A "Walking Farbrengen" | PREMIER EPISODE

you know otherwise it's your show okay fine okay so we're gonna start walking right now this is a new thing we're doing walking with my friend Avi former across the street neighbor um he was my across the street neighbor but then he helped me buy a house so I moved a few but Hashem I moved a few blocks away um but uh so let's tell everybody how this started simchastaira we were at Chabad of the five towns yeah and I said that we were dancing together and uh you uh I noticed you lost a lot of weight you look great and I said do you feel as good as you look you said yeah you feel good walk Hashem and you said let's start walking together yeah yeah some Class Tire is a good time for aquatus for making good resolutions so I said let's start so this is uh our first walk yeah okay first of many first of many God we want people to join them yeah it's a hak hill thing this is the hak hill year the seventh year where uh We Gather so maybe it'll become a whole big like uh like the Boston Marathon it would be beautiful it's it's it would be awesome so and the premise here is this is like a moving fabren that's right a walking for brain and I see you brought your your bottle I have here I I I I tried it it's not masket right no no no no no no it's a it's protein it's vegan protein vegan protein with a hatch shirt they have really good quality stuff out there I try to increase my protein intake because I exercise a lot and I lift weights and and part of my diet is focusing on on quality protein intake and people don't really understand how much protein you really need you need a lot of protein you need a lot and it's very probably less carbs than you think you need and more protein more protein and it's very difficult to get it from food sources and supplements help so I I have I I have a protein shake here that I drink once a day to help me increase my protein okay so by the way you're gonna hear noises in the background because we're walking down Central Avenue and I think the route that we figured out was a mile walk that's the premise that we're gonna walk to Cedarhurst park around the park we make a lap around the park and then come back where we started and that should just be a drop over a mile and you're taking it easy on me I said nothing crazy no uh 26 mile marathon I can't do a 26 mile marathon so don't worry okay so maybe by the time you know we do this a few more times who knows Okay so to start off our Mobile febrang in here you told me something I don't know if you're willing to share it but you share with me a memory when we're dancing around yeah we're probably not dancing hard enough if we're able to Converse that much but um you were telling me about the shul oh yeah Neptune Avenue yeah yeah and it was really beautiful yeah what you what you told me but set it all up like set up like the contrast about this so so when when when my younger brother and I were kids we used to go to my maternal grandparents for the second days for shmini at Saras and symptoms Torah and my grandfather alava Shalom my grandparents on both sides maternal and paternal were Holocaust Survivors my great-grandparents did not survive um and and we used to go shmini at Saras and Sim costora to my mother's parents they lived in your mother's parents were this from the same place your father I know your father my father's side is Carpathian my mother's side is from Poland my mother was born in Krakow so so my grandparents my mother's parents lived in Brighton Beach and my grandfather Oliver Shalom davenden a little stable off of Ocean Parkway off Neptune Avenue on the intersection of Ocean and Neptune there was a big uh Orthodox Shoal on the corner of Ocean Parkway and Neptune Avenue which still might be standing today it still might be functional I don't know but but I inherited from my grandfather that we like little stibbler we're not into the big big shows and down the block was a little steeple on Neptune Avenue a block off of ocean and it was all Holocaust Survivors even the Rob was a holocaust Survivor I think today it's a it's a it's a condominium I think a developer bought it and knocked it down and built an apartment building but back in those days 30 40 years ago back in the 80s this was in the 80s yeah yeah yeah correct by the 90s already I was 15 in 1990 so that we stopped going at that point this was in the 80s it was it was uh it was a holocaust Survivor sure and and you felt it it was it was a depressing place to be totally honest with you that my brother and I didn't particularly love to go to even the seats the the tables were hardwood the benches were hardwood it hurt to sit it was the kind of a place where it was more comfortable to stand than to sit on those hard benches aha shimini at Sarah's night and and in those days I didn't know anything about Chabad I was a kid I didn't know anything I just knew that these young guys would come and dance with us they just suddenly appear I didn't suddenly you didn't know why there were any other time that we would go there I would go periodically to my grandparents I would go to school with my zaidi for chakras during the week on a shop is whatever they were never there but this holiday they were there and and the place was transformed on this holiday because of them they were we were dancing they were picking me and my brother up and all the other kids that would come they would pick us up on our shoulders and they would dance with us and the place was rocking I remember my grandmother Allah and all the women would literally be standing on top of tables to to look over them was like 82 feet high you know like the men wanted to make sure the women couldn't get in and they would literally stand on top of tables to look over to climbing your attack you're being recorded right now we're recording a podcast you can talk you can talk but you're going to be recorded walking for brains a half a Plane by Doma if you guys want to check it out wait it's a free ring a half of what a half a plan with a plane crash okay listen so we're walking we're walking around the park we're going to the park okay so we found a couple of youths here who were straggling around in the park hopefully only up to good things of course always okay you know okay very good okay so avi's telling us a story about the dreary shul in Brighton Beach full of Holocaust Survivors it was just kind of like a slow sad maybe gloomy place to be and once a year it would magically burst into full color with the appearance of these mysterious young men you didn't even know how they got there why they were there I had no clue and they would come in and uh to the extent you said your grandmother would climb up on the table my grandmother all the women were all the other tables to to be able to see over the Makita and watch us dance and and you could see on their faces the smiles and the joy and you can see that the misspell in the Holocaust Survivors that typically when we would go there they looked sad and it was not a pleasant place to be everybody was smiling everybody was beaming the energy was totally different and and it was it was literally a place that was booming with with joy and dancing and singing and love and and the plate a kind of a place where we didn't want to leave my brother and I we were little boys we didn't want to leave it's amazing amazing amazing and later yeah when did you put two and two together so later on much much by the way I mean it's called you're not stuck with us but you're invited to join us we're going to walk around the parking this is a good story okay fine all right so much much later on in life when I started to become more religious and and we're talking like you know I'm gonna walk the whole perimeter of the park let's not cut through it let's like try to stay on the sideways that's the easiest way is on the sidewalk oh stay on the sidewalk around it okay we're at Cedarhurst park right now right so I stopped going to Brooklyn for simple tutorial that's in the late 80s and I started to become religious let's say in 99 2000 and my religious Journey very quickly led me to Lubavitch and and at a certain point early on I found out that the rebel used to send bacharim and taluka to go walk literally you even used The Insider term by the way right that's pretty good right right I've been around for a while now so so I I found out that the Reba used to send people to send bacharin out to walk all over New York to go to Schulz so that he could connect with every single Jew the halach and Judaism is that that is an agent of a principle literally has the significance of the standing of the principle himself so by sending an agent out according to Jewish law it's as if the rabbi himself was going and dancing with each one of these people and and connecting with each other like when I bought my house and I gave you power of attorney you were sending emails on my behalf yes right sort of it was like it was me right sort of right right so so so so I I found that out and that was very touching to me that the rebel wanted to do that and he wanted to connect with every person and he wanted to connect with me but then I I found out something else that the rebel wouldn't start his own hakafus until all of those people came back and that blew me away that really really impacted me because I you know it's one thing to tell somebody else go out and go wah 120 miles and do shkoya it's a very different thing to be already not a young person and to have to wait until who knows what time one two three o'clock in the morning for all those people to get back and only then to start your own hercuffas so then it's not just that you're sending somebody out to do the dirty work while you're sitting comfortably and living your life you literally knee-deep in it with them and it made me feel very connected to the rep I never I never had the supposed to meet the web physically um but that that that blew me away that to me was like uh you know this is a person who did everything that he could to really connect with every single Jew out there and and you know didn't didn't leave anything on the table and put it all out there and that to me was very very very special have you ever gone on palucha yourself now have I no I have not I have not I walked when I was younger there was a bunch of us that used to go on gimmel Thomas that used to walk from the five towns to the oh hell and back in the day when I was a little bit younger I used to join them now you're in such good shape you could probably go again right right right now I could probably do it easier that's that's the next you know uh taluka was the first place people someone interviewed me is there a sidewalk coming up whatever you want let's cut through here somebody interviewed me recently and asked me how did I start public speaking and I said taluka my first time speaking publicly was actually taluka yeah and what was interesting is I was not supposed to be the speaker right I was a bachar and I don't know 23 24 years old and I went on a went with a group and I was not going to be the speaker nobody thought of me as the guy I should speak so but I went with you because you you go in a group right but it wasn't it was it was right or was it right so um we went and it was really long the guy who who I was following he didn't represent it properly to me right and uh it ended up being much farther than I really understood and it was pretty exhausting it went to somewhere in Bensonhurst yeah that's where my office is now we February you remember was that Benson I thought it was Flatbush no no no it's right outside yeah was that your office yeah okay fine so maybe it wasn't so far from there so I walked from Crown Heights to Bensonhurst is does it make sense that that would be like six seven miles yeah easy probably more easy more okay so because I remember after this whole story happened I went with a car and it seemed to see how far it really was it was and as I remember it was eight miles yeah easy okay so eight miles was a lot longer than I was used to walking by the time I got there yeah I was totally like uh gas yeah yeah exactly so we get there and the the shul is a bunch of old Russian guys yeah and the rabbi there says to us you know uh you're gonna speak here you you guys speak Russian right and the guy who is prepared to speak is like no I don't speak Russian speak English they didn't tell you the guy's like you didn't they didn't tell you so he's like what these these guys speak Yiddish you could do Yiddish so my friend who was supposed to speak is like I I don't know I mean I could learn look what they say because but I can't I can give I can't give a speech in Yiddish I can read it and I can understand I can't give a speech in you so I'm like I say my friend you want me to try it he's like okay I guess we have no choice so I got up there and whatever hey I remember the city actually it was about Chris yamsoff about the splitting of the sea yeah and why Hashem specifically chose that Miracle when first of all why why America Miracle at all and then why that specific Miracle to save the Jews right um and then whatever the there's a whole explanation of the symbolism of it's more than symbolism that what that uh event manifested in the world made it possible for basically for the Torah to be given six weeks later they left Egypt and pesach obviously Seventh-Day pesos one week later six more weeks after that meaning seven weeks from the time they left that's sure that's Martin Taylor anyway so that was that was the thing that I said I said it in Yiddish it was my first time speaking publicly that was it so then we walked back and I was so I was so I I was I was hallucinating I can't imagine yeah it's a long walk and I I remember at one point does it make sense we walked through Borough Park at one point or maybe sure Bensonhurst is right it's right in between Borough Park and Flatbush Okay so I remember we got to like Borough Park and I was telling my friend I'm done I'm completely like and I was hallucinating I I couldn't feel my body and it sounds ridiculous you know because it's only 16 miles total I know but for me you know I'm not trained and anybody is right and even though I was a young guy I was like 23 but I I was I was beyond beyond beyond and it was having like an out-of-body experience sure and I got my friend then he like he parted ways with me I think on Empire Boulevard he's like okay see you later get home safe and I just kept walking and at that point I was delirious I was literally delirious so I was supposed to go to one house uh place where that they were they were I was supposed to be their guest and it was so it was the night now about we'd left on the day after and that was like the night of acronym and I was so delirious I walked into the wrong house it was on Crown Street and I remember whose house I walked it was backman and uh I walked in and I they weren't expecting me but I guess I looked so bad that they weren't gonna like ask me any questions you just told me to sit down and they brought me water right and I remember I wouldn't drink it because I hadn't made Kiddush yet oh wow yeah I was like no I haven't made cash again and so they didn't even say to me like what are you doing why'd you walk in I guess I looked like so unhealthy so unwell that like all they were trying to do was stabilize me right so I sat there for a while until finally I started talking and uh finally I explained I just came back from taloca and they started to piece things together and then finally they said oh where are you trying to go so I told him I was going oh that's our neighbor I said oh I gotta go there they're like no no no there's a Divine Providence he came to us we're gonna go next door we're gonna tell him that you're staying with us and that's what I decided I stayed with them and make kiddish and I slowly came back to normal right yeah so I think I think the Delirious State maybe was normal pushing the boundaries is part of what we're supposed to do unfortunately we get used to not doing it and we think that the status quo is where we're supposed to be and pushing the boundaries is not Aha and I think I think maybe maybe and it's just me I don't know if I'm right maybe I'm totally wrong but but I think maybe the whole concept of taluka and schlichus and all the things go outside your boundaries go push yourself go that's normal wow that's that's you know for me that's that's to to bring it back to what we're doing that's part of what physical exercise is it's not a contradiction with rooknis it's all one thing it's all one thing is there's no difference there's no it's all one thing you want to be healthy spiritually you need to have a healthy body you need to push ourselves beyond our boundaries we need to recognize that we're all one that I'm not me and you're not you or us oh wow you know that's that's the whole that's the Oneness Oneness that's the whole thing yeah this is very deep this is yeah listen everything yeah that's true yeah yeah yeah yeah you know this maybe is morbid and you're saying something so inspiring and this is maybe morbid but I'll tell you uh a defense or a proof of what you're saying but it's very morbid maybe and then we'll like I'll tell it and then we'll like make it sunshiny and happy again yeah yeah okay I heard about this terrible experiment that was done about drowning rats and basically how long would they fight to keep up you know to tread water basically right um until they would just get exhausted and collapse into the water and drown and die so something like two hours wow okay yeah then what they did is after they established that Baseline they would save some rats just before the two hour mark right okay and then they would give them rest and I guess the next day or a few days later they would do it again to them but the only difference was these rats had been saved right just before the brink of exhaustion right and they wanted to see what the experience of having gone to that Brink right right before the brink what that obviously if you push them past the brink you can't test on them anymore they're not alive right but find out what would it do to these rats having been that close to the breaking point the established breaking point and having been rescued and then put back in that situation and what they found is this is insane yeah these rats would continue treading water for close to a hundred hours wow for days wow because they'd had the experience that's very more because then they how did they find out the maximum time is they let them drown right which is terrible but so it's very morbid but you see the difference between somebody who believes there's a a point beyond the breaking point right it's not just twice as much or even 10 times as much it's exponentially more than what you thought was the maximum that you could handle right anyways it's kind of morbid but it reminds me of a story and I'm gonna mess it up and maybe you'll you'll correct the details from the free de karabo and one time he was arrested by the Russians and he was beaten by the the Russian police and one of the police officers was a Jew whose father was I believe a custard or close to the Reba and the Russians wanted him to basically just just relent and he refused and this Jewish guy came to the to the Freedia caribbe and said why why don't you just say what they want them what they want you to say and they'll stop beating you that's what we're doing and his response was that I'm not afraid of them because I believe in one God and Two Worlds meaning I believe that there's hope at the end of the day and whatever they do to me over here it doesn't make a difference and therefore he was able to keep fighting and to keep persevering and to keep trying and and and not give up you said the punch line but but actually this story I'll correct you but really the story that you're saying now is ridiculously relevant to the point you were making earlier about Hashem that spirituality materiality are one thing please okay so first let's correct the details of the story yeah they they were torturing him a lot of it was psychological torture and they pulled out a gun on him and he said this little toy has a way of making people talk so if ready to grab a said uh we're talking about the Sixth Avenue and uh he he says he retorted um this little toy is known to be effective on those who have one world and many gods right but I have one God and Two Worlds right okay so let me tell you I always took that to mean that whatever you do to me okay you'll kill me in this world I'll go to my next world but then as I got older I started thinking I don't think that's what it means I don't think it's talking about what's gonna happen next it's something like even at this moment and then finally I found a sikha where the rabbit said that that ABBA said when the feeder Club said I have two worlds he didn't mean just after you know if you kill me this world I'll go to another world right okay he said I have two worlds even now at this very moment meaning to say that although the situation from a materialistic standpoint if you just take a snapshot of it it looks like you have the upper hand I'm your prisoner you're my Captain but that's not the whole story there are two realities going on even right now right there's a spiritual reality right now and in the spiritual reality I am not your captive right so you know there's this material reality which is an important part of reality if you don't do the Mitzvahs you just think about them and you meditate on them you don't actually do them physically you haven't done them so material is very important at the same time it's not just a material reality the spiritual reality at the very same time and when you look at your life and you make certain assumptions about what things are and how they're going and who's in control but you're only looking at a natural material point of view you're not getting the whole picture there's also that spiritual fact there as well there's really they're really coinciding happening at the same time we're back to the point where we started from um and I'm looking in the map my run and I'm going to pause it here okay says 1.2 1.12 miles awesome 1.12 miles great beginning yeah seriously thank you so much thank you awesome and I hope that we'll continue I broke a little sweat and I am wearing is right here yeah this is a blast yeah yeah yeah okay so keep doing it okay be well my God [Music]