Body and Soul 2023 Keynote Session Saturday Night

[Music] like a light leaves the flame in the darkness in the darkness I keep calling out your name I know you're here under half a trillion Stars I'm searching you are searching like we're light dear apart but you're so near if you're in pieces and you just falling down falling down I'll pick you up and if you feel like you're all number on the Battleground and head enough well I won't be there for you every time as you turn around I will let you down be there and we'll both be c r than the sun together we are [Music] we are people the S I see them around us they surround us by the way have to believe that together we're strong we are so strong Pie when they keep falling down falling down up you feel like number on the B had enough well I will be there for you every time that you turn around I will let you down a be and we'll both become Bri than the sun together we oh [Music] yeah it's me you we together like one two even if it's only one Jew we together call it I do I sh when every generation they take one raising the haters then I sh hit the pavement blazing the save us and the world ask what they went patience are faithless the to get the whole world a facelift if hatred is baseless we take take it erase it and exchange it for that Master go we don't forget wherever we may go there was only one place we know it's [Music] called you're just falling down falling down I pick you up and if you feel like you're out numbered on a battle and you hiding will be there for you every time as you turn around I will let you down on there and we'll both become RIS and the sun together we [Music] are [Music] we [Music] I want to thank everybody again for your amazing cooperation I want to thank the speakers some of which are already on planes back to Israel who came special to spend shabas together with us and Inspire us I mean it feels like it was two weeks ago when yafa palti and G fredman you know graced the stage and inspired us Friday night and it was only this morning when David magerman and rabit fanger told us their life stories and absolutely blew us away what an incredible chabas this was and it's not over yet as a group as project Inspire I want to thank all the city leaders and Community leaders who were here to spend chabas together with us truly truly Heroes and as I mentioned they were doing Jewish Unity before it was cool to do so so thank you all and I want to thank all the different communities and cities that really came I know some of you left kids at home some of you left spouses at home and you came to be to be here with us for shabas want to thank you for making this so special now of course project Inspire is about bringing communities and bringing Jewish people together it's not only about bringing people closer and it's not only about teaching but it's about communities that come together to learn to grow and to share the point of being here is not only what we've gained and what we ate the shabas but it's of course to share that with everybody we know and it doesn't matter how connected or disconnected people are everyone here is an ambassador everyone here can lead we also connected to Israel in a way where we felt like one we sat here A whole shabas is there anyone who wasn't thinking about what is going on in Israel and and you know and what they could do to help or like G mentioned or you know which duffel bag they could send to Israel next and what they can do it's really a shabas of not only us coming together bringing the Jewish world together as a whole and so project Inspire is spreading its message as you know from this room and all around the year a short video clip of project Inspire spreading that message ever think you could spread Jewish values to Jews across the [Music] World Imagine searching everywhere for the key to that answer only to realize that it starts with you visualize a revolutionary approach where people receive inspiration to inspire the world picture a chain reaction that goes viral as each individual gets inspired and takes responsibility to involve other Jews as each connection builds and as each life is transformed it exists and it's called project Inspire project Inspire is a network of committed Jews who become leaders taking the responsibility to unify Jewish people by sharing the beauty and wisdom of our common Heritage with fellow Jews project Inspire offers experiential programming for Jews of all backgrounds to learn share and grow together participants create lifelong relationships along the way breaking down barriers growing spiritually in a non-judgmental and welcoming space our eight project Inspire branches across North America keep people connected in their home communities where individual relationships are created and sealed families are spiritually uplifted and communities are built a chain reaction of Jewish inspiration from person a person we are building a movement we have come together as one we are project [Music] Inspire Rabbi Samson mentioned in his introduction Friday night there of Noah used to y at his students and he used to say just give me 10 men I'll change the world of course he meant 10 women as well and the women are changing the world and we're going to get to that later on in this program but every so often there are people there are leaders who step up to the plate and are in a position to make a tremendous difference they're well connected they have the means to do so and they have the ability to take a project and a program and push it forward to new levels and to new speeds one such person has joined us here this evening after not being here with us for shabas but joining us here this evening he'll tell you his involvement and his story but Nathan her Herzog is here is here with us tonight he is the president of Royal Wine Corporation km practically everything you drank this weekend I don't know how many did you drank water right practically everything you drank this weekend is from km is from Royal Wine Corporation is the president of it before I introduce him I want to thank Jay Buck bam and his wife who were here together with us a shabas from kenam wies who's always with us and who always joins us but without further Ado I'd like to introduce to you Nathan Herzog the president of Royal Wine Corporation [Applause] Kevin a good v as they say in certain circles pretty amazing to be standing up here I'm sure many of you are thinking Nathan Herz is part of Royal wine we sell wine we produce wine we import many Israeli wines I'm sure you've seen it here what's he doing up here talking it's such an amazing event I heard all about the Shabbat how beautiful it was Project inspir weekend I'll tell you why I'm here pretty simple many years ago approximately 16 or 17 years ago I was excuse me at one of these project inspir shabbatones and either Rabbi Samson or abet trap one of these great leaders of project Inspire got up Saturday night and asked a bold question how many of you here in the room or in outreach are in kiru few hands went up seven eight people who are leaders like the project Inspire leadership some other organizations to do amazing work connecting every type of Jew no matter what yam what hat or no y are you're wearing few hands went up then he asked another question how many of you I'll quote how many of you have friends or business associates who are Jewish are not affiliated with Judaism many hands went up as we all do business with so many Jewish people Affiliated a little less Affiliated well then he says when was the last time you picked up the phone to someone who's a little less Affiliated than you on a typical Friday and say gabas to him or call him before PES before rash and wish him a happy New Year not a business discussion ladies and gentlemen Jay knows this my very close friend Jay I want to give a shout out for Jay books M because he is really what inspired me to come here it's been almost 18 years I have not missed my Friday phone calls to a bunch of our Distributors retailers friends suppliers who are semi Jewish not affiliated not Orthodox reformed conservative and some of them in the beginning looked at me like Nathan why you calling me Friday 4:00 we just had a business discussion yesterday this is not a business discussion it's just to wish you a good chabas and how's your wife and how's your kids you can't imagine the difference and the impact it had on me and on my friends really we become very very close friends one of these individuals who Jay knows very well he's the owner of the largest wine and spirits wholesaler in the world doing billions and billions of dollars in sales we do a lot of business with him and I started calling him on the Fridays it became such a tradition now his wife comes to the phone his children come to the phone he has see not religious but very Affiliated and very proud to be part of the Jewish tradition he calls me the other day obviously everybody's so shooken up with the horrible attacks the terrorist attacks that happened in Israel on s t oras for them and it's amazing the Outreach on the phone calls and I'm sure many of you have been getting from all of our not so Affiliated Jewish men and women Nathan what can I do what can we do I'm sort of the the rabbi in the industry connected to them but they're not calling me for business I wish some of them can use a big order say Nathan you wanted two containers of wine they're not calling me for that they're calling me because the Jewish heart is pumping and they're connected one lady who's a buyer of many of you know it it's a big chain in California called BevMo and there's a big app called gopuff it's a very very big famous app to buy liquor and wine and and and sunre and stuff like that on the web and I see call her ID her name is Rachel and she calls me 430 in the afternoon um the Friday right after this terrible attacks happened and I'm always emailing I rarely talk to her she and I see Rachel someone calling me Nathan yeah Rachel what's happening I it's weird say Nathan you're my Jewish connection she's not religious what can I do what can I do tonight I'm planning to go to Sho she tells me she usually goes to Sho once a year young Kipper I'm planning to go to sh tonight with a bunch of my friends anything else I should do I said aren't you part of a group that's supposed to go to Israel in the next few weeks said yes 40 of us supposed to go to Israel and the trip was cancelled uh due to the the war going on in Israel so I told her you know what Rachel why don't you get a hold of the whole 40 of you and tell everyone to light candles tonight Friday night and an exra two candles at that time there were only two soldiers who were killed except for the terrible thing where it was announced just a half hour before for the two terrible soldiers that were killed unfortunately she's great idea I'm going to do it so here I am becoming an Outreach professional while not being an Outreach but yet I am an outre as my as Yi so well said I'm part of the Royal Wine family business the on the eighth generation the wine the food business my father Z gun is a holocaust Survivor and my mother and they're looking at this whole war in a whole different scary scary way my mother was in matous my father was hidden by non-jewish family for 13 months my grandfather was in a bunker during World world it's a long story we can go on all night how they were miraculously saved my grandfather came to America in 1948 and built up bashem the Royal Kum businesses and my father always tells us at sales meetings we're not in the kidush Hain business or sanctifying with a cup of wine every Friday night we're in a kidush Hashem business as Jewish people traveling the world and we produce wines all over the world we sell all over the world and Jay's one of our many ambassadors my father always tells us remember you're traveling the world you're wearing a yamak do a Kem you're coming across dealing with non-religious people dealing with non-jewish people they should look and say look how a Jewish person acts so my message I've been telling this to Jay and many of our people for a long time we got to get out there we got to touch more Jewish people we got to get this message out especially the last few weeks they're searching everyone wants to I barely work the last three weeks every second phone call whether it's suppliers whether it's distributors or retailers Jewish non-jewish Nathan what can we do what are we doing Nathan what are we doing and I'm being very Frank with them and said I don't know the intelligence or Israel or politics that's not me but obviously Hashem wants something from us you got to get a little closer to him there's one person Jay knows very well his name is Mel an iconic 83 year-old uh very very special special Jew non Affiliated yet and and I talked to him quite often he called me the day after this happened and he says Nathan tat he calls me Nathan T that's how he calls he knows a few yish words he knows don't be mug and uh he grew up in Cony Island in Brooklyn lives in Florida now runs a big big business and he says Nathan what are we doing so I don't know I had the to tell this to him but he heard it I said Mel can I ask you a stupid question and be honest with me you went to synagogue yum Kipper he says yes of course I said Mel maybe Hashem wants to see Mel in synagogue more than once a year he was stunned said Nathan I I I I I hear I hear you think I should go to Shool this Friday I said yes please and take your wife Bobby who I know very well and his two children because Hashem every little step that we do for him he does for us and he does to protect in Israel what's going on and situation there just going to finish as I said I'm not a professional speaker and I'm not a k of professional but I just felt that in this time every one of us no matter if you're in business or if you're in uh education or lawyer or doctor we all have friends or Associates who are not that Affiliated touch him I'm telling you the Sparks are there guys and ladies and gentlemen the Sparks are there I tell you one final story and I'll finish with this my son-in-law who's Canadian went to a wedding a couple of years ago and there was somebody a little not so Affiliated they were working together and he wanted to break the ice and uh get a little close to him and he tells him to this he was an Englishman he was an English person from Manchester England my son was Canadian and he says you know we have something in common he says oh what's that because he was wearing a ring a little green yamaka and my sonla is a liid guy with a black hat but my father wanted to connect to him and he says we have something in common he said we have the same queen Queen Elizabeth was still alive and Canada is part of the Commonwealth officially we have a we have the same Queen so this young man turns around to my son-in-law and says no no no no no no we don't have the same Queen we all have the same King in shamay I was watching this video here and I said Jay did they prepare this for me I mean really this is the message we all no matter how Affiliated we are where we are black yellow religious nonreligious we we all have the one above and really all of you here in the room every one of you think of it next Friday reach out to two non-affiliated Jews or two people are not that Affiliated even if they're somewhat Affiliated touch the people who can use that spiritual touch you'll be amazed by what we can do thank you for listening [Applause] shab okay ladies and gentlemen an initiative that Mr Herzog has begun together with M Barnett I believe is here tonight is M Barnett in the house M Barnett in the house there he is together launched an initiative called pray and say and the idea is that you sign up and you're peered with a name of a soldier who you could then pray for and say gratitude and all the um details are on the site I ask that you take out your phones you're all holding the song book and on the last page of the song book is the same graphic which you can scan your QR code please sign up for a unique opportunity to be paired with the name of a soldier it's part of just one thing which you might have seen elsewhere this is our own initiative through that site together with aaor and you have it you have an opportunity right here in this room to be peered up with a name of a soldier that you can pray for pass on to your friends and be able to share in the struggles but yet God willing the salvation of the soldiers and the land of Israel to be peered together with it so again it's on the last page of your song book as well as on the screen you can scan now for anybody over 25 doesn't know what a QR code is so um I learned about it yesterday actually you can go you can go to just one thing to pray and say the link is on that page as well on the last page of your song book and you could go to the link the website link and sign up as well but again I want to thank again Mr Herzog for really being behind this as well as of course M Barnett who initiated it to begin with and really put his heart and soul into it this really meant a lot to him okay by a raise of hands we're just going to walk around by raise of hands is anybody here here how many of you actually here have been involved in 3-day Retreats by raise of hand wow look at this look at this wow okay what do we have Melanie Bells you're from Toronto Toronto amazing which which three days Retreat did you join I've been to Austin New Jersey and Tampa wow three three-day trips amazing with the amazing Toronto Group by the way a shout out to the Toronto group who came it's not easy for them to cross the border I don't know why but that border seems to be closed um and they they yet managed to come as a group over here so you were at Austin and the New Jersey one which we called the Appalachian Mountains ones right you minerals minerals Retreat and and Tampa Amazing by the way I should mention that Toronto men Toronto men have a Tamp Tampa trip a 3-day trip to Tampa starting November 26th November 26th 60 men from Toronto led by R sitner of course who's here and our very own nakov ginar was sitting in the corner who makes believe he does nothing organized an amazing trip 60 60 men from Tampa followed by December where are the women going anybody here going to Puerto Rico amazing women are going to Puerto Rico also 65 women so far going to Puerto Rico I'd like to ask for before I before I ask I'd like to see a short clip about three-day trips you'll learn more about it I think for the five of you who did not yet join you get an opportunity to join as well let's watch a short clip followed by Judah [Music] gross the benefit of a 3-day project Inspire trip is that you get to take one self out of their element you go on trips to Kentucky to Austin to Tampa here to Palm Springs and getting away for a few day period really gives that opportunity to be away to connect with new people to develop real relationships without the distractions project Inspire I am so glad to be here I didn't know what to expect there's some people with absolutely no background and there's also a lot of people here that are very yeshivish and what's amazing is the similarities between everyone everyone has like a Jewish soul and project Inspire is about inspiring that soul and every single person is growing and that's why project Inspire so meaningful for [Music] me project conspire is a unique organization they like break all boundaries and they break all barriers everybody's included all Jews are together conversing having fun craying eating we do everything together for three whole days because we are all you know Jewish Souls like a [Music] pentlin anytime you have brothers together learning Torah and Performing mitvah there's only going to be growth that comes out from [Music] it what's exciting for me to be able to share my experience with my Judaism and what I've learned is all of a sudden I have this Treasure trest of gold that I'm holding on to myself and what this is provided an opportunity for is to be able to share some of this go and some of this treasure with others so the one-on-one learning it's not a situation where you're just like sitting and listening you know you're you're interacting actually and um it seemed like all the ladies were really really enjoying it the advantage of not a rinic figure coming on this trip somebody like myself we have a different type of angle we're not paid to be here we're here because we want to be here and being this this opportunity and being able to share from that type of angle H comes out of a more genuine feel and therefore guys like me are going to make I believe a bigger impact all the people the religious that come on one of our 3day trips they come wanting to help they come wanting to give to another person and as all MIT you realize that they were the ones that got more so it's a tremendous opportunity tremendous opportunity for yourself you developed such amazing friendships with people you feel connected you feel like you have family that you never knew you had you learn about Judaism and it's three days of complete [Music] [Applause] inspiration so I thought I was going to get more of an introduction especially since um we're called uh meet project inspire Heroes so now I'm just going to have to take some more time and explain to everyone why I'm really a hero the truth is is that when I I saw meat project Inspire Heroes so first I laughed I thought it was funny and I'm like Heroes I'm like then I actually got a little bit upset because I'm not a hero I'm superhero heroes are like over there superheroes are over here and I'll tell you why it's not just me it's really everyone so heroes are for example let's say Michael Jordan Michael Jordan is 66 he was amazing basketball player a superhero is Spud Webb who was 56 and would and really took something where he shouldn't have been able to get as far as he [Music] did and he you he just made 56 into an amazing basketball player Noah was a hero but he kept everything to himself right Noah is taken to task for not sharing the wealth Abraham is a superhero Abraham had these opportunities where aside from spreading Yiddish Kai he was tested in ways that are almost unimaginable and what does it mean to be tested in an unimaginable way what does it mean to be a superhero it means to be put in a situation where you have to really really rise right for Abraham Abraham his whole M his whole being was it was just giving and then Hashem says to him you know that son that I gave you and after all that time he was waiting for him he's like like we need to talk about that because I need to take that away from you now for a person that was espousing and goodness how is it going to look to all the people he was mif all the people that he tried to teach the beauty of Yiddish Kai and the beauty of Judaism and now all of a sudden everything he has said is now completely turned on his head because he's going to be accused as someone who killed his son right but the fact is Hashem said and it didn't make a difference what he thought about it and he went and did it that's a superhero now why you why are we all superheroes in this room because what we're doing here is we're keeping chabis um maybe we weren't before maybe we're keeping it better now we're putting on Fillin or we're putting on it we're putting it on better but it's something that we didn't necessarily grow up with right it's something that we're tested with it's something like I may have not done it a year ago I may not have done it two years ago but the fact is when something comes and just pulls the rug out from under you and you just have to rethink everything that you've been doing 10 20 30 40 years that makes a person into a superhero I'll give you a little bit of an example so my wife and I'm going to get it now but she decided she wanted to clean her closet last week true story so what do you do how do you clean the closet well you take everything out of the closet and put it all over the bed all over the room and her closet is like almost it's like half the size of the room this room it was all over the all over the bed I didn't sleep in my bed for weeks because until it got done but the idea is that in order to put something back together again better you need to break it down right you need to just take out the whole mess right so sometimes Hashem sends us those signals about seven and a half eight years ago I got such a signal um I was sick for a very long time um and it was just getting progressively worse and worse and worse it it took nine months for me to get diagnosed with cancer um so if you want to talk about a rug being pulled out from under me and my family that was certainly it um and but the fact is is that thank God I'm here barash and it's something where okay well I guess I can't take that for granted anymore and it would be wasted if it wasn't an opportunity for growth in the same way where um David magman was touched by um that child 10-year-old child who knew more than him and in the same way Rabbi fanger was when he was ping for him that what he was doing wasn't kosher it's like now my world has turned around and now it's well what do I do with it right because other other survivors in the room show of hands so you guys may understand what I'm saying but in cancer at least for me there's you now you say BCE before the Common Era right there's BC which is before cancer right and there's AC which is after cancer so before cancer my wife will tell you that I was a big stic right I she'll but after cancer H the stic that I was I wasn't even close to now much much much bigger stic this is a joke by the way guys but it it just changes things and and it really doesn't need to be so it doesn't need to be some tested with with health but there's Hashem pulls these strings and has these ways of testing us pulling here pulling there and it just makes us rethink our priorities and we're what do we do now because if if he just gave us a test and it was limited to just that then what's the point of it right if Abraham was tested and no one knew about it we wouldn't be here right this is part of the fiber of Who We Are right we're being tested so we have two jobs number one we have to pass the test otherwise we get it again and then number two we have to share it with other people we can Inspire other people right we can help other people right and this is like a little bit of a platform for me which is I which is how I come to project Inspire I came to three uh three three-day trips and it was like this little opportunity a little soap box for me just to share what I've been through and I just wanted to thank um all the guys um everyone that does everything and thank all of you for listening and we should all share in each other's inspiration ladies and gentlemen on your chairs you have a song book can open up to smile again [Music] and long sleepless night CL touching tightly is tear drench theing with sad emotions raised by as his heart is torn apart bys and cry struggling to speak mother draws him closer imploring whatever trust in US that his mercy and compassion will soon be sure for it loves us Soul elevating our voice is stronger every day with for rain I father please don't turn away WIP away the tears of Sorrow pain fears and even when his master plan is hard to understand still we know he's always near to the heavens above who our prayers will sent in the blank of an eye who all the suffering could all the C ass sure we must continue on this battle till the war is won happiness in Earth restored to everyone y know will soon rejoice as one then will smile [Applause] again un loving prayer are we failing to show some emotion as countless names are called down desperately by family will it ever end touch deep within realizing the good held for granted sure our concern for each true surely we can intervene on behalf of them so they can smile and G meating see stronger every [Music] day father please don't turn away wipe away the tears sorrow pain fs and even when his master plan is hard to understand still we know he's always near to the heavens above my prayers will send in the blink of more the suffering could end more and moon short we must continue on this battle till the war is won happiness and health restored to everyone young and old those soon rejoices one and then we'll smile [Music] again elevating our voice is strong every day father please don't turn away wipe away the tears of Sorrow pain and fears and even when his master plan is start to understand still he knows always near to the heavens above our pra will Ascent in The Bling of an all the suffering all the ofure and [Music] reur we must continue on this battle till the war is won happiness and restore to everyone young and all will soon rejoice as one and then will smile again excitement fills the air that day is Drawing Near we will smile [Music] again oh hello hi my name is rookie gross I'm Judah gross's wife um I am not usually a public speaker but I was asked to come up just to share a little bit how I got involved so after my husband went on you know a bunch of these three-day trips um a combination of my good friend Rachel Berg and my husband Judah who were both really um pushing me to go they said you got to you know join and try to learn you know about the magic of project Inspire so I went on my first project inspire a trip this past spring to southb Connecticut um um it was an amazing trip it was really um it was really just it was amazing it was um something I never experienced before and um and it was really very inspirational on that trip I was paired up with Amy clausner um as a learning partner and we we learned together on that trip and we really hit it off um we became friends we started learning together after that we've been learning and garden of amuna which is very prevalent especially in you know today's Days um I don't know how Amy feels but I know that I have gained tremendously from learning with her I'm inspired from her um I have learned um you know how to become a better person and it's really been really life-changing for me um and without further Ado I'd like to call Amy up I'd like to give her a little gift to thank her um I also just want to encourage anybody that thank you that doesn't have a Learning Partner yet um it really is a life-changing experience I feel like it just enhances my whole week it really um it's really it's amazing it's amazing thank you this is for you thank you it's my birthday it's your birthday I didn't even know than amazing amazing thank you and I want to thank both Judah and rookie gross as well as Amy clausner because as Mrs gross just said this is the bit of the magic of project Inspire in the sense that you never know who you think you're trying to inspire and really the reverse is the case that you end up being the one inspired and I think that that's the message I want to thank the grosses and all the tens of others who have joined the trips and have signed up for one-on-one partners and have been part of this magic and I and the truth is that that's why we're here we're here not only to celebrate the work that we've done and of course to showcase the amazing successes but as we know it's to push the message further and further and further out and on that note I want to ask Lauren Moss to come up because Lauren Moss because Lauren Moss has learned to take project inspir message Way Beyond on an individual basis and I'll let her tell her story but without further Ado Lauren [Applause] Moss well I just want to start out um with a little story um kind of unrelated a little small but kind of big for me when I was um a young mother I had my younger kids and um my son Adam was three years old and he found a big bad of coins and like most kids you know loved counting coins and and you know we used to run to the bank and we would take the coins and cash the coins in and he was always excited about the money and one day we came across a coin that didn't look like a quarter a dime a nickel or a penny and he pulled this coin out and he was a little bit of a hoarder he used to put it all these little rocks and things that he found on his shelf and one day he said to me I'm going to take this coin and I'm going to give it to Great Grandma Miriam and I saidou going to give her this I had no idea what it was so one day we went to visit my grandmother who lived about 20 minutes away and we visited her all the time she was a huge matriarch in my family I was very close with her and my son handed her this coin and she said oh it's a shekele I didn't even know what a shekele was I had never been on a trip to Israel I had no idea what it was and then I started to realize the Shuckle was really kind of like a dollar like was not it didn't really have a lot of Worth to it but she took that Shuckle and she ran to the jeweler and she put a gold bezel on it and she bought a chain and for the rest of her life she wore that that shle around her neck that story really speaks to me because my grandmother was very inspirational to me she knew how to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary and that message resonated with me through my entire life I watched her carefully I learned from her she inspired me and she always did it in very subtle ways about 10 years ago um actually longer my husband David went on the first men's trip [Applause] and I had no interest in going to Israel none so my husband goes on this first men's trip and he comes back completely on fire literally my house was changing we had missas on every doorway the books were arriving Amazon was dropping things off I I had no idea where my husband was half the time one minute he was upstairs one minute he was downstairs the books everywhere reading reading studying learning going to meetings and classes and so on and whatever and it was like I didn't even know what to do because I had no Jewish tools I wasn't brought up with anything I didn't have any Judaism in my life and I was completely inqui to be a Jewish mother and what ended up happening was there was a little bit of friction in my house and my husband insisted that I go on a trip to Israel and literally I went basically kicking and screaming and crying all the way to the airport ahead no inur ESD staler was my city leader Aviva Brody also and they can attest that I was probably the most deeply moved from the entire experience it changed my life so I come back from this trip and I'm just sort of getting a little bit of a grip on things and my husband informs me that he's signing up for a second level trip and I said how you can't go on a second level trip this is impossible like I am not even like I'm just getting my feet wet and you want to go on a second level trip this it can't happen says I'm going so he goes on the second level trip I follow on a second level trip I go on a second level trip and now I'm even more inspired so I who had a similar situation like Judah where's Judah I am also a cancer survivor and I understand what it is to be racing Against Time and so my journey began I developed a very strong curiosity learning when David wasn't looking I would open up the books you know I didn't want to commit too much so you know I would just kind of dabble my feet and get my feet a little wet here and there and then he started going to sh on Saturdays and I said go to SCH I'm going to stay home I would stay home I would open up the books and read the books and learn and learn and I realized that there were things that I could learn that's spoke to me not everything that spoke to David spoke to me and so our journey together started to really take hold now I realized it was really a Race Against Time because my kids were already in their 20s and I understood the importance of what I was missing and that I needed to implement this in my life and I needed to do it now because if I didn't do it now I lost my opportunity so I started very small I started baking Hala I loved it I loved cooking I felt that was something I could do you know it was something that was spiritual and I had a feeling that my kids who loved my cooking would be really drawn to the lure of the smell of the Hala so I started with Hala and that's how it started so so I baked Hala every week kept doing everything that I was doing David was still learning and growing Leaps and Bounds and I stuck with the Hala now the friends were coming all my kids friends I heard you make this amazing Hala where's this Hala the Jewish friends the non-jewish friends everybody had Hala I always had the extras so that I could send somebody home with a holla to bring it back to their home and then Co hit and the Race Against Time sort of slowed down I wasn't racing so fast because I had more opportunity and more time so my family was together and I saw that as an opportunity for consistency so I began with shabas and I kept shabis every Friday I prepared beautiful meals I set my table with my grandmother's dishes I tried to draw all of the Traditions into my home and I knew no one was going anywhere and it was a perfect opportunity to slow down time and take advantage of something that I knew would stick and would be a part of my life forever so I elevated shabis I had to really step up my game because we weren't doing this in our home this wasn't something that was really a tradition so I knew that shabas had to be like on steroids so I had to have the most gorgeous flowers I had to have the most beautiful setting the food had to be perfect everything had to be delicious and it had to be something that my family and their my kids and their friends would go home and talk about so that began my journey for chabas and then um I had a very interesting situation happen um every Friday we were doing shopis and then it was my son's birthday covid kind of slowed down you know people weren't getting sick so much and things were loosening up a bit and so my son's birthday he was having a birthday and he I assumed he would be going out with all his college friends and they'd be going to a restaurant and now I was really a little nervous because now wasn't so glued to the house he could get out and he didn't need to be part of shabas and I asked him I said so what are you going to do for your birthday this Friday I know it's coming up are you going out with your friends are you going out for dinner like what's the plan and he said well Mom I was actually thinking I thought that I would invite all my college friends here and you would make Shabbat dinner for the entire crew and I was just blown away blown away because I had been working so hard and it was such a balancing act of not putting too much pressure on and you know just kind of tapping like dancing lightly on my toes and not being too much and so I handed in my credit card and I said okay done take the credit card buy as many air mattresses as you need Bing sheet I thought was going to lose his mind I'm like just trust me trust me like if I make this experience really great I know that they will come back well they come back and they bring their friends and now shabas is in my home it is joyful it is filled with youth we Inspire they Inspire there's benching going on there's singing going on it's really incredible what has [Applause] happened so I wanted I guess the message I wanted everyone to take away from this chabus is that we're not all always equipped with everything that we want and we sometimes don't know how to implement things in our lives but we have to look a little outside of ourselves we have to have some courage we have to be brave we take little small steps and then we add on to that and we have to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary so Inspire the communities bring friends in reach out and just carry that torch and it doesn't matter if it's a little light your little light can Inspire someone else's light and another one's light and another one's light and before you know it it's a torch of flames so with that I want to just tell everybody that I am literally exactly where I belong thank you Lauren Moss you are exactly where you belong you're you belong in this room inspiring us and inspiring so many and so thank you so much for that and as a tribute to your amazing work that you've done we attribute this song a special song which is in entitled the place where I belong sung by actually a Torah scroll Torah scroll who is looking to [Music] belong the word the words can be found in your song book [Music] I made back in [Music] 1842 by a humble man a real God fearing Jew who did his work with honesty fing and with pride he was known and K as young could live [Music] SC with loveing care his head so sure and still he formed me with some parchment in and quill each day he slowly answer to me just a few more lines with words to last until the end of time and on the day that I was finally complete the whole town came and filled the Narrow Street and they sing and danced and held me high and carried me away to the little wooden Shool where I would stay and as the r I help me close against his chest he spoke out loud and clear to all the rest he said no matter if you're very young or even if you're old live by the words you'll find inside this scroll 3 days a week they read from me I love it filled my soul with joy it made me proud they followed each and every verse was fire in your eyes the words that told them how to live their life I watch the generations come and go I saw the old man die the children grown but never in a century did I miss my turn once for the father's they had left me with their sons oh but the hatred from the West came to and they rounded of the Jews who had I fled but Mo the sh he was Brave and he was bold he hid me in his dark and cold and for years and years I waited on alone for the people of my town to take me home and theyd sing and dance and hold me High when they carried me way to my little Wen sure where I would stay but it was someone else who found my Hiding Place and to America he sent me in a [Music] c and the man who took me off the poat they said I was a priz but they were Jews I did not re and in a case of glass they put me on display where visitors were look at me and [Applause] say how very nice how beautiful stunning work of art they knew not what was inside my heart and across the room I saw upon the [Music] shell some old friends of mine live back in here a silver pair of candlesticks a manora made of brass we'd all become mere echo of the so if you hear my voice why don't you come [Applause] along and take me to the place where I belong and maybe even sing and dance as it carried me away to some little wooden Shore where I could [Music] stay and the RBI holds me close against his chest speak out loud and clear to all the rest say no matter if you're very young or even your own live by the words you find inside [Music] this then by the words you'll find inside CHR [Music] how appropriate how appropriate of a song where we're joined this weekend by people who keep passing that toward shalong and keeping the Torah alive we spoke about the impact that the recent events in Israel has had on all of us and we focused on the Unity that has brought to all the Jewish people and so in a special presentation that was put together just this past Friday by our very own Michael Appel just a little visual of this amazing Jewish Unity that we're witnessing right now [Music] Allah turning overseas now in the incredible scenes playing out across Israel tonight Mass protest sweeping across the country I never wore pH B Jew support [Music] that [Music] I want to tell you about the people of Israel it doesn't matter what background you come from we are all am Israel We Are All One Nation to see all that gave me hope it gave me the and the spirit to move on and to believe that we will [Applause] [Music] [Applause] win ladies and gentlemen over chabas we spoke about this Unity we prayed for the soldiers who are on the front lines in the north and in the South who are defending our land and our people there's another prayer being said around Israel that I want all of us to share in children all around Israel are praying that their daddies come home just this P just an hour ago when shabas finished over here we learned that unfortunately there are four more soldiers daddies who will not come home so there was a special tribute song put together for the soldiers entitled Daddy come home i' like all of us here to watch this presentation and to pray together with the children of Israel at all Daddy's come home dad's been gone gone for so long for him I pray he joined the core fighting a war somewhere far away [Music] promise me he'd return When the candles burn so here I [Applause] wa the blessings I reigned by the candle light but it's getting great Daddy come home stay with me let me hold your hands let me S upon your knee I see fear in momy eyes every time she cries try to come for me it's scary here at home my mind begins to roll Have I Lost [Music] You I hear the phone mommy's mournful it can't be a true d he come home stay with me let me on your hand let me sit upon your knee I see fear in momy eyes every time she cries I try to come for me [Music] where has he gone car help me can I say I need to [Music] please hear my play with my daddy hold to that here calling my name I run it to is us yes my daddy came home to me you all is me now it's holding me for all eternity my we again the bir oh my why you so I hope my daddy died and I'm not let go [Music] Shalom [Music] sh oh say shom oh say shalom shal oh my oh we are we are say sh I say sh [Music] sh oh [Music] shalom shalom shalom shalom shalom Hallelujah [Music] shalom [Music] shalom was sh