Rabbi Duvy Bensousan at 9th Annual Project Inspire Convention

Ladies and gentlemen, there's such a shine on the faces of the people and I see that this Shabbat not just a meant the word to you, but it's going to open up the worlds to so many out there. People love to watch the famous, the successful of what they do. People love to talk about the billionaires and where they're going and what they're doing. I'd like to tell you a legendary story. A gentleman that probably you all know his name, a gentleman by the name of Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, with many of his partners, they made their way out to Eretz Yisrael to have a wonderful historical touring trip. Now, outside of the Golan and the Galilee, they made it their point that they're going to go to Yerushalayim and they're going to visit the Mir Yeshiva and the venerable Rosh Yeshiva, the great Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zecher tzaddik livracha. Could you imagine what type of a meeting that would be? On one side of the table, Howard Schultz, and on the other side of the table, the great Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. Howard Schultz walks into the Yeshiva. Rav Nosson Tzvi leans forward and he had that golden smile. And he looks at Mr. Schultz and he says to him, "Gentlemen, I want to ask you a question. What did we learn from the Holocaust?" Howard Schultz, he thinks to himself, "Rabbi, we learned from the Holocaust that we need an army." Rav Nosson Tzvi said, "Very nice, but that's not what I was looking for." Another one of the partners said, "Rabbi, you know what we learned from the Holocaust? We learned that we need to fight back. We learned that we need government. We learned that we need strength." Rav Nosson Tzvi said, "I hear, but that's not what I was looking for." And it's after answer after answer till finally they looked and they said, "Rabbi, tell us. What did we learn from the Holocaust?" Said Rav Nosson Tzvi, looking them dead in the eye, "We learned from the Holocaust that five Jews can sleep together on one plank of wood and be covered by one blanket." And boy, was he right. So many don't know, but when those cattle cars pulled up to Auschwitz, it was every fifth Jew that was handed a blanket and the four Jews before him was not. And then once they finally got inside to the Gehenna that was waiting for them, they were stripped down of everything of their world, exchanged with a striped pair of pajamas. With nothing left in the world, here, gripping to a blanket in the freezing nights of Europe, this one Jew that was handed the blanket had to make one of the biggest decisions of his life. Does he share the blanket with the other four who didn't get one? And nine out of 10 Yidden shared the blanket with the other four who didn't get. Huddled together on a plank of wood under a blanket, could you imagine the scene? That's what we learned from the Holocaust. It's at that moment that Rav Nosson Tzvi leans forward, stricken with Parkinson's disease, he begins to shake and he's pushing away the pain, he's trying to show a smile, and he looks at Howard Schultz in the eye and he says to him, "Mr. Schultz, Hashem gave you a blanket and it's up to you to go out now and spread it all over the Jewish people." Howard Schultz leans back, "Rabbi, wow, we weren't expecting that. Rabbi, I'm going to start spreading my blanket and I'm going to start with you." Howard Schultz pulls out a checkbook, he takes out his pen, he signs the check, "Rabbi, I'm starting my blanket with you. Here's a carte blanche check, filled out, signed, you could fill it out for any amount you want." And he pushes the checkbook across the table along with the ballpoint pen. At that time, the Mir Yeshiva was running a $2 million budget a month. Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel grabs the checkbook, blank check from a billionaire. He picks up the pen and his hand starts to shake due to the Parkinson's and as best as he could, he holds the checkbook and he fills out the check. And he looks at Schultz and says, "For whatever I want?" He says, "Yes, Rabbi." He fills out the check for $1,200. And with all the strength that he had left, he mustered up that last ounce of strength and he grabs the check and he rips it out and he leans forward and he hands it to Howard Schultz and he says, "Howard, take this check. Go across the street. Across from the Mir Yeshiva, there's a Judaica store. Take this check and buy yourself a pair of tefillin and put it on every single day. Do it for me." You see, ladies and gentlemen, when we were hand when we would have hand a blank check from some billionaire, you know what we'd be thinking? We'd be thinking, "How much can I take from this guy?" When a Gadol was handed a blank check from a billionaire, you know what he was thinking? "How much can I give to this guy? What can I give you?" Because that is Gadlus. Gadlus is how much can I give you? How much can I give you? And like the previous speaker eloquently mentioned, take a look at this is the hallmark of the leaders and the Gedolim of Klal Yisrael. They're not takers, they're selfless life givers and they give their blood, sweat and tears day in day out for Klal Yisrael and that's the Gadlus of Gedolim. And it goes all the way back to the original of Lo Kam. Lo Kam Yisrael Od Ke Moshe. Which by the way, this past week, Hashem blessed me with my first grandchild. And we were wondering, my daughter went through a 17-hour labor and we were upset at the doctors. And sure enough, I called my Rabbi in Eretz Yisrael and he says, "What are you upset about? At the end of the day, Hashem pushed off the labor to push off the birth so that she'll give birth exactly the next night so the bris will be on Rosh Chodesh Adar." Because he wanted to get this baby into the month of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu, he was the hallmark. Gadlus is giving. Gadlus is the other guy, not me. And like the previous speaker mentioned beautifully, although I'd like to throw a slight spin on what he said, what was the first moment that Hashem appeared to Moshe Rabbeinu? Was it in Egypt? At the moment that he grabbed a shovel and he started to dig with his brethren? Yes, we learned from then all chavero, but Hashem didn't come to him yet. Was it at the moment that Moshe Rabbeinu saved the life of another Yid because there was a an Egyptian taskmaster that was beating him? No, Hashem didn't appear then either. You know when the moment that Hashem first appeared to Moshe Rabbeinu? The moment he chased a little baby sheep for days and then finally caught up, picked it up, put it on his shoulders and started making its way back to the flock. That's the moment that Hashem appeared to Moshe Rabbeinu. Because that's the moment that you showed me what you're ready to give to my kids. And the Ribono shel Olam will never forget when you step up with this Gadlus of Gedolim and you give your heart and soul, Yidenu Libo, to the children, to the people of Klal Yisrael. How much can I give you? What can I do for you? Years ago, I was a head counselor in a day camp, a Syrian day camp in the heart of Brooklyn and we decided that on the first week we wanted to start the summer with some sort of a real bang out trip. So, we decided we're going to take the kids to Great Adventures. We take them out to Great Adventures and I thought to myself, you know, there are all different types of trips that head counselors get all nervous about. The moment we step into the woods, everybody goes, "But Great Adventures?" I said to myself, "It's a fortified area. What can go wrong?" So, the counselors and the kids, they make their way into the park. And I told everybody, "Listen, guys, the buses are leaving at 5:30. Don't get into trouble. Don't make Halo Lashon. Don't push on the lines. Don't jump the turnbuckles." I gave them the entire speech. And then finally I SAID, "GO OUT THERE AND HAVE A GREAT TIME." AND EVERYBODY goes charging out with their tickets and their counselors. Ladies and gentlemen, I found out something that day that for years I never knew. Do you know that Great Adventures has a PA system on their entire park? I've been going to Great Adventures since I was a kid for many years. I haven't heard it once. Do you know the feeling to find out that Great Adventures has a PA system and it's your name that they're calling? All of a sudden I heard, "Rabbi Ben Shushan." I said, "Reb Menashe Shalom." He, me, me? But I'm too young. And then one guy turns to me and says, "No, no, no, no." "It's the Great Adventures PA system." I said, "Great Adventures don't have a PA system." "No, they do. At least they better or else where is the voice coming from?" So, I turn to the counselor and I say, "Okay, I heard my name. I started to shake. What are they saying?" "They're asking you back at the security office." I said, "Oh, boy. That means one of our boys pulled one. What happened now? Probably someone's going to get thrown out of the park. Who knows? I'm hoping it's not an injury." I go running back to the security office. And sure enough, something that anybody who's been part of a camp experienced once upon a time. There's that little 7-year-old boy whimpering whimpering in the office. And he's sitting there with a big smile when you come charging in. And he runs up to you. And I said, "Moshe, what happened?" "I got lost." He says, "My counselor, he told us that we were going on the merry-go-round and I stopped for a minute just to take a drink from my canteen. I look up and they ain't THERE NO HE'S GONE? OR maybe in Brooklyn they say he's gone. He's gone. He says, "I I didn't know where they went. I went to one ride. I went to another ride and finally I bumped into a security guard and I was crying and he took me back to the office and he said to me, "What's the name of your counselor?" And I said, "Dovid." He said, "Dovid what?" He says, "I don't know." "Okay, what's the name of the rabbi?" "Oh, Rabbi Dovid." "Rabbi Dovid what?" "Rabbi Dovid Ben Shushan." "Oh, so they get on the mic and they call you, Rabbi." I said, "I know, I found out the hard way." I came running back. I'm sitting there. I turn to the security guard. I said to him, "Pete." Right? That's the old Dale Carnegie, use their first name. "Peter, thank you. You're a gentleman. You brought one of our kids back. God bless you." I take the kid. I'm about to leave. Uh-uh, "Rabbi, you can't just walk out of here. Once you lose a kid, there's paperwork involved to get him back." I wanted to tell him, "Keep him." I'll be back at 5:30. "Rabbi." I said, "Okay, just bring me the paperwork. Now, I'll sign it." Ladies and gentlemen, they brought me They brought me something that I felt like I was sitting down to a closing of a house. You had to see the insurance binder on this paperwork. I was signing, I don't know what I I was signing something away. It was paper if the paper and here and initial there and here and initial there. And after a while I said, "Listen, this is ridiculous." I said, "Listen, this is what it is, regulations. It's the insurance company. A kid gets lost, you need to fill this out to get him back." All right. So, I'm sitting there and I'm signing my life away. And as I'm signing her away, I realized why the Reb Menashe Shalom wanted me in that office. Cuz just then the doors of the office opens. And in comes another security guard of Great Adventures with another kid, not my kid, but another kid, a goyisha kid, who was whimpering and crying. He misses his father. He lost his father. And I looked at the kid. Ah, poor kid. And just then, sure enough, they ask the kid, "What's your father's name?" They announce his name on the microphone. And that was it. I'm finishing writing the work. All of a sudden, the doors of the office opens and this huge guy, a huge hick, comes running into the office. This guy looked like Hulk Hogan. He was a a tower of a man. And the guy was like READY TO "WHERE'S MY KID?" AND I'M LIKE, "HUH, HUH, HUH, HE'S HERE." And everybody in the room was like, "Relax, we got him. He's okay." And he looks at the kid and the kid looks at him. And there it was. At those slow-motion moments, they started playing the music of Chariots of Fire. And the father starts "Son!" And the kid starts running up to the father and dad. And they embrace as the kid wraps himself around his father's kneecap. And then something happened that I'll never forget for the rest of my life. This 6'4" mountain of a man begins to cry. I didn't believe a guy like that can cry. Any time I bump into guys like that, I'm the one crying. This guy was hysterical crying. I mean, the real deal with the tears and the whimpering, the whole deal. And then finally the guy pulls his composure together and the Reb Menashe Shalom wanted to me to see this. Guy pulls his composure together and he looks up and he says, clearing his voice, "Who's the officer that I owe the honor of the thanks?" I'll never forget those words. "Who's the officer that I owe the honor of the thanks that brought my kid back to me?" And this officer stands tall. And he walks up to the father and he says, "Sir, it's me." I thought I was watching a movie. "Sir, it's me." The guy gives him a BEAR HUG. THE OFFICER LOOKS AT HIM AND SAYS, the old American line, "It's all in a day's work." And the guy says, "But don't listen to me. You don't understand. I thought I lost my kid forever. You don't understand. I was panicking. I was running all over the park. I couldn't find them anywhere. And suddenly I hear my name. You brought my kid back to me. There's nothing in the world that I can thank you enough for. I run a lot. I run a Cadillac dealership up in Toms River. Here's my card. You're going to come down to the dealership tomorrow and you're going to pick out any car you want." I said, "Hey, I was here on support. I didn't end up with an air freshener. I looked at the guy and I said, "Really?" And the officer looked at the guy and said, "Really?" And he said, "Yeah. You come down tomorrow, any caddy you want in any color, it's yours. This is my way of saying, at least, thank you for giving me back my most precious thing in the world. You gave me my kid back. There's nothing I can do to repay you." And he took the card. I'd love to know what happened that next day. But he took the card. And I sat for a minute in that chair and I said to myself, "Reb Menashe Shalom, I get it. I know why you wanted me to see this. I understand now what it means. That when you lose a child, Abba, Abba, I know that you're running around wild kiviachaul like kiviachaul havdilahavdil, this father, where's my kid? I lost him. I checked here, he ran off to the rides. I checked there, he ran off to the games. I CHECKED IN THE BACK OF THE PARK. WHERE'S MY SON? WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER? AND WHEN SOMEONE LIKE YOU COMES along and steps up and shows God loot and reaches out a hand and says, "I'm here to give you." You know what you're giving that person? You're bringing him back to daddy. And that person will never forget you. And neither will Hashem. I'll never forget the person that brought my kid back to me after I thought I lost him forever. I ladies and gentlemen, I have a very close friend, family member, a Rabbi Ammon from Deal, New Jersey, who Rabbi Ammon originally came from Seattle, Washington. Rabbi Ammon settled in Deal, New Jersey. He's a rav, a rebbe. Rabbi Ammon tells over every single year, his wife and himself, they go out to the cemetery out in Staten Island. And on Erev Rosh Hashanah, their minig was they would go to visit his mother-in-law. His wife would daven by the kever of the mother-in-law. And he would ask mechila again and again and again. Every year on Erev Rosh Hashanah. One year, Rabbi Ammon and his wife was coming back from an affair in Brooklyn and they came over to Verrazano and they're making their way through the Staten Island Expressway and it was a week before Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Ammon turns to his wife and says, "Honey, listen. We're about to drive by the exit of the cemetery. What's the point of schlepping back here next week? We're here already. So, this year we won't go to your mother Erev Rosh Hashanah. We'll go a week before. But, we're here. Save the trip. Let's go." She says, "Okay, fine. You're right. We're here." So, they get out of the exit, he comes into the cemetery. He walks up to his mother-in-law and says, "Hi, Ma. Are you mochel me?" And his his wife begins to pray and together they're schuckling around his mother-in-law's grave. Rabbi Ammon picks his eyes up and he looks and he sees in the distance there's a whole group of boys in suits standing in a circle. On the floor is a coffin, hole in the ground, and nobody's moving. Rabbi Ammon turns to his wife and says, "What's going on over there? How come nobody's doing anything? They're just looking at each other. No one's moving. Honey, do you mind if I go over there for a minute just to see what's going on?" I'd like to stop for a pause. Do you see what it means to be a rebbe? You see what it means to be a gadol? It's always about ah, how can I help this guy? Okay, back to the story. So, he goes out to this group of boys. He walks up to them and says, "Hey, guys. What's going on? How come no one's doing anything?" They have a big smile and they say, "Are you a rabbi?" He says, "Yeah." "Thank God, rabbi. Listen, the hearse, they dumped us here right next to the grave. We don't know what to do. This is our father here in the coffin. We're standing here looking at each other. We didn't make any arrangements. We don't know what to do. Can you help us?" Rabbi Ammon says, "Sure. Guys, how many guys do we have here?" He starts counting. 1 2 3. He sees that there are six boys and there were two uncles and a family friend. Rabbi Ammon says, "Wow, nine people. Now I understand why Hashem brought me here to the cemetery a week earlier than normal. I wasn't supposed to be here today. But, obviously he sent me here to be the minyan. Okay, guys. Together, he grabs a shovel, he turns it over. And then he turns to the boys, he says, "Grab this side of the rope. Grab that side of the rope." They slip the rope inside the coffin and very gently they lay the coffin to rest in the hole. Rabbi Ammon grabs the shovel, turns it upside down, starts pushing the dirt in. And as the moment it's covered, he turns to the guys and says, "Okay, guys. Kavod. Kaddish." They look at him. "Ka who?" "Kaddish. Yitgadal v'yitkadash. Go ahead. Kavod." They look at him, "Rabbi, what are you talking about?" He says, "Say Kaddish for your father." "Rabbi, we we don't know what you're talking about." "Oh, okay." Rabbi Ammon pulls a siddur out from the inside of his jacket. He opens it up to Kaddish. He hands it to the boy. He says, "Go ahead. Kavod. Kaddish." The boy looks down at the siddur and he says, "Rabbi, I can't read." He says, "You can't read? Not even aleph bet?" He says, "No." Rabbi Ammon says, "Okay. Gentlemen, repeat after me. Yitgadal v'yitkadash." And he went through piece by piece of the Kaddish and all the boys repeated line by line, word by word. And the minyan said Kaddish for the man who passed, their father. Just when they finished the Kaddish, Rabbi Ammon turns to the boys and says, "Okay, guys. Now, before you go, let's finish off. Let's push all the rest of the dirt into the hole." "No, rabbi. Come on. We're done. We got the Leroy over there on the tractor. We hired him. We're done here. Let him come and fill up the hole. We're finished. We don't want to get dirty, rabbi. The suits, they were rental. We don't we don't want to get dirty." Rabbi Ammon says, "No, no, no. Come on. This is your father. Kavod hamet. Have a little respect. Fill up the hole." Well, no matter what he said, Rabbi Ammon said, "You know what? I'll show him how to do it." He turns around, he grabs a shovel. He starts to fill up the hole. And he turns around, the crickets, they're gone. He says, "GUYS, COME BACK HERE. YOUR FATHER." THEY'RE GONE. They're gone. Rabbi Ammon single-handedly finished filling up the hole and buried this man alone. Just then, Leroy jumps off the tractor and he runs up to Rabbi Ammon and says, "Rabbi, you did the whole job by yourself. You didn't need me. Once you buried the man, you might as well put the name plate." And he hands Rabbi Ammon the name plate and he looks down and he sees the name, Simon He says, "Simon Pollack?" "Well, Simon, I did my best. Now I know why Hashem brought me to the cemetery a week early. Baruch Hashem, I was the 10th guy so your kids could say Kaddish." And he puts the name plate right at the top of the pile of dirt. With those words, he goes back to his wife and he says, "Honey, you're not going to believe this. They had nine. I was the 10th guy." She says, "That's amazing. Wow. If not for you, they couldn't have said Kaddish." She says, "Yeah, this guy, Simon he lucked out. I was here today probably because of him." And with those words, they leave. Back to Deal, New Jersey. Week later, the Ammon family was enjoying a family wedding in Lakewood. And that night all the relatives came from all over, including from Seattle, Washington. Rabbi Ammon bumps into one lost long uncle that he hasn't seen in years and he says to his uncle, "Hey, you want to hear a crazy thing? Last week I was coming in from Brooklyn. I stopped off by the cemetery. And it was over there that uh I bumped into these nine boys and they couldn't say Kaddish and I was the 10th guy and I buried this guy and they handed me this name plate, some guy, Simon Pollack." His uncle said, "What was that name?" He says, "You know, Simon Pollack." "Rabbi Ammon, you don't know who that is?" He says, "No. Who's Simon Pollack?" His uncle's jaw dropped and his face went white. He says, "You don't know who that is?" He says, "No. Who is that?" His uncle says, "Rabbi Rabbi Ammon, 52 years ago in Seattle, Washington, we didn't really have more than a day school Talmud Torah and we knew that the only way to ensure Yiddishkeit and to be able to have another generation of Torah, we're going to have to send our boys at the age of 13 out to Brooklyn, New York, out to Rabbi Davis' Yeshiva in Brighton Beach. The problem was, who can afford it in those days? To send the boy out, there's the plane tickets and then there's the dormitory fee and then there's the tuition and so that Shabbos, we made this big unbelievable kiddush in shul, sponsor a Yeshiva boy. And right at the end of the kiddush, we lined up all our 13-year-olds and with a big smile, the president of the shul said, "All right, guys. Who's going to sponsor Harry's kid?" One guy in the back raises his hand. "Who's going to sponsor this guy?" Another guy raises it. "Who's going to sponsor this kid to go to Yeshiva in Brooklyn?" Another guy raises his hand. "Rabbi Ammon, Simon sponsored you." His uncle said, "Rabbi Ammon, at the time that you needed him the most, Simon was there for you. And at the time that he needed you the most, Hashem made sure that you were going to be there for him. The Rebono shel Olam never forgets who sponsored who. And just when you thought you were doing it for them, oy vey a voy, take a look how much it comes back to us when we give. Boy, are we given. Boy, are we lucky. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't have that experience that Rabbi Amon had. But I have one experience in my life, maybe more than one, but at least one, that I know that this guy will never forget his rebbe. He'll never forget the person that stepped up at the moment that they needed you the most and you changed their life and their world. They'll never forget you. And Hashem will never forget it, either. You brought my kid back. You might not end up with a Cadillac, but you'll be driving around in shamayim in a Rolls-Royce because you brought me my daughter, my son back. I thought I never see him again. I had one such story and I won't take your time much. You see, by us in the shul, we decided to run a public school program. We found out that there was so many Jewish kids in public school in our area. And every Tuesday night, we make a Should I tell you the name of the program? I I I I hope that you're all right with this. Well, I'll explain it to you. See, when when we started the class, we started with eight kids from public school, right? And you want to hear something amazing? You know who got us the other 85 kids over the next 3 months? The eight kids that went back to public school and said, "This guy got stories. You got to come and hear this." And yeah, over a few months, we had 85 kids. Now, I'm going to tell you what we call the program. Every time a boy comes into the class, he walks in. He smiles to his friend, and I know this cuz I'm the one who's in the middle of speaking to them, and I have to pause and wait for him to make his rounds. So, he comes in, "Yo, bro. Yo, bro. Yo, bro. Yo, bro." So, we called it the Yo, bro program. Bro. That's what we called it. And sure enough, it flourished. But you got to hear what happened the very first week. Nobody knew that we're making this program. And you could understand what the boys look like when they're coming in from public school to a shul for the first time. We had one of the older men walking out of the shul right after mincha and arvit, and one of the public school boys walking into the shul going to the first week of the public school class. This kid had baseball cap. He had a bandana going around the back of his head. And he had these very large stud diamonds in his ears. What do you say, CZs? Anyone here? Very large stud diamonds in his ears. As this boy is walking in, this older man is walking out. And the older man looks at the kid and says, "Look at you. You look LIKE A WHAT'S WITH THE WHOLE BANDANA? What's with the earrings? Does a man wear earrings? Sh'ma Yisrael." I was hearing this as I'm coming down to the class. And I'm trying to explain to the kid, "This is WHAT DO YOU MEAN? HE SHOULD LOOK LIKE A JEW. WHAT IS HE EMBARRASSING US?" AND I SAID, "GEVALT, this is the first week." Now, this kid didn't take it well. He was like, "My gosh, I came to a class and I get attacked." He was very proud of his studs. Well, I just told him, "Ah, that's He's an older man. Don't worry. Just go downstairs. A lot of food downstairs. We got pizza downstairs. And then after that, we're taking you to Holy Schnitzel." My gosh. I'm from Avenu. The way to a guy's heart is through his stomach. And it works. Boy, does it work. Especially with public school kids. I come downstairs and I'm thinking, "Gevalt, gevalt, this kid is broken now." So, we start the class and I start speaking to these original eight kids. And I start telling him one thing after the next thing. And then in the middle of the speech, I look at this kid and I say, "Angel, what do you think about that story?" And he says, "Rabbi, my name is an angel." I said, "Well, you have such an angelic face. And you're shining. You're shining more than the studs in your ears." "My friend, talk to me. What do you think about that story?" He says, "Rabbi, I loved it. And I loved the part about and then and this and that." Ah. "Thank you. You made the world for me. Thank you for coming. I really really was so happy that you enjoyed the speech." Just then, the guys get up and they're about to walk out. I say, "Angel, come here." Now, it's his name. So, listen to me. I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but um I got a big anniversary coming up, okay? And I'm in the market to buy my wife stud earrings. Stud diamond earrings. It's our 20th, and it's a big one. Can you give me any tip off? I mean, those are gorgeous. Where did you get them? He says, "Rabbi, you like them?" I said, "I love them. Where did you get them? I'm in the market. Could you hook me up with a good deal?" He says, "Rabbi, I know a guy, and he sells them, and they're cheap. And I'm telling you, I'll work it out for you." I said, "Okay, we'll be in touch next week. Get me prices because I've never seen I've I've never seen stud diamonds like those. I mean, if I can get those on my wife's ears, I can probably go another 20 years." He says, "RABBI, I GOT YOU. I got you." And he walks out and he leaves and he walks out. Get out your Kleenex. The next week, this time I'm standing by the front door of the shul for damage control. I literally pushed the security guard on the side. I said, "Buddy, I'm boxing you out. I got to keep an eye on every kid that comes in and every guy that goes out." The kids come in, and sure enough, Angel comes in as well. And downstairs they go. I got up in front of the class. I gave another drasha. My speech was about the pride of being a Jew. Because what else are you going to talk to the first few weeks of public school boys? I can't talk to them about Shabbos yet. I can't talk about tzitzis yet. I'm talking to them about them and how beautiful they are. I heard that there's a convention on weekends that teaches kiruv. And we're here right now at it. It's about love. And the more you love them, the more you'll get them. And I just gave it to you in one sentence. Because they cannot let go of that love. And then they realize that that love comes from something that we were inspired by the Rebono shel Olam of his love, an extension of Hashem's love to klal Yisrael and klal Yisrael's love to another Yid. You can't walk away from that. And just then, I finished the class, and the kids were really taken. Angel walks up, but this time, his bandana is wrapped around not just his forehead, but his ears as well. And he looks at me, and he says, "Rabbi, can I give you something?" I said, "What do you want to give me?" He pulls out a little black box. I said, "Oh, no." And he opens the box. He says, "Rabbi, I want you to give my studs to your wife." I said, "Angel, put those studs back in your ears. But I want to tell you something, my friend. Studs or no studs, you're a diamond. And you shine. And boy, are you shining now. Public school or no public school." There was a moment. Ah. You think that's the end of the story? We went on with these classes for about few years. We still do it till today. Anybody that's in the neighborhood, you want to come by? Be my pleasure. We'll bring an extra pie of pizza for you. We'll pay for you in Holy Schnitzel. But at the end of the day, every Tuesday night at 6:30 we have the classes in the shul. And we're mobbed now with public school kids. And sure enough, after time goes, they come and they go. And Angel, after a year and a half of classes, one day disappears. I don't see him. Few years later, I'm driving down Avenue U going towards the shul. And I'm standing by a red light. And just then, I look to my right and I see a bunch of guys and a few girls. And they're laughing and jumping up and down. And I said to myself, ah, guy him. And then I take another look. I said, wait one second. That's Angel. I haven't seen him in years. What happened to him? I rolled down my window. Angel! He looks up. Then him AND HIS FRIENDS, RABBI! THEY RUN UP TO THE CAR. I pulled the car over to the side. SAID, GUYS, HOW ARE YOU? RABBI, I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU in so long. I said, Angel, what happened? I don't see you by the classes anymore. I haven't seen you for almost 2 3 years. Well, what happened to you? I miss you. He says, Rabbi, you don't understand. It was great. I loved those classes. And because of that, I ended up going to some out of town, he told me some sort of a place that had a day school and he started somewhat of a Yeshiva system. He says, I loved it. And I'm growing. And I'm back here now with my family just for a few weeks. But Rabbi, I want to tell you something. I never had a chance to tell you thank you. I said, ah, come on. It's all good. And then his friend turns to him and says, Angel, show him. I said, show him what? No, no, come, come, come. Angel, show him. He says, nah, I'm not going to show him. Show him. And I really thought, after the years of doing this, this is generally the moment that the kid pulls up his shirt and shows his tzitzis. That that's usually the moment. This time he pulls down his shirt and he pulls out a necklace. And dangling at the end of the necklace there's a little golden angel. And he looks at me and he says, you were the only one to ever call me an angel. I wear this every day. And every morning when I wake up, I look at it and I think of you, Rabbi. And I go out and I put on my tefillin. And then I pray. Because the only person in the world that actually looked at me and called me an angel was you. I'll never forget you. Ladies and gentlemen, this convention was about a weekend that you'll never forget so that you'll never be forgotten by the people you're going to go out to ignite with the God of loot of a tremendous love to do whatever it takes to bring back Hashem's kids. Thank you for listening.