on life as usual y um this show has been one long conversation about take taking action and when an opportunity presents itself even though you feel like you can't if you should you then do it tell us a little bit about your journey over the past nine months from being a in guy to never being home for shice so first we can't start at 9 months you got to start way back when my story could start all the way back when but I like to start it at Co time Co time I'm an occupational therapist in yiva elementary schools all the schools shut down had no work no way to make a parosa for my family I have a younger brother named Orin who's a dentist six years ago he quit Dentistry and became an Amazon reseller you can imagine how my parents felt about that that was not a pretty day subsequently after that he made Aliah moved to Israel he called me up during Co he said Yakir you know you're trying to help out with some Hotel calls here and there in Queens but you're not making parnasa let me teach you about Amazon and you could do a little bit of Amazon reselling what I used to do in New York New Jersey before he made OT so that's the way it is became an OT Moonlighting at night as an Amazon reseller why am I telling you any of this to start it off everybody knows what happened October 7th worst day in my lifetime for all of the Year October 11th 2:30 in the morning my WhatsApp starts ringing and ringing I'm sleeping it wakes me up and this is how the phone call goes goes like this I'm waking up I go hello hello this is Major Daniel Jacob from the IDF I said who so you don't know I am this major Daniel Jacob from the IDF I need 8 8 army boots can you help me I said what he said can you please help we're about to go on a mission we need 88 army boots I said why you calling me he said there are no boots here in Israel maybe you can buy them on Amazon I said Amazon I sell Barbies and pots and pans I don't know a thing about army army boots he says Yak here we have nowhere else to turn please help us how did he get to you we've learned afterwards how he got to me he got me one of his soldiers lives near my brother in modin uhh so they heard about Amazon they heard about this that but it gets bigger and you'll start to understand why why he got to me so you get a phone call like that 2:30 in the morning you're not going after October 7th you're not going back to sleep thinking thinking what can I do I have an amazing friend from Young Israel housewood where I'm put a Sho amazing Shool who's in sneakers and shoes sells hocas and onclouds things like that I call him up in the morning to see if he can help says I also know nothing about armies but you won't believe this a month ago I saw an amazing deal on these garant these Italian tactical boots and I bought them and I'm selling them on Amazon to Hunters in Wyoming and Oklahoma it's going great I want to donate the 88 pairs to Major Daniel Jacobs Well great we got our 88 boots perfect get the boots we bring them we get them over my sister-in-law mik and Israel Picks Them Up brings them to Major Daniel Jacobs right before they on their special Mission just to give an idea this is Major Daniel Jacobs who's now Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Jacobs in charge of 600 guys not 88 guys so we get him to him and he sends me a WhatsApp that changed everything sends me a WhatsApp and he says thank you from the akir Battalion the akir Battalion I know I got 88 boots but you changed your name that's a little bit much says no we heard about you and Amazon and your name that's how we sort you out we just didn't want to let you know just in case you couldn't get the job done we don't want to make you feel bad Min first set of boots from Yakir to Yakir 88 boots and he told us there's other guys who can use boots since then we're here on Tish above to tell you we've delivered over 62,000 pairs of boots to our with thousands moreon order and we look at it maybe this is the of the brothers and ysep you know they took that money and they bought shoes with it they bought shoes maybe we can be buying these boots for our brothers inel and help that to bring that's how it originally started in the last 37 chabes I've been from neighborhood to Neighborhood speaking and shs all about it haven't been home and some wild things have happened on the trail tell us a little bit about the moments I want to delve into the moments where of of of insecurity of lack of I want I want I want to understand the lack the moments where you're on the phone and you're like I can't do this I wasn't made for this you're you're leaving your family like take us to those moments where you have this like me Hashem yeah yeah so early on in the first 3 weeks 20 times people said you got to shut down there's not enough finances and I said but they're calling and they need it and they're calling and they need it so you just try I've never spoken anywhere publicly and I finally got over that fear because I said well they don't have it and if I'm unsuccessful they don't have it if I'm successful they do have it but what I speak about is we all have had and I've had before major Daniel Jacob's moments where somebody calls you and asks you for the Sho for project Inspire get involved do something and you're thinking somebody more important somebody with more time some with more energy they'll get it done but the reality is have Shem brought it to your doorstep there's a reason and if it's a proper Mission take a step forward and Hashem will do the rest to make it happen wow that's that's how I feel it's Inc I I there's a rabbi remember MOS he's a big T he said to me once he said don't think for a second that when you have an opportunity there's nothing special about you you're you're shal you're replaceable if hasem brought it to you it's your to do it that's that's for sure what I've been lucky is that Hashem has brought message after message till you keep going keep going my nephew Zach his mother is boots in Israel it's gotten 62,000 pairs to soldiers her son was in basic training during October 7 when he was in basic training he got sick they found out that he was allergic to the Israeli Army boot her son she had given out all these boots was allergic to Israeli army boot we had to get him a different Boot and he's perfect now he's a parat trooper doing great I don't know how to explain it we went to we got press and we started boot doing boot packings in schools and shes and we were asked to go to Las Vegas to a conservative Sho not yet religious Jews to do boot packing to for a bename mitzvah beautiful thing I said can I have the benink Mitzvah kids names so that we can do a video from Kim to let them know what they did so they said storm Kiara and Brian I said beautiful but can I have their Hebrew names said Hebrew names they don't really know their Hebrew names I said even more so 10 years from now let them know how they helped Amel doing a boot packing for a said I'll ask the parents the mother said the person said she asked the parents came back to us and said you won't believe this Yak here the conservative Jews in Las Vegas Hebrew names Y yakira and Yakir the bename Mitzvah kids the boots packing Los Hashem is sending message after message I love it I have more of them that keep happening you do keep happening and you know what makes what makes it to me I mean what makes it so incredibly relevant is there's three pieces that really resonate that with me and I hope with others number one is the phone call number two is that you are looking for the messages like someone who doesn't want to do it be like well it's a coincidence you're you are you got your ear to to to to the ground and you're when Hashem sends you something you're like I hear you I hear you and and the other thing you said which is so critical I find with people that really do great things is it's really not about them it's really not their coed and their there's no like they're not looking for that little like you know you they get like it like the when we grow up you know they put the star on the helmet or whatever it is like they just thought to themselves like I don't know it's for other I wonder if that's the as we're talking and you're listening I hope people I hope people are listening I wonder if that's the Magic ingredients if you just pick up the phone and stop worrying about being somebody else so a lot of people want to be somebody else so someone does something good they're like I should do something good they want to do that thing right right goes stop trying to be like somebody else so when you pick up the phone call Hashem sends you when you listen to his messages and it's not about you like I wonder if that combination leads you to do crazy stuff like it's you're you're you're shipping boots to Israel you know what I'm saying like what even it doesn't make sense like I I would the Army just got a package of like 25 f-15s for like10 billion like they can't handle the boots you know what I'm saying like the whole thing doesn't make any sense except for sometimes the basic things get forgotten came back from Gaza this this is coming back from Gaza you know your mother wouldn't let you play with this but they're in war with this mainly the miluim guys they get it when they're 18 they're still wearing it when they're 30 35 they're out there fighting for us the Aus that this is created that people can actually do something with their hands and participate everybody would love to help people are donating people are caring people going missions but to actually hear the AK together here has brought such Ru Spirit on this side that's not the boots that are going to win the war bring back the hostages it's that love and care and mitos and that o that's going to win this war and bring back home our hostage saf right hasem wins Wars it's not boots right it's it's not soldiers meaning Hashem wins Wars and he gives us opportunities to get involved ined I forgot which said this but a great one did that someone else's G is your right like it's the opport and bring and when you see it that way you you become a worthy sh because it's not about the boots it's about the and that it's great and most importantly it's about you stepping up again meaning going back to this which is which is from your perspective it's like it's not necessarily the outcome it's I need to do this I this was asked of me and I stepped into this role and whatever happens afterwards really huge BR that I got the opportunity huge BR I got the opportunity it's a pleasure having you here in uh again it's Tish and we're all focusing on what we can do part of the three what's that yeah he go on part of the three yeah yeah the three people that were in the B Mitzvah go on okay the yeah right you know it's amazed to have you here and should continue to give you and opportunity to and close me down shut me down yeah then but then you'll find something else because now now is the time for us all to step up and you know hasem you know has his plan but he'll point point to you for something else it'll it'll happen you know can be sure okay thanks ladies and gentlemen we're going to go to a short commercial with us here live we will have RAB do goldwaser joining us here momentarily [Music] by by I'm [Applause] [Music] man [Music] and welcome back we're here with rer and it's Aus for us that we have on tish's the opportunity to be able to hear from the r live you we've been talking a lot about this idea of Aras you know we're we're in this unique period of time in which it almost feels like Hashem needs us all to step up and in our own individual way in a way that's bigger than it was before and we're hear in stories left and right of individuals who were regular people till they got the call how does the r tiou it up where where we're at tshas and what's the message that we can take away from Tish abov to becoming a generation that won't have another Tish uh Charlie it's a to be here project Inspire with rakov cannot tell you I do not look forward to another Tish but I do look forward to being together with you in all that you do uh what Hashem is telling us is a simple the reason the Thunder was created is to straighten out the crookedness of our heart Sim T came October 7th it straightened everybody out it just it shocked everyone to begin to calibrate to understand what's our what's our purpose in this world anyone from people in AR Israel from the to people that are just regular individuals to people in the states and around the world that have understood that this is calling us to something higher it's a sense of urgency it calls us to be everything that we can be it is no longer the time to settle I'll get to it I'm going to settle for mediocracy right now everyone has a sense of mission there's not individual this guy with his boots unreal to think of an individual that was able to do such MIM with boots and fascinating we're coming to the end of Tish the first thing we do we put our boots on I can't make that because it's all in the boots it's all in the shoes so it's fascinating that everybody has reached for something higher and the people themselves reach for something higher the hostages they reached higher how is it possible a [Music] hostage The Prisoner can't release himself from prison so what happens n Margalit is a nurse by profession she was taken on October 7th taken in Chains and she's a hostage in the tunnel in the tunnel yet she continued to be a nurse in the tunnel she started to find out who loo has a medical condition who needs therapy who needs medicine who needs some type of attention and she began to minister to the people that were there to the hostages you can't even imagine it to be able to give them help in that situation and told her [Music] captors she advocated on behalf of the hostages to get things to get simple things to try to put together in a makeshift way whatever natural or whatever she could get her hands on she wrote down everybody's name and she went and she ministered to everyone hasem sent the Mal to the gates of to the darkest place on Earth how does a woman like that have the gura where' she get it from how did she wasn't trained in hostage life in living in the sewer and having someone pointing a a whatever the rifle was at them the entire time where did she get it from gives the to a person that is in a difficult part in a place they get the K that are hidden inside of every Jew when a person wants to step up to the plate when they're in a dangerous situation they face challenge hidden powers that they never ever knew that they had will come to the surface we find out by the hostages the what has happened in in CLA Isel the of a general that sees a grenade that's about to explode naon he falls on the grenade and he saves all his troop and he was how is it that these people have that power it is in the power of every Jew to step up to go realize they have a higher calling and to find it within them to activate and to be to at the moment of need to realize the sense of urgency and to step up I had the the to be in AR Isel right after that time and we went to several of the hospitals and the Army places and went to there was one soldier uh unbelievable each of them each of them you need an example in this world to be able to look up to to see you don't have to start searching through the archives just go go into any Hospital go into any army troop go into any Yesa go see the B go see the yite learning extra said forget about the B there's no vacation this time you keep learning go and see any place where they say tillum and you see a few tears in the shoes you don't need examples you have everybody living right now you don't have to search for it so we went to and they have a beautiful thing in t Sher that the hospital room goes out to a little patio so they don't have to be confined into a room those that can make it out and where with a soldier now not religious not yet religious and he's sitting there really very very wounded I brought together with me a person plays guitar because it's it's helpful sometimes it's a little difficult little challenging sometimes it goes quite a little bit so to play guitar and he knew everything he knew whichever and Israeli and and he knew everything he was just the right guy to have so I pointed at him there were about 10 people standing around and this soldier's family I said uh maybe you play nigan so he asked the soldier which song he would choose which song the soldier wanted now judging from the outward look from the konus of that Soldier I thought for sure you know I thought for sure is going to break down with some good serious rap yeah he says uh the guitarist thought there must be a popular Israeli song that just happens the words fit in the so he says excuse me you don't know how to play it he tells him in Hebrew yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm sorry he begins to unreal I'm standing with a father the father what shall I tell you you wouldn't find them in the St my arms around him and I figured there's a lot of stanzas to call how you the father knows more than that some of the Eden that I came with he's looking for a sitter from ma somewhere I can find know how to sing the thing the soldier the that is sitting there begins to sing so beautifully talks about the and he's singing it with full I left the father and I went and sat together with that Soldier it was surreal it was a moment n it wasn't from this moment it was not from the world somewhere else I thought after that do you know the of any ye do you know the power of any Jew do you know the from kite the religiosity the spirituality it is utterly impossible I can tell you after that incident we just stayed for a moment in the line after the niggan finished nobody moved it was like they in a trance then we left I saw a lot of things on that days that I was there but that somehow it went into me it was uh it was from a different world I went to another Soldier and uh in bed he was in um a different facility inum and he was there in his bed and every minute I was trying to make conversation with him and we were talking toy talking different things he kept saying I said to him then he few minutes later start I thought maybe he wants the I said the I said the regular version in the prayer book he kept asking finally his commanding officer came to visit him he was in the hall and one of the people came in to tell me I said I'm uh the commanding officer I'm who am I let the commanding officer come he's a God I'm know the little kitan him that came today so I went out and he said no no no no I said no please he went and visited him when he was finished he came out I said could you tell me is he okay uh every few minutes he's asking me for shal for for the blessing speedy recovery he said he is one of my best soldiers my best men he wants a so he can come back to the Battlefront thought to myself this guy sitting in in the bed and he's suffering he's asking not he should feel better have use of his arms be able to be mobile again rejoin n just to be able to go to fight to be able to defend Isel to be able to stand proud with the flag to be able to stand and say I will guard hashem's land I tell you after a few incidents like that I H couldn't believe I found go I found that I brought this up earlier which is that sometimes you find the you know in these days that we're going to be M people and like you mentioned we don't realize where they're holding and what they have to be able to give us in return it was uh it was so unreal there was a uh one of the people from theim was in a wheelchair and his children had come to visit him little children Big K the P i' say the guy was about 40 and I went to him and uh I wanted to talk with him he shows me over over there the children shows me the children and what he wanted he was a little bit emotional so I went I said hello to the children I came back to him he say the the children the children he says can you give them AA I said certainly I went over give say Al Ro he shows me the way he wants it and I thought to myself selfless selfless who's he worried about he's worried about his children what are any of the people in AR Isel what are any of them it's only for the next person it's complete there's no no self there it's selfless and I see it from here abar came to me from Queens AB came to me from Queens his parents are making a beautiful bar mitzvah beautiful bar mitzu Everything music and whatever whatever person could dream of he said I heard that in is there are that cannot have such a bar mitzvah because the father isn't here anymore and they don't have so he says I feel a little funny because we're having I don't know how many piece band he's having you know and uh I heard there's boys that don't have anything at all rebi shall I make the bar mitzvah or not his parents gave him the choice to have it or not he was bothered I told you should make the bar mitzvah but make a bar mitzvah for the children there too make a suda and you have this telephone now you can FaceTime your suda with his suda and you'll all be connected and you can sing to each other and give a br to each other beautiful our Mitzvah 13 years old 13 years old he understands very well I can only tell you a joke for Tish Tish RAB mayor Shapiro of luin came to get the money is came to get money for theas and [Music] is all the sikim rdon the mash all the great sikim came to raise money it's the greatest greatest thing in the world ra Shapiro came to raise money Forin so he went and uh people were not so tuned in they loveed to hear his oratorical skills but they weren't tuned in to his message to give the money so after words NE there weren't too many givers but there was one child an adult was very upset that the child came to the speech why are you taking up room leave it for the adults so he says you didn't even understand what the rebi was saying he says yes I did yes I did he was talking about money about G he wanted money Romeo Shapiro said he understood better than everybody else here today right amazing said that's that's literally what we're talking about today which is people stepping up into situation a 13-year-old boy recognizing that his brother across the world doesn't have the opportunity that he has you know and and and really I think what you're pointing out which is that you're you're trying to be M soldiers or or people that are injured and yet how much they're giving back to us and I think that from we should really be taking this message which is that we don't know the power of another yid of another yid which I think you you pointed out as well as thinking about yenim even though they're very far away and that'll really bring us closer together as a as as a nation em em very true thank you very much for joining us you throughout the world pull everybody together that in itself is a deep measure of comfort thank you very much uh ladies and gentlemen um we we're talking today about people regular people who stepped up um to be to do amazing things for those who were were able to join us this year at the project Inspire convention know that one of our finest and most exciting moments ever was this year when a fellow named of Romy shonfeld took the stage and told us about an amazing initiative that he took on and a happen stance flight sitting next to a fellow alone on a plane he started a thilan selfie Group which he told us started to get 3,000 people but we surprised him as well and ladies and gentlemen a clip of the project Inspire convention um of of Romy shonfield as our group continued to get larger and larger I went with Moshe to visit ravellia brish Lita to get some Torah guidance about how to proceed he told us we should just keep doing it it's no pressure it's just a reminder for everyone to do the Mitzvah and it's just a simple way to keep people connected to yish kite we do not allow anything on our group other than filling selfies thousands of yiden from over 30 countries around the world proudly each wearing their fillan thousands of yiden inspired by a simple idea that Hashem I don't know why placed in my head on that flight to Miami it's incredible what we can do if we just connect with another Jew alone my flying partner was unfortunately unable to make it here tonight I'm actually here hey wow what a surprise but I just wanted to say I know how much it has meant to him to alone and I know how much that this has changed his life I just want to end by telling you that the person that I am today is definitely not the person that I was a year and a half ago this has this experience has totally transformed and changed my life now that I see how open people are to joining such a club where there's no judgment just camaraderie as Jews of all kinds I approach anybody that I see who looks like they could be a candidate for our fill and selfies no outwards appearances or walls can stop me if they are Jewish and they look like they could be elevated by joining our group we approach them people want to connect and all we have to do is reach out this has totally changed me and I'm so happy and thank you so much [Applause] hi hi everybody my name is Alon tal I wanted to thank avami and I wanted to thank project Inspire for being here today uh to say the truth it was very difficult for me to be here today uh as I started a new job and and I've just moved to a new community in Florida where I could sorry where I could be around more Jewish people but I could not miss the opportunity I wanted to [Applause] tell I wanted to tell you one more amazing thing I left Israel many years ago and I left my to filling behind that was many years ago eight months before I met Ry uh on that plane my mom came to visit me from Israel she brought the to fil him with her I asked her why did she bring them she didn't know why there was no specific reason she said uh she just felt like it was a good idea to bring them with her they sat in my apartment for months Gathering dust then I met aami and he challenged me to take the selfie with a taillan since that day I put on my taillan every day and I send a daily tan [Applause] selfie it keeps me and others on the tfillin WhatsApp group motivated this whole experience really changed me I feel like many times people bum into somebody like me and they have a chance to say a kind word to reach out and to connect don't hold back grab those opportunities thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I I just wanted to ask you a question can you have dreamed sitting next to alone on the plane by the way it was great having alone here for shabas with us by the way I know that you couldn't join which is why he was able to join it was tough hiding a guy his size but could you have imagined the ripple effect that this would have had to thousands of people oh can we get another mic up here can we get a can we get a mic hey [Applause] on oh my God Ari I was asked to come here and express the impact that you've had on me I drove four hours from Baltimore just to be here in this moment to say thank you to you and to say thank you to Marcus the blatant selfness selflessness that you portray every single day the heartfelt and genuine messages that get sent out in the group they always hit so close to home for me the fact that I got a call personally from the both of you when I joined the group is only one example of how much you truly care about everyone you realize that the world is not just about one individual it's about all of us together and you sacrifice so much to make each and every one of us feel accepted and loved no words can truly Express the Gratitude I feel towards you but for now I'll say it plain and simple thank [Applause] you wow okay Charlie I I I sort of feel like I had enough a time with with me over here but this is one of the better moments because people who were sitting there recognized someone who they know from the community in a and basically said if you could do something as simple as that right and create 3,000 people on a group that are sharing their fillan selfies people who wouldn't otherwise be involved in tfillin or people who were disconnected from fil such a long time such as a guy like alone that that was one of the most inspiring moments that I would convention wow so it's what blows me away is is the impact I'm sure it blows you away as well like just the level of impact but let's break it down to the beginning take us to the to the plane and tell me the feeling you had sitting on the plane going like should I shouldn't I should I shouldn't I what what take us back to the beginning no it's you know first of all thank you for having me on and I hope everybody is feeling well and uh it's it's it's pretty crazy you know I go back and think it's close to 2 years ago now November will be 2 years and you know it was I was on my way to a CM hashashi Rashi that art sroll was doing in Florida and there were storms and I changed my flight four times I was traveling with three friends and you know I don't know I just I I sat down and you know this guy he actually initiated you know to me he's like I hate traveling I'm very nervous and alone is watching so alone nice to see you but he said makes him coming up even more special to the project Inspire thing alone's an amazing person and I I get inspired all the time just you know seeing somebody like that but it's it's it's it's just truly remarkable you know you see somebody who just otherwise you really wouldn't talk to usually I get on a plane I don't want to talk to anybody but uh it was really nice you know he he he connected with the fact that were both Jews mhm and that's what he honed in on and that's what he you know he took out of it and you know I don't know again I still don't know why you know Hashem put it in you know my head and I think he said that the last time I was trying to run down and say you know what was the last thing you did that was Jewish and you know I said do you keep shabas do you kosher do you this do you that everything he said no and I said when was the last time you davened and he's like some lubab guy put filling on me in the airport like 10 years ago and that's that's the only reason why I uh you know why I said to him I asked him if he ever wears Fillin and he said no I don't so you know it's it's just you say it's I I I told him I said we're going to say to hilum together and we'll say and if everything goes okay tomorrow morning I want you to put on Fillin and he's like you sound like my dad why why you why are you pushing me and I said to him I'm like listen it's for you it's not for me it's for you so uh a lot has changed since that weekend I have to tell you you know alone actually quit his job I don't know if you know this Yi but that why it was so hard to get him to come because he moved to a more religious neighborhood where he yeah he moved to bokeh he he's living in bokeh with his family and he uh he quit his job he was working in some construction job and the boss told him after the weekend the boss told him you left on Friday to take off to go travel to New York for something for Shabbat that you work five 5 days a week you know you can't take off and he's like if you don't appreciate the fact that I have Jewish values and that I have things Jewish and that I'm proud to be a Jew I can't work for you and he quit and I said alone what what's your plan he goes I don't have a plan I just don't want to be working for that guy that's what he told me imagine that I love that my uh Jews love it strong Jews people it's our people and since that weekend I have to tell you first of all you guys pranked me very good had I known y's impressive and every time we do this show I find out how more impressive he I've do this for a long time and he just keeps on shocking me and I'm like what how does that he put and the thing is I knew it was coming and I still B like I knew he I I'm thinking like they could get the mic to work like I he told me the story beforehand like I just had to tell my mother before because when the when the when when the electric stuff goes down she's always yelling from the oh can't they get their act together so I had to like let her in on it and me like no the B doesn't work but um since that weekend you know I've had so many people reach out to me people that were there for shabas people that just heard me on the live stream um people you know saying to me hey I have a brother-in-law who's not religious but could you text him from me I'm sitting here right now and I'm getting messages from people who are saying please connect me with him I have a relative a neighbor a son who I'd like to be able to connect as we're sitting here right now there's a number of people on the group that have joined from after that weekend tons of people I mean I got private messages from people who were just you know I saw you that's beautiful that's amazing could you please just just for viewers that that weren't L at the conventure or came in the middle of this basically your group is a selfie group you're encouraging people to take a selfie of them wearing fill that's it we don't ask for anything else we run some Raffles um and we're just trying to motivate and push people by groups and numbers I actually don't have one we have Moshe Butler and myself who run it we have seven different chats wow uh there's actually one chat of just 22 boys that are in public school in Philadelphia but they wear their Tain every day and they post every single day so we run like a special raffle for them once a month you know just different things and different groups we've you know since since OCT and it's all on WhatsApp that's it that's it beautiful um another thing that we did after October 7th I heard a lot of people you know that's the theme but you know we we wanted to do something for ourselves like what could I do living in Brooklyn New York to try to uh do something for what's going on the situation in Israel and we started a chat called let's keep shabus and every single week people make kabalas of something that they're going to do special that might be out of their box or it might just be you know something that they regular do you got men and women on the group women are saying they're going to light shot candles early you got people that are saying they're going to try to keep shabas Friday night you got people who are saying they're going to go to Sho and then you got people are saying they're going to say to Hill him like myself I try to push myself not to talk during ding every sh and just say some extra to hm there's so many things that have happened post you know the convention and thank you for just uh helping spread it one of the things that happened was uh Dr fi zakim from Rage um she approached me and she asked me she lives here in Flatbush and she asked me if I'd be willing to come on a Friday night and speak at her house by one of her shabbatones and uh after a few tries I finally was able to make make it happen and I spoke in uh January in our house and it's just amazing you had probably hundred boys I not boys but like men and women young men and women who were there for chabas and you know I just got up and spoke and said the Spiel and told them you know the story that happened and uh a few months later she reached out to me and she said she has somebody who uh heard me speak and has been toying with it and has been wanting to uh take it upon himself to start rapping thilan and to put on fillan and she says do you have I just don't have Fillin for the guy so I said yeah we have a few pairs of Fillin that we uh brought in that we have that we've gifted to people over the years and I said sure I'll get you a pair I got a pair I had never met this guy I didn't know who he was I didn't even know his name we we have him here with us today I know we do Michael is with us here in in the studio yeah so you you you sorry go ahead how are you Michael thank you for having me it's great that you're on and so so you got a hold of parro villain so I got a hold of parro Fillin and she said she wanted to present those Fillin to Michael we should present them to Michael uh actually Rabbi Pollock who was on earlier uh knows Michael and was there when we did it and it was right before he was going on a trip to Israel and I uh gifted somebody that I never met before a parot fillan and he's been uh wearing them every every day since wow what is that like tell us where you from Michael tell tell us a little bit about what got you to this point well first of all I just have to say how grateful I am and how thankful I am uh to Abe for to aam for gifting me this to fill and it it I think what uh what I've realized is that you've gifted me a connection with Hashem that I did previously didn't have um and I had no way of connecting prior um maybe I did but but this really enhanced it you want to show the audience what the this is yes absolutely this is uh this is my toan with a sitter of course tell tell you weren't thrown off by wearing it today by in the afternoon you know we posted a video on the chat we told everybody not to wear in the morning do it in the afternoon oh I didn't even know about that and I happen to do it anyway in the afternoon don't worry we we're all learning on the job here exactly exactly but but Michael this connection this connection is that this this something that you know there are many people watching this that you know are maybe in ap's position of saying like you know what happens if I would gift this to somebody or if I would give someone the opportunity to do that like you know you had someone to step up to do that to you what did what did that mean for you and what could that mean for so many others who maybe are hesitant to reach out to other people and say hey would you be interested in wearing a parro villain well first of all something that I learned is that you can't go through life alone um there are other people who want to help and there are many people who want to help um and from a Jewish perspective uh having the toilin is just one of those ways to connect and having Abe and others who are so gifting and giving uh to the world and to their Community that's what uh that's what keeps us strong you know it's amazing listening to you speak it's it's so inspiring I'm like I'm so inspired and what's inspiring is just how much it means to you and I think it's lost on people that do it all the time that it means so much to others what what message do you have for people that are no one could be this guy right but there are a lot of guys that are in his position in their lives on planes and they're just like ah what do you say to that what do you tell people that are gifted with this growing up and they look over to the larger world and they feel like no one cares no one wants how what should they hear from what what would you say to that it's funny you talk about the plane situation by the way because most of my life I've seen um observing Jews at the airport doing something didn't really understand what it was uh I grew up very very secular um but my I had the first experience uh shortly after Abe gifted me the Tiffin of doing it myself at the airport and that was uh I was like ah I'm like like one of you guys now you know like was like finally there you know um but but the meaning behind it I mean something that I'm struggling with is I'm I'm doing to fill in every day and I wish I knew the meaning more so anyway I knew the the the the prayers better and understood the meaning behind them as well but regardless I know that I can just simply say the prayers and close my eyes and uh and connect with Hashem and think of my family think of the people who have given me so much and uh so great and and have that experience and and I also want to say the fact that uh I received the toilin for Israel was uh just so key to my experience in Israel I had just I've just come back I went in with Rabbi Pollock who was on earlier um and I put the tfillin on everywhere I went at I put it on at the hotel like six times I put I mean all separately of course but uh I put the toilin on at the Nova site because we went there I put the tfillin on in many different areas and it was and I feel so much more connected to th to those specific locations now that I've worn my T in there when when you put those on I want you to understand something and I know you know this but I want to share it with you not only you connecting to all the Jews that are here today you're connecting to every Jew Moses put on that Fain like Rabbi AA the greatest Jews of all time are wearing the exact same filling as you're wearing like there's no different filling and it what's incredible with filling is that and we can maybe we'll talk about this offline about what some of the lessons and how what it means and the fact that it connects to your heart and your mind and your hands and you're connected to Hashem but what's cool about you wearing that feeling and how and and how you're saying it is it's getting me inspired that I'm part of this too and I also put on to and so do the rest of us and when you put it on you should realize that it's not just the people today you're putting on to you're connecting back to the beginning and every Jew in every part of the world matter even though they were different they ate different foods they wore different clothing they went to the they had the same deal they pull out black same look and they put that on so it's you really you're connecting to you're you're part of our crew and it's it's an honor to have you amazing I'm happy to be a part of it I want to thank you both for being here thank you for everything that you do and keep spreading the message spread the light we have we're getting close to the the cheesecake you know the best moment of the year yeah the best part of the year you know Charlie that's the best part of the year I shouldn't say that right right I just answer before you finish I just want to answer one thing that you asked me and and I just want to leave everybody with one message which is you know you can go out of your box and you can do something nice for somebody do something do something out of what your normal would be buy somebody a cup of coffee make somebody smile do a Mitzvah because you never know how that can just you know spiral and and it could lead one thing to another and you may not even know you may not even know what type of impact you had on that person but if you just do something nice to somebody it could lead to so many other mitv and other things amazing okay I want to thank you both for being special story a beautiful story of um coming out of Denver from a living kid let's go to that [Music] now one day I got a phone call from a young man who was interested in a black lacer bedroom set I had to advertise and at the same time he said he had a limited budget of $700 I said sure come in and I'll be glad to work with you shortly after that phone call a young guy walked in and on both arms he had most gruesome tattoos I've ever seen I was really in shock to see such a thing but he identified himself that I spoke to somebody about a black Locker bedroom set and so I proceeded for about the next hour to walk around the store and we picked out merchandise my father seeing all his hateful tattoos kept ignoring them and really went out of his way to assist and make sure he stayed under his budget we came to the sales counter and as he was watching me right up the receipt he noticed that I was obviously giving him a discount that the original ticket came to over $900 I discounted it down to the $700 we agreed on it was uh you know amazement to this customer how my father went out of his way to really pay attention to his budget and and keep him under that and still give him amazing Service as if he was spending you know thousands he paid me and then we proceeded to load his truck it was a hot summer day we both worked up a little bit of a sweat my father offered him a Coke and said hey sit down cool off a little bit and they started chatting a little bit and and having a conversation of course I I couldn't hold my curiosity longer and I said to him I can't help I notice your tattoos I go you really don't believe in that stuff do you he goes well yes I do he proceeded to tell me he and his cohorts have done a lot of bad things to people of color and to Jewish people and that Jews are liars and thieves and you know bad people and about that time I decided to take off my cap and I shared with him well I'm Jewish he says well you're not a real Jew I said yeah I'm a real Jew I live as a Jew and he said but you were so nice to me and he said you gave me a discount and I said well the Torah teaches us that's how we treat people and I said even though that I saw your tattoos and and I was like in shocked but inside I I knew I knew that I had to treat you properly so I did but I want you to know that nothing's good is going to happen with this you're either going to be shot and killed or you're going to be S to prison I don't see anything happy coming from the behavior that you're being part of well he got up and he left and I figured I'd never see him again and I just hoped and prayed that he would have listened to my words and that he would get away from the life he was living about a year later the same man came in only this time he was wearing a a long sleeve shirt and he was dressed and professional looking right away he says to my dad hey you know do you recognize me and my dad said well of course I I recognize you you're a face I'm I'm never going to forget you know after our meeting last year and he said well I came in today to give you an apology I said why are you giving me an apology he says I now realize how repulsive my tattoos are I will always always keep them covered unless I could have him removed someday he gave me a hug and he was very emotional and he he told me that that obviously I had changed his life a scenario where this person through just a a good conversation with my dad and showing him true yid a true Jew behaves was able to really change his mind about how he thinks about Jews and how he takes his own life into consideration as I reflect I realize that had I not been able to to put my personal feelings aside and realize that even though he didn't know I was a Jew but as a Jew we're taught we have to behave a certain way and live a certain way I'm I'm very thankful that ronom gave me the strength and the ability to do that I had no idea that it would change his life with hashem's blessings it ended up being a happy ending [Music] okay we're back here um thank you for living KES hasem for that amazing story we're back here of course it wouldn't be a Tish show here without RAB Yodi zinsky the director of project inspired Brooklyn we doing there no more project Inspire because everybody's from that's right everybody's reconnected to in the B mdash and we're still waiting to get on tonight's flight right ready get the call only y see if we can get me on that flight no right there's no all no Delta you need all all connections you but we here with r only tinsky Yoni how are you amazing to have you back over here we had uh you know Harry on before describing the overnight trip that we had which of course had a beautiful group from Brooklyn just describe project Inspire Brooklyn what you've been able to accomplish here okay so uh the journey has been T been many many years of cultivating the community and uh building relationships with uh the religious with the not yet religious community and it really works and sitting next to me is uh my good friend Felix iloni who Charlie we were all together on a trip to Israel and then in 199 199 2019 2019 and then uh subsequently we went on many many activities Felix has been to Kentucky Texas trip Texas trip and uh Kentucky twice actually and he's bonded with also the religious community we have a blackbox breakfast that takes place on a regular basis we have wine wisdom whiskey at people's homes we learned Torah and uh it's really a Synergy between the religious community and the um not yet or moving along community and uh Felix going a test for that so you might as well talk to Felix about so tell us Felix what what excites you what what gets you motivated in this in to connect Hashem and Judaism so the first trip that I went to with James far was in November 2019 with you trip to Israel thereafter I went on a Texas trip on a Kentucky trip and then I've you know recruited more of my friends and as a result I went again on a Kentucky trip because if I invited them right I had to go as well uh but these trips are amazing I mean you know you connect you build relationships you meet new people uh you have Torah lessons you study you learn something new and uh it's just a bringing it it's it's really great to be amongst you know Jews like yourself uh some are more religious some are less religious and actually to be uh uh you know a model for some of my friends who are know even though I'm not you know particularly very religious but I know they're a little bit less than I am so I have to serve as a model for them and to bring him on a trip and to walk them through the lessons and inviting he's the rabbi he's the rabbi for that yeah so I mean it's been amazing uh and it all started with a trip with you Charlie listen it's your your ability to take on and to learn and grow is what it's about we talking earlier about the idea of when you get inspired you got to do something take an action and that is what you've been doing which is what's really led to this journey you you know Charlie to this point you know R used to always he was a big this was one of his uh the whole Direction he took with aor was getting people involved so that you can go get other people involved it means to become a leader to step up you know Ilia just says it sort of Felix says it sort of like by the by you know but like y's ability to get people involved who have then gotten other people involved exactly what we're speaking about meaning it would been be enough say like you know oh it was very nice it was a good trip but like now I got to pass this on and that's the message I want to tell you something every event that we have that Felix comes to and I'm talking about other people also but Felix um Felix is here so I'll compliment him personally he always says I'm bringing more unaffiliated Jews to experience what project Inspire has to offer and uh that's it's amazing Felix comes from Siberia there were no Jews in Siberia right we talking about this not Pur one of the few so he so he's making up for all the lost souls that uh are coming back now to to add to that I'll tell you maybe it's my analytical mind I've actually started keeping a spreadsheet of the people that I asked to come in and those that came and those that said maybe and those that said no and obviously I'm pursuing more with the next you know if events the whiskey wisdom Black Box breakfast those people who said no and then I move on to the maybe and those three yeses beautiful uh because I started to lose track because you know I would send out chats I would call some I would have like you know 15 plus people and then I'd forget like did I invite him was he supposed to come over does he know the address like it's great so great got to keep it up amazing okay guys I I want to say that there's no better way to sort of come to an end of the show because we should sort of started up with a with the concept of you know from regular people stepping up into big leadership roles here we're sitting with people who like by the buy are telling you about all the things they're doing which really spectacular and I just want to say to both of you thank you and what you've done is amazing keep up Inspirations this is what gets us this is what this is what's going to get us closer to you for next year together so thank you very much thank you very much for having us thank for having us okay okay um so as we end Tish really with this is the uh the final moments I think we have to just think through what we've been going through in the past two and a half hours and maybe walk away with a lesson you know first and foremost is we have to remember one thing which is that our hopes and our prayers have to be with Gula to worry about hashem's covet his honor his glory and in doing that we have to remember that as the ramal says he has a kingdom and he splits up his jobs to the entire world and me and you are here for a reason we're here to restore the glory to his Kingdom it's an incredible task and it's a daunting task but it's one that if your eyes are open you have and some days the Call Comes in the middle of the night and some days it comes on an airplane and some days it comes at a CL at a trip to Israel but you're seeing I hope from tonight that the impact you can have on somebody else is so big you have no idea what you can turn to a manicurist and save her daughter's life a few years later but the key is to take action don't allow inspiration to fade away do something a rabbi is Le he says to me all the time he says do something so before you end tonight take upon yourself to do something small actions remember the beginning where Freeman Yi Freeman was saying him and his wife they wanted to pay the shiv a call they did something and what look what it's snowball if me and you decide this tishu that we're going to take action and do something for somebody else collect all those actions and see the impact maybe we'll be here on the show streaming at you live next year from the mdash may come soon in our days May