#169: Behind the Bima - Rabbi David Aaron

from bitone Florida this is behind the beima on this episode The rabbis are joined by Rabbi David Aaron a renowned Jewish philosopher and educator recognized for his deep insights into Jewish spirituality and personal growth Rabbi Aaron delves into the themes of self-awareness and the Quest for inner peace Rabbi Aaron shares his views on the spiritual challenges of our time the transformative power of faith and the importance of connecting with our heritage and tradition plus reflecting on contemporary ethical dilemmas and the role of the Jewish community in addressing Global issues all this and more behind the Bea welcome back behind the Bea joined by my dear friend and colleague Rabbi Joshua bro not here in bokeh Rabbi bro coming to us from the land of Israel the land of Israel I'm in a mad here actually oh nice and maybe this is a little bit uh you're there right now because bar you're making a wedding mazal maal we family and and uh I'm sure it's going to be incredible can't wait to hear and see all about it um but also very um forbearing for what is to come not only for this week but for your future by Brody what announcement breaking news can we bring the breaking news should we bring the breaking news back haven't had that in a couple of years now breaking news I haven't even know where it is anymore yeah breaking news hold on where do we find that breaking news what's the breaking news so in the meantime as we're finding the breaking news this is the a number of years in the making I think we're about five years into this and then it was four years and then three years and two years and then all of a sudden it's this this year or home [Music] Detro there it is I love that breaking this is an exclusive this is the behind the Bea exclusive coming to you live from Israel the broes are going to be making alah this subtler yeah broes are making Aliah that is big big news it was released Big save of the date for us to be able to say thank you and have a a wonderful event to show our gratitude to the broes 25 years of impact in BRS um so tell us what's what's the plan where are you gonna be living when are you going what are you gonna be doing so so we'll start with what are we doing because that's the most important thing tonight we're doing two things number one we're going to be spending more time with our kids who are all in Israel right now the once the four older ones and their spouses and their and children and what we're going to be doing also is working in bokeh so barem has had the very exciting opportunity to to to have a wonderful family sponsor bunch of the work that we do here in bokeh through the Federation and now we're going to do it direct we're going to go direct and uh continue hopefully some of the very special programs we've been working on Amazing so you'll be back and forth any idea yet the frequency be back and forth it depends who you ask if you ask uh the wonderful silver family it might be frequent if you ask the M it's probably maybe once a year and that' probably be somewhere between you're gonna pull Josh Brody where you'll be like Simone I'll be back in a minute go for is that right yeah it's different when you say I'm going to Publix or the Grove kosher market like I'll be back in about 20 minutes and I'm at a Shear or at something here it's it's about 13 14 hours breaking news do you know where you're I hope to start in a community that I know you're very familiar with called mod in the bman Moria area nice we have some very special friends and you have some great family there hopefully uh we're gonna become good friends very quickly and it's an exting plan thing yeah yeah very this is this we we said we're doing soft because people oh you you gota be Israeli and move into it you know an Israeli Community listen my grandkids are going to be Israeli they're all going to speak Hebrew I need a little bit more English and uh yeah listen a little bit of advice that we got from from everyone I think everyone gave the same advice is if uh your wife is happy your kids will be happy your kids are happy you'll be H I don't know there's something that keeps going buty happy happy life I just want her to be happy so we're GNA know we're we're inspired we are uh impressed we're grateful we're blown away and it's a beautiful thing the Fulfillment the realiz ation of a dream and the best part for us is that we're not losing you you'll be going back and forth impact and imprint on our community and and you know breaking news too is that we're gonna be continuing the relationship in the other direction which is br will be still be part of BRS and be our BRS Israel so when we go on missions when we're checking in our kids in their Gap year but Brody will be representing BRS in Israel and he'll be coming back here and it's another step in creating that bridge between our community and Israel which is all of our country first of all I can already picture it I forgot the name of the the correspondent he's the guy on Fox that's all over the place with the Hem I'll be that I'll be that guy Trey Trey Trey I'll be that guy for you when there's some breaking news I'll just drive out there we'll go behind the Bea I'll get my helmet on nice hopefully there'll be no more helmets but it's really an amazing thing and and we're so excited so this past um mot sh was was very emotional for you except that you don't get emotional so instead it was emotional for me getting a little emotional be honest sort of as close as you come you know which is to say like a yaka on a freezing cold day but but it was still you know close closer than I've ever seen you but the tell everybody about about V it's incredible program going on many years and what happened on on this past M yeah it's a very special program first of all I didn't start the program started before me two or three years how over watching right Howard goldfisher you started the program it's actually funny because in Baltimore we were running a program at the same time before we moved here I think the name of the program in Baltimore I always liked it a little bit more just was a little bit more my style right the funniest part was that it was being run into on my GAA and we used to call mot shambas live so I just loved that but we we kept the you know live from Boer atona M shambas to have that little bit of the the old flavor but it's a wonderful program it's a program for children and their parents and their grandparents young children we say eight and younger seven and younger and it's just you you come out you you know I think it's it's something similar to what our special guest believes is that it's it's Judaism as we're going to hear sometimes gets a little bit of negative brand right so about the the the pain and you probably come up with better synonyms than I I can't so why not from a very young age already get the kids excited about nothing more than just going to sh with your family and enjoying and like like enjoying the Torah maybe you're just coloring because you're a year or two old maybe you're doing something else but I really believe that the singing that we do together it really touches places it's it's it's it's powerful to hear all these kids I don't know that they all know that they're singing what they're singing That's the age where you kind of probably don't even know the correct words but it's loud and people like they're all participating and the best part is when you're running visham which this week was packed packed packed packed often on MO we have a speaker we're showing a film where program and and the let's just say some of the older people might come very early for their program and V was still going on and that intergenerational cross-generational when older people hear and see that energy vibrancy the dynamism of the kids screaming at the top of singing together along with the raffle the music the pizza the prizes the fun and and it's amazing I love when you promoted on shabas morning you said we spawned off two other programs we have a BRS on MTI shabas OB and V and there's no Ste no contradiction between them I will say the other programs actually were hurting this past week because everyone wanted to go to Rabbi Brody swan song last last Rabbi bro yeah in fact I'll tell you I'll tell you a funny story I hope I won't get in trouble for this for several reasons but I was still in abub and they were doing the raffle and I had my son's tickets and he was at he was at vinam he wanted to go check out what you were doing and his sisters were there and his niece's niece and nephew were there and he want to check it out so I was holding his raffle tickets and they called and he won a raffle but he wasn't in the room so the really so the fact cheer who happens to be the the master of raffle stopped in the whole room also Zu him you know dark and music and lights he's like Rabbi what's what's the pck like what's the deal if you're not in the room but you want the raffle do you get it so I felt very on the spot and I you know for someone else he might have said yeah the parent could take the prize for the kid the kid's in the bathroom let's say in this case he was at another program and it was me my own son not put it back in do another raffle so I I come home what happened and I said you know you were you were in vasham you were in aam they picked your raffle prize but I said put it back in he said why I said I couldn't show favoritism to you you know they asked me what to do as a rabbi couldn't you you know what he said to me he goes Hunter Biden's dad showed favoritism to him my son's 12 years old I said how do you know Hunter Biden Joe Biden how do you know Hunter Biden's would have done it for him yeah I was like actually KN you get when a kid like hops up but you know what I think what's what's fun about the Raffles over the years you know not everyone wins every week he always try to give kids something a little price but over the years and it got so many years of looking back at stories you always found that the people that that needed it won it was it's a strange thing to say but time and time again and and I I'm looking back down saying maybe he should have won maybe he should have been the room did wi it you know like he was checking out and it was amazing your energy was amazing and maybe we'll even share a clip right now from the final Rabbi Brody vishin which we all know won't be the final one because you'll be back next year for a shabas your guest star but it was the final official formal exactly come back as as guack high energy and amazing there was so much love and I also came in for a couple minutes because I my my daughters were a couple of my daughters were there and and my grandkids were there and you know I said sitting there I go someone got to grab the mic and thank Rob by Brody I wasn't planning on it I really just came in to see and to sit with them for a minute and to watch you and I just grabbed the mic because somebody I thought it was appropriate to say thank you and I just I started thanking RAB BR started thanking you and I just I started thinking that 25 years like I brought my kid program and now I've come to the program with my kids and their kids so you you Brody that you know people came with their kids and now they're coming with their kids kids their grandkids and and with their you know the kids and their children and that's that's a long time that the program's never you've never lost team you never lost energy you never grew tired you never tried to hand it off to anybody else you just built it and we owe you so much for that and so much more it it's interesting and again I could think to so many different programs that we started and stopped started and stopped and sometimes you look back you say maybe if I wouldn't have stopped that program imagine where it would be today like there's a few things that you you also you've held on to a few things and it's amazing to be able to look back it's just it's it's mind B I don't know if that there'll ever be an opportunity to do something my my life I know you know as long as that consistent and just it's a less let's keep going it was great it was powerful so yeah there's a lot to do and the truth is y by David Aaron really inspires and empowers us to do a lot his whole mission of optimizing our lives and living with a sense of mission and making sense of of this world to the best that we can to be able to get get through and navigate this world really inspiring messages I'm really happy that we had this conversation and RAB bro we love you Ma on the I love you too man and we're so proud and and yeah just the beginning of of the rest of this year celebrating this and Contin to talk about it so without any further Ado Rabbi David Aaron welcome behind the Bea with Rabbi David Aaron Rabbi Aaron we're so honored and privileged that you've chosen to go behind the Bea with us I know and we've known you for a very long time from an Israelite Israelite in boaron or many of our our young people have learned and grown so many have consumed your books not only gathering information but really transforming their lives so we're very excited to have this conversation and we appreciate you're making time for us thank you so much so Rabon when I say you know from these accomplishments and we could go one by one and we'll talk about Israelite and its Vision we'll talk about the Yeshiva but the books and and the content and the themes that you come back to and that you emphasize that you focus on that you inspire are necessarily the ones that you even had yourself growing up in your own education in your own background in your own childhood so if you had to summarize if you had a billboard if you got an elevator pitch with someone you had to summarize what do you think of the most the most important Jewish perspective on life what is it that's missing that people need to live more with what is that thing and how did you yourself Discover it and come upon it I I think the billboard would be called living on purpose and that's what I've tried to do with my life um I'm a son of a Survivor uh my mother uh was 15 years old in the concentration camp my mother was one of those survivors that never spoke about the Concentration Camp she didn't want to burden her children so she didn't speak about it but she screamed about it in the middle of the night when she had nightmares and I woke up one night to her screaming and I was bombarded with questions is there a God and if there's a God is he good and if he's good why is the world so bad and if we're the chosen people I wish we I wish I wasn't Jewish I wish I wish you chose somebody else so I was set up a long time ago to be a philosopher I was tormented by these questions and all the books that I've written wasn't because I thought there people out there that have questions let me find answers for them all my books are my own journey to find answers to my own questions so living on purpose means don't just live randomly don't just live with the momentum of life but find find that purpose and live that purpose right you have some cause you're here for reason Reon you have a mission in life we are agents and we have something to do here and just like our fingerprint will never be repeated in all of history our soul print will never be repeated in all of history and it's all about how to live in service and how to be a channel for actualizing that unique purpose that we've come to this world to live how does that help you resolve you know with your mother the Holocaust surviving how does that help make sense of of evil or tragedy or bad things happening to good people how does that help guide you now in Israel as as we just lost another group of heroic soldiers next to the hly why is living on purpose and with a sense of mission how does that make sense of these tragedies I don't think it makes sense of these tragedies I think it helps us cope and go on I I don't think you know when people ask me you know why do bad things happen to good people I thank them for thinking must be the Messiah the Messiah because I don't have that answer mosu didn't get that answer uh I I think the best we can do and I don't think that's small is to how to keep going forward and you know I I I I tell my students don't ask why this is happening to you or to us ask what this happening is asking of us and so it's uh turn your turn your pain into Power my wife when she was giving birth she was in excruciating pain having her contractions and in the middle of her excruciating pain she turned to me and said could you calm down and I was the one that needed an epidural I was freaking out and I said and I was shocked that she was so calm in the middle of all that and she said I might be in pain but I'm not suffering and then she went into another intense contraction which certainly looked like suffering and then she came out of that with this great incredible calm and she said suffering is pain without purpose this is the most purposeful pain I could ever hope to have and so I realized and I learn from my wife at that moment that when you give pain purpose it turns into power but when you don't give Pain any purpose it turns into suffering wow so what would you say the opposite is and if we're not living purposefully what what are people doing the average let say Orthodox person Jew what what what do you look at them and say they're missing out on something they're not because they're doing this not I don't like looking at someone and saying anything about them in terms of judging them so we'll just talk in an abstract way uh I think you know I think are we getting up with some sense that I've got a reason to be here and there's enough pain in the world that if I don't give it purpose then what gives me any reason to get up tomorrow morning and I think a lot of people are just kind of getting by or on are on automatic and just keep going with the with their flow and um and maybe they're putting out little fires in their lives without a sense of what is the what is the theme of all this what's what's this big story that we're part of and for me meaning is Is Like Oxygen I absolutely need meaning and meaning comes from being part of a bigger story and finding your role in that story and what is the where is that story going and so if a person's life is 9 to5 and they get up in the morning and they work and they make a little more money a little more money but what is this really really all about and I've had many students from all walks of life and all ages I mean not all ages but you know starting from 18 to 80 years old uh and and everybody I I I I find are struggling with why does my life matter and having a lot of matter doesn't make my life matter you know I'm having a lot of money and cars and you know it's not enough and people know it's not enough but sometimes they don't know an alternative or it's not an alternative necessarily I'm not suggesting that people should give up their money be you know because they're looking for meaning but I I do ask my students if you have to make a choice between meaning and money now I'm not suggesting that you'll be poverty stricken and homeless I'm talking about you'll have a home and you'll have a car and you'll have food on the table but um you know so you have enough to to live you know modestly but if it was between meaning and money what would you choose I have never met a student I never said that I would choose money over meaning and yet it seems in so many ways that we are making that choice in our daily life without realizing that am I putting more emphasis on the meaning than on the money and am I by using my money meaningfully who is there was an old comedian who had that joke your money or your life right I'm thinking about it so I guess meaning is your life so that that is that dilemma my question Erin is the work that RAB bro let's say does for now in boaron without outreaching his partners program and and you know where we live there's 150 160 170,000 Jews 90 plus percent of which are unaffiliated I just came back I I was in London I participated in I re been a conference there and what I heard from all the rabbis from across England um so many of their congregations are filled with people who are not Shamar shabas or regular goers even though they may belong to an orthodox school and the question everyone had from the rabbis in London who were asking this and RAB bro you were struggling you were looking for an answer to a question your mother's experience you were trying to make sense of it and when someone comes and they're searching they're yearning they're looking they're trying to make sense of it this is the answer how do you Rattle and shake up someone who doesn't know it's missing someone who's living life they live in a country club in bokeh and financially they're stay secure they're doing fairly well they think that they're happy their marriage seems like it's going well how do you take somebody who thinks that they're living the dream and rattle them to realize that mine is the meaning you're not and and what might feel good is is superficial that you have a lot of matter but until you feel you matter and so on and so forth that's the question so the person who's looking and searching and uring and finds Israelite no WR finds Rabbi Brody and partners finds a rabbi reads the books it offers an answer so so much but how do we who are on the front lines of caring about this desperately and wanting to share this with our brothers and sisters we love how do we get them what's what's the angle the approach to get them to even realize that there's something that needs to change I'm gonna share with you a a pretty fabulous story um you know in my early years as I was aspiring to be involved with Outreach I brly group of others just like myself that were spying rabbis and wanted to go to outreach to me with uh Ritson young of Raa and asked her her her techniques how to do Outreach you know and so we met her at the Plaza Hotel at that time was called Plaza Hotel and I say to her there were about 10 of us and I say rbit and young rice we're all aspiring Outreach professionals and we'd like to know your secrets your techniques how to reach a Jewish person and so she you know she turned to one of us and said well how did you get involved with Judaism and the guy said well I saw a flyer and it made a lot of sense and there there was a class I went to the class and it was really interesting and now today I'm religious I said well how long did it take for you to go to their class after you saw the flyer oh about a year later oh a year later and she basically went through each and every one of us asking this question everybody started off with this story this was the narrative uh my life was great I had no questions I had no issues I was happy I saw interesting flyer it sounded like an interesting class I went to the rabbis class I went to more and then I started embracing Jewish life into my life and everybody at the end of her like she was like a lawyer she just was going at each and every one of us and questioning us and at the end we all ended up saying well I was confused I was questioning I had issues and we didn't know what is she doing she's not answering our question he said we want techniques on how to read somebody and she's just mopping the floor with each and every one it was showing that we were all putting on a show that we had our life together and that we were actually all struggling so she she does this for an hour and a half and I don't know how to stop her F she said I hope I helped you and you know we're all going to go to therapy after this I what do you you help us I said excuse me Revit said I must have miscommunicated we wanted to hear techniques how to reach somebody she said I thought I just showed you the most important thing you need to know we don't know what is she talking about she says I wanted you to all see how all of you are were and still are in denial that you had problems that you had issues you were struggling and he you're no different than everybody else everybody's in denial of it nobody's going to tell you their questions they themselves aren't even telling them themselves their questions all I can say is be their friend be be be be be warm and kind and there for them and when they feel confident that they could trust you they will ask their question and um that that was a life-changing moment in my career to realize don't expect them to share with you their vulnerability that I'm in pain that I'm struggling that I'm looking for meaning that you know a lot of people are in denial you can either face your problems deny your problems or solve your problems most people are in denial you know but I don't know anybody doesn't have problems you know if you're human you've got a problem and the question is you know do you think that Judaism has a solution to your problem and a lot of people even the ones that are aware of their problems do not think that Judaism has anything to do with or anything valuable to share that will address their problem um and that's uh that's what I do that's what I trve to do is there a way to scale that and Goldberg mentioned some very very big numbers just here in South Palm Beach right 80,000 50,000 whatever the numbers are London is a very big area that got a lot of Jews that are not connecting how do you how do you how do you take a small group of rabbis in each of these communities and and and make Torah present Torah in such a way which you can reach the masses well you know there's two types of Jews first of all there's the ones that are not searching and I still believe deep inside they they they they they are hurting I don't believe they're not hurting I think they've used a lot of you know Western culture to a lot of Western culture is one big painkiller you know we're constantly avoiding our pain but okay but some people are aware of their pain I think there's a lot of people that are aware of their pain and would like to talk to somebody but they don't think they're going to talk to a rabbi because what has he got to do with this I'll talk to a therapist I'll talk to a a counselor or something you know or I'll or I'll go for another vacation or I'll drink a little more or you know so I I think the first thing that we need to do is um you know in advertising the first the the the ultimate question that every advertisement commercial must answer is what's in it for me and and most people think that what's in it for me in Judaism is um is fear and guilt you know we have a branding problem you know if you say Christianity what comes to people's minds love and forgiveness when you say Buddhism what comes to people's minds spirituality and mindfulness when you say judios to people what comes to their mind fear and guilt yeah we have a serious branding problem you know we have a really serious branding problem and and and and and what we need to do is what companies do when they have a serious branding company when they have a serious brand problem is we need to Rebrand ourself I think you know Hashem the way most Jews understand Hashem has a serious branding problem you say Jesus and right away love and forgiveness you say Buddha spirituality mindfulness you say Hashem oh guilt fear and Holocaust Holocaust comes up too you know and so we have a real serious branding problem but you know I I met a fellow who's in in the SMA program and he his mother left Judaism became a Buddhist and his mother told him that she has yet to have met a Buddhist leader in America that's not Jewish so I I think there's a lot of Jews that actually are searching but they don't think we've got the goods and and they they just won't go to our brand because they already have in their heads in in the back of their minds oh I I'm not going to go to a religion full of rules and restrictions and fear and and threat and and you know even you know right now I'm learning with my students um the teachings of Ru cook on y shamay y translat fear of God is probably one of the most dangerous and one of the biggest turnoff you know Concept in Judaism like who wants to be afraid who wants to live in fear thei says that all of yish it's not aish to say all of yish all of Judaism is about coming close to Hashem you wouldn't want to come close to someone you're afraid of so clearly there a misunderstanding that people think that fear of God means I'm afraid of God that I'm I I live under threat of God he I'm I'm I'm worried he might hurt me a lot of people have these confusions and we need to solve that but the first thing is how to get people to the door and I think in there's there's a way that modern marketing knows how to interest people and uh and I think we need to turn to those experts and I bet you a good few of them are Jewish the the marketing yeah the marketing and branding issue is is both Kap it's the way the World Views judism and even more importantly until we know who we are until we believe in ourselves until we're projecting the right brand and image we got to do it internally so I want to go back to your life right you you're young you're you're you're now an adolescent philosopher trying to make sense of life where did you grow up and God forbid not to say anything negative about the teachers or schools or influences in your life early but the system apparently didn't provide the answers you have now spent your life writing and lecturing and creating other platforms to give this answer the system didn't at what point did you realize that you going to find the answer within the system the way it is not to suggest I wasn't your system uh I was at a Hebrew school that was 2 hours a day uh after my public school and that was just a unpleasant experience uh zero feeling of adding any value to my life in fact it was robbing me of the opportunity that all my friends have which was after school to go watch Batman and Superman and now somebody's trying to convince me that Moses and a and are superheroes come on you know what I mean like where where in the world where did you grow up which area I grew up in Toronto Canada Toronto okay right I have a Brooklyn accent because I made Al so I learned how to speak New York but uh yeah so so I grew up knowing I was Jewish my parents told me that at my barisa I wouldn't have to go to Hebrew school anymore that would be my bar mitzvah gift and um my bar mitzvah was a money maker I I just thought it was you know I everything I thought about is how I get them to add more zeros to their checks in terms of the gifts uh there was no meaning it was it was unpleasant I was beat up for being Jewish they the kids beat me up because I I killed Jesus I told him I don't even know the kid I never even played with the kid um I didn't know I I don't know Jesus you know and so so I grew up not feeling so happy about being Jewish I wasn't proud of it I didn't feel it was any gift it was no blessing it was a burden um uh but then somebody suggested I I go to uh some program called free Torah high and I said well if it's free and you get high you know but night there Tor was jius I'm in and uh it was hosted by ncsy and um I I don't know I I I realized maybe I should I should go so I went and there was a class called introspection and I said oh I'm not going to that one that's exactly what I don't need anymore because I was so I was I was in denial of my tormented soul I did everything I could to not listen to my soul that kept asking for what's the purpose and point of all this but I I decided to go to that class and the guy that gave the class was a very um really interesting uh colorful funny guy that loved being Jewish and had sitas and aipa and I didn't understand how that's possible anybody loved being Jewish so I came back to another class and then you know invited me to a shatone and then I I suddenly discovered that Judaism is beautiful Judaism is powerful Judaism is elevating and inspirational and that I I didn't know that was have anything to do with judism I suddenly found the Judaism that wasn't about the pain and the past but about the power and the future of what we can do so um that's that's that's that's kind of where it started where I was surprised that I definitely had a branding issue with my my tradition and my Heritage and my identity and suddenly I got a better brand or a better approach to the brand uh when I went to Israel and I was 18 to aapu yiva and uh was most interested in the CL classes in m and philosophy because I was such a philosophical kid asking all these questions all the time and uh then I got involved with the teachings of the secrets of Torah pemus a Torah the inner secrets and because I'm I'm a very systematic kind of a thinker I like to see things in systems I found the teachings ofid and and the teachings of the arizo very um very much of a draw because I was looking for a system is M seem to be bits and pieces and a nice idea here and a nice idea there but what's the big picture and that is what I have been basically driven to articulate is the the big picture that gives meaning to the details and did you stay in Israel after that from then on in did you ever end up coming back yeah now I came back when I got my SM I got a job as a uh to work for Benet Griff it was a um experiment me because benth although calls itself non-denominational but I don't think there was any Orthodox employees at the time I think I was the first one um and uh so I I I I worked there for a year uh but I just my soul you know just was pining for going back to the land of Israel so I eventually went back to Israel and I started teaching in different yeshivot and then I started my own outreach program called Israel light which uh morphed into a gap yiva called The raita Who who would go ahead yeah I just wondering is Israelite which now morphs into Ora is it because you believe at that age let's say 18 or 19 years old it's the best opportunity to try and educate people um this understanding not necessarily no I it's because I feel that that that age group is the Future Leaders of our people and so I want to you know at a certain stage in my career I felt that I want to pass the Baton on who is going to be the next Generation that'll be leaders and they can teach these types of teachings um you know so in a certain way the things I teach are uh more appropriate to adults but a lot of adults are kind of like past their Prime in terms of now they're going to be leaders in they're they're already kind of they're not there might be leaders but these 18year old guys are they're just heading for leadership whether they're going to be rabbis or whether they're going to be on Boards of schools or whether they're going to get into Israel activism or whatever you know whatever it is but so um yeah who who were the who are the influences in your life I know you got SM from it and and other places that you learned other other ranam that you've been drawn to to is their particular or withinus who who are the living and no longer living influences that have shaped your view and giving you your sense of mission so um I became very close to raom and um he invited me to start learning together privately we learned every day for about three hours a day uh learning the uh texts of the arizal and um I went and at the end of every session I came up with some kind of hopefully interesting question that I could ask him his thoughts on one of the questions I asked him is where can I find the Torah that will set my soul on fire and he said R cook and Rado the lbl rabbi and I was surprised because he had never mentioned r sadik or Ru cook in all the time that we'd spent and uh I uh I I I I said what most people offer as a critique of Ru cook I said but where's Ruff Cook's sources and and my rebi Fisher said call Torah kulo the totality of Torah if R cuk were to give you this midash or that gamorra or or or or you know or that zor you still wouldn't see it you'd have to know all of Torah to know that this is the shot this is the most fundamental understanding of it now if ROM Fisher says that to me then I I said okay because when I would ask forom Fisher a question where does it say x he would scan the entire Torah in his head he'd go it's not pish it's not enough it's not the midash it's not the Zar it's not the Gamora and they oh wait it isn't the Zar he passed that long time ago and then he would go to his shelf and pull it off and open it up it's here it is so he he he so was so incredibly he just knew it all it was unbelievable and he says to me R sadik and Ru cook so that set me on a journey to start learning the texts of r s and Ru cook so I'm most influenced by their teaching uh but I'm not uh I'm not you know fixated on anybody wherever can get wisdom that will help me make sense out of the the basics because I find the basics are the most profound the most essential and yet often the most neglected Jewish Education I'll give you an example you know I asked my students what does the word baruk mean they all right away say blessed and I said okay great what has blessed mean and they look at me I said when you say blessed are you hasem what did you say they say thank you no we got a word for thank you that's okay what did you say and it's amazing this word comes up over and over again uh and rarely have I met anybody that knows what the word bar means you know Ric says that if he were asked to sum up all of Judaism a few words he would say it's Barat and that all of Jewish life is living and acting Barat you know things like that I I just met a fellow he he even done a gap year Yeshiva and he's struggling uh and he's struggling and we're talking and I said you know I you're struggling but I'm not sure you you're struggling with an understanding of Judaism you know like he's like he's not really completely with the program uh I said but you don't even know the program and I asked him basic questions in Judaism and he's had a he had years of studies of Torah and he went to a gap year and even afterwards he continued his studies but he's still struggling and I'm asking him basic questions on Judaism and he doesn't have answers he's never even heard this you know I begin the year is I do birat T because I fig that's a great way to start the year we'll do the blessings that we say you know every morning and preparation for the Torah of the day and I asked the students how many of you ever studied the birat Torah very few and I thought like well but here's something that we're saying every day it's supposed to set the stage for the Torah that we say surely theam the sages have encoded in this in these blessings what does it mean to learn Torah what how how to learn Torah what's the goal of learning Torah and it's all there you just read it carefully it's all there so um I think we got to go back to basics but do you find that there are a lot more people post October 7th that are now looking for the basics have you seen an uptick yes I I I well I think a lot of people have been shocked by you know like suddenly they're waking up to wow somebody hates me enough to want to kill me just because I'm Jewish why why why is that so important to them and not important to me that it's so important to them that they would even risk their lives to take my life like so a lot of people are in question mode and the anti-Semitism that is just like just torn through the world even I as a son of a Survivor I actually thought that anti-semitism was nothing like this I mean we scratched the surface and Sh whoa like wow I I didn't I I didn't think it was there so much I thought yeah sure there's still anti-Semitism but I it was P you know I think a lot of people are waking up who are we you know what why why you know there's a a Jewish comedian who said you know I actually prefer anti-Semitism I'd rather people hate me before they get to know me you know you know so know somebody hates me and they don't even know me so who so they know something about me that I don't know what is it I think this is a really opportune time sadly sadly when things are rough that's when a lot of people wake up and ask the questions but I think um I think people are more receptive to start listening but they need to hear a Torah that is not what they expected to hear or the Torah that they I mean a lot of them don't know anything about Torah but but again branding wise if you ask the person on the street what's Judaism about they probably say rules and probably say fear and guilt and Holocaust and things like that so if someone's listening to behind the Bea they're watching or listening behind the Bea and they're introduced to her by David Aon like wow this this is a language I can connect with and this is this is waking me up and I I want more of this I want to start studying that pemus I want to tap into that eternity what should they start with and and it can't be a rabbi Aaron book eight bestsellers and your books capture so many of much of this and certainly they should um they should buy and read all of those but but if it's not one of your books is there an area of Torah and I'm talking let's say it's we're not talking about the unaffiliated uninitiated we're talking about maybe the disaffected the the Gap here the one who whose parents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their Jewish Education only to leave a dispassionate uninspired confused not even know that something's missing someone pursuing collecting a lot of matter instead of mattering and now they hear you they hear us in this conversation they say I'm going a s Kusa I'm ready I'm leaning in what's safer well I think you surprised to hear that it's it's it's a safer of Ru cook you know anything today there are a lot of running that are writing and translating Ru cook and offering commentary rev cook but um I think people will be um pleasantly surprised to hear a very different um different approach which was was was really was the tradition R cook is not making this stuff up but I I you know I've been most impacted by R cook I think R cook um is answering many of the questions that we're struggling with he lived from 1865 to 1935 so there's that big transition from the 1800s to 1900s when philosophy and the Industrial Revolution and a lot of things kir is becoming you know heresy is becoming a popular movement and R cook has this beautiful article on the the spiritual cont distribution of atheism imagine that you know that isn't that interesting he asks there must be some providential reason why Hashem is allowed for this and it's it's just really Paradigm shifting it really is tell us about the Israelite um I know IM morphed in right is it still active on its own are there still um away Israelite isn't a place it's it's a website it's content it's an approach coach uh it's a it's a curriculum and uh it's been applied to 18y olds it can be applied to other ages and other stages of Jewish involvement but it's a it's a Shah it's an approach but this the the um the um not Conference of weekends and shabbatones and and those we were going to do that we when we started a WR there we were going to do both but a right to took off so much became so popular and required so much um resources human and other so it turned out that that's really the focus of it all so tell us about a writer then because I know wrer has a little bit of unusual philosophy and and obviously correct me if I'm wrong but I I've had the privilege to speak there we've recruited for AR Yeshiva from there and we have students RAB bro's own son-in-law um um you know has a relationship with you my understanding is right this approach is sort of we're not going to indoctrinate or Force anyone anything if we can't inspire you enough about daving and you don't come to daving no one's going to hold that against you check in on you or consider you absent is that is that accurate No it's not accurate oh okay we will not force you to dve in but you do have to show up to we a community and you can't have some guy sleeping in bed while the other guys are going to mina we all got a minion and we're not going to force you to pray not g to force you to put on your Fillin you can sit there and learn but but we're we're together it's a program you signed on that's what we do I don't believe in forcing anybody pray you know what I mean hopefully I'll be able to inspire them to want to pray and ex and and and understand it um but uh but you know all right if you miss minion in the morning then you are invited to uh a sh at 2:15 in the middle of your break so you have a little bit more of a motivation to get up for Minion and then at that break you know you're you're you're it's not a punishment it's just let's talk about what your issues are and why you're not getting up but it's not like we're going to confiscate this or we're gonna that's just not our approach that look I don't think it works even if he if he did use that approach I don't think it works and if it does work it only modifies Behavior but it doesn't transform people what what year did I write to start how how many years are we into it 17 years 17 years and what have you seen over those 17 years obviously the world has changed radically technology has changed um so in terms of the the boys themselves the students the BAM those who attend could you give us a little insight from what you've seen in the change of those 17 years from you know your opening group of students to the students today what are some of the challenges opportunities how have things changed with the students look when we started a right day you're starting a yiva it's not an easy thing to sell people so you basically say yes to anybody that moves you know you will oh you Jewish okay but we actually in our first year got some really good guys but there wasn't a tremendous select process now we've got a lot of guys that are that are that are applying and so we can choose the guys that we think are best suited for what we do um the aiva essentially is for lack of a better term a very comprehensive approach you know uh a lot of places put a lot of emphasis on learning gamor almost all day long uh when I went to Yesa we learned gamor all day long we learned the half an hour of before Shak and we learned the half an hour of mus before Mari but other than that was gamorra all day long um here we take all our all our topics seriously we learn gamor seriously in the morning and and and at night but we also have serious sh in we have [Music] serious we aspire to give people a a balanced meal uh that is addressing the heart and the and the mind and Soul uh there's good singing and dancing and very spirited shabot uh and so basically we're just trying to give people something that's whole and balanced and and and and has all the ingredients together have you seen you've seen young people's attention span change with the Advent of Technology are you competing now for their attention because of the internet technology smartphones absolutely years ago with their phones and uh it their their their level of concentration has been impacted that's for sure but we still are making tremendous strides with these guys and um yeah you know trying to tell them you know put your put your tell your phone into a little box on my table we don't we don't do that we try to empower them and get them to want to be at the Shor and and point out you know you know during one of my shirim I had them take a five minute break not a break but to look at this text while they were looking at the text one of the boys was looking at his phone underneath the desk so I took my phone out and I sent him a message pH I said he was looking at him went he looked upct so basically when I catch a guy looking at something underneath this table then I will send them a WhatsApp after class and say forgive me but I think you were distracted perhaps by your phone and am I wrong and they generally will saying you're not wrong and I apologize I won't do it again um that's the way I try to do it try to be patient and try to inspire um I just think that's but then generation needs and it's going to respond to for sure yeah between mamar maybe it's sure I'll send out a group text from your phone or R MOS his phone to the whole yeah we find stult you getar V Tor and and everyone's looking at their phones all right so I'm just wonder just a few quick things my head it's like spinning here with all these uh things that you're saying when you started the Yeshiva you Yeshiva start uh all over Israel you weren't just starting it in y but but you started in in uh in the old city so first question one is I'm wondering how important is it to you that the yiva is in the old city of you and question number two is do you think that's something that could be done with adults any let's say you have some adults in our sh that they maybe they don't let's say Shak on shabas is 9:00 and they show up at 9 o' 9:30 or 9:45 would you say hey let's talk about it during a week is there something going on like I was never approached by my Rabbi host Yeshiva and saying well hey what's going on is there a reason you don't want to come earlier is there would they be annoyed by something like that I'm just wondering what you would use I don't know what what I do know is when parents come to my shim they love it more than kids do I think the adults are even more ready for the kinds of things uh that certainly that I'm teaching uh the the the the 18y olds are getting it too but the older you are the more vintage your questions become uh you know an answer is only as good as you question and as you get older the question gets you know more more potent I I think it's all about education I mean you know i' I've got a course on SCH EST I go word for word what do we say what's the structure of sh EST what are we trying to accomplish and it's now meaningful so it's hard you know it's hard for somebody to go to shou and they don't know what they're saying they don't know who they're saying it to they don't know why who they're saying to would be interested in hearing what they had to say I is as a kid when I went to synagogue I just didn't understand any of this because I thought why can't we just I remember the rabbi used to call out pages I said why don't we do that you know just say that you know Master of the Universe page why why do I have to say this and not understand this and I I it's just amazing how how just basic things that we do every day we haven't really spent a lot of time or maybe even any time understanding what we're actually saying when you say that's all of Judaism right there my course in in my philosophy class is just that you know I'm actually writing a book on it and it looks like it's going to end up being 25 chapters because I go through every single word what it actually means and then of course I sum it up but if I don't know what I'm saying how could I enjoy that how can that fill me up the Yeshiva is not in New York it's not in bokeh it's not in the diaspora it's it's in the heart of Y it's in it's in Israel talk to us a little bit about the last year and a half in Israel how this war has impacted you your students your family um who's serving the horrific losses and even the most recent news of this um it seems like a handshake on a on a ceasefire that you know to many it's very welcome to others it's it's devastating and and and disastrous hopefully I D in hard because I don't feel entitled to an opinion certainly from from we D in hard it doesn't divide us this ceasefire because that's how we got into this to begin with we were so divided talk to us a little bit about your experience personally and and how you see your responsibility as a rashash of a of Yeshiva of Gap year students who are living through living through history which we always are every day but but particularly now you know I heard a fabulous sheer from Rabbi tkis of he uh did a he did a Shear on the Jewish response to suffering and really excellent really excellent and um so he asked the audience how many people here have grown from julus occasions not a lot of people put their hands up he said how many people here have grown from painful occasions and a lot of people put up their hands he said look at I'm just pointing out that we seem to grow from Pain more than from pleasure and I think the boys because of the pain that we're witnessing during these times has brought them to think a lot more take it more seriously uh feel more identified with the Jewish people and um you know sadly sadness is a is is something that puts people in a state of mind of Greater SE seeking and greater thirst for clarity so um I think it's contributed to the seriousness of their learning and the groundedness of their um desire to grow as Jews uh yeah for whatever you see this in the context of not just a war with Statistics but this is Gula like within the Tor R cook is this all part of unfolding Gula is that part of the your message uh it's something I believe but it's not so much part of my message uh you know it's um something I believe but it's not something that I keep Haring on like this is the ghoula don't worry about it I'm not well I'm not even comfortable saying I think it's a little too too easy to kind of like you know I was with my granddaughter I took her out she my my my my daughter lives in B Al and took out my granddaughter's four years old and we I took her to the playground and as soon as we walked out of the house she said to me Saba if there's a siren we have to go right away into a bomb shelter that's the first thing she thought about and so I played a little dumb and I said well where is a bomb shelter and she said all they everywhere everything is a bomb shelter and then I said to her well what is this what how will I know it's a siren what will it sound like she's 4 years old she thought and she said like somebody crying like somebody crying I think we're all traumatized at different levels but it's it's and uh and it goes back to what my wife taught me if you turn if you give your pain purpose it will turn into Power if you don't give it any purpose it's going to turn into it's going to turn into suffering so uh we talk about meaning we talk about what's it about you know how can we contribute what what role can I play lay my my my my my responsibility to the Jewish people my responsibility to the world and it goes back to live on purpose don't just get up and keep doing what you did because that's what you do you know but uh look for a way to contribute and and be a player not just uh you know just be someone in the audience watching the game love that very powerful RAB Aron thank you for going behind the Bea with us sharing this you so much for inviting me and the pleasure to chat thank you so much thanks for all that you do and we really encourage everyone take advantage of of the books there's so much more of those teachings and there's so much more to talk about which hopefully we will so thank you stay safe and well and may we hear BOS toos thank you so much catch us next time for another Peak behind the beima