#43: Behind the Bima - Special Guests: Rep. Ted & Jill Deutch

[Music] from boca raton florida rabbis ephraim goldberg philip moskowitz and josh brody are taking you behind the bema the brs rabbis schmooze about contemporary issues and talk to special guests who give a behind-the-scenes look at how they got to where they are and what keeps them going welcome to behind the bema good evening ladies and gentlemen 9 00 p.m on wednesday night which means it's time to go behind the biba i'm rabbi from goldberg joined by my colleagues dear friends and eskimo phillip moskowitz and rabbi josh brody robert bro you're a little chilly tonight it is freezing down here first i heard it snowed up in new york but down here it's actually very cold for us it is uh rather on the chilly side hit the 40s 50s all the sweaters and fleeces and new york uggs have come out no question about it but the truth is as as cold as it is for us our heart goes out to those uh from up north who are who are buried the northeast who are buried under two feet two feet two feet let's begin with our sponsorship tonight it's a very very special sponsorship because uh our dear friends matthew and tova hackerman dear friends of behind the bema booker ton synagogue and us personally have sponsored tonight's episode in memory of a beloved friend theo henry on the occasion of his third eurotight the third anniversary of his passing theo was the beloved custodian at the boca raton synagogue uh here's a picture of theo and there's a picture of me selling him hamitz as we did each and every year and theo was simply beloved to know theo was to love him quiet but the biggest heart you ever saw big teddy bear and he went above and beyond for our community on a regular basis uh really driving people to fertility treatments on shabbos coming to their home to take care of things that needed always showing up sleeping over in hurricanes to make sure that the shul was protected and well there was no end to the things that thea was willing to do and nobody in shula life was closer to him than matthew who worked obviously with him and we're so grateful to matthew and tova for their generosity for their friendship and uh for sponsoring this evening in memory of of theo do you have any memories guys you want to start with share about theo sure i remember when ariel gave birth to our fourth child she was in the hospital for uh for a few days it was over second days of success and i left her with no food and i came back to brs and i realized that she didn't have food for yontif and i was right before yant if and theo drove over the food he made sure she had something to eat and then ariel who hadn't you know she hadn't seen people so she wanted him to stay a little bit in schmooze and theo you know even though it was a little awkward for him he walked into that hospital room he sat down with my wife he made conversation for for a little while and uh that was who theo was he would do anything for you he'd go to the ends of the earth for you he was a humble person soft-spoken but but he was great we miss him a lot yeah it was amazing how many people felt so felt so close with him there were so many people that were so so moved unfortunately when he passed away yeah 29 years old way too young left this world way too soon way too premature but he was a big part and he took a lot of pride obviously uh you know wasn't wasn't jewish not a direct member of the synagogue in an active sense but he took a lot of pride in the shul and his role in in it left the world way too young 29 years old no one will ever know why um and we miss him and we love him and we're very grateful to matthew and tovah for uh sponsoring tonight in his memory gentlemen it's a big night we have on very prominent guests very excited to have our congressman congressman of our district a dear friend of ours and of our shul representative ted deutch and his wife jill deutsch the first lady of our district and to learn more about them of how they got into uh politics and what drives them how the judaism informs them we'll come back to that in a moment but i want to share with you an email i got was it last episode or two episodes ago we talked about winning the lottery right shared that he desperately does not want to win the lottery uh he doesn't play the lottery he wouldn't want to win the lottery it would ruin his life he doesn't want it so i want to share an email i got afterwards from one of our listeners hi rabbi i'm obsessed with behind the bema okay that's the only part love it so beyond much thank you for all you do i never really talked about this because i'm in the middle uh but i figured i'd share my dad won a few million dollars in the lottery it's actually the craziest story i've ever heard or experienced in our lives barack hashem my parents never became miserable or depressed they made basically no life changes they still live in the same humble home my dad quit his job and devotes his time to doing mitzvos and spending time with his grandchildren story has tons of details just on the story i find a bigger bra even winning the lottery itself so rabbi goldberg is correct not everyone becomes depressed and hara and by the way my father only bought one ticket so there you have it a real life lottery winner who uh changed his life only and that he stopped working he's doing torah mitzvahs didn't change anything else didn't lose the money and he's happier than ever first of all telling a group of rabbis and a non-profit that your dad won a couple million dollars a very dangerous thing to do that may or may not put a little mark on you but i agree with that i've always said i'm fine with a couple million dollars it's when you get into like the 600 million dollars that i don't have any interest you want to give me 2 million 3 million 5 million 10 million i'll take it but once you get above that i don't need that i don't want to change my life so what's your magic number robin mascots what's your magic number that you'll tolerate taking but you absolutely want above it 10 million not a not 10 million in one cent i don't want so if someone were to leave you 20 million dollars it's safe to say that you'd only take 10 and the other 10 you'd give me i'd give you a little bit fast not so fast i would share it with my close friends yeah it's five and five that's good to know but also i got that when you were reading that email and he mentions the he's a big fan and then he says well he won a couple million dollars were you thinking that that the next sentence would be and i want to sponsor behind the beam well don't worry we'll get there exactly that wasn't in the email love behind the beam of liver behind the bema yeah we have one couple million dollars yeah anyway just wanted to tell you the story we'll give you a permanent uh naming a couple million dollars let's get back we'll get we'll get back you can underwrite behind the bema for we'll do a discount tonight one million one sponsor in perpetuity five million five million we'll give it perpetuity but can i just give you an update also because you did mention you know winning the odds of winning were like being struck by lightning once or twice so i mentioned today yes i mentioned how my my great-grandfather i think two of them apparently were hit by lightning but my mother gave me the update it's breaking news it actually wasn't two different great-grandfathers that got hit it was actually one that got hit twice and unfortunately died so that's great breaking news here terrible that is uh very sad i know that brody well um was he hit twice on the same day or separate days i don't know that's a big that's that's next week you gotta tune in next week to find out so it happens to be terribly tragic but if your odds of winning the lottery are the same as getting hit by lightning twice in the same day and instead of winning the lottery you got hitler twice in the same day that is really that's pretty bad i don't know there's no laughing matter it is no laughing matter whatsoever but um but it's always good to hear from our listeners so thank you for writing in and sharing that story and anyone else who wins the lottery and certainly if you have the same lottery philosophy as ruben moskowitz and you don't want to keep the money then definitely feel free to be back in touch with us because we don't want to keep all the money you don't want to keep all the money you don't want to keep all the money right right that's true uh number two i want to talk about tonight is there's a great project taking place in the state of florida now the state of florida people are moving to in droves and we don't want to rub it in anyone's face we don't say it triumphantly or in any way looking down on anybody else but we are all getting phone calls uh daily about people moving from the new york area people moving from california people moving from elsewhere in droves and when you get here one of the things that you're going to need to do is turn over your license plate and when you turn over your license plate to transfer from wherever you're from to florida know that something very exciting is happening in florida it was approved that the state of florida is producing license plates that say florida stands with israel florida stands with israel now those license plates are now in pre-sale but they have to sell 3 000 of them pre-sale within 24 months of october of before they'll begin to manufacture and distribute those as of now only 11 have been sold i bought two of them you're two of the eleven did you read yeah about about a month ago wow okay good to know the website floridastandswithisrael.com florida stands with israel.com go on that website order pre-sale florida stands with israel.com order your license plate i mean what what more could you want kiddush hashem u.s israel relationship support israel than to be able to drive around and passively let your car be doing israel activism while you're doing carpool or while you're picking up the box that state of florida provides for you call of duty milk or while you're doing while you're doing whatever activity you are doing you can be promoting the state of israel and florida's relationship with it so we need 3 000 people or or you know if you have two cars in your household then we only need 1 500 households to order those license plates and to make sure that even before the deadline they'll manufacture them distribute them and everywhere you go in florida people will know that florida stands with israel and then we're going to get the behind the bema license plates that's gonna be that's gonna come next next three thousand let's ask our listeners a question whether those listening live or those who wanna get back to us later if you're listening on the podcast please like it please rate it please review it if you're listening on youtube please subscribe to our channel or hit the bell to be notified of when learning opportunities and classes are happening but let's ask our listeners we've been talking about producing some behind the bema swag that we can send some listeners that we ourselves can wear what swag are people interested in today once upon a time the bank gave away a toaster where people produced pens then they had the uh bank gave away a toaster that was a big thing yeah what you don't remember that live then i was not alive you opened an account and they gave you a toaster [Laughter] are you guys joking is that real oh that was the thing yeah yeah maybe it was only in new jersey so we're not down behind the beam giveaway yeah that was it it still is so all right one rabbi feigl stock the wonderful head of the orb suggests a behind the beam of yamaka behind the beam of keepers salabati behind the bema lottery tickets only for 10 million dollars not a penny rabbi mosquitoes doesn't get one so what would you do sweatshirt hat pen cell phone case a sticker for your laptop a magnet for your car we don't want to produce something that people are going to throw away we get kinds of swag in the mail we get things all the time and um and we throw it away or a quote a great rabbinic friend of ours every time you play in a golf tournament or a lot of these uh charity events they give you a polo shirt with the logo of the organization on it so one of our prominent rabbidic friends says oh always take them they're great they're perfect for tearing korea on at the hotel so anyway we don't want to provide you anything that you're going to tear at the kotel so let us know is it glasses like a drinking glass lachey glass is it ah masks matthew miller says the great matthew miller behind the logoed let masks hopefully those will be obsolete pretty quickly but they could become a collector's item so if you have ideas of uh of swag that beyond the bema can produce and provide then don't be shy please let us let us know gentlemen what's the best piece of swag that you have what's your longest go-to item when you come home and you want to be able to put on something more relaxing what do you love that even though it's old and even though it's falling apart you turn too for sure a sweatshirt i have a comfortable sweatshirt it's my comfy sweatshirt it's like when you're freezing outside and you just need to put on something warm and comfortable that's that's for sure my go-to you have that also right go-to i do i have these flannel sweatpants which my family if today the the the in thing are our our skinny pants they call them i think you need a crowbar in order to be able to get in out of them i'm not interested but these uh these old very comfortable pants i have are the opposite let's just say of the in skinny pants but i don't know here they're comfortable you should show everyone your new swag you just got a new piece of swag today rabbi goldberg you should that that should be you put it nice behind the beam on the back of that just so you don't know how cold it is by the way you see in new york when it's cold your homes have heat there's radiators they have heat they're prepared for it in florida when it gets really cold outside it's also really cold inside so until right before we went on air this was my this is me and then i was told by my family i had to take it off to be able to go on air so that's we're not producing any swag like that but would be interesting we're getting a lot more suggestions behind the beam of flashlight behind the beam of baseball behind the beam of wristbands behind the beam of sitter behind the bema vegan burger i like that a day with rabbi brody do you remember we sold that in the auction once yeah you remember who bought it your mother and your mom yeah exactly and they had to follow you around and see how much you did they only lasted half a day they got exhausted that was enough too much too much from you well we're gonna be uh we're gonna be joined very shortly by our very esteemed guest we're very excited and very honored to have on our congressman representative theodore ted deutsch who's representing florida's 22nd congressional district which happens to be where we live since 2017 uh in 2010 is when he first entered congress as after a special election following the resignation of then congressman robert wexler uh then he first represented florida's 19th district till 2013 the 21st district until 2017 22nd district not because the deutsches kept moving but redistricting things keep changing and so he's been a congressman since 2010. rabbi maybe we'll get into this but you had a relationship with him before he was a congressman right this isn't just oh he became a congressman and aipac encouraged you to develop relationships you had a relationship prior to that do you want to talk about that a little bit sure could talk about it now or when they come on but i knew the deutsches um ted was a lawyer in town chill of a community leader community activist and the two of them were the presidents of the young leadership division of the jewish federation of south palm beach county and i was a young guy in the colel we had a community called boca at the time through boca raton synagogue under rabbi brander and i joined the call and robert brander had all kinds of ideas to integrate into the greater community see the greater community and one of them was go get involved in the young leadership division at federation go represent go teach be a role model contribute just be a regular citizen but but being part of that greater community effort and i really credit him and i've learned so much by being involved in greater community efforts that extend well beyond the orthodox community we really all should and need to be able to do that so i was a member of the committee and they were the presidents of the committee we were all younger both ted and i had hair back then and um and i knew him before he became a congressman it was a great honor than it is now and they've been dear friends for a long time which is really the best way to know your local elected leaders is not simply from a utilitarian way because you benefit each other but to have a genuine and deep friendship and i think robert brother you know him a long time also right yeah and i'm just thinking something he said many times and for all of you listening up north who say well he's not my congressman you know why do i care he he said this on a number of occasions where he might not be a congressman today but he will be soon so when all of you guys are moving down to florida get ready now did you know at the time that he was destined for politics with that he was going to become such an influential person in foreign affairs in the american israel relationship did you have an inkling of that back then you know i don't want to pretend that i did i knew that he was a community activist and he showed leadership he was playing that leadership role within federation and always cared very passionately about israel and that's that's one of my questions i don't know that i ever spoke to him about what drove him to leave a successful law practice and enter public and civic life um so i remember when it happened um but i don't know that we've ever really spoken or unpacked exactly what what drove leading that life you know people think that being an elected leader is lucrative and again we're in a political show but if you look at the tax returns of some of our elected leaders you'll find that it is extremely extremely lucrative but being a member of the house of congress and i don't know the exact number it's public anybody can can google it is far less lucrative than being a a lawyer a successful partner in an active law firm so there really is some sense of a civic duty of really caring about uh your community and of wanting to make a difference in leaving a legacy that must that must drive someone to do such a thing and make a change now the truth is he didn't go straight from being a lawyer to a congressman he was a state senator all the while he was a lawyer at the same time and then he took that leap but we'll be able to talk to him more about it and um and where he's going to join us momentarily together with jill now the life of public life means that they are often not together because he's in washington she's here in boca and i think tonight he is actually in washington she's in boca so they will coordinate and we will be able to bring them on uh shortly so very excited about it how many of you everything yeah go ahead do you ever think about running for for office do you ever think about becoming an elected official i'm just saying because it's crossed my mind a few times i'm just wondering if it's am i the only one you have my vote right brody what are you going mayor thank you circle what are you going for yeah mayor montoya circle you know mike might uh jump up to the young israel side also might include them we'll see i'll tell you something extraordinary and and we're going to bring congress and deutsche in just a moment i'll tell you something absolutely extraordinary rev mayor shapiro the founder of the da fiomi the greater of mayor shapiro who started yeshiva lublin in lublin poland who introduced the world to the daphyomi he ran what was the most elite prestigious yeshiva in europe at the time and in addition to being a russia shiva and a rav he was a member of the polish parliament he was the equivalent of being a rabbi a russia shiva and a congressman all at the same time and excelling in every area which is absolutely mind-boggling it's one of the reasons he's my heroes it's really really amazing that he was was able to do that and that is his legacy so it's really um really really special really public office soliciting votes donations is that something that interests you robert goldberg um the public likes three of us yeah no public life does not interest me um we have public life and in some ways we are elected because we also answer to a constituency who has to be happy with us um but no running for elections in that public life i don't think so i don't i think it's filled with challenges and it should make us even more appreciative of the people who are willing to do it i'm gonna make sure to help jill get on so you guys keep talking for a moment while i uh hold on i mean how many votes do you really need to get together i'm just saying hypothetically i want you know i have zero desire for that i i love giving i love community service i love being involved i have zero desire yeah but you can really make a big difference i think if you're a politician right you can change things that will help many people would love to do that yeah and by the way robert gobert our positions as public officials even though we do get votes and we are elected so to speak it's very different than a member of congress or um it's very different experience shall they say so no i don't have a desire for that at all yeah sure why not why don't you have the desire what differentiates well you know it's actually uh it's a good conversation with congressman deutsch about what life is like as a congressman i know but uh the whole notion of the votes of the popularity contest that just doesn't that doesn't do it for me that's not uh that's not something that drives me personally so it's not something i would aspire for i think there are ways to impact the world outside of politics that i am more inclined to but uh but listen you know and this one of things our listeners and viewers will see very shortly is congressman deutsch is the real deal right he's not like when you think congressman and you think what you hear on the news and the he's not he's not like that at all not like if i if i would get elected basically he's not my brother i was born in south africa so i don't think i can even run for many of these jobs right no you just can't be president no okay your your aspirations for public life are still alive right by brody but i'll tell you one of the one of the reasons i wouldn't want to do it is the day that you win re-election you have to start fundraising for two years from then right so two years passes in a flash and we have fundraising responsibilities to help promote our cause and what we believe in and what we're doing but in public elected life you have to be you have to be working hard from the day that you're elected and moving forward all right it is a great honor to be able to welcome two of our dear friends congressman theodore ted deutsch and his beloved wife the first lady of our district jill deutsch uh thank you so much for being with us on behind the bema i'm so happy to be here it's so great where's jill oh hi joel this is a peculiar definition of date night but that's what happens in in public life i'm sure now congressman deutsch let's start by asking you this i believe you were on like cnn and msnbc and fox news and several cable channels this week uh as a congressman is it true that you were most nervous for the behind the beam appearance of all the media appearances this week uh i co it's great to see everyone i clearly spend more time doing makeup for this appearance than i did for any of those uh and course well i wasn't that nervous until i you put me in the green room and i literally had to listen to the three super popular rabbis and community leaders in my district talking about how they all want to run for office so yeah have a longer work on all of your campaigns i've already volunteered to help you right i'm sure i'm sure you would so i was telling our audience most of them all of them are familiar with you not only for your uh work locally as being our congressman but really for the the platform that you have nationally and internationally for being such a leader on the u.s israel relationship and so many other causes that are near to dear and us and for which we are so appreciative so i was reminding them that you were a successful lawyer uh became a state senator and then when the opportunity presented itself when congressman wexler uh retired resigned there was a special election 2010 you won by a landslide and um and that our friendship precedes that i was nostalgic for the days of the young leadership division of federation you were the co-presidents i said congressman i hope you'll forgive me it was a time we both had hair and that's when we first met and developed a friendship that has only grown and blossomed in 2010 it was a a great honor to have gone to washington with several of your other friends and family members and to have been in the gallery um when you win a special election you're not sworn in together with all of the representatives at once but you're one and one alone and i'll never forget looking down from the gallery and seeing your hand on the art scroll stonehamish as you pledged and vowed your loyalty to serve this country which you've been doing faithfully ever ever since and it's been an exciting ride watching you and and being near you but we're grateful for all your service and all you do uh well thanks i appreciate that and um it was great having you there and it's a i'm glad you you clarified explain that to people when congress when a new congress gets sworn in uh on j in the early part of january the third everyone is on the house floor this time except during a pandemic but normally everyone is on the house floor and that means that each member gets two seats in the gallery when you're sworn in in a special election special meaning it was not in november at the normal time not because i was elected although that made it special for us that you have uh unlimited number of people you can bring so we still uh you should know you were part of the largest crowd uh at least in the 11 years that i've been in congress to fill the gallery for a swearing-in which says frankly a whole lot more about our community than it does about me because people just wanted to come up and and celebrate the moment and what it meant for all of us and it was uh it was an incredible thrill for jill and me to look up and see up there that was a thrill that was an exciting day and and the other exciting day which i owe all to you we mentioned actually a couple weeks ago a prank that my good friends over here ran on that day but when you invited me to give the invocation in front of congress and said those kind words that followed was one of the most special days of my life for which i'm so appreciative um jill talk to us about what talk to us about what it's like to be the first lady of a district to be uh the wife of a of a representative of a congressman and and really we thank you because um while congressman deutsch has the opportunity and often the limelight to be making a difference it's you're the one who's making a sacrifice by not having your husband home and by being front and center and by having the world uh evaluate so to say you just because of your last name and your relationship and and we're very indebted to you for that sacrifice as well what was that decision like when the decision was made to run in that special election um what what drove that decision successful lawyer community activists uh leaders in the jewish community uh happy with making a difference as a state senator when when ted said to you i want to run for congress what do you think what what was that conversation like so initially i was not interested or supportive at all our kids were very young um when he when he ran for the state senate although he spent some time in tallahassee it's a part-time legislature our state legislature so he really was still very much a part of our lives he was able to be um continue to be at his law firm and have a foot in two different worlds um when this became a possibility it was really sort of jumping full full on and into into the pool of politics and i personally did not feel that i was ready i didn't feel our family was ready but um as i'm sure many of you and many of your listeners know when the person you love really wants something and desires it fully you find a way to make it work and um that's what i did in addition to getting to remodel our kitchen so that that's nice there's a little bit of a negotiation that went on a small price to pay so let me follow up by asking you and congress and dutch we're going to get to you in a moment i hope you don't mind but ladies first um take your time jill what in these 11 years what have been she's gonna get to the part where she talks about how she's happy we're doing it now yes yes she's thrilled no i'm we're getting there we're getting there right now in these 11 years what have been your proudest moments your proudest moments of your husband his leadership his accomplishments and what have been the the special moments for you when you've been able to be present whether it's events at the white house whether it's international trips that you've been on what what has been the special what describe to us what it's like in the role that you feel so i will i will say in in all seriousness i actually was not this wasn't something that i wanted for our family but once um ted decided to do it of course i was all in and completely supportive and in some ways just like many other things that happened in our lives there were a lot of silver linings that came along with it it's been the greatest civics lesson in the world for our children they feel like they're living that every single day and they have had experience so one of my greatest moments is seeing the experiences that my kids have had and who they've gotten to meet so that's been number one and then the other thing i will be very honest to say is the opportunities that we have had the people that we have met the times we've spent in the white house most recently i know a lot of people are aware of this but we were able to be at the white house when the abraham accords were signed um it was an incredible moment um and then we've also had and i'd love to get into it at some point maybe a little bit later but some of the the moments that we've had um the the places we've been able to travel to um we were in israel um when shortly after the three boys were kidnapped we were there when their bodies were were found we were able to attend their funeral that certainly wasn't a high point but it was probably one of the most poignant moments that um ted and i have shared in this incredible journey and just this incredible blessing that we've been given so even though there's been challenges there have been many moments that have been incredible that i that i will remember forever wanted to trade for anything as i said we're really so indebted to you too so congress and deutsche let's turn over to you and we're going to get the other panelists and to ask questions as well but congressman deutsch you know this is the magical question you're you're a successful lawyer you're an accomplished community leader you're beloved by everybody um why why i don't want to say throw that away because you didn't throw that away why put that up on a shelf um in order to run for congress you won that special election hands down and you've won uh thank god easily um each time and and you're representing uh particularly on our on our love of israel the us israel and in ways that we are really so grateful and there is no comparison in all of congress for the leadership that you've that you've shown but what made you do it what what drove it what what drives you to continue it each time a new election comes up do you say i've put in my time i've done my part and now i'm ready to leverage that rolodex these these relationships and you know what i can continue to make a difference as a civilian but i put in my time and yet you continue to run you continue to serve what drives you um i um i i i started doing this grab a rabbi because i thought if um if we knew what we were able to do and you were right we were really proud of of what we could do in our community with our community with the incredible leaders that we have in our community and and part of that over the years has included some political activity and and my involvement in uh national young leadership cabinet of the uk took me to washington a few times and uh and i i always worked on campaigns and i i used to go to dc to talk to members of congress about the u.s israel relationship and so when and i didn't think i would ever get to do this job i was the state senator i love the the opportunity to give back as joe pointed out it was part time and i still have my law practice and my congressman was frankly young and popular so i thought that he would continue serving and i would find other ways to be involved and when he decided to go do something else suddenly i had this opportunity that i never ever could have imagined certainly not growing up in the small jewish community in pennsylvania where i grew up um and and certainly not when i was involved in the community and had this member of congress who was never going to leave so i jumped at the chance in large part because of the the things that we've been talking about um that you just totally referred to i've been an advocate for the u.s israel relationship my entire life and i i apologize saying this to three of you because you've all heard it but i but it's true the work i do now is just like the work that i did before just like the work that so many people in our community do in in advocating for a strong and secure israel i just get to do it now from the other side of the desk and i have the benefit of then sharing whatever insight and experiences i've had with my colleagues to hopefully make them better informed uh more knowledgeable and in their own way more committed to these these things that we care so deeply about and i'll say congressman deutsch you've been such a leader on israel not only when it's popular but when it's unpopular not only along party lines but sometimes when it means going against one's own party and i think that is the greatest testament to your commitment to to israel as a value and not as something which is which is political what would you say to a young person who's thinking about elected life in politics would you encourage them would you discourage them would you uh what would you say to them uh well i'm i'm always encouraging of young people i i think i mean it is it's challenging at the moment we're we're just some you know we're just a month since uh since the an insurrection capital attack on on the very picture representational democracy in in the world um it's hard there are real challenges now that said the opportunity to to really make an impact um is something that that is unique in a lot of ways in in public life and so i encourage people to do and i'll just give you if i may just because there's oh there are always examples and uh and just yesterday uh the new secretary of state secretary blinken met with families of americans who are being held abroad and as i think a lot of people know bob levinson lived in my district he was the longest held american hostage in history held by iran um ultimately we learned unfortunately that uh that he passed and we continue to fight to bring his remains home but we also passed legislation so that every american family would get the full attention of the federal government who whoever is in office to fight for their loved ones until they come home and for secretary blinken yesterday in meeting with these families to talk about the robert levinson act that we passed uh in bob's memory and with the support of his family and knowing that other families won't have to to suffer the the challenge the pain that they did in trying to get people to pay attention to them that's just one example but it's the kind of thing that that you can do in public life and it's why i'm i always encourage people to to pursue it not standing what they may see on tv the opportunity to really do good work and to help help contribute to a stronger community and stronger world is is just something they should never pass up first of all so great to see you both and thank you both for being on and everything you do for our community and for israel so we spoke a little bit about israel and obviously you are at the forefront of so much incredible pro-israel advocacy the us's relationship let's pivot to judaism a little bit um obviously you are very proud of your judaism you don't hide it you're a member of congress a jewish member of congress um what is that like what are some of the challenges what are some of the opportunities that uh that that come along being a very proud jewish member of congress even aside from the u.s is the relationship i'm sure it appears elsewhere in some of your work and do you ever feel a conflict between some of your jewish values and perhaps some of your democratic values as a member of congress do you ever feel a sense of tension between the two of those and how do you reconcile those uh well i i don't um i i don't ever i don't ever feel a conflict i i i'm i'm a i'm a jewish member of congress i i that's that's who i am it i was i was a jewish activist i'm a proud jew i'm a proud zionist that's that's that's who i am that's what i am and now i happen to work in the united states house but um but i i don't it's it's my judaism that that drives me and and because of it as um as you alluded to there were there have been lots of remarkable opportunities to stand up for the jewish community here whether it's getting speeches on the house floor uh calling out anti-semitism creating the anti-semitism caucus doing doing the things that that bring people together to help strengthen the jewish people here but especially as a member of the foreign affairs committee i have the opportunity jill and i often together have the opportunity to travel uh on these these trips these obligations that are put together by the house but every time we travel we make a point of of seeking out the jewish community and looking to make contact do something meaningful and so we're now at the point where literally every place we go the planners of the trip who are members of the military who work at the capitol um reach out and and know on their own that they should find out where we should go there are a million stories like this but if i if i can just because it gets back to the young people if i could just tell one quick one um rabbi i i i like a lot of people cut my political teeth in the student struggle for soviet jewry and then fast forward um from the the 80s the late 80s to my early days in congress i had the opportunity to attend the choral synagogue in moscow and speak um from the bema during kabbalah shabbat from the beginning not behind it in front of him during shabbat and and recount for for the the the members that it was decades before as a young person that all i wanted was for people for jews to either be able to to leave the soviet union or do exactly what we were all doing that shabbat in synagogue in moscow and um and the message that that that sent to them about the commitment that jews and and jews and elected positions in the united states have that connection and the message i hope it sends to young people that the things that you work on when you're when you're younger can lead to the the kinds of change that you only realize later when you're doing other sorts of things maybe more change so it's been um being a proud jewish member of congress uh is is that the most important part of the work that i do informs everything i do congressman first of all i was just thinking about the time my son had a bar mitzvah a couple years ago and i i remember you walked into the shul and i ran over to him i said you're not going to believe this aj there's a congressman right now at your bar mitzvah he said to me he says what's a congressman but i was so i was so excited i could couldn't believe it and speaking of kids your kids are all amazing gabby just did an incredible article in the atlantic all about our community and how so many people are looking to move down to our community but i wanted to talk to jill for a second because one of the directors of of our local hillel a little of brown in palm beach right not just the first lady but she's literally running one of the largest hills in our community and speaking of swag i don't know robert goldberg if you got this arrived today we are hillel a big big event is coming up the biggest fundraiser for for the uh for the hill but a lot of people don't realize first of all what hillows are doing to impact college students on campus right now i know uh you know you're doing the work on on five different commuter campuses it's a big big job um maybe uh you know tell us a little bit what's going on over there it's amazing i'd be happy to two really quick things number one i do not run the hillel i'm the director of development adam collette is the is the director so i want to give credit or credit and gabby's recent article was in jewish insider although she used to work for the atlantic so um two little program notes fact checking we have fact checkers i just want everyone to get the credit that they deserve um and especially when it shouldn't come to me so um listen i have been the director of development the in charge of raising funds for our local hillel and it has been really the honor of my lifetime it is a blessing to be able to do work that is mission driven that um i both believe in and can you know in a pied piper kind of way try and get as many people to come along with me to come along with us and to support these kids our local kids many of whom are going to end up staying here after they graduate i have seen i've done it enough that i've seen the kids that come in as a freshman who basically sometimes say you know my mom is jewish my dad isn't i wasn't really raised with anything and to see their journey and to help them along the way um when they go from you know uh learning when they come to their shabbat dinner when they have when they have their first jewish experience when they're able to go to israel for the first time when we send them to events in the community they're often invited to go to federation events um israel bonds aipac events and we're able to send our students to those events and it's incredibly impactful for them for them to see what's happening in the community and it's it's just been really really really special for me to get to share that story with so many other people rabbi brody has been a partner and a leader in in our local hillel and um i appreciate that and he sits on our board and i love the community the continuity and the connections that we have with a lot of other organizations uh brs has been very supportive of what we do and it's been it's it's been really special can i tell a very very quick story of course of combining hillel and congress so um years ago on the on the same trip that ted and i took to russia we were we always wanted to be put with people for shabbat so we were put with these one in shabbat in moscow we were put with these young students and and we were you know we were our old selves but we went and had um schweitzer with a whole bunch of students and um they were telling us about being involved in in jewish life in moscow and um one student told this story of the fact that his grandparents who had survived the holocaust it was not a good thing to be jewish in russia they burned their birth certificates they burned their papers so nobody would ever know they were jewish the kids this kid did not know he was jewish until um he was in his teens he found out it's a long story anyway once he found out he realized that he was eligible to travel to israel on a birthright program but you had to prove that you were jewish to go on a birthright program and they had burned all their papers they had no papers to prove that he was jewish he had a forger forged papers to him that said that he was jewish so he could go on birthright and i just feel like that's one of my favorite stories of the world coming full circle where people used to forge papers to show that they weren't jewish so that they can get to safety and that now people are forging papers to show that they are jewish so that they can have a jewish experience and i think that's a great a great tale about what we're trying to do we have we have so much to talk about we're so grateful to you for giving us some of your time uh this evening um there are so many questions pouring in and questions that we have but i want to turn to something that i think you know is a behind the bema moment that people don't get to hear often because you know we alluded to earlier we joke congressman that you're you're on major networks on a regular basis and and their job is to make headlines and they make headlines by portraying this unprecedented partisanship and divide and animosity and hatred and that if you're in congress there's you know there's the other and me and the enemy and it's just a battle and you and i have spoken many times we have the privilege of studying parsha together although we have to do a better job of our continuity of it our consistency of it um and we often talk about of course the just how poisonous and how how detrimental that that attitude that mentality is and and that while the media has an interest in portraying that kind of of a relationship that really when the cameras are off across the aisle there are genuine and real relationships in congress and i'm wondering if you can speak to that for our audience too to give us a sense of hope and a sense of faith to give us some khizak and strengthen us that our elected officials when the cameras are off and when the keyboards to social media are closed that hopefully there are real relationships and that they can continue to build and blossom that they can overflow when the cameras and the keyboards are on and and we can you know lead in showing america a different way where we can disagree and disagree agreeably and respectfully and yet still be really have real relationships and and i'll ask jill to chime in as well on this in terms of do you have relationships with with the wives or spouses of congress people on the other side of the aisle uh do you have to like you know line up for your team and you're not allowed to talk to this side one of the great examples i know it's a long-winded question i apologize but but congressman you know your relationship with ileana ross layton was one of the great examples in all of congress two south florida congress people across the aisle dear and close friends with enormous respect our shul several years ago at our dinner we honored congresswoman ross leighton in in honor of her contributions and leadership and the one who presented the honor was you a democrat presented the honor to a republican it's almost unheard of and today you know you'd be brought up in your own ethics committee maybe for doing such a thing which is so scary to all of us so paint the better picture tell us what's really going on uh that was a really special night i am so i continued to be uh upbeat and hopeful about the opportunities to work together um look it is it is challenging after the the insurrection the attack on the capital the i mean tensions were really really high there was some and i'll just i'll be perfectly candid there was real frustration that i felt with some of my colleagues that even after all that happened um still felt the need to uh to vote to challenge an election that everyone in the states had already certified but that leads to a moment where you either decide that it's hopeless or you realize that there are things that we're still working on that we have to work on together that the relationships that i have with a lot of my republican colleagues are actually pretty deep and and so the realization is that you need to be honest with one another and and share your frustrations with with each other i do it with my republican colleagues just says i know they do it with me and and today was a particular um you know today it's particularly challenging because we're we're in another one of those moments but um but there are so many times where where we break through that iliad and i had a special really special relationship joe wilson from south carolina is the ranking member of the middle east subcommittee top republican on the middle east subcommittee now and we travel extensively and and when um if you wanted to just make everything partisan then you wouldn't have the moments that that he and i had when we traveled together to the to auschwitz for the 75th anniversary of the liberation and then on to jerusalem uh to yad vashem to hear world leaders speak out so powerfully against anti-semitism so you build those relationships and i'll give one quick example one quick story um of how of the the moment where things can go one way or another i have a colleague who um early on in his in his tenure it might have been his first term um wanted to criticize president obama who didn't who chose not to go couldn't participate at the the big march in paris um after the terror attacks uh if you were macron and if bb was very prominent in the front of that march we all remember president obama would go and never mind the the the the reason story anything else my colleague tweeted out um something about about president obama and compared him to hitler um and and mike and most of my democratic colleagues and i say that's not to shoot my own horn this is just how it works because this is what you're alluding to most of my democratic colleagues went to town on him um and i served with him on the foreign affairs committee and i went over and i sat down and i said and i asked him do you have any idea how offensive it is i said i know you don't like the president that's fine you're entitled to your view we don't always agree but do you have any idea what it's what it does to the survivors that i represent to hear hitler invoked in american politics it you can't do it and he looked at me and he said no no idea because he represented a district in the rural part of texas didn't have a lot of jews didn't have a lot of survivors probably none and he looked at me and said i said can you just express your you can you apologize for doing that and and he looked at me said can we go in the back room and you'll help me with the apology so we went in the back he uh i helped him put something together that he sent out apologizing for any hurt that he may have caused then got right back to attacking president obama which was his right i didn't like but fine we have such stark starkly different views on so many issues but he will he and i will tell this story and we have worked together on u.s israel relations we have worked together on a whole host of issues strengthening our place in the world since then um and he has become a reliable partner because i just tried to be human to him and give him the benefit of the doubt and find out what happened those kinds of stories actually happened a fair amount and so today last one is today in the midst of this huge debate that we're having about one member um two of my republican colleagues and i reintroduced a piece of legislation to help make our school safer with the support of of the parkland families and the bipartisan press release got buried in the midst of everything else that's going on now but we're going to push forward and we're going to build on it and hopefully we'll pass it and president biden will sign into law yes those things happen no they don't get enough attention um but hopefully when there's more human interaction you can you can prevent the kind of breakdown that tends to dominate the the cable new shows have you experienced that on on the congressional trips when you've been with spouses even from across the aisle are you able to build real relationships can you kind of compare notes on what it's like to be married to an elected official and that they're they all have new kitchens just like you are able to connect on on the human level and get past the things that divide yeah well first of all i think um all of the congressional trips i i'm pretty sure are required to be bipartisan so every trip that we take has um members from both sides of the aisle and they also encourage spouse travel just so you know spouse travel is completely paid for by the individual i have to pay for if i have a diet coke on the airplane i have to pay for it so just so you know that but they encourage spouse travel and um i have gotten to know and when you travel you often don't you don't know nobody's wearing a name tag that says republican there are 435 members i don't know everybody's names i don't know who they are so when you travel you're you you break down barriers you have experiences together that you're experiencing at the same time and i think it's actually one of the greatest ways to get to know people um this particular story that ted told about the member from texas we have um been on a number of trips with him he's one of my favorite people to travel with and in that case i haven't met his wife but he often takes his daughter who's close to my age and she has become a friend of mine and so um yes i i i would say my closest friends i will i will say are are people who are democrats maybe i've gotten to know them better but i absolutely have friends on the other side of the aisle and when you travel with them and have experiences with them it breaks down the barriers like it's not just we don't sit around and talk about policy we get to know each other on a human level and an experience and have an experience together that is very bonding it's such a tragedy that we've we've lost the focus that the foundation you know 90 we all agree on the patriotism and the values and the freedoms and these are the things that we all agree on and while there's there are parts that obviously we disagree and they're really important unfortunately as i said the media and others who have an interest in portraying that divide are really monopolizing the whole narrative and we need to push back and fight back and show the human side the relationships model it for the country because we're seeing the consequences of it trickling down where people go to party lines and think that they've been enlisted some some you see literally a battle a fight and and and we see the impact and the consequence so we've got to find a way to be able to to bring that back robert moscow you want to follow up yeah i actually have two questions but i'm probably only allowed of one so i'm going to make it a two-part question so first of all you guys are very congressional it's also rabbinic um you guys you guys are amazing and and one of the things that's always stood out for me and i'm sure our listeners are getting a little glimpse of it right now is just how real normal and grounded the two of you are and i want you to address that a little bit for people how do you stay grounded right here you are you're talking about foreign trips and you're going to meet with you know public officials and you're going to the white house and you're having these incredible life experiences um how do you stay grounded how do you stay normal how do you remember the values that brought you into this position and the reason why you got into this in the first place that's part number one part number two is i can't let you go without asking this what is one amazing experience or amazing component to being a member of congress or the spouse of a member of congress that our viewers would would be fascinated by that they would never dream of is it going to the library of congress is it what happens behind the scenes what is one amazing component of the life that you guys are privileged to live that would uh that would fascinate some of our viewers you want to go first no go ahead i i can't spend a lot of time talking about the grounded question we're just us i must i haven't been anyone other than me my whole life i've known ted since i was 19. um we met at the university of michigan he was doing this stuff back then um i just told the story the other day but he when we first started dating um the universe and i know rabbi goldberg for sure has heard this story don't worry i'm not telling the other story but um the university of michigan daily the newspaper was was printing these anti-israel editorials several of them with with israel brought down pan am 800 like all kinds of really really bad stuff so ted at that time organized a a demonstration against the school newspaper and he came to my sorority a5 and got all the girls to to come to the rally and we made signs it was for me one of i mean i grew up being somewhat of an activist family but he he got of all of us to come and that's that's just how i've known ted i mean that's just how he is he's always cared he's always you know been doing he i had a computer before he had a computer he used to come to my dorm room to use my computer to write editorials so it's just it it's just who we are and it's for us it's just we we are grounded because it's just our life i don't i don't i wish i could give you a better answer than that um you know we've never wanted we never thought we were special these we're doing our jobs and we're doing our things and everybody's special and everybody's doing their thing and ted still takes out the garbage you know it's you know we're just ted uh think about that i am i that that is it is all true i would only add i i think we didn't um i think jill and i are both i think i can speak for you joe i think i think we're still both a little surprised at what what we get to do jill joe grew up in canton ohio i grew up in bethlehem pennsylvania i didn't know i didn't i didn't know any elected officials certainly didn't know of my congressman um i didn't i didn't get to do lots of really interesting things but i i did come from a a big family and my dad was a world war ii veteran and talked a whole lot about about his service to the country and finding ways to give back and this is just the way i get to do that and we get to do this together the best part of it the best part is while jill told the story about how she may not have been fully on board at the beginning there's no better way to remain grounded than to be able to to do this work and live this this remarkable and sometimes crazy and sometimes really challenging life um and to to do it all with with your spouse who cares as deeply about the things that that were that i'm working on as i do and right so that's pretty easy to keep grounded and i would just say in terms of things that we do i um i i i'm always reminded of the first time i went to the white house um and um and i i walked in to the white house with um with a senator from new jersey and and um and he he he had been in office for a long time and and franklin was it frankly senator loudenberg you have senator lombard um this is i think the second go around for senator lautenberg and he was in his 80s and and i just was like i was like a little kid in a candy store like i'm bouncing off the walls looking around and he just looked at me and he said um almost probably called me kid he said this is this is your first time to the white house right and i said it is he said well let me just tell you he said the moment that you stop feeling uh the way that you do right now when you have the opportunity to walk through the doors of the white house he said that's when you should probably think about doing something else and he had been doing this for decades and decades and i just to finish that story i walked in to the white house and there was a meeting that we were having with president obama and there's i forget what room it was in but huge conference table and i walked around the entire table all the way around and there was a place card for president obama there was a place card for secretary kerry there's a place card for a couple of other officials and then the rest just said member of congress senator senator member of congress member of congress i walked all the way around and when i got back to the beginning i walked up to the staffer who was by the door and i said excuse me can you just tell me where i'm supposed to sit and she looked at me and she said yeah any place that says member of congress and i thought i can't i just can't believe that and i i continue to feel that way years later at the state of the union and inaugurations and every time i go to the white house and it's um it's a remarkable experience that we you guys have been amazing being with us and i want to ask one more question before i do that i want to make a point one of the reasons we're so excited to have you on tonight you know aside from the fact that obviously you know we're good friends we have a lot of history you represent our community and we're so grateful for all that you do is one of the messages we want to get out is that you are normal you're human and you're regular people and you know congressman does you and i don't agree on everything and i feel beyond honored to have the opportunity to sometimes express myself um but when you have a relationship when you know people are human you can have respectful disagreements and yet you can maintain those friendships and and whether it's you or or whether it's rabbis and and and other people in in public positions when people take away that humanity it's easy to attack and to undermine to be cynical and to say hurtful things and people need to know that the ted and joe deutsch are regular people and they're great people and and they also you know as a congressman and take positions and and vote and influence policy and and we can disagree people can disagree they can disagree with your party they can disagree with your positions but we have to do so respectfully we have to remain people's humanity and we have to have have relationships and and we're not even going to get into how you deal with that do you deal with that uh jill do you read the comments do you read the post do you do you watch the criticism do you try to stay above it how do you deal with it when you see it if you're anything like rebetans i imagine you take it even more to heart than congressman deutsch does and you're less forgiving and you remember exactly who said what and who showed up where and who gave how much um and how difficult the life that is but we'll we'll leave that for another time i want to end with one more question which is an opportunity we can't pass up we have a real live member of the house of representatives on behind the bhima and we've got an audience who care about much very passionately but probably nothing more than the us's relationship israel israel's well-being israel and the world israel and its neighbors israel and iran so much more tell us what we can do as activists as a member of congress and you you've explained this to me but i want you to say it to everybody does it matter let's say everybody knows that congressman deutsch is going to vote in favor of israel on this thing so why bother calling his office or there are 60 i believe 60 freshmen members of the house now 60. it's enormous percentage a huge number you have seniority now in in the house and it's hard to believe having been there when you were sworn in that today you have seniority and obviously your role in the on the ethics committee and your role i didn't kick jill out for the record i'm not sure what happened the role of the in the ethics committee and your role in the foreign affairs committee um how how can we influence those 60 freshmen to care about the things we care about how can you influence them and how can we influence you to care about the things that that we care about what can the average person who's listening to does it really make a difference when we call when we email when we get involved or is that just some talking point but it really it really falls on deaf ears uh but it okay i'm going to answer that question but can i just ask the question i've been dying to ask all night um are you standing outside i'm standing outside in new york no i'm just kidding a little cold in the house it's a heavy coat okay sorry hold on florida um i apologize that was an important question and i i wasn't i was wondering no it does make a difference um i i would i just make a couple points one um not every member of congress comes from places well there's not another member who comes from a place like boca um and and a lot of my colleagues don't they don't they don't they just don't know that much about the us's relationship so when you some people reach out to lots of offices that's right but when you reach out to my office and when and and kids send emails and letters and deliver letters and one day again when we'll we can get together and talk it it actually it elevates my position when i talk about these issues it everyone knows how i feel i mean my colleagues at this point they know how i feel they know how i feel about the us's relationship they know they know how i feel as a jew like they that's at this point they look at me that's what they see i couldn't be happier about that but when i have the added benefit of of speaking on behalf of my community not just because i know that we share the same beliefs but that you've made you've cared enough to actually reach out to encourage it and i can tell them that i have spoken i've spoken at the congregation i've spoken with the congregants the kids have come by and and emphasized that they want me to let you know that's that makes a difference and so you should you should be involved you should i i would only ask perhaps after um after tonight um if people if the conclusion is that members of congress are actual real real people then i i hope that part of what comes then is is the willingness to sometimes engage in in discussion because jill's jill's not the only one who who can identify the five or six names of people who comment all the time who if we actually had a chance just to talk about these issues then again we agree more times than we don't but it's one more important voice that i'm hearing uh that wants to be constructive so i encourage people to be involved it is not just talk and you can do it on um an email and you can do it in with with snail mail and you can do with phone calls and social media there are more ways to be involved and express yourself than ever before and i it matters to me i pay attention to it um and it's it's it strengthens me for the work that i do can you talk to does your office have a log of how many calls come in on an issue or on a vote and on which side and why that matters uh yeah absolutely um we we monitor all of that calls and uh and emails uh and on emails and messages that come in again we also you can tell that some you could tell the ones that come from people who have organized a campaign because they believe in something and they're writing their own notes versus 12 000 of exactly the same note that they went to a website and they clicked to send and it got sent which is fine we keep track of all that but um again when people express themselves it's really powerful and and again as i said before rabbi it it's the added benefit of my being able to say look i um i i know these issues are important and i've received i've received 800 letters from these young people uh who are so committed to this i want you to understand why this is important to them and to me so it it always helps i can't let you go without saying my wife texted me when i said that you're both human and normal and great that i have to point out you have an amazing marriage and you're great parents you're more than just normal that you're fantastic so representing who obviously loves you both as well thank you so much by just saying something sure really really quickly first of all i love your wife and she is eight year friend of mine so shout out to you um but but really we we belong to benay to our congregation but boberton synagogue has been so warm so welcoming to all of us we consider the three of you rabbis our friends we always feel so um comfortable whenever we come to your school and we thank you for having us on tonight and for letting us get to know everybody and letting them get to know us a little better we're really really pleased to take part and thank you you are you know you're fighting the battle on two fronts in congress and on college campus and the israel fight has to happen in both places so you're you're really two units in in one army fighting that fight and for that we are and so much more we are really deeply deeply indebted to you thank you for making the time thank you for being on thank you for going over time with us and uh thank you for letting us spoil your date night together it's great to see you and god should bless you with strength strength health and uh wisdom and tremendous nachos from your amazing children brody mentioned and please god continue to lead and to fight for us for many many years to come thank you all thank you thank you so much thanks rabbi amazing i wonder if people call it we went overtime but well worth it when people call his office or leave messages and it's just like you know hey it's josh i just want to vote on this or josh phil and everyone he they everyone just assumes like oh they he probably knows which one that is because everyone feels so close to him you know there are times rabbi ira police will give him a shout out because he does such incredible work for israel in terms of advocacy and students and education there have been issues where there's a vote coming to congress where rabbi pilachowski puts out the call we through our shul put out the call and we have actually broken down the phone lines of members of congress they're so inundated that actually the line gets jammed it breaks down and it's important you know he's pointed out to me before and he said it here that um his own staff will come to him and say you know it's a ratio of 10 to one or calling for you to vote against something even though he obviously wants to vote for it because we all take it for granted so the log doesn't reflect the will of of the owned constituencies so it's important to make that call and to get involved and it makes a difference it influences things so we don't agree on everything there's a lot we don't agree on um but the real people and wonderful people and good people and and really leading on the things that we matter most and it's not it's not just because of a friendship or lip service to say that there's nobody better on israel taking unpopular positions coming out against the iran deal early on when he got pressure from the top to come out for it and other examples like that builds up a lot of credibility and we should all be very appreciative and give the benefit of the doubt want to understand the positions that come out and be grateful that he is leading the charge on issues of of israel gentlemen we are already well over time this might be our longest behind the bema um any closing thoughts anything else you want to add i i just want to say he brought up or joe brought up a great point and said how these trips that they've taken to israel with you know members of congress that's where you really get to meet people and you know rabbi moskowitz and i have done this many times wherever goldberg's done it as well we've gone on these trips community trips federation trips and you really get to see a whole nother world of people you probably would never have become friends with or you did this also on your other trip when you went to poland right groups of people that probably wouldn't have got together for shabbos but became very very close yeah and absolutely and i've i've spoken about in show that some of the closest relationships i have with clergy of other denominations here in boca are the direct byproduct of those trips where you're sitting at a restaurant with someone and you may not have had a lot to do with them in boca but you ask about their spouse they ask about yours you talk about something that interests you red sox yankees whatever it is and all you guys realize that you're normal you're both trying your best in a very complicated world and and that breaks down the barriers and it allows for a real meaningful relationship one that i cherish very deeply absolutely absolutely speaking of relationships we cherish want to thank matthew and tova hackerman um for their sponsorship for their friendship uh tonight in memory of our beloved friend theo henry who's missed terribly in the book return syndicate community and well beyond theo was a great friend and a great man and we we honor his memory we remember him i want to give a quick shout out to my friend chep i'll tell you a funny story to end tonight um that happened uh a year or two ago before corona my one of my daughters has a dear friend let's just call her chep and she was over and we were at a simra and uh you know kids will take funny pictures together and then post it to a family group and my phone was in my pocket and we were dancing exactly i remember which symbol it was and i remember we were dancing like crazy and there's a break in the dancing and i'm covered in sweat and we just finished a crazy dance and i look at my phone and my phone had blown up in the family chat my kids are all going berserk at me that they had sent my daughter and her friend chet somehow in my pocket my phone must have been on i forwarded to half my sitter snippets what's app groups talking to several hundreds people of this picture i had to go delete quickly you know you only have some time on app to delete on your phone and for everyone so the clock was ticking to be able to do it and that was a funny moment at least it was funny for me but anyway shout out to one of our fans the great chip so now now brs is a big week hold on no before we wrap up rabbi brs has a big week coming up big week big week coming up at brs do you want to talk a little bit about what is coming up at boca raton synagogue next week and what they can expect on this show next wednesday night at this time something very special absolutely you don't want to miss next week we have probably the best behind the bema after this one the best behind the bmi yet next week it's really outstanding list of guests and you heard me right guests not just one guest next week we are running a incredible programming campaign for what we call brs plus brs plus is not a subscription service brs plus is an online global community um when when corona struck and we brought all of our programs classes shiurim afternoon kolo midrasha panel discussions behind the buma all online we found that there is a global community connecting to the brs mission and vision and brand what we care about are our diversity our unity our outreach our israel of course uh primarily our torah and our ardavaning and they they connected to the tune of of of 20 000 people a week are tuning into our classes if you look at the stats of all the rabbis on our team rebittance the programs so we want to create an opportunity to formalize that relationship for the brs global community if you're listening you're watching right now behind the bema if you've enjoyed it on wednesday nights we're listening later on podcast or youtube it's an opportunity for you to partner support that's some of the swag that we were talking about you get some swag we're going to be creating a special edition of the weekly brs global edition that doesn't have any of the local things that are not of interest if you don't live in boca but have the articles the insights all kinds of other really fantastic things you're going to want to print to each and every week for your shabbos table so next week we'll be in that campaign got a great video that's coming out uh behind the whole star behind the bema next week next wednesday night and a week-long opportunity for you to do your part however much you can to be part of the brs plus brs global community we invite you we welcome you we want you we need you and we look forward to everything that we'll be able to do together so we thank you did i leave anything out awesome no yeah that was pretty good we were working on this long before disney plus i was working on their program anyway super excited we got a lot of swag ideas thank you all for those comments thank you all for tuning in if you are listening on a podcast player please rate and review please rate in your view rabbi brodie is following every week where we are in the chart um he reports back to us so please rate and review and help us get the message and the inspiration out if you are watching on youtube please subscribe so you can be notified about all the upcoming events this sunday night beers will be hosting a super bowl event thank god we have the luxury of good weather rabbit bro he probably won't be there he'll be under the covers and some flannel but for those who can brave the weather we have outdoors uh broadcast on a large large wall we will of course be covering the commercials because uh we'll be filling our time with divrei torah instead but for those who want to congregate from a distance with masks we'll be having that super bowl gathering great prizes he wants to know great great prizes dwarto rashir at halftime minha and marv around it rabbi moskowitz the boston arreby everyone's mind is rabbi moskowitz an hour and 16 minutes behind the bema this is a world record we should have asked mush frances we have to bring him back on for a super bowl pick but rabbi moscow moskowitz from boston you're rooting forward against tom brady against against wine what's the rationale a man who brought you so much happiness a man who brought home so many victories a man who brought home so many trophies a man so responsible i'll tell you one of the most formative moments in my sports um career my sports experience was uh 20 years ago actually this year when ray bork who is a defenseman for the boston bruins a beloved defenseman of the boston bruins never succeeded at winning a championship stanley cup but he was traded in his final year of playing to the colorado avalanche and there he won a stanley cup and i remember when he came back to boston they did a parade for him in central boston 15 000 people showed up to celebrate alongside ray burke and i felt very conflicted about that on the one hand here i had rooted this player on for my entire childhood i was very happy for him on the other hand he played for the other team he was no longer a member of the boston bruins how could i root for someone who was no longer on my team so that is the conflict that i feel now on one hand tom brady is as you said duffley led the new england patriots for so many years and so many championships on the other hand i'm a team first guy and i actually almost wrote about that this week i am a team first guy if you're on my team i love you and by the way that goes if alex rodriguez joined the boston red sox next week i would be an alex rodriguez fan right i'm a team i don't know about that i'm a team first guy but the second you leave my team you're off and so tom brady is no longer new england patriots he now represents a different team he left might he chose to leave new england and therefore he is no longer relevant to me i will be rooting for the kansas city chiefs you would have thrown him off your whatsapp group just like that two seconds later he's gone gone but let me ask a question you're right he he chose to leave the team although there's a lot of speculation about why he chose to leave the team um and so that that's not all his fault it was an environment that didn't support him anymore but he he chose to leave the team but what about all that he had done for the team i mean do you just erase that does null avoid overnight the man brought home championship after championship took you to super bowl after super bowl brought you so much joy and he moved on because that was the right choice for him and his family and therefore you erase it all so on the one hand yeah there's a notion of loyalty and you feel that by leaving the team he lacked the loyalty but where's your loyalty to him for all the happiness he brought you so i've no loyalty to him i have loyalty to my teams and i think and i will say i think it is the great tragedy of modern day sports is that you can no longer is that you can no longer root for a team that because players change over so frequently you no longer have loyalty to team you have loyalty to players and i think our children are worse off as a result i think that goes for basketball where this whole dynasty mentality of where players are switching around all the time i think sports was better when you had a person who was on the boston celtics for his entire career and you followed him and you rooted for him and you grew up with him i think sports was more fun i thought that was a powerful lesson for our children and i think it i think sports and our process of educating our children through sports is worse off i will share with you again this is this is not me this is american hockey right one of the greatest victories in all time when herb brooks looked at his team and said when you pull on that jersey the name on the front in other words usa is a lot more important than the name on the back which is your personal name that is how i view sports you play for team you don't play for yourself once you're off my team you're out i hear that i hear that but on the other hand i think the loyalty cuts both ways i'm not disagreeing i'm just thinking out loud first of all i haven't seen it why moscow is this excited until this conversation but i think i think the loyalty cuts both ways so you know tom brady showed a lack of loyalty by leaving new england on the other hand there's also loyalty and gratitude to players who did an enormous amount and he did do an enormous amount and brought a lot home and i think there should be loyalty there i'll tell you it happens to be i'm not a football fan i could care less about football not because i'm something i don't care about sports i'm a baseball guy yankee guy all the way i just i never cared about football there's only one thing i care about which is rooting against the patriots every super bowl it feels like for the last 20 years so this year i'm excited because i'm rooting for tom brady for the first time in my life only because that's how i root against boston this year the way to root against boston this year when they're not in it is to root for tom brady so tom brady all the way really excited of course it's state of florida also you got to root for the state of florida tom brady super i will say if either tom brady or bob kraft want to come on behind the beam and discuss this with me in person i would welcome that conversation in that dialogue we would welcome them and maybe they're one of our special guests next week who knows you don't know you don't know now there's a lot we didn't get to tonight and a lot that frankly was a priority and it's not a reflection of not caring the world lost some great rabbanum this week um among the greatest rabbunum of our generation we'll talk more about that next week and reflect on them we lost one of the founding members of our community at funeral today for tamar nowi albert and tomorrow now we're among the founding members of brs and we're going to talk about how important it is whatever community live you live in and however large it's become and whenever recently you moved in learn about the founders learn about the people who came when there was nothing learn about the people who selflessly sacrificed and they weren't saying i need a 21st minion that's this at this time an exa learn about the first ten who made the very first minion who came when there was nothing who built who sacrificed we buried one of those today and uh we'll talk more about that as well in the future was a very sad day unfortunately any day that a shul sends out four death notices is a is a sad day so um be grateful hug your kids a little bit tighter be happier for being healthy and alive and be grateful for whatever good you have don't forget that congressmen are people too congress people are people too and you can disagree but disagree uh agreeably respectfully and again thank you matthew and tova we remember theo tonight and go tom brady who's this by the way what team is he on there tampa bay tampa bay go tampa and it doesn't even matter to me i'm just reading literally it's all i care about go brady against boston that's all i can go brady until next time stay happy stay healthy and stay