Heroes of Unity- Main Film Dinner 2022

[Music] my judaism pretty much was non-existent before i got involved with project inspire i knew i was jewish i was proud to be jewish but we didn't do a lot so i didn't feel very connected we didn't even know what observant people did or who they were or what they were about i was a little bit cynical you know i was totally unaffiliated we weren't doing anything other than the high holy days and then after i went to israel for the first trip the first jwrp trip back then something ignited inside of me ever since then we've been growing by leaps and bounds getting involved in so many more things meeting so many amazing people so before project inspire i don't think i would feel that i can have such an effect or influence on maybe jews are coming from a more secular background and i would be like even if i would talk to them what would they do what would i influence them how would they see change product inspire brings people from all different levels of judaism together the model of having both committed families with those who are exploring and learning more have them come together through project inspire i think is a very winning combination project aspire is able to cater to any group of individuals whether you were from birth or you're just coming back to judaism it's really to hold hands with those that are observant so we can understand what it's all about who doesn't need inspiration and the best way to be inspired is to inspire others and they feel that if the 10 percent that are connect would infect the other 90 with their passion for yiddish kite it would be a game changer any one more person you get to the community this kind of kind of it's just has changed yourself it's a change to you not just i have the benefit of having grown up with you know religious upbringing and orthodox education and i want to share that with people but someone like me who supposedly was always affiliated project inspire brought me into where i needed to be and gave me a love of judaism and and also my kids my kids get to see that they're all different kinds of people and we're all so the same and we just have to be open to learning about other people and loving other people project inspire just wants to teach and give back and have everybody feel connected to our faith and really just to be able to keep passing it on to our kids i was living a certain way because i didn't know about the other and so what j inspire does is teaches you what what your choices are everything that they do is all about sharing judaism sharing you know torah and you know helping people understand that you know this has been going on for 3 300 years there's got to be something to it it does exactly what it aims to do which is to bring jewish people who may not be as connected with their faith to a place where they can become much more connected much happier and just much more knowledgeable too never could have imagined that learning torah and studying would have been so important you go to synagogue you read prayer book hebrew and you follow rituals and that's wonderful this is an opportunity to see where are the other touch points in your life to celebrate judaism we went to so many shabbatons and and weekends that we truly enjoyed amazing speakers and smearos and beautiful shabbosudas i just came back from my fifth trip to israel the trip was amazing because it was seven days of really power packed events that we did you are on your homeland and that was amazing to have this feeling so we started these three day trips to kentucky the bourbon trail was the first one we did my wife actually led a trip for the women to fort myers florida and we found in two and a half days this bonding this growth this this connection to a brotherhood and a sisterhood took root in an unbelievable way i come out of it inspired and i believe that the participants come out of it inspired now we're on this exciting mission of getting more and more people on these trips scaling them trying to get them all across the united states because this special sauce that we have has to be shared by all and i think that's the thrust that's the kind of the new frontier of project inspire and it's quite exciting and all our partners that are being honored they've helped us make that happen and they're continuing to make that happen projects inspire has completely totally changed our lives in every aspect of our life judaism is now a part of my life and i've been able to share that with my children my son got hurt on the basketball court and he said to me today on the way to the orthopedist maybe this is god's way of telling me i shouldn't have played and all i could think to myself was that i had brought into the house something that made him think about that hashem has a role in our daily lives even if it's something small like making the basketball team and making the decision and when you start doing the things the commandments that hashem ordained upon us then hashem starts to bless you with blessings the organization has changed our lives our home our family the friends we've made the focus of our lives changed tremendously from just being about ourselves to being about sharing it with other people over the course of some years that jewish flame inside me started to dim and then i met project inspire and that flame came back and that fire's back that's what makes this place special i started doing things that i've never done in my life for example doing to fill in every day you should understand that in these united states and all over the world today okay being religious keeping mitzvos keeping shabbat keeping kosher is not going to stop you from accomplishing anything you want in this world i'm a classic example i always say i'm in the most non-jewish business in the world doesn't make a difference you could today me my children you can walk around you can make a kid of hashem you can sanctify god's name wherever you are whatever you do and don't be scared don't think for one second that by being a little bit more religious by by by eating kosher by keeping shabbat that's going to hold you back from accomplishing anything you want to do in your life we can't rely on care of professionals alone as extraordinary as devoted as selfless as they are they're too few in number but if we employ every member of the torah community to be ambassadors we're all shlokan we have a responsibility we are agents of hashem to make a difference in his world to care about our siblings his other children if we inspire ourselves to inspire others we could transform the trajectory of claw israel we can make changes for generations to come every jew is part of my family every jew is part of your family so when project inspired gives you the chance to meet more of your family to connect with them to do something for them you're doing the jewish way and hashem will be very proud of you [Music]