Habayit Event - Full Coverage

One day I was sitting in my kitchen cooking dinner and I got an urgent call from somebody that needed an apartment for 2 months. They were coming from Israel for a heart transplant and I had nothing. I called Elliot up and I said, "Why don't we set up something for people at the Him that are coming in for medical treatments? I see that there's such a need. There's no stopping. >> Imagine, God forbid, having to go to Argentina because there was a specialist there and we don't know a soul. We don't know the language. We don't know how to get by with Kashroo and Shulles. We only know a doctor's name and a hospital. Enter Habay. God forbid. If someone's ever dealing with someone that's really sick, the first thing they want they need is the right hospital. The second thing they need is the right habitat. >> We're helping people from all over the world, Panama and Mexico and Argentina and all the US states and Canada and many coming from Israel. Habite, it's the most beautiful organizations I ever saw in my life. >> I've seen people come in through our doors with such stress and sadness in their face and when they leave our doors, they have smiles and joy and happiness. You have no idea what these apartments means to these people. And they actually have their own home to go to. There can't be a greater mitzvah than this. It's aid of the highest order. >> Takes a whole stress off their shoulders knowing that they have somewhere to go that feels like home. We don't just give them a place to stay. We give them a home. We give them heart and soul. We give them love and support. >> We have Baruk Hashem created an international family of amdut like I've never seen in my life. We're volunteers of maybe 500 people just on a chat that at any given moment somebody needs something, we're SOS 24/7. >> You can feel the brotherhood. You know that that's my brother and they feel that they're my sister and we're going to be there for whatever they need. >> The amount of letters, the amount of feedbacks, the amount of love that we receive on a daily basis is priceless. >> Habot is an organization that I can say I personally benefit from. a close family member was in need of a place to stay in Brooklyn due to certain medical concerns. You walked into the house, you felt like you were at home. It was fresh. It was bright. It was full of everything. It's not just a apartment. It's not just a place to stay. It's a family. >> Mother called me up and she said, "Eva, thank you for saving my daughter's life." And I said, "I didn't save your daughter's life." She said, "Yes, you did. Because if we didn't have anywhere to stay in New York, we wouldn't have came here. And if we didn't come to New York, we wouldn't have got the surgery that saved her life. >> I don't have words to say thank you to Abai. Abide is one of the most wonderful institution that I see in my life. >> If you invest now with Habay, you're going to have a share in a permanent structure that is going to be doing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with hundreds and hundreds of people. Somebody who saves one life is as if you saved the entire world. If you can't volunteer for the organization, then we could partner up by giving money is going to come in the merit of charity. And this is one of the charities that I believe will bring the mashia. It will be a beautiful kushem of unprecedented and with Hashem's help when Mashiach comes this building will go with all of us to Wow, what a great turnout today. It's hard to believe that it's been four years. Okay, thank you. It's hard to believe it's been four years since our very first summer auction. When we opened Habai, we didn't have anything complicated in mind. Just one goal. If we could help even one Jew coming through medical treatment far from home, it would be all worth it. A place where people from around the world could walk in and immediately feel at home. Today, four years later, Habite has grown into 18 apartments for Hashem. And hundreds of guests, including community members, have walked through our doors. Our Habai building is still in progress and we're looking forward for the day when that dream becomes a reality. What started at one simple dream has become a place of comfort, hope, healing for so many families. Four years ago, we dedicated this event in memory of my dear friend Cass Leslie Cassen Ala Shalom. Some of you may have known Leslie, some of you may have not. So, who was Leslie? Leslie was a true special soul. An incredible mom, a loving sister, a treasured f community member, a dedicated teacher who touched lives of students of all ages, a talent, a talented artist and an amazing tennis player. But more than anything, Leslie had a rare gift. She made people feel seen. She welcomed you. She cared about you. and she made you feel like you mattered. She just wasn't someone who could you could count on. She made you feel like family. She had a warm smile and a deep love of Hashem. She was an extraordinary room woman and she was cherished by our community. Today there's a beautiful reminder of Leslie around us. The artwork you see throughout this event, the flyers, the borders, the farmer market logos were all created by Leslie. Her creativity, her talent, and a piece of her spirit are woven into this day. Everywhere you look, you can see her beautiful touch of joy she brought throughout our community. That is exactly the spirit we try to bring to her bite every single day. When a guest walks through our door, we want them to feel the way Leslie made people feel. Seen, welcomed, cared for, like family from the very first moment. At Habite, we know that when someone's going through medical treatment far from home, they need more than just a place to sleep. They need to know someone is there for them. If they need a warm mail after a long day of appointments, we're here for them. If they need a ride for a doctor's appointment, we're here for them. If they need a friendly phrase and a listening ear or someone to make them feel less alone, we're here for them. When people When we bring people together as a community, especially around Shabbat and Friday night dinners and Shabbat lunches, so our guests don't feel like they're far from home facing their journey alone. We try to create those moments of connection, comfort, and belonging. The same way Leslie gave so so naturally gave it so naturally to everyone around her. And today, that's what this room represents. All of you here are what keeps that spirit alive. Thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting our mission. And thank you for being for some Thank you for being part of something truly truly special that changes people's lives. Hi everyone. Thank you so much for coming. Um, I don't usually stand up at our event and speak. This is actually the first time. But I wanted to speak about something that was very close to my heart. this event this year, this summer, we dedicated the event in memory of Sophia Gerada, Sophia Bgali, Ala Shalom, who was a sweet six-month old baby. And it's very hard to put into words what I'm feeling and what I'm sure a lot of you are feeling as well. Sophia was a light. She was a baby that made everyone around her so happy. She brought so much joy and her time in this world was short but she really left an everlasting impact on our entire community. The event today, this event is not just a fundraiser for Habay. It's really a day of unity where so many people come together, the community, volunteers, vendors, lunch vendors, farmers market vendors, people helped us advertise. Really, everyone came together and every act of every act of unity and of kindness should go to elevate her nishama. Um may we always be able to spread light and love. Our community comes together for one purpose and that's to help our brothers and sisters who live across the world, people that we don't even know but yet we care so much about. Um, may her family who I love like my own be blessed with so much and happiness and tons of Thank you so much. Hi everyone and thank you all for coming. I want to start by saying all the thank yous. First and foremost always thank you Hashem. You always make the habai function something spectacular. Thank you. I want to thank our hosts Shel and Albert Antibi. I want to thank all the vendors and sponsors and the people that came together to make this special event. I know I'm going to forget names, so for those of you that I forget, please forgive me from now and I'm thanking you. I want to thank Reene TM for taking care of all the food. Hannah Sutton, Joyce Rudy, and Celia Pollock for handling the farmers market. Erica Cohen, Paulie Shama, Rachel Safy, Marilyn Abatty, Gloria Shabin, I know how hard you worked. Thank you so much. And then some of the allst stars from all year long that helpay. And I want to start with Gloria Mahana who lives and breathes Habayat. We love you so much. And thank you for all your hard work and dedication. Thank you Lillian Sora. Thank you Ruthie Sra. Thank you to all our captains that take care of all our guests. Without you, we couldn't we couldn't have a habit. Thank you to Natalie for pulling off this event year after year. Thank you to Beth and Michelle who work so hard. Beth, I'm going to say a personal thank you for assisting me all year long and everything. I want to thank Eva Matut. She's the one who sets this up every year and she does a spectacular job. Each year more beautiful than the next. Eva Mat without you we wouldn't have this. Thank you and God bless you. I want to thank the engine that without this engine there would be no habitat. Eva Shama really she doesn't get enough credit. Thank you so much and God bless you. I'm going to get shot for saying it but I never listened to her before. Why should I start now? I want to single out this year two people, two special people that I learned so much from this year. My son-in-law Maris Jada. It's a little hard. Sorry. God bless you for all the you give everyone else. I don't know how you do it. And I want to thank my hero, my Marggo. You worked so hard. You did a beautiful job. God bless you. Sorry for getting emotional. Um, I want to say just a couple of words. Today is a beginning of the nine days. We know that the nine days is about the temple being destroyed. foram is the opposite of it's all about by showing everyone how much we care. Many times it's people that don't know anybody in America and we adopt them. They have a family here. And I'm going to tell you another side point that I just mentioned to Rabbi Fari. Besides the beautiful we do the there's a huge kushem aspect here we also get Jews that are unaffiliated and unfortunately their exposure to religion hasn't always been good sometimes they're brainwashed sometimes they just don't know any better but I can tell you firsthand because of you the volunteers and sponsors and donors of Habayat these These people are coming closer to Hashem. We just had recently a family with a very very sick son in his 30s, not married, zero religion. And because of your love, he asked us to get him tiffilene. He asked us to get him seat seat. They never prayed. We bought them sidur and with their names on it, including the mother who wasn't exposed to religion in the right way. God bless you all. I'm going to end with this. I saw a clip yesterday. There's a big rabbi in Israel. They call him the Yanuka. He's a genius. And he says when we're named after a biblical figure or a big rabbi, we take the shesh of that person in ourselves. So I just want to say that my name is Elliot. My Hebrew name is Eli Yahu. Eli Yahu is known as the Maserto. He's going to be the one to herald in the mashiach and announce the mashiach. So I'm hoping that this will be not a tab of a fast but that mashiach will come and I know that it's only going to be because of the zahoot of each and every one of you people that are here in the room today and that support Habayat and take care of Habay. God bless you all. Without further ado, I want to introduce Rabbi Fari who's very close to Habayat and we love him very much. Of course, we have to start by thanking Anti family. And you know, our roots go way, way, way back. Where are they? Are they here with us now, Albert and Shel? They here, huh? the inside where the smart people are. You guys are stuck out here with the heat. Oh, here we go. Okay. You think about, do you remember me coming to your house when I was this big all the way in Hatheraway and we would sit there singing and I still remember your husband saying, "Juju and Bali, Philip, Phillip, Flum, Flum." Remember those days? How time flies. So, there were people who welcomed everyone into their home. and how appropriate it is that you are welcoming us here today in your home. You're welcoming a welcoming into a home organization that is next level. That is meta macro level fulfilled in your home. Today's speeches uh have been dedicated Ralph and Gloria Herrari. And of course as well we want to share our that the words of Torah should be as well to the Cass families to the Gerata family and as well to the Shelby family inem you know we think about Mashiach many of us think about the beta mikdash but for families that are dedicating things in memory of somebody they're thinking about being reunited about holding that baby again close to our hearts and watching it develop with being reunited with Leslie Shalom with Ralph and with Gloria. The name of the organization is called Habit which literally means the house. Now, I want everyone to understand in Hebrew when you have a hey in front of a word. Does anyone know what that's called? There we go. We have a couple of students of dduk of grammar excellent of Hebrew. Hey, in front of a word means 'the', but not the with a uh lowercase t, the with a with a uppercase t. So as an example, if you say he's the man, lowerase t, he's the man. If you say he's the man, that's the man. Like the kids would say today, he is him. You understand? That guy is the man. Hab is the home. And that idea of made me think about something that I want to share with you today. You know how a gim tells us that as so eloquently was said by Elliot Mikdash is destroyed for we all know that. But the gim actually brings a specific story that was the precursor for the destruction of our holy temple of the house of God the come from from a story of kamsa and barakamsa. Let's review uh you know like at the beginning of a little episode you get the the playback you know previously on previously on Kamsa both invited to somebody's house for a party. Well the person who's supposed to get the invite is Kamsa instead of goes to Baramsa. Guy shows up. The guy who's running the party looks and he sees his enemy and not his friend. He goes over to him and he says, "What are you doing here? Get out." He thought that he wanted to make up. He thought he wanted to make shalom. He was now inviting him to the far. He came to be able to make shalom. He says, "What are you doing here?" He says, "What do you mean? Get out." He says, "Please don't embarrass me. I'm willing to pay for my meal." Guy says, "You think I care about your meal? I don't want to have you giving me indigestion even looking at you. Get out of my house." He says, "Please don't humiliate me like this in front of everybody we know. At least," he said, "I'll I'll pay for half of the whole wedding. Get out. I'll pay for the whole wedding." Look, my friends, how sensitive it can be for someone to be excluded. I'll pay for the whole wedding. Picks him up with his hands and he throws him out. says the Gimar, when that happened, that was the beginning of the end. This man winds up going to Rome, winds up getting the emperor involved, winds up bringing the destruction of the beta mikdash. My friends, I want to point out the language of the Gimar, what did he say to him? My what are you doing here? You don't belong here. What we're learning is that the of God's house happened because someone said, "You don't belong here. There's no room for you here." And he threw them out of a house. My friends, Ravk writes in his or he writes something unbelievable. He says if the beta mikdash was destroyed with this the rebuilding will also happen in the same manner. So today to be having an event where we make sure that a person does not feel that they don't belong where a person walks in in a place that is on the opposite side of the world to their house and everything is prepared for them. It's not a hospital room. It's not an impersonal hotel room the size of a shoe box. It's an apartment. There's games there. There's food there. I was thinking to myself, in the destruction story, the man says, "I'll pay for the food." And in our rebuilding story, we put food in the place. In this place, THE MAN DOESN'T BELONG. And over here, there's a mat right in front. It says welcome home. There's 17 Abay apartments when I came to speak a couple of years ago and I mentioned that next to the next to the hospital by Sloan where people come from all around the world um to be able to get treatment in one of the premier hospitals for cancer in the world. We're struggling to find a place to put people. Someone was at that speech. Then they came forward and they gave their apartment to Habay to be used. My friends, we went from 17, which is very good, to 18, which is life. I'm going to come up with a good gimatria if we have 19. Don't worry about it. Yet, which is the initials of Yom to it will be a holiday up in here if we get a new. We need near NYU. We need near Sloan. And what happens is sometimes we get an apartment that was rented, but then the rental contract ends and we're down another apartment. I don't have to tell you from them that Habai needs more places. I know it from myself because I get the phone calls saying, "Rabbi, I called this one. I called that one. They have a waiting list. There are no spaces." I get emergency phone calls from Hatsah. phone calls from 24/7. All these organizations calling me to tell me that there's a lack in this space. Every dollar you spent today, I know you were thinking about the prize, but the true prize was not what was on the table. You have this package and you have that package. A package for him and a package for her. But my friends, the greatest package is Shamayim. I almost think that if you had your head screwed on straight, you should think to yourself, I hope I lose the raffle so that I do not get rewarded for my act of sedaka in this world. What a crazy thing. You know, the nature of a person's home, of a Jewish home, is what underscores deciding if he wants to stay with us. And I can't share this enough. My mother used to say all the time. We would bring people home from the kice. Someone that didn't have a place to go. I had it in my home. A guy is sitting there. He comes in. He's wearing jeans and a t-shirt on Friday night. I go over to him. I say, "Shabbat shalom." He says, "I'm sorry, Rabbi. I'm wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I wasn't supposed to be here. The flight got delayed. I got in last minute. I said to him, "You got in last minute. You came straight to the shul." He says, "Yeah, my suitcase is downstairs." I said, "Where are you going to eat if your suitcase is downstairs?" He says, "No, no, I'm good, Rabbi. I'm okay. I'm going to go home. I'm going to eat in my in my apartment." I said, "What are you going to eat in your apartment?" He says, "I have cereal. I have some crackers, tuna fish." I said, "Bin nan you're going to eat that Friday night." Captain Crunch is not for Shabbat. Sorry. tricks are for kids, but it's not for Shabbat. You're coming to me. He said, "You didn't even ask your wife." I said, "You don't know my wife." I learned this. She learned this from our parents. My mother said it and she said it a million times to us as kids. If there's room in the heart, there's room in the home. And if ever there was a message that personifies what Habay does, what drives the engine that drives the place, what drives the volunteers to set up the apartments, and if you don't have the money, and if you don't have an apartment to give, and you don't can't even buy a raffle ticket, don't worry. Give them your phone number. I'm on the chat and I see when they say last minute a couple is coming in. Last minute someone's bringing their child for treatment. We have an apartment available for them but it's not been clean. Can anyone go into the apartment? I see uh your messages. Uh Mrs. Jama, can you volunteer your time? You sell linens in your store. Can you donate linens? You sell disposable plates. Give disposable plates. Sponsor the disposable plates for a month for 18 apartments. The linens that they need, the games that they're going to put in the cabinet. I see people are raising your hands. I'm not doing an auction over here, but you speak to the right people and they'll set you up. Who wants a piece of this mitzvah? You know, the puk says in Misham, if there is worry in the heart of a man, the gim says, what does that word mean? If you're worried, if you're afraid, what should you do? Says the page 75. First opinion, he should push it down in himself. You're worried about something. Don't give that worry oxygen. You know some people you're worried like this. Your worry is like a seed. You're worried about something that's this big. But then you have people, it's like they like their anxiety more than they like vacation more than they like their children. If your anxiety is ruining family time, and you all know who you are, you like your anxiety more than your family. But it's not that you had an anxiety pill this big. You know what you did? You took out a shovel and you dug. And then you took your little anxiety pill and you planted it in the ground. And then every day you go out and make sure you water it. You're revisiting it in your mind. Says the you know what you should do in your own mind. Make it small. Make it low. Don't bring it up. You're thinking about it in your mind. You know what you do? Change the channel. You know what's great? I'm going to ask everyone to do a thought experiment with me right now. Can I ask everyone to think of a pink elephant? Everyone got a pink elephant in their mind? Yeah. Pink elephant in your mind? Do not think about the pink elephant. Is anyone not thinking about the pink elephant anymore? Everyone still think about it. You want to know how you erase the pink elephant? No problem. Easy solution. Ready? I want you to think about a light blue and dark blue panda bear. What are you thinking about now? You can't think about both at the same time unless they're playing together. You understand what I'm saying? Change the channel. First answer, you're worried. Change a channel. Think about something else. Second answer, talk about it to somebody else. two ways of understanding it. I always say that it's not that the Gim didn't know if it was one or the other. Share your burden. Talk about your worry. Talk to a friend. Talk to a a parent. Talk to a therapist. Whatever you need, my friends, listen carefully. The Gim is not offering this or this. It's saying do the first one. Salvage yourself. But my friend, what if you come with a worry and you can't solve it? You know what you need to do? And this is hard especially for typea people. This is hard not only for alpha males, but for alpha females, for people who hate asking for help. You ever see someone walking with 42 items in their hand? You're like, "Here, let me get that." They're like, "No, no, I got it." Then they're opening the door with their foot right now. They open the door. It's a, you know, they're hopping because it's closing. And then they kick it and they kick it more. Yeah. You understand? No. No. I got it. That's a mashal for how they deal with everything in their life. Their finances. No. No. I got it. The issues with their kids, no one's going to help them with their marriage. No one. I don't need anybody's help. Second answer to Gimar is you can't solve it yourself, honey. Lean on somebody. But you know what the worst thing in the world is? When you go do one of those trust falls and the other person didn't get the memo facing the other way and there's no one there to catch you. You flew in from Panama and you have nowhere to stay. and you figure, I just need to go because we need the surgery. We just need to go because we need to get treatment started. We'll solve it there. And then you find out that hotels in the city are $1,000 a night or more. You find out that, God forbid, the husband and the kid and the other one can't stay in a room that's that small. and they don't have a roll away because you can't get a uh uh embassy suites in the area. Sometimes our worry is not solvable by ourselves. So we lean on the people around us. I have to say as someone who lives in the city, who gets these phone calls, who refers people all the time, who hears afterwards what it meant to those families, my friends, we are at a very holy event indeed this morning. And I think that's why Hashem is blessing us with this wind. Cuz when I left my house, I was like, there's going to be nobody there. I can't even walk to my car without sweating. How is anyone going to sit there and listen to his speech? Hashem knew. My friends, I must say from the bottom of my heart, and this is something that I feel when I go to these events day after day in the community, I I I can't I feel almost overwhelmed with emotion. Thank you Bam for making me part of these people. Thank you Bam for making me part of a people who not only have room in their own heart and in their own homes but are ensuring that homes are available for other people outside of their space. Now, if I could ask you, I want to ask you to join me in this little thought experiment for one second. Maybe to try and communicate one idea. You know, the crazy thing about Habitat is that unlike a different organization, we're not solving the problem. We're not curing the cause. We're not giving the person a baby with bonet or lam. We're not uh helping someone get a prosthetic limb with the next step. We're not doing any of those things. But what we are doing is we're giving a person a respit in the most difficult time in their life. And my prayer and my thought for every one of you is that in the merit and in the zoot of being there for someone literally in the darkest moments of their whole life when they walk in and they turn on the lights and they see what we built for them with our love, with our care and with our concern and they say, "God bless these people. My prayer is that every single one of the people here should lose the phone number for and never need it for themselves. My blessing to all of you is that every bit of worry or fear that we solved in them should say, you know something, he's worried, she's worried. Let me take a little bit off of their package. You know, one of the most beautiful things that we say in the Jewish nation is that you carry in the weight of somebody else. Carrying the weight doesn't mean that we got rid of it, but it means that you're carrying it with somebody. And sometimes the only thing that you need in those times is to feel that you're not doing this alone. The is described in the book of it is fascinating to me to notice you're talking about the destruction of the temple with the worst possible things happening. But let's look at the opening words of that book. How does she sit alone? Worse than anything in the world is the feeling of being alone. And my friends, if that is the nature of destruction, then think for a second about what we are building here. I had a fellow come to me in my shul. He came for the uh to pray. And I have to tell you as a rabbi, it's not always so easy when you see a guy sitting there in the shul that you don't recognize and he's got one of those tags on his wrist and you go over to the person and I don't know how else to say it, so I'm just going to say it. There's no vanilla in this situation. It's either the happiest day of this guy's life or the worst day of this guy's life. So, you're kind of walking up to him. You can't smile. You can't frown. You kind of have to look like you just had a fresh treatment of Botox. No expression whatsoever. Shalom. what brings you here? Very par of language. The guy holds up the item and that's when he tells you. But one day there's a guy sitting there in the front of my sh 10t from my seat. I see he's new. I walk up to him. I tell him frozen face. Shalom. What brings you here? Welcome. And the man tells me that unfortunately it wasn't the positive one, it was the other. I said to him, "You have a place to stay. Where are you?" And the guy looks at me and he says, "You know, you'll never believe it." I said, "I never believe what?" He says, "I came here. I had no place to stay." I was like, "Okay." I'm seeing where this is going. He goes, "I'm looking at the hotels. I can't afford any of them. Bizour bizarre we could afford the flight to get here for the treatment. I didn't know what I was going to do. I was actually thinking of sleeping in the shul that don't know this is not Israel over here and no sleeping in the shul allowed. The only sleeping allowed in the sh when the rabbi speaking. Anyway, the guy says, "I was even thinking of sleeping in the jeul." I said, "And then what happened?" And he said, "And then someone told me about this place." I said, "Oh, I never heard of them sketching." Guy's like, "You never heard of them?" So, he didn't know I was sketching. So, I went with the bit. I'm always committed to the bit, by the way. I went with the bit. I'm like, "No, who who are they?" He goes, "These people are angels. I didn't know them. I called somebody to ask which shoes if they're open all night. Is there any place?" And someone gave me this number and they took care of it. I don't even know the guy's name. He came here with his son about two months ago. You could find the look who go back afterwards. Maybe three months ago, one month, I don't exactly about maybe between six and 10 weeks ago. The guy sitting there, he came alone with his son. The guy said, "These are angels." And he I said, "Tell me I should have recorded it. I'm such a dip." And he's telling me and he's pouring it out. And you know what he said? He said to me, "I have to tell you, I came from a country that belongs to the Jewish people from Erit Israel. I thought where am I going to go? I'm leaving home. And he says, "And I came here and I felt like I never left home." And I looked at him and I said in Hebrew, he says, "Ma, what do you mean? It's like I said the slogan is as much as home as anywhere in the what a gift to be able to provide that to someone my friends and that is what we have done over here. I was thinking if that's what Habay does, it makes you feel like someone's holding it with you, that you're not alone, then it is no wonder that the gimatria of Habit is exactly 417. And the of doing something and being together with someone is exactly 47. The nature is that we are doing this with you. You are not alone. What a gift to have been able to be part of that. My friends, I have lost now nine pounds in sweat. I know you think I'm taking my glasses off because I can see. I can't see. Maybe you think it's because someone's not sanua. The rabbi is very holy. Doesn't want to see. I'm taking off my glasses so they don't slide off my face. Okay. But let that be my contribution to sweat for this beautiful thing to work for this holy organization to be there for Israel when they don't have so we could be like Hashem says may Hashem bless us that we should be saved from what we are saving others from. May Hashem bless us to always be from the ones that are giving and not the ones that need to receive. And finally, may Hashem bless us to be in this incredible mitzvah, the mitzvah of the gift that keeps on giving. We would like to introduce Anat is here with us. One of the guests of Abay here from Israel to share with you why you came today and how it feels to have received the great gift that we are bestowing on people in these moments. There steps on this side. Um, here you go. Um, okay. So, my name is Anat and I live in Israel. Um, I actually don't know where to start. Um my son Gal, some of you know him. He's uh 33 years old and two years ago he was diagnosed with a very very uh rare and aggressive uh cancer um in his head. Uh we first he had the surgery in Israel and then we flew to Houston because they offered treatment that are not in Israel. And this is all during the war in Israel. The health system in Israel is really collapsing at the moment. And uh it was it's very hard to get um good treatment in Israel. So we flew to Houston. He had proon um therapy radiation uh for three months. We stayed at Bet Kabad and that was the first time we were exposed to the generosity of the Kabad people in this um because theos the house of Kabad is right on the hospital and we could walk um for to his treatments and they were amazing. Every shishi there is dinner in they were amazing. There are no words for the rabbi and Arabanit. Um and then we came back to Israel. He was fine for a few months and then it we found out it was um metastasized all over his body. Now my son is a contemporary ballet dancer and a brain neuro researcher at the Tel Aviv University. Um, for me as a mother, obviously I would rather die instead of him and sacrifice, but it was him that was so sick. And in Israel, there was nothing they could do. He went through chemo and there was nothing else they could do. Um, so we decided to come to New York. Elal um provided us with free tickets. I don't know. That's the first time anybody heard of it. And somehow, I don't know, uh, I heard about a bite. I didn't know anything. I'm originally from Argentina. Um, my parents are Argentinians and I I I mean, I didn't know anything. and I I arrived here and I have the most beautiful apartment. I don't have to worry. People are driving us to the hospital. I mean, what I'm trying to say is that on this part, you know, I'm free to take care of my son. I'm free to deal with what's really what really matters instead of all the time worrying where are we going to stay, how much is it going to cost, when am I going to be able to fund raise money for that, you know, it's like and I'm fundraising in Israel. We did fund raise for Houston because the cost of the treatments were unbelievable. You probably can imagine. Um, it was my son's birthday on May 28th and he was crying because he couldn't go back to Israel for his friend. He was in the middle of treatments and the hospital would not allow him to go. So, you know what happened? I send a message to the captains of our apartment, Sarah and Elise, and also asked um the Ashkinaz Orthodox who also help us. So the captains had full of presents and balloons um in the house and we had he had a birthday party with Hassidim in New Jersey. I don't know in Inglewood I think. Amazing amazing party. Unbelievable. So um I don't know how come we deserve that gift or that generosity but um the only thing I can tell you that this allows me to take care of my son. Now my son was in stage four five. He was really, they say, he was on his way to meet God. Really, there was there's no other way of describing. And now um is um is in a clinical trials in at msk. They're amazed. They never seen anybody react so far. I mean, I'm afraid to say anything because of Ara is is doing so far amazing and and I I keep saying thank you so much. Thank you so much. It I mean I have no words. Um when you see my son and you know there might be a few days maybe a few years and you have to trust you have to be you have to have faith. Um I will say another thing that we are secular Jews we live in Israel obviously but since my son came here he started to put fillin every morning. He doesn't miss one day. He's now in Israel and he keeps whenever I call to him, he says, "Mom, I wake up, I put fill in and I can start my day." And then I have breakfast because he the clinical trial works. And he says, I I remember he says the clinical trial um the bottle has a blue strip and it matches his filling or something. and everything he he relates to the and I wanted to say one more thing we never realized we knew that but we never thought when it I mean it's kind of my son is from the lineage of Ketim I told this um but we never thought anything about that but now you know I can see how he gets closer to that part of 's family history. Um, so again, that's I if you've seen us when we first came here, you would understand how important and and it's a miracle. It's really, you know, what you're creating is is unbelievable. Thank you so much. So much, Rabbi. How's it coming? Thank you very much for being here. I understand that it's um not exactly 72 degrees, but it's an honor just the same to be here on behalf of an incredible organization. So, thank you for those of you that are in this temperature staying for not just one class, but for two. And thank you for your attention. I'm going to try to be relatively brief. How long should I go, Miss Sham? How long should I go? What's the right amount of time? What? 30? I think like 25. I want to tell you what makes Habay, in my humble opinion, an incredible organization and an incredible concept. What is Habitat? You already heard, I'm sure. People come from all around the world and even from within our community and they need a place to stay. I know the feeling. My father Shalom wasn't well for seven years. We were in and out of hospitals. And there were times that we need a place to stay overnight or over Shabbat. And Habai really didn't have that then for us. But today they would have and the places we went were wonderful but nothing like having the safar that our community has having the beauty the way Habay does it. You know our community's stance of style and standard is is high. But in many ways that high standard we use for other people too. But I think there's a soul to habit that is important. And if you this soul is something that you could share and something that you could imitate in your b you could imitate in your life in your own home in your own life you know and if you could understand this idea that we're about to share and you can use it and the concept is so simple it can elevate every interaction you ever have. And I hope that if we could internalize or we're about to share, it's something you could use wherever you go. Mosheu stands at the burning bush and Hashem asks, "What's in your hand?" And Mosheu says, "It's a stick." Hashem says, "Take the stick and throw it to the ground." He throws it to the ground and turns into a snake. Hashem says, "Bend down and pick it back up again." And he does. And he picks back up the stick, the snake, and it turns into a stick. The question is, what's this whole charade? It's Hashem. He knows what's in his hand. Why is he asking what's in his hand? And then why is he telling him to throw it to the ground? Why does it turn into a snake? And why does it turn back into a stick? The answer I'm about to share with you is the most important lesson in leadership anyone can ever learn. And it's so simple. God, Hashem was asking, "What's in your hand?" He meant to say, "The stick that you have in your hand, why is it in your hand?" Because you see, in the days of old, the stick was used for power. A king held a stick. A stick was used for income. A shepherd held a stick. And so, we're asking him, why is it in your hand? As long as that stick is in your hand for yourself, throw it to the ground because it's as poison as a snake. Now, bend back down and pick it up again and use that stick for another. And that's what leadership is. It's a very simple thing. What's your stick? Identify your stick. For some people, their stick is their personality. For some people, it's their connections. For others, it's their intelligence. For others it's their education. For other people their stick is their house. For other people their stick is their sense of humor. For other people their stick is their money or their business or their relationships. What is your stick and use it for another? And that's what leadership is. There are so many people say I'm not a leader. What can I do? Identify your stick and use it for another person. I shared this story once with a video a video video that was being used for Mexico and someone the person said who was videoing was understood the Torah and he asked me a question. He says, "Rabbi, I want to add to what you said. Why is Moshe Rabanu's name Moshe which means to draw? It should have been Mashu which means that was drawn." And he said the answer is says the Atam the answer is because for the rest of Mosher Rabino's life he would be drawing other people out of the ocean again. So what does that mean? What does that do with the stick? The answer is this and here's the point. Here's what Hashem did to Moshe Rabenu. He made him be drawn out of the water. He made his life vulnerable. He made him about to drown. And then Hashem said, "All I'm asking you to do is what I did for you, you do for another. That's your stick. Every one of us go through things. What happened to you, do for another. What happened to you, communicate to another. What happened to you, use it to understand another. That's your stick." So, let me explain what I mean because I don't think I was still clear enough. I told you about the stick, told you about the water, but didn't tell you the point. Hashem has blessed me to have the opportunity to speak in many audiences. Many of the audiences are people that are going through a challenge. I've had the chance in my life to speak to a room full of widows. Had my room chance to speak to a room full of people divorced. a room full of people that are way older than they expected to be and not yet married. I recently went on a trip with a room full of people that are married for 10 years or more and don't yet have children. I last week spoke in Lakewood to a room of people that have children that are special needs. I spoken to a room full of orphans. How do you talk to people like that? What do you tell somebody that's going through something, especially if you didn't go through it? What do you tell them? And here's the key. Here's the stick. The key is that we treat everybody. I've never in my life walked into a room and thought that anybody in the room was less than me. I never in my life walked into a room and thought that I was better than anybody else ever. That means when I walk into a room of women that are divorced, I'm not thinking, "Oh, what' she do wrong?" I'm thinking, "She's very likely holier than me." I walk into a room of people that are not well, I'm not asking, "Why did Hashem do it?" I'm thinking, "Wow, look at the am this person has." Even when they're sick, look, this person might be greater than me. And when that's your attitude that we are all the same, that is the most powerful stick in the world because you take and you say, you know what, we are together. Hashem made live this way. Hashem said, Moshe, you're going to save people your whole life. Your whole life you're going to save the nation complaining in the desert. You're going to save the people. You're going to save the people. You're going to save the people. But you know how you're going to be able to save the people? by you when you were born being saved yourself. So every time you save someone else, you'll know you're no better than them because you once needed to be saved just the same. The beauty of habay is habay treats total strangers as if we're all the same. The house looks as beautiful as their own personal living rooms. We treat people. Habay treats people with the same love that they treat their neighbor and they treat their sister. They don't just feel welcome. They feel respected. They feel important. The apartment is the stick. But it's the vibe that was in that's within the stick is that what gives it all its power. The vibe that you never know, I might need an apartment one day just like you do. I've said to a room full of girls that wanted to be married 10 years earlier, I said, "You need to know one thing. Nobody's better than you. Nobody's better than you. You see your friend, she got engaged. Tell her to relax. One guy likes her. Take it easy." It's true. Some people get engaged, they walk around like they're from the better people in society today because they were engaged. Take a chill. Let's see how you feel in two years about your engagement. Take it easy. The single girl might be luckier than you. I don't mean it, but I do. Who you ever see people walk into a room act like I'm the lucky people. That vibe is what leadership looks like. That vibe is the best way to give. I'll give you a story. I'll give you example of what I mean. And every speech I've ever given in my life, I try for that message to come across every interaction. And sometimes people will come, they'll ask me for a better a part of me wants to say, I don't have time for your another part of me wants to say, is this a joke? I'm not worthy of giving a But both are the wrong response. If my response is, we're in together. If I could give you words of encouragement, I might need your encouragement tomorrow. So, of course, I'll give you encouragement today. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let me tell you a real story. So, just so you understand, my sh in Brooklyn is 20 minute walk from my house. The shul is on McDonald between S&T and my house is on East 12 between O and P. Anyhow, one Shabbat this year in January, I forgot my son in SH. True story. A little boy, my youngest, Moshe. He's 11. He's a little guy. He's taller now, but I left him in sh. So, you want to know when I remembered, right? You want to know? So I walk to Avenue S to East 1st, East 2nd, East 3rd, East 4th, Fifth, Ocean Parkway, East 7th, 8th, 9th, 10, Coney Island Avenue, Kings Highway, Quentin, R, Kings Highway, Quentin P, East 12th. walked up the steps of my house, went in my house to the second floor, went into my room, took off my shoes, sat on a couch in my room, was having a conversation with my wife, and one of my daughters peaks her head into the room. She says, "Dad," I said, "What?" I said, "I'm talking to mommy now, like I can't talk to you." She's like, "Dad," I said, "What do you want?" She's like, "Dad, you left Moshe in Shu. I said, "I what?" She says, "He's not home. You left Moshe in Shu." I'm like, "You got to be kidding me." Now, you want to know how special my wife is? What would you say if your husband left your son in Shu 20 minutes away? I'll tell you what I would have said to her. Are you kidding me? You got one job, one kid to bring home. You know what she said? My wife said to me, "Joey, do you want me to go get him?" And don't worry, I'm a good guy. You know what I said back? I said, "No, it's okay. I'll come with you." So, we went downstairs and sure enough, there's Hat Salah member, you know, Leon Fryway. He lives next door to the Shul. He walked my son all the way home. My son came into the house and then went into my room, closed the door, and said, "Dad, I'm not talking to you again. and he really didn't want to talk to me all day. He was so upset. And you know what I did on that Wednesday? I shared the story on a class that could be listened anywhere around the world. And I told the whole story. I left my son in shu and I got emails and I was expecting to get emails from people like, "What kind of rabbi are you? You to give you to speak about and you leave your kid in shu? You're going to open a school? you're going to leave all the kids in sh. You know what I got? I got emails from people. One person sent me an email. Rabbi, I also left my kid in sh. Another one said, "Rabbi, I once left my kid in a mall." Someone else said, "Rabbi, I once left my kid in the park." Someone else said, "I once left my kid in the car." And then I remembered quickly. You know what I realized? The whole Jewish world, they're all leaving their kid places. You know why I shared this story? Because I am just like you. We're the same. When they open the door of Habay and a family from Mexico or Elat, a family from Yushaim or LA, a family from Chicago or France opens that door, they feel like they're coming home. They feel like they're being treated the same. This is the key to interact with people. It's a very simple key. Treat everybody like they're the same. Don't feel bad for people. No one wants to feel be felt bad for. And don't act as if you're above people. We're the same. You're not more religious. You're not more wealthy. You're not taller. You're not betterlooking. You're not luckier. You're not more blessed. You don't have a bigger house. You don't have a smarter husband. You don't have a more successful business. You don't have holier kids. You don't have luckier kids. You are not better than anybody else. We are the same. And you might say that's simple, but it's hard to do because it's so easy to look at somebody who doesn't have what you have and say, "Okay, yeah, fake smile." You could keep your fake smile. I need the vibe. We're in this together. And I went on the trip. I never had spoke to an audience like this. I went on a two-day trip with people that don't have children. I was scared, stiff ladies, scared. What am I going to say? The keynote speaker. What am I going to say? The whole time I was on quest, buses, Q&As's. Tell you the truth, I had no idea what to say. I just said, I know what my vibe is going to be. We're in this together. I'm not going to tell you some sigula that I know that you don't. We're not going to tell you how if you're just a little better, you'll get lucky, too. We're the same. End of the trip. Someone said to me, "Rabbi, I can't believe how you connected with us." It's a simple thing. We're the same. That's the vibe that you have when you walk into a house of Habay. You feel respected. You feel included. I'll share with you another story. Well, another thought and another story and we'll conclude. Thank you very much. By the way, I cannot believe you're here. I don't know what the temperature is. We're just going to go with 64 degrees. Everybody's got the card. I think that card is supposed to be You're supposed to like give money or something, but it's okay. Use it. It's a fan. Um, and the work that you do, Elliot, Mrs. Shama, the work that you guys do to do this and all those that are involved, the names I didn't include, it's so beautiful and it's something that as a community we're so proud of that we can do things like this. And I'll give you tell you the truth. I'll tell you what I mean. What? You also left your son in. Did he come out okay? Yes, he's all right. He's okay. He's healthy. He's happy. He has three kids already. Okay. I hope he doesn't learn from his father. We all We all have these moments. It's just we're all human. I just now leaving I just gave my woman's class in the sh and I was leaving the class and people come over to talk and I'm trying to be respectful to each person. Then at the end, the rabbi comes from Brazil and and and I know I'm late or I'm about to come here and I need to think over what I'm going to say and I said, "But here's a man from Brazil. He wants to meet me." His wife listens to the classes. He gives me and and then and then I gave him the time and he said, "I want to show you the institution I'm involved in." I gave him the time and you know what's beautiful at the end? He says, "Rabb, I want to tell you what is so special about you." And he told me two themes that are in my speeches often, two things that he thinks I do. I said, "Wow, look, I thought I was helping him, but at the time I walked out, he helped me." There's a gimmar that is to me one of the most haunting gimarot there are. The gimar writes, gimmar asks a question. Why is it that the children of Tomim are not always like their fathers? That's a scary question. Why is it sometimes that the son of rabbis are not as holy as their father, the rabbi? And the has a number of answers, but I'm going to give you one. And other answers are literally all captured in this one. Because sometimes the rabbi calls people. What does that mean? The rabbi is in a position of power and sometimes the rabbi could be condescending. Ah, I don't need you. I don't want you. I can't talk to you. And there are times that you can't talk to the person. But how does it come across? Because I want to tell you a little secret about people. The secret is most people have a little broken inside. Most people have a little something inside of them that they they need that feeling. They feel vulnerable. I'll give you what I think is an incredible example. It's not such a I don't if I should be telling a story about this kind of person, but it makes the point. This Shabbat in our shul, we had a rabbi from Memphis, Tennessee, and he said, "Rabbi, I got to tell you a story." He says there was a Jewish couple in Memphis in the 1950s and60s and they took in a boy who was not from the Jewish community, wasn't Jewish, and this boy had fell on hard times and they were nice to the boy and they took care of the boy. They gave him food to eat. The boy was a good guitar player and the boy started playing in clubs and eventually the boy became the number one non-Jewish singer of all time. You know his name? You know his name? What? No. From Memphis, Tennessee. There you go. So, you heard of this man? He has pot. You got it. This man many times when he sang on stages would have a kai necklace on him or a Jewish star because of how much he loved the Jews. In 1973, the Hebrew Academy of Memphis, Tennessee was in difficult straits and they were going to close. They were going to close. The Jewish people in charge of this school went to this man I just told you and they asked him for help. He wrote a check in 1973 for $300,000 to keep the Hebrew Academy of Memphis open. To this day, the yeshiva is open because that man that man gave a donation. They wanted to honor him, but I guess they never got a chance. He had already left the building. But that's what they in Graceand there's actually a plaque that says the Hebrew Academy of Memphis, Tennessee wants to thank Mr. Presley for all that he did because he saved our yeshiva. He was probably a good-hearted person. He liked Jews. You know what else I can tell you about this person? He was dead by 42. Why would a man so famous, so wealthy, so popular be dead at 42? The answer is, ladies, because everybody's a little broken inside. Everybody has a little need. No one wants to feel less than. Hashem told Moshe Rabenu, I'm going to give you a great stick. Use that stick for another. But it's not just what you give to another. It's how you give it to another. When you share the stick, don't share the stick as mashi, as if you were once saved. Share the stick as a reminder that as you're saving other people throughout your life, remember that you needed to be saved, too. So, there's really no difference between me and you. So any room you walk into, any person you speak to, whether they're a person in need or they're a person that feels like they have no need in the world, I don't care who that person is, every single person is a little broken inside. They don't want to be admired and they don't want to look looked down upon. All they want from you is to feel like they are the same. And that's what Habayat does. Thank you.