Wealth Beyond The Wallet

The thing that I try to emulate is to love every Jew to see the good in every Jew. To really appreciate every Jew even if we don't agree with their mahalik and how to come to the raon shalom but see the good. See the good that I think that I believe I can safely [music] say that was a mahalik of mosha also to see the good. My father really really uh showed that to to us how he saw the good in everyone and there is good in everything and that's a hashkafa that I believe should [music] be emphasized. Let's see the good in each other because there's more that unites us than divides us obviously. [music] It is my utmost privilege and pleasure to welcome to the middle class podcast Aimari Rabbi Alpbert Schlita [snorts] and the inspiration for this podcast was at this point I felt that we're just talking about money too much and it is something that is important to plan. No one's denying that. But I think it's also very important to take a step back and to really just focus on what really is important in life. um what is meaning and my father Schlita grew up on the lower east side near great personalities like Rab Mosa Feinstein Zatar Shinberg and others who we'll talk about and I believe there's a tremendous amount of lesson lessons that we can learn and glean from that time period and uh my father will go into in depth about that type of lifestyle how it really was a lifestyle that not necessarily were there people that weren't wealthy, but it definitely wasn't the main focus um of living that uh type of lifestyle. So again, my privilege to have my father, Rabbi Alpert, who's been a Rebby and Hank for how many years? >> So long, I can't remember. >> 40 something years. >> Over 30 years. >> Over 30 years. Hank, Hebrew Academy of Nassau County. Shout out to all the Tomidum out there and Tommy Deice. Um, they could definitely hear this side of Robbie Albert that they probably didn't hear yet. No, I I talk a little bit about my history. [snorts] So, it's not totally, but uh there's certainly more that we're going to talk about here. Okay. So, it's definitely um definitely I I think a refreshing type of look on things. So, um let's start all the way from the beginning. what what comes >> I just first of all I I just want to introduce uh my son uh gives us tremendous nakas him and his family barashm and uh the nakas that I have my wife and I we should live and be well from our children that's a bra I send out to all you listeners we should be za uh so I really really happy to share with you what we're going to talk about and uh hopefully it will be inspiring yeah very good Okay. Um, thank you very much. Mashem, I may have asked from Sha. Um, so, okay. So, let's go all the way back to the beginning. [snorts] Um, where did you grow up and what was it like from a very early childhood perspective? As far back as you can remember, if you can just give us a description of what it was like being a child on the Lower East Side. Uh, first of all, uh, let me just say this. um sort of a reminder that uh I'm getting a little older. Uh recently I was asked to speak in the Auda of uh Long Island and uh I was asked to speak because I would be the link between generations. So it's uh it's a little uncanny being put into that position as a link between generations. uh not many people uh have seen or you know have interacted with the great God Mosha Feinstein and I had his to do that. So uh yeah so I'd like to uh hopefully we'll get into that but uh growing up on the east side I was born uh in Beth Israel. I don't remember being born but uh Beth Israel Hospital was uh was on uh was on the lower east side. Uh my mother gave birth to all of us there uh la shalom on in Beth Israel. Uh we lived in a uh in an apartment in the co-ops it's called as it's called on FDR Drive uh corner Grand Street. Uh was a small apartment and the u I guess the recollections that I have is just growing up in that small apartment. I was the uh uh the fourth of uh six children. So I was already, you know, I was on the younger of the children. So I remember my siblings and sharing things, uh sleeping quarters, uh closets, uh phones, bathrooms, so to speak. Uh that was an issue. I think everyone in the east sides bathroom door had some kind of uh crack because >> Yeah. [laughter] Uh but uh it was sort of uh we were all in the same boat so to speak. So uh we all lived there was there was not keeping up with the Joneses like if someone had a circular driveway I didn't need a circular you know there was no such thing in in the east side. So in a certain sense we were very unspoiled. So it was a very simple lifestyle. It it was simple but um I look there's complexities of course that go on uh always uh people human beings are by you know by nature complex and uh uh you know it's it wasn't it wasn't too simple but yeah it was simple in the sense that uh we didn't have the uh like if if you have your own private home and you have your neighbor doing certain things so you have to do certain things. we didn't have to live with that and uh that made us I yeah I do believe uh uh less spoiled and uh more content. >> So I guess in a non-complicated kind of uh lifestyle make it more >> less complicated. Definitely >> less complicated. No, no one had a house, no one had a driveway, no one had a car. >> Yeah. or most people >> most people didn't have a car but yeah [snorts] and and um just I wanted to mention of course I that my grandfather Albert um was of course one of the biggest talidim of remainds and we definitely want to talk about uh your memories of remnis and Albert >> so maybe I would just actually segue into that right away um because you know back to your childhood So [snorts] let's talk a little bit about uh Remnis and Albert who I'm named after. Misha Nissan Lipa Niss and Lipa Remnissen Albert and let's just talk a little bit about uh you know him. What are your earliest recollections of of Reniss and Albert? Okay, that's a yeah, that's a question that could uh a lot to talk about. Um it goes really back to my father's childhood. uh he grew up on the east side after coming to America from Polanka, Poland when he was a young teenager and um his father, my grandfather. Okay, my that was Zadi Shopsy Albert. Um, so that's uh my son Moshinis's great-grandfather. Um, unfortunately he became ill with debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis, MS, and was not really able to support the family too well. So my father's older sisters took some jobs. Uh, but it wasn't easy. It was very difficult and my father didn't really have a father that you know typically uh and even his mother my grandmother Zatsala what a sad decad she was maybe we'll talk about that later too uh motionism has a a daughter named Tova because her name was Ga um so she was taking care of her husband uh my great my grandfather Moshin's great-grandfather because he had this MS Yes. So, he wasn't really uh he didn't really have my my father too much parental guidance. So, who took him under his wing? It was Ramosa Feinstein. Ramosha took my father and actually raised him um as as his own child. My father was actually a member of the uh of Reformation's family. So, how how did that happen? What was the first step that got rid of Feinstein amazing to >> amazingly? So there is a story um exact details uh I'm not sure I'm getting it you know I have all the details exactly how it happened but the gist of it is from what I've heard and read from other people's sources is one of the sources is that my father uh picked up some mail that was on the table in their tiny apartment also on the Lower East Side that uh requested that his his [clears throat] parents um pay the tuition and he was very uh he had pride a certain amount of pride and he didn't want to go to yeshiva uh parents not paying tuition he felt very embarrassed by this so my grandmother was beside herself he had locked himself in in the you know one of the rooms there and rebosha and the rebbitson picked up on it. My you have to understand my even though my grandfather was ill but he was a very well-known rabbi. I mean he was a a brilliant ortor uh and he was a big kakam and the east side did know of them. So Raosha picked up with the rebbitson very hands-on roshiva of the yeshiva that my father wasn't coming to yeshiva. So the story goes the Revitson came knocked on the door with cookies and so forth. My father wasn't buying that. The next uh the next day Ra Mosha came and my grandmother said to my through the door he was he had locked himself in the door again not refusing to go to yeshiva and my grandmother you know said through the door if you I'll translate the Yiddish remnis open the door is here my father thought it was a joke for every who didn't know Raosha Feinstein But sure enough, Reos Mosha knocked on the door and said, "Remminiscent." I don't know if he said Reb. Uh he was he was a young teenager. Nissent Effent opened the door and my father opened the door and it was Remosa. He Mosha took his put his arm around my father's shoulders and they walked to yeshiva together. Uh that started a relationship. Uh every Friday my father would would help Raosha. Raosha was a very was on the short side. He couldn't reach some of the higher shelves and he was already older. My father would use a ladder put this putting this farum away and a relationship evolved that really is the reason my father became a uh a tremendous. >> Wow. So, so and rema >> was a hands-on Rashiva like he knew who who didn't show up. >> He was very hands-on. He was it was the rebbitson [clears throat] too. Yeah, this is MTJ Mifa to ferris yushlay. MTJ it's an acrostic and yeah the rebbitson also was a very hands-on I mean I remember um when I was going to cuz I also went to Mississippi MTJ and I remember the uh all the uh the the community gatherings that were there uh that the rebbitson took care of from the niche the women's organization helping uh the yeshiva helping the yeshiva you know become uh be financed and so forth all the programs So they were very very active. Um >> Mosha Feinstein himself would um so how was Reisha very busy ask answering Shilus at this point in his life? Was he writing a lot? Like how did he have time to Okay, so that goes back that's a great question. >> Uh and with that I could sort of also bring in how exactly we lived uh in our apartment. we could combine the you know answer two questions at once. So I slept on a uh we had we called it highrisers [snorts] which means you had a bed and underneath you had another bed. So you pulled it out. So like this you could pull it back, you know, push it under the other bed in the in the morning so you have space in the bedroom and you had to sleep that we had to sleep that way. We had a few highrises. remember we was six children um and two parents in two bedrooms. So we had a uh we called it a uh a love seat. We had that in in the living room which also was a pull out. Uh it was a couch that you pulled the bed a bed out of the couch. So that's how we managed. But I was with Masle my uh I slept on the um I pulled out the bed. I slept in the, you know, the bottom half of the uh of the high-risiser. Uh my uh brother uh that's another story. My younger brother Oliver Shalom, he passed away young unfortunately. That's another story. Not for now. Now, but um he slept next on the bed on the uh on the other bed. So I slept directly under the window. So when I pulled up my bed cuz it pulled up, I would be able to wake up whenever I wake awakened it would seem that Raosha was was up too. And he would be in the winter time he'd be at his desk with a fluorescent light. In the summertime he was in the balcony and he was writing. He was all I always saw him writing. Uh so that's when he did his his chuvous I guess. uh early in the morning before shakaris uh he would uh he would write his chuvous the the response to the questions that were uh were being asked to him um so I got to uh I got to see that so that's when he did his chuvos um he would come to yeshiva not as much when I was a little older because he already was elderly so he stayed at home but um when he came to yeshiva he sat he sat at his desk uh in the yeshiva Eva and uh that's where he he would learn and you know discuss learning with uh with >> tamidim >> uh but he took advantage of that early morning and one memory if I might share with you that is still ingrained within me um about seeing Raosha his and doing his chouas was Raosha had of course a tremendous sadic for for a son-in-law rev one of his sons-in-law that I'm talking about they were all great people um was Raf Shiskal Rafaiskal. >> Yeah. >> Um he has children uh you know grandchildren that live in Farankaway. So Rafiskal had uh you know was was ill when he was a a teenager when he was younger went into remission and he married at that point he was able to marry but unfortunately it came back I'm making a long story short and he was a nifter at a relatively young age I think in his early 50s which was a miraculous at those times to have lived that long. Mhm. >> Um, so the Leva was in was in I guess in Fer Shalai, but I still remember my parents talking. We again we lived in a small apartment, so we knew >> everything was going on. And I I saw my father crying, my mother was crying, uh, you know, Rafisco was nif. >> So I woke when I woke up early that morning, Raosha was doing his chis. I remember seeing him writing his chuvous. And it's not to say their emotion was uh you know was not emotional. He was very emotional extremely warm and uh outgoing with a tremendous personality loving. He loved Clyra and he was doing his chis because as was explained he understood that people needed answers. He was not obligated in aut in in in mourning. He wasn't an onain lenu. So um he had the obligation to answer those response. People needed answers right away. So he had the he was able to had the ability to concentrate and then he went to Levia and you know anyone would tell you how much he uh he missed uh he missed the Rhyskal how he mourned him. But um just a memory I had that I saw that morning early that morning that summer morningsh was still riding his chubis. >> So the what was the earliest you saw in the morning? Was there >> Oh, I must have been uh you know soon as I could sleep on the bed like uh you know I I would I guess I'm going back to when I was uh 3 4 years old. >> No, like what in the morning? Like when would he wake up? Like what was the earliest in the morning? Oh, to me it seemed like uh [laughter] to me it must seem like to me it seemed like yeah if I would use the the the bathroom, you know, so I I wake up early and you know if I woke up then and uh he was writing but from what I heard from what I understand when I grew up later it was probably around he he would go to sleep around uh 10ish and wake up I guess uh 5:00. >> Oh wow. >> Yeah. 4:00. 5:00. Yeah. That story that everyone quotes about the small child who um spilled ink on Raisha's new shas is that was that your father is that a true story? >> Yeah, he wasn't that small. I think they were in Baharim, you know, which means the older uh >> so let's let's repeat the story. So what's >> Well, this the story goes look as we mentioned my father was very close. Um so they were sitting around him my father and I think some other bakim was with was was talking I guess and learning uh with Ramosa [snorts] and by his desk and uh he had just received a new shas a brand new shas and you know that's that's quite expensive um and they were uh they were discussing so then some kind of I think a phone call Ramosa had zal had some kind of phone call I guess it was so he left the room would write with like a fountain pen I guess. >> Oh wow. A feather >> I think it might have been had like a feather but he would dip it in I guess and it had an inkwell. Um my father turned to his and knocked over the inkwell and it uh you know the the new garam was was uh was on the table and pretty much the ink got all over it. That's pretty much ruined. So but remos came back and I'm not sure what he said exactly but he made my father feel at ease. You [snorts] know, sometimes you could try to make a person feel at feel at ease, but you sense that the person underneath is seething, [laughter] you know, is is upset. Um, my father explained that Mosha really didn't was not upset. He knew it was a total he knew it was an accident. He knew how my father felt. And it reminded me of the story they say over Raika Ager about the guest who uh spilled the wine all over the new tablecloth. So Raik Ager you know hit the table and >> I don't know >> and you never heard that story. >> Maybe I should know. >> Rebecc So he had the you know he had guests by the table Riker's that's all and uh a guest by accident spilled over wine. It was a it was a nice new white tablecloth and ager saw how embarrassed he was. So he uh underneath I guess he used his knee or something to kick the table. And so uh his wine also spilled. He says, "Oh, I guess there's something wrong with the table. You know, it's shaky." Just to make another person feel at ease when something uh uncomfortable happened, awkward happened. Uh these were good, you know. >> Wow. >> Yeah. [snorts] So that story, yes, is true. And my father would talk about it. Well, he would he would talk, >> but they but I think I heard from Bubbby Zat. >> Yeah. >> That the story with him leaving his feet in cold water. >> My father's feet. >> Yeah. To keep himself totally not true. >> That would be uh that would be abnormal. I think we were raised in a very with tremendous hmada. my father um uh since we were in, you know, in close proximity on the in the in the apartment to to escape that proximity, so to speak. My father had a uh a balcony. So, uh on the east side, you had a choice. You could either have a two-bedroom apartment or a three-bedroom apartment with uh without a balcony. So, the two-bedroom apartment would have the balcony. The three-bedroom apartment wouldn't have the balcony. And there were times when my parents could have moved to a three-bedroom. Uh but um my mother said, "No, for for Tati, daddy, as I called my father, we're not we didn't move." Because the balcony was the escape. He was able to go out there and it was, you know, this the walls were soundproof in these apartments and he was able to just learn when he came home from his busy day, uh, prepare his shim, uh, be madrush and and and and prepare his safer. I remember for, you know, that's where he was from. as soon as he ate some supper, he would go out onto the balcony and and just learn there. Whether it was very hot, he didn't mind the heat uh or it was very very cold. He just put on hats and scarves and uh Yeah. And and would just uh we just learned there all the time. >> Um so that's why we uh we we we kept the balcony. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Wow. So, uh, that that was his, um, [clears throat] that was his escape. So, the he grew up in this atmosphere of of learning and but it wasn't it sounds like it wasn't the type of atmosphere that was very um, at least from this standpoint that the learning was um, >> under direct like he really enjoyed it like it was part of his living basically. >> Yeah. Yeah. My father uh my father just um yeah learning was uh was like it was like eating um maybe more so he just loved to learn and that's uh that's what I was alluding to his the hassad was was so tremendous that even after he came in from the balcony he would still have a pile of on his uh on the bed you know next to his bed uh he didn't really um go to sleep he learned and fell asleep sleep. That's how much he loved to learn. But it was all within. I I want to I want to emphasize this from the point uh from that that was mentioned this story that was written up. But uh I have no recollection. My mother claimed uh my mother Shalom claimed that it was it wasn't true. So she knew best. So it wasn't true that he put his feet in the water. It was done with with a normaly. In other words, my father had tremendous husmada and my mother supported that. So shout out to my mother that rabbits and Albert >> Rabbit and Albert was really very very extremely supportive and my father could not have done it without the support of my mother. So they should have they're having a gun now. >> But it was all done with the normaly which means my father understood there's a certain time to relax. Um he played he played handball. He played sports. My youngest from my younger recollections I recall my father playing handball with with Rabbid Zatal Feinste's oldest son. Uh they would play on you know in the uh back door backyard of MTJ. Uh my father loved to swim. Uh he uh he he read the uh the the forward you know some of the Yiddish newspapers. Um, he would go, what's the story? He would go to the pizza shop every morning and read the newspaper. Is that true? >> He would go, it's true. Um, I don't know if it it wasn't a pizza shop. It was like dairy restaurants. We had a number of those on the lower side. We had the garden cafeteria. >> Nothing like Doma, right? Nothing. You didn't have a Doma over there, did you? >> Oh, what? >> Doma. [laughter] Fancy. >> Oh, that No, no. No. These were classy restaurants. Uh but they were dairy. You had the the gun cafeteria was a very big restaurant. Um and you had uh Steinberg's I believe you had Freriedman's. Um my father would circulate [laughter] >> diversify >> and yeah sometimes he was accompanied by ribbed they ate breakfast they ate they would to talk together and learning or current events. Um so my father was a very uh very uh a tremendous masmid but well-versed in current events uh and uh also um you know normalized kind of learning right so you could be really shakua and and sunk into learning but it wasn't like uh it was wasn't a forced uh >> it wasn't putting feet in you know to stay awake it wasn't like that >> that [snorts] part is I mean, the truth is they don't say those stories about me, but that that's that much you could take out of it. >> Yeah. Right. Right. Um, >> okay. So, I want to I want to get back to we'll shift gears for a little bit going back to your childhood. So, um, it seems like, you know, the east side was not so complicated, but there were very wealthy people that, um, that you were neighbors with, right? >> Yeah. years later we found that so you know >> you found out years later >> people they they were very smart these people on these side you know the rent was low and and they bought real estate >> um which today is worth you know quite a bit of uh quite a lot of yeah um but they were still a millionaires you know quiet ones and uh um very uh downto-earth people and not uh you know they didn't have uh uh they and show themselves show themselves as wealthy people, you know, uh putting down others. Very fine people. Very very fine. >> But they and they lived in apartments like everyone else. >> Yeah, we lived together in apartments like everybody else. So uh >> yeah. >> So that uh and and were they happy? They were happy people. >> Uh we were happy people. Look, I uh [snorts] we my father worked at so many different jobs. He was uh he was a rebby in Yeshiva University. Uh he was uh he was a rub of a shul. He was a chaplain of the police precinct. Uh he was uh the chaplain of the education alliance which was uh a building uh on those. >> So these things I'm not familiar. What did he do as the chaplain of the police department? Did he tell you about that at all or >> I guess what a chaplain does. Uh he didn't really disclose what he what he did to us, but I imagine, you know, there were Jewish policemen there. Uh I still remember once um we were in the suka. Uh the suka was a community suka, [snorts] which means that the suka wasn't privately owned. We shared a suka. Every family ate in the suka. It was a huge suka. Um, and one time the uh the chief of the precinct came into the suka and he was Jewish and [snorts] he he actually was a Cohen and he I guess from his youth he remembered some of the words of the of the blessings that the you know the kohan the blessings the kohanim give. So he said, I still remember him saying it to my father. My father having him sit down. And so I saw from this that my father was uh got along well with the with the with the police precinct. They were very helpful with us, the the uh police precinct. Uh if I may go into another story. Sure. Yeah. My father's shul um started out on the on Third Street and I believe avenue C. I could be mistaken. Could be Avenue A or Avenue C. I I forget at this point. >> Um and the neighborhood as as we know the neighborhood there declined. It used to be packed with with with Yidden, but it declined. Yidden. you know, Jews bought homes in uh in Queens and and and Burough Park and Williamsburg and they moved out of the Lower East Side and therefore the clientele that came in was not exactly friendly to us and it was became almost a hazard dangerous to walk from our apartment under the Williamsburg Bridge to you know across the Lansancy into the uh to my father's shaw. So eventually my father called the precinct and said um is there any could we have a policeman helping us and they actually sent a policeman when the you know when the prayer times came the policeman would stand and guard um at one point at some point the policeman was would come inside the shel we in you know he he invited himself in because he was afraid to stand outside. >> Oh boy. >> So later on they actually had a police car which would escort us back and forth from Shul at the at the times of prayer. Uh so thanks you know my father had this connection with the precinct. So uh >> Oh wow. >> Yeah. So they they were very helpful. Uh sadly that shul was firebombed with all the uh police helping us. One Friday night they just threw the molotov cocktails, homemade whatever bombs in >> and the shul burnt. >> Um [snorts] years years later, I don't know if um you remember Mosha, but uh I took you to on the tishabuff. I figured it's a good trip to go back and see what ever happened [snorts] because my father shoe moved. We they had to move but I never went back to the original site for years and years for decades. So that tishab I took you and >> and you should be well and I think was born >> and it was a it was uh it was a church. So >> yeah remember >> but the building was still there the way I remembered it just [snorts] it wasn't a sh Yeah. >> When Msiah comes it'll become a shool again. >> So I So anti-semitism doesn't only exist now. Apparently it existed before. >> They they did not welcome us into the neighborhood. Yeah. Well I guess you could call it anti-semitism. Yeah. Scary walking there. >> Um [snorts] >> so let's move to as so as a child again. Um, today we have technology and social media and all different types of pastimes. What was, you know, what what kept you busy as a child in that lifestyle? Um, what did you do for fun? >> Okay. Yeah, I like that question. Uh, for fun, is it possible to have fun without technology? >> Yeah. Right. That's why I like the question. Uh, certainly is. Um we the focus there there's a pro and con actually to the answer to this question. The we played a lot of ball. Um we played sports that you can play cheaply. Meaning all you needed was a rubber ball. >> Not tennis. You didn't play tennis? >> No, we didn't play tennis. [snorts] >> And uh hockey. >> Um we actually played street hockey. >> Oh yeah. How? >> Yeah. We we bought plastic sticks. We bought sticks. Not hockey sticks though. >> They were hockey sticks when we were older. We actually bought hockey sticks. They were not expensive in those days. >> Um >> I didn't know this. Very good. >> So I actually did play street hockey. We played in the park. We played street hockey when I was this was when I was about 14, 15 years old. [gasps] Uh but before that the main sport was basically uh punch ball with a rubber ball, slap ball, stick ball. All you needed was a stick and a ball and uh you could figure out the rest. Uh then basketball. Um we played some basketball. Um so that was the fun that we had. We we would uh sports was a big thing. The con about that is that you know boys who weren't into sports would feel left out. So today in a way there's a little bit more of a pro that there's with technology there's things they can do uh things that they can do that are fun but if you're you know that time you could read you could read books uh you could watch television [clears throat] this is what some of my friends did my father refused to let us have a television I may add so basically my brothers and I we played sports that was the and and you know with with our friends too. We played a lot of sports. I was a very good punch ball player. Um again even punch ball you don't need a large field because uh it's it's a you're punching a ball. You're not hitting a baseball. Right. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> So we had we had fun doing that um with uh with there were barrels in the park. You we played off the barrel. These barrels were cement barrels. Mhm. >> Uh and you know those days they weren't as conscious about uh uh safety these barrels of my oldest brother should live and be well. Uncle Monty, Uncle Morai actually once uh got a lot of stitches because he he banged his head on the concrete of the barrel. >> Yeah. So, but we played you you hit the ball, you you threw the ball off the barrel and it, you know, it uh it bounced off the barrel and uh if you caught it on a fly, it was an out. If it bounced once, it was a base hit. >> Uh we had a lot of fun games that way. And all the uh community boys, you know, that were in sports, we would get together in the in the playground and and play these games. They were really good games. So, that that was fun. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. So okay so lot of a lot of sports what would you say so as the theme of links of generations what was what's the diff would you say there's a big difference between the kin you had and yeshiva as far as like the method and and design of the compared to how it is today is different or the same or better >> um no it's not the same at all and I I think um with all due respect and from other generations. I think that the um the movement towards um rewarding positive reinforcement uh is the way to go. And because when I was growing up, there was more of a disciplinary system. Uh a rebby could throw an eraser at you. uh maybe even uh sometimes um give a you know take a ruler and smack you on the hand something like that. Um so that that was uh that was allowed to be done. Uh today we believe more in I think in like I said positive reinforcement, reward and for doing things right and um we [snorts] stare away very far away from any uh you know from any uh using anything being any anything physical. >> Uh so in that way there's a there's a certain pro in today's educational system. uh the fact that we have um more English books in English that people can read for example or children could could read the reading that that's that's involved stories that we have that kids can read is uh I think is is a an element of growth on the other on the other hand there's a sad con to today's society uh when I is a when I was growing up the you know the sounds of kids talking to each other were deafening. the rebi would have to make you the rebi the secular teacher whatever it is came into a classroom of kids yapping at each other talking about whatever it is >> and today when I come into a classroom as a rebby myself the lights are closed very very often first period the lights are are off and kids are you know in the school that I have they're allowed devices before before the period starts so they're looking at devices whether it's a laptop or uh kids can even have a phone and there's no there's a lack of camaraderie there's a lack of conversation uh of socializing between children and I think that's a very that's that's a sad thing yeah so we could learn from last generation how you [snorts] know talk to each other you have you have you're sitting together you talk you don't you don't uh look at the device and do whatever you're doing here. >> Uh I think that it's a it's even with a relationship between parents and children, the technology uh has taken away some of that life that we had growing up. I was just sitting in a park uh uh this summer. Um, I was looking in a safer, but um, it happened to be there was a father who was pitching into his young child, you know, like a baseball. He was pitching in with a whiffle bat, a whiffle ball. And but he, on one hand, he had a cell phone. He had a phone [clears throat] and at one point the boy the the his son hit the ball. It rolled all the way towards the fence [snorts] and he was on a call and the boy was just sitting there waiting and the the [snorts] father was on the phone um just you know waiting for whatever business he had there to finish while the son was waiting for. When I I that I felt that was very sad. I was even thinking of saying something but I didn't. >> But that's that could be some somewhat typical when you're um those years when a parent had you know was giving attention to a child it was it was total attention so even though it may not have been for a long time but [snorts] when you're giving attention to a child it was a total focus and some you know I think that um has a little bit uh it's been diminished that focus that we have when you're with a child everything else should be uh you know uh blacked out this is your this is your time with your child put your phone way. Mhm. Yeah. Wow. Um, so very salient points. Um, moving more towards as you were growing up. So what was the yeshiva system like back then? Because today you have uh every type and every stripe of yeshivas. In those times, let's say you were growing and learning and you you're moving into bash medish. Where did people go? What was the general approach to learning? Was it complicated or what was the atmosphere as you got older and we're moving into the base medish years? Uh, okay. First of all, I became very close to uh very very close to Rebosh's oldest son. Um, uh, my my father was close to Rotion. In fact, something that I just want to put in there, my son Mosha and Lipper is not just a name for my father. The Moshe was actually a name for for a Mosha because the the rabbi talid relationship. So I chose to not go to Erit Israel. My father wanted me to go to Erit Israel. >> To where in Eritra? >> Uh anywhere. >> What was there? >> Uh what was there was my grandfather's yeshiva zade shinberg shinberg. >> Yeah. My mother's my mother's father was ashal very learned also tremendous and he had a yeshiva that he opened way ahead of the times in 1966 I believe before the sixth day war he he bought a property that was on the border with uh with Jordan and the six day war opened the they heard the bombs they really had to use that shelter uh because he invested in that property way before anything was really developed. It was no man's land. So, um yeah, so that's so that's a little bit about uh my my grandfather uh Raf Shinberg. Um so he he my father would have been happy that we that I you know very happy that I I learned how to he couldn't understand why I wouldn't go. Oh, he had such a love fairy tal. But [clears throat] um I wanted to be I wanted I saw his hanhaga and uh I had established a certain relationship with with his I was very good friends with David's son uharin Feinstein whose oldest brother now is the um Russier his older brother Feinstein. So uh I wanted to do that. I remember a quick story. Uh when I was 15, I was went to my parents [snorts] received free tickets to Israel as a present from the shul. They received free tickets, but it was without the children. My parents said, "Let's splurge. We're going. Let the kids come along." So they paid for us and my father took me to uh I think it's R. Sternbach another maybe >> really. >> Yeah. >> What's what's R what's um Sternbach? >> I think that's the one. Yeah. >> From already Wow. All these >> Yeah. >> So you splurged for one one time. >> So yeah we [laughter] Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. We went to Yeah. We we stayed there for about 3 4 weeks in the summer and my father took me to Rav Shbak and he had like a he has a hajas upon him >> right >> and he he asked my father and I I think they were speaking in Hebrew but I understood um and [snorts] uh he asked so where's he going to go to yeshiva and my father looked at me I said I'd like to stay in first sir Sternbach said to My father ah mim I don't know if he spoke in Yiddish or Hebrew I'm doing it in Yiddish mimaishi >> I understood what he meant >> that mean he meant that the the the the law of the Hebrew intentioned servant who wants to stay longer >> in in the house of his master gets his ear pierced so one of the things he says is you know I like where I am >> so I don't want to move >> that's great to Yeah. >> So I politely said I I I want to learn with RDavid Feinstein and he looked he understood a little bit. He heard of Rabd uh what a sadic was. So so that's uh so I developed Reb's style of learning. Uh I I was by David Feinstein for uh between six and seven years till I got married. >> And I was I started out I was I graduated high school. I was just turning 16. And his style was basically to uh stay with the Ahmad Gumar. He would he was even he wasn't even pro-learning tofus that had to do with another suga. if it affected the sugi impacted the sugi itself he he would do it but in the end he he said no okay we'll do all the toes but it was basically a daf shir and in this way we covered a lot of ground >> mhm >> and that's the style that uh that I developed uh morakio and today in yeshivas um you know I don't can't say all can't speak for all but many yeshivas of course they have that eon seder where they don't cover that many blot. Uh they certainly don't finish the mak and theanser. Um so it's a different style of learning. But my father also was prolearning the da you know covering more ground. >> Mhm. uh many times David Shia he would say things orally and I on my own going being you know the reviewing the sh I would uh look in and I would see that David was he you know he he already thought out what some of these were saying >> so uh I really love those those years of sharim very much >> so let's talk about cuz I know you you also bring this up a lot with your father and Eritis. >> Yeah. >> Um cuz we know a lot of contentious things happening today. Um how did did your father have any what was his experience like with Eritis? Okay. Um we're not getting very political or controversial. We just want to know what >> Yeah. >> what uh was like. >> Yeah. It's not for me to uh you know to take a stand on on certain issues but certain things I think are coin and should be you know therefore could be said and should be emphasized. Uh first of all my father was a uh uh loved eritus. I just want to say that get that out. I mentioned it before I know but it's you know has to be re reiterated. I remember my father discussing the move to Farakaway um as being a move that's closer to Kennedy airport which means uh a shorter distance to Erit Israel >> and so much he loved Erit Israel. He just loved it. Uh my father went uh he was sent by Ra Mosha with Rebell and I forgot there was another RA rabbi great uh rabbi I don't remember who it was that they went together uh Terry Tisel um to uh see what they can do I think to as a founding fathers of uh connecting to to Pelim that that time it was called >> Mhm. Um that was the organization what's it called now? Yeah I think is it now? Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Um he was one of the founding fathers and he went it's to work with the medina to help you know schools uh you know education young children becoming educated uh you know in the Jewish way similar organization. So he loved Arit Israel and he um he he just enjoyed uh being there when we were there. He was just ecstatic. And uh I remember once we were uh doing uh we were we were doing something for Pelim. Uh they were looking uh at a um uh Rev. Grossman I think it is. >> Oh >> yeah. In a Where is it? uh migdal >> mdala >> we actually went there to see what was going on. Uh pil you know it was he needed he would would have liked support from pelim. So pa my father represented pum went there and it was so impressive by the way he had these it was just a summer program and he had these kids singing basama and benching like they were pros at it like they were grown up with it. It's just incredible. I I actually shook Rub Grossman's hand. Um well he tremendous person. I didn't realize it at that time. My father did. Anyway, on uh to make a long story short, on the way home um we saw some soldiers hitchhiking and uh so the driver was driving was going to pass them. My father said, "No, let's stop and see if we can help them." Those days, you know, it wasn't uh >> easy to get around. it wasn't easy to get around and uh and you were able to you know it wasn't unsafe to do that. >> Mhm. >> Um [snorts] >> Right. >> So it turns out that there were wasn't enough room for the uh for the amount of soldiers that were uh looking for the ride. But I just remember my father getting out of the car shaking each one's hand with a with mamish a hug and a kiss. um because he had such a karatov for the fact that they were uh willing to be mosa nephesh for uh for Israel and amrael. >> Mhm. >> So that was uh you know that was my my father's perspective on that. We all have to be makertove the the soldiers that are fighting for us. um they are [snorts] uh being most nephesh and willing to uh you know to do things alkish hashem. So my father really that story just stands in my mind like you don't know the people you don't know who they are and you're just and and and you're acting like you're >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> Wow. Mhm. >> So when when you were in there, you saw was he hiking the land like what was the >> Yeah. Yeah. He he went he he did tours with PM a lot. Um representing Pelim. Uh he went around >> he went around certain places that had to be seen. Uh >> yeah, he did. >> Wow. >> So um let's talk a little bit about Rev Shinberg Zatal. And I also wanted to understand before me before that um I know that um your father had a kusa Friday nights with what was it the the one of the illium that was there. Am I being accurate? He used to get into big arguments uh Friday nights. >> Um that was Yeah. Okay. >> You know what I'm talking >> um Yeah. [snorts] So the question is >> I want to know what it is. What was that that he had? >> No, it was just basically risk the uh risk the Torah, you know, the uh you know um looking at a piece of Gamarra and understanding it, I guess, in different ways. >> With who? Who was it with? >> It was with uh a cousin of my uh of my mother's was a cousin of my mother's. Um they lived in a different apartment and they would get together. It wasn't just Friday night. I think it was like uh weekday nights also >> and they would scream at each other >> and they would yeah they would risk of learning and uh >> um >> yeah when they got together it was uh it was a lot of it was a little bit noisy and uh I remember it because uh at that time you know we were living in that apartment and uh even though the walls were soundproof but if you're in the if you're in the same apartment the colors of of learning were uh Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> But my father had a shaft in the summer with uh from the you know the rash from the mirha in Brooklyn. Um uh the summers were for my father. That was the time where he could focus totally on his [snorts] writing of the uh of his safer the riv on the commentary of the riv on on ba mitsia. M >> there was no he was mala the riods and uh you know the com the mafarim that asked question on the riven and he wrote haras on it >> so that in the summer sometime he would would work on that uh uh you know full-time and um when we when we would go away for the summer we went when I was a very young boy we went to a bungalow colony in white lake >> and in that bungalow colony was called curts and lemon It's still there. Uh it became Bab. But before that uh there were people from the east side. Ra I think was there too. And my father had uh would they would go out into the forest and uh >> Well, they would go out there the whole day. >> They come out the whole day. Yeah. >> He ended up burning. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was uh Yeah. >> That's why uh he that's how he knew my father pretty well. Yeah. my father. I just just uh something I think that should be emphasized um is the thing that I try to emulate and I try to give it over to my children is to love every Jew to see the good in every Jew to really appreciate every Jew even if we don't agree with their mahalik and how to come to the raon shalom but see the good see the good that I think that I believe I can safy say that was the mahalik of mosha also to see the good and um my father really really uh showed that to to us how he saw the good in everyone and I I still remember somebody calling up cuz I I was in the uh my father we we had we ended up with two phones which was a big deal in those days two two house phones >> two house phones >> so one was in my father's bedroom But I was I went in because uh that was the room that had the air conditioner. So I went in there. I was reading a little bit and somebody was speaking to my father about a shak and he was speaking he was asking about a boy that my father knew from Yeshiva University and he was questioning if it's a if it's a good shak because his you know he's he's not familiar with yeshiva university circles. It's you you know I don't want to we're on the air here so I don't want to get [laughter] I'm a little bit my father started laughing says he's a yucker he's a special young man you have to go ahead with the and it did and today is tremendous >> oh wow >> yeah so he saw the good in everything >> and there is good in everything and that's a hashkafa that I believe should be emphasized let's see the good in each other because there's more that unites us than divides us obviously. Uh we shouldn't um demarcate ourselves too much. Uh yeah, it's a it's funny cuz it's a unfortunately cliche that you know more than what divides us unites us. But you're saying that Raisha was like that. Your father was like that. Ref. Shinberg also I'm assuming was >> Yeah. My my R. Shberg was very unpolitical. Well, he didn't get involved in political, you know, these things. He he wouldn't do that. >> He wouldn't uh >> So, so what what was what Shinburg like on the east side? Do you remember how >> uh it's start with the citizens? When was that? >> Uh it's I know that it started before I was born. >> Oh wow. >> Um >> my he was wearing citus. I remember asking my mother and I don't think we really have the real answer. I think it's uh I don't think we'll ever find out. Um but uh yeah he wore all those titus and um but he was a very uh like I said before he was a very normal person meaning it's not a normal thing right it's not a usual thing to wear so many tits as we know uh we don't even know if Moshabenu did that but he was a very with it person my grandfather and I remember as as a teenager when I was about uh 16 17 and [snorts] I uh was really getting more into learning uh and I didn't want to waste time and I went to my uh I ended up going to my grandfather my my mother said speak to Zadei and I said speak to Zadeie Shinberg he's going to tell me uh of course you shouldn't you should learn more says you'd be surprised Zadi Shinberg is he'll you have to go so sure enough I went to Zadeie Shyberg and um and he encouraged me. He says you can't give up playing ball. Says it's a it's a good thing when you're in Sedar you're learning. Don't take off Sedar for it, but don't go overboard with that. And he quoted me. I still remember his words. You should remove the Satan from before you and from behind you. And he explains he says before you means you have a ty to speak lash and har to maybe uh uh wait you know miss krisheshma to sleep later. Okay that's the satin before you behind you is what you're experiencing. He wants you to learn more and in that way you you u become burdened by it and then you end up giving up the whole thing. says that's Maharenu. You have to be careful with that. >> And he gave me his advice. >> Yeah. [clears throat] And he was someone who didn't stop learning himself from Sh. >> He was Yeah. My grandfather uh he's the he was a very big uh he promoted the fact that if you have a minute to spare, you could learn a halaka. And if you do that in all your spare moments, you'll finish you'll finish Mishna Burra. all all all if you could do that he didn't waste a second the story goes my uncle Simi uh Sim Shinberg my grandfather's only son who now was the Russian Torah in the yeshiva there so he tells over the story that my grandfather sent uh a close to of his he he was going to England and he said you know in Israel I can't seem to find it there's a a certain type of of uh the uh soap that you wash your hands with. Um so can you buy it for me? So the tom thought it was a little strange you know you have soap in Israel but my grandfather said this you know like zeros the rebi said so he went he couldn't find the brand so he he he bought a different brand and [snorts] he says okay rebby I couldn't find the brand I bought you this he says you don't understand that brand I like better because it creates the suds faster so it's I could wash my hands [laughter] faster that's the story um so yes Second, the moment meant a lot. You could do a lot. But like I mentioned at the beginning, he was he knew how to talk to to pe to boys to to young people. He was a he was the die in a mat starf. And uh when I was there, I remember people were constantly coming for asos for advice. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Wow. Um so back then did the people recognize who who who they were amongst like these great people were people just it was part of life walking down the street and R shber gear and remnis Albert was it yeah it was we took a little bit for granted there um I look I remember my father uh Mosha Davins Mosha Davins in a minion when he was older he couldn't walk to Ferris Shallay anymore. So there was a minion in the apartment building and they offered to make the minion in Ramosha's house but there was already a minion in my section there were three sections in the apartment building. So in [snorts] my section across the way there was already a minion byes and says I'm not going to take away from the minion [snorts] but heavu >> and you you know that's no says that's what I said before accepting everyone says so to this day I have aus with my dear friend of his son um about uh what did he do cuz I d sometimes at that minion in the building. >> Mhm. >> And I saw Raosha ding ma when it was you know past this man that we would do and he claims that Ramosa davined uh faking it. Maybe he was saying to hill. He wasn't really dishing because he would do before that time >> in this minion in his >> in this minion in the democar's house where the minion for was raenu man. >> Oh, he wasn't really ding. >> He wasn't really ding. >> Oh boy. >> I I the way I sort of was. But the story that I'm trying to bring out is my father would come because they dav so late. My father would come from his shore uh and wait for Emosa to finish daring and walk him to the other section where to remot's apartment and um so when I was very young I would actually walk on we would take turns my father would walk on his right and I would walk with my brothers on the left take turns holding Ramosha's hand uh you know like like like a like a grandfather um escorting him back to the apartment. But I we took it for granted because when I was a little older and I was hungry, I would say I I would sort of say to my father, you know, he would wait for emotion would be very late. >> Let's let's let's start the meal. >> Mhm. >> So if I if only I could bring that time back, imagine being able to walk, you know, but it was like Ramosia is a was a big tadic and everything but uh he'll be around forever part of every day. >> Yeah, part of every day every >> Yeah. It's not that it's not that we we didn't realize how great he was. Um but we sort of took it for granted. That's more of a better way to put it. >> Yeah. You know, I think we're going to we're going to wind down the podcast, but focus more on on how we could apply the past uh to the present. Um so, first like like this, what what were considered luxuries back then? So, if you had a little extra what was a luxury? Uh okay, so >> vacations. What was a >> Yeah, vacations. Uh people would go on a vacation. That was a luxury. >> Yeah. the the luxury those days. Um it was still you may have heard of the the borch belt. Uh that was still the uh the luxury going to hotel in the catsclls. A nice hotel. >> That was the luxury. >> Like the homo act the homo act. >> Yeah. You remember days of the homo act in its heyday? >> Yeah. There were >> Kutcher. What's it Kutcher? I Yeah. But u there was a famous one. There was Zucker's um [clears throat] there was uh [snorts] uh what was the there was a f more famous one that's it eludes me at this point that was uh uh people went [sighs] h I don't remember it uh some of the some of the hotels with the hashkah you know it depends if you trusted it u but I think would go to the zukers hotel uh that was known to you know that was very reliable a very reliable heir and a lot of Gdole went there. Tannersville uh a lot of Gdole from the Yakasha community they had up there the other part of the house but that was like the luxury to go to a hotel uh enjoy uh you know the meals and service. Um people went to Bungalow Colonies um [snorts] that was a major uh you know vacation thing. uh and people uh you know people could afford to win terra uh Florida was uh was known as the uh on deck circle in those days meaning uh people who were older moved to Florida and that's where they retired. So but no one [clears throat] was going for midwinter to Florida. Not really. Yeah. Not not from my circles. Yeah. Uh, look, for me personally, it's like a um it's like a sort of a different world. Like if you probably see have seen it in me cuz you're my son. Uh the other day I was playing tennis with one of your brothers and um after these sets uh I went around collecting some of the balls that were on the side and he's like uh just leave it. they're old already. And I I couldn't I couldn't it was very hard for me to do because uh as long as you could use it. Uh let's let's let's still use it. So it doesn't bounce as good as another ball. Uh growing up on the east side, we [snorts] um we we couldn't afford new balls so well. So that's I guess something uh uh that I've haven't outgrown from the east side that you know that I still have with me uh to uh make the best out of something and use it and not waste it. Let's not waste things. And that's that maybe could be cuz I did grow up from you know from survivors of the of the Holocaust. my grandmother, my grandparents, my father was a survivor really also. >> Uh so that maybe is part of the uh part of the reason for for treating things uh till the last till they uh till you can't lose it till the last drop as the saying goes. >> So what would you tell today? >> I I would tell today's generation um don't take anything for granted. uh don't waste things. Um and uh as far as um amuna and bahon is concerned, you can't waste the amuna and that these survivors, these people had in order to make our lives better today. Uh we have to live with the with a picture of them in our minds. I always emphasize this uh because it's a you know it's they they sacrifice so much uh I I still remember it was difficult for some people to take off on on shabas. I still remember that uh before I was born it was you know those times where people lost jobs you know immediately if they were found to uh that they couldn't work on shabas. So, but I saw the amunauta of my uh Bobby Alpert, my uh uh my father's parents. I I still remember asking my father, my grandmother, we we would eat there for Yamto. We would go there to eat on the for Yam meals. And my uh the the night the night table, the table was full of candles. And I would ask my uh my mother, I said, "Mommy, what why why so many candles?" when I was old enough to realize what's all the candles. My mother had a difficulty, you know, how do you explain to a child? These are all Bubby Bubby Alpert's uh siblings that were nifter. She had she had, you know, almost a nine. I think I'm named for one and they were all taken by the Holocaust. But yet, you'd never notice she had such a moon and so we can't forget that. We can't forget that. And uh we have to live up to it and therefore keep the maintain the legacy of of Yiddish kite uh you know from the generations that are in danger here in America of living so well of assimilating and sort of forgetting that uh that that tremendous sacrifice that they made to uh remain from. >> So what would you tell people today? What what gives you happiness? Cuz we know a lot of people pursue, you know, financial monetary success and and they vacations have gone a little bit um you know, no no judgment of course, but the standard of living has definitely risen uh since uh you know, yester year. What would you say people should what is it? What will give people contentment? >> Contentment. Listen, uh to be content is you know like say who's a wealthy person you satisfied with his with his lot. Uh the problem with today is that a person's lot could be could be quite big. So to be satisfied with that lot means means to be ashikuto. So [laughter] we have to realize when you know when a person has to be smart and realize we we've come over certain ways with takana weddings and things like that. That's a you know I don't want to get into that. I don't want to uh go into that too much but that's a but that is an idea of where to where a person can start exactly um where to put your finances in now that we are hashem doing better than than the generation that we're building you know generations ago that we're building on now uh to think about uh concerns of people that that there are plenty on sadly that could use financial cial support. Um so to weigh the u to weigh the mitzvah of sodaka how great it is versus um doing that u you know not doing a takana wedding you know we should we should be we should be careful with that and make wise decisions. [clears throat] So let's end off with this because we spoke about so much. I mean, we spoke about what life was like in in the previous generation. We spoke about the ashkafa of the and how you interacted with them and um we gleaned a lot of lessons really. You spoke about a lot of different things, but what would you say is one thing [snorts] if you could bring from the 60s and the 70s when you were growing up? What would be one thing you can you wish you or something you would apply to today you could bring to today besides for the hippie movement maybe? Yeah, that was a tough thing. I remember I I I was too young. I was a little young but my older brother's friends I saw them uh join Yeah, that was that was a tough thing. But I I would say this uh I want to bring out this point um that my father would emphasize also a lot and I think we need to you know emphasize uh today too. Um if you go to the lower east side even today um there's basically one yeshiva I'm talking about boys one yeshiva sifted through MTJ that's struggling to survive and you take a tour of the east side you go down the lower east side and you take a tour so there's the one yeshiva and you see remnants of shs there's uh you know these shs that um existed from the early 1900s. Many many shs, but how many yeshivos were there? They didn't really build too many yeshivos um in those days. And that was probably uh the you know, Jews came and they Yeah. We dive in in the in the h we ding in the h in the in Europe or wherever they came from. And so we're going to dive in here, but we want to become more uh more more financially independent. Uh American colleges and so forth. So uh they built shels but not so many yeshivas. Education was free in public schools. You know, a [snorts] number of reasons. And um and that my father said was was was was an issue with that with with the many of the uh yidden coming in from immigrating from from across the ocean. The importance of Torah, connecting to Torah. That's what my father, my parents taught us. Of course, my mother also the importance of staying connected through the learning of Torah. And that the best way for that to happen is through making sure we have yeshivos. So hashem we do see growth of of yeshivos. But there is you know there are there is that problem of still going to the secular college. And we need to for some of for some of our Jewish brethren out there that maybe they went to yeshiva uh you know in high schools when they go out to the American colleges to stay connected to uh to stay connected to Torah learning that's the um that's that's something that we have to take we have to uh always make sure the the legacy of Israel is through connection to Torah learning that has to go on. Um so there should be continued growth of yeshivos and that connection to Torah. Um so wherever someone is they should be uh they should find the time to uh to learn Torah. I grew up with people learning Torah. And you know just to uh conclude with um the this what I'm saying now is with on this week's para the balatur makes a fascinating observation [snorts] where it says about a king in this week's para talks about appointing a king and it says uh uh it I I'm losing the quote there basically The puzz begins and ends with a lammed [clears throat] and he makes the observation that's not a coincidence. Why does a puzz begin and end with a lammed? And I in sham what he says but I could hear my father giving this answer. Not that he gave it. It's original but he would he would shake his head and nod for sure. It begins and ends with because if you want you want you want you want length of days you want the Israel to continue it begins and ends with lammed lammed stands for limit to that's how amus that's there has to be a connection to Torah so there has to be yeshivas yes yeshivas yeshivas so people send their children to yeshivas and whether it's uh elementary high school and with a real emphasis on post high school that the that the uh the people the the boys the young men the young women coming out of high school still stay connected to Torah because the temptation to go to an I to an Ivy League college great college it's there but then there's a certain loss to connection to Torah And that's uh and that's not that doesn't uh breed well. So let's stay connected to Torah. >> Oh wow. Okay. That was a very very powerful podcast. I want to thank you again aba for uh for gracing us with your presence and reliving your experiences and and sharing them with us. And uh hopefully this will make a positive influence on our listeners and and uh we should only see brahas from it and until Msiah comes. Amen. Amen. It was a yeah it was a pleasure being here too. Uh really I hope that uh we we've succeeded. I think we you know it's inspiring people and uh I thank him again for uh giving me the opportunity to uh share these things and maybe it's and gold said