#57: Behind the Bima - Rabbi Grossman, the Disco Rabbi

[Music] from boca raton florida rabbi's 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 everyone it's wednesday night 9 p.m i'm your host robert from go we're joined by my dear friends and colleagues i'll be filled moscow it's in rabbi josh brody and we're here to take you behind the behind the bema we've got a lot to talk about and we've got an extraordinary guest tonight but let's begin by thanking our generous sponsor a repeat i think our most repeated sponsor our dear friend donny oppenheimer of the oppenheimer law group personal injury firm representing individuals and families for a case evaluation call or text 888 677-7796 check out the op law firm opp l-a-w f-i-r-m-op law firm dot com and he has sponsored this evenings by the bema in this in the merit of our brothers and sisters in israel the brave members of the idf who protect us we're very grateful to him dani and his family are staunch pro-israel stand up and advocate regularly also a member of smith who's received i think every time very proud of him and proud to learn with him and very grateful to donnie and his family for continuously sponsoring this uh program uh gentlemen we are here and we are in week two of israel's new conflict and it's hard to believe that we're still talking about missiles and rockets raining down on our people and our brothers and sisters going in and out of bomb shelters so painful last week we woke up in the middle of the night he was up anyway you did yeah roosh our dear friend we got extraordinary feedback if you haven't listened it's well worth it please god this will be over soon it's still well worth you want to hear a modern hero of israel his courage his bravery his conviction his faith on the gaza egyptian border talked all about his personal story and why he is there and we are very proud of you the behind the bema listeners because we try to raise money to help they need new bomb shelters and we raise significant money for jnf and there will be a behind the bema newly painted renovated bomb shelter thanks to your generosity so you know who you are those who stepped up and gave very proud they'll be uh behind the bema will be painted on a bomb shelter in that area and uh they should never ever ever be needed again but if they are it's good to know that uh the friends behind the bema is not just for entertainment and hopefully some inspiration but also to make a difference to our brothers and sisters in israel gentlemen how are you just for the record i didn't miss last week i was away i was on a plane a lot of people think maybe maybe he's off the show he's not off the show i was i was coming home from israel i was on a flight we thought you were gonna chime in from the bathroom with the wi-fi i was trying to it didn't work from early on in the show by brody like turned the world upside down to make sure he wouldn't miss an episode and i know the reason why let's be honest isn't it because you were afraid that one episode you weren't on we would just go on with that that was it it's all over but it's a beautiful thing that in season three you have the confidence now to know that you could miss an episode and you're still back getting back in better than another fomo where no fomo i mean it did have i'll be honest i was a little a little disappointed but tell us tell us about your trip to israel it was very short but obviously eventful what was it like 41 trips to israel's first time ever in a bomb shelter so it was not not something we expected in fact it was the exact opposite we just wanted to go see our kids who had been there and we haven't been back in more than a year and uh we're having dinner one night at a sushi restaurant on the north end of tel aviv and all of a sudden my son-in-law jake gets a text message saying in 15 minutes are going to be sirens and of course it wasn't accurate it was in one minute and we all ran in and then i texted you guys and i give you the play-by-play we got we got the live play-by-play right absolutely and how many times how many times would you say you were in and out uh there was twice that night in the restaurant and then we went home got home around midnight and then 3 a.m and 3 30 a.m that morning so four times i guess or maybe maybe a fifth time how does that change your attitude living here in boca following so what's going on now into a second week millions and millions of israelis how does that change your perspective um you know you get to see another side of israel which i guess as tourists we don't usually get to see we pop in for a week or two weeks and then we pop back to america where we live but this is israel it's the real israel and especially after the incredible uh dessert reception you had yesterday at brs for all the families are making aliyah just makes you you know what are we doing here well it's time to pick up it's time to go and of course not easy of course they're going to be things we gotta struggle with but they're that is the future so at brs we always talk about not if but when and yesterday we did every shivus we have a reception and we honor the families making aliyah we did again yesterday in the presence of rafter who of course was crying constantly as each one of these sobbing as each one described what inspires them what motivates them where they're going why they're going we're saying vishwa vanam lik vulum and we're a community that we're not afraid to talk about it and we mentioned as we do every year that we hope that one of these years will be announcing that everybody's going and basically shabbos will end we'll uh turn off the lights and we'll that was amazing yeah so we're not we're not there yet there are legitimate reasons to not live in israel there are no legitimate reasons to not struggle with and work on when we're going to move to israel the three of us i know are on that list towards the top of that list struggling thinking about figuring out desperately wanting to be there but trying to make sense of it all and figure out you know when when when we're gonna go it was actually incredible post by one of our members who made aliyah a number of years ago and she was describing how exhausted she is i mean every night to be woken up in the middle of your sleep to never get a good night's sleep the whole first part of the post was how tired she is and then at the end of the post it was despite being exhausted and despite feeling defeated i'm even more energized i'm even more committed than ever it was a really emotional really beautiful post all right that's great that's great so we had a extraordinary shavuous shivers we were back the cdc made its announcement we were ready and we put our old seats back we put them back together of course the unvaccinated are still asked to wear masks we designated sections for those who want to remain uh distanced and spaced out but overwhelmingly the community is back and shivuous night i wanted to make a shaykh yanu with hashem's name beshaymo malhus out loud to look out and to see the throngs of people and through the night shavuous the campus was packed and we know there are communities in canada and elsewhere you're not there yet we're thinking about you we're dominating for you and we long for when you'll join us but it was after 15 months to be back and we had people learning in every nook and cranny every corner of the campus all ages all backgrounds we had shiram and we had kabura's and we had chavrusas and we had a basement we had middle school we had high school and we had it was amazing and it was capped off and highlighted by the presence of mourinho verbena shechter and the rebbetson who was in our community rafters spoke 24 times 2014 i don't know how he did it he was he was a machine he just kept going from sheer to shear and the best part was i don't know about you i know the sheer more amazing and the questions and answers were amazing for me the highlight of the night was at one point i was walking by and i see our middle school student boys surrounding schachter just asking their questions and it was such a beautiful sight because that's what we want for our kids we want for our children to aspire to be like to look up to him to see him as the gundam that he is and to be able to have that access in our as a torah experience was phenomenal it was phenomenal and i'll tell you have having rav shechter quote from the width and breath of torah i'm talking he gave a shirt to smith from 3 15 to 4 45 am answering answering the most intricate questions in his quoting from all over the world without missing a beat was up the entire in you know it's not like new york where you learn for like 20 minutes and it's time to daven here in florida we start the program 11 15 was his first year our first uh learning and davening began at 605 a.m nate's was at 6 33 or so so it's a full night andrew schechter the davening slowly he looked like he was ready to give another shirt after being amazing the entire entire night but aside from the shiram where he's quoting the with and breath quoting from all over watching her of shakhtar daven and listening to him bench out loud at the end of sha'a showed us that to me is the most inspired his midos his ability he makes everyone feel so important he listens so carefully to everyone who wants his attention it's who he is as a person it's his incredible medos that to me is the most moving even more than his encyclopedic knowledge i could i got a great brain you said that because because i told my son that exact same thing because my son said to me he said you know not many people have the mind of roshektor not many people are going to be able to call from all areas of shas like that and post kim i said i said to my son i said don't don't get bogged down in his width and breadth of his knowledge i said just watch it watch him daven watch the patience watch the way he interacts with people because i said that is everything you can emulate you could say a bra like that you just have to you have to try a little harder i said those are the things we can emulate about rafter and to me that's those are the precious parts of having a narcissist such a great point you don't need a genius of a brain and a uh almost photographic memory although schecter works hard to to be who he is and to know what he knows you don't have to have that to bench slowly to daven slowly and so on so i heard him davening because when you're standing next to him you can actually hear every word he's saying so i said instead of just dominating the regular pace let me i'm going to say every word along with him and i just hollered i saw him in my face and i found out there's actually one word i've been saying wrong my entire life i didn't realize it until you say what do you mean like wouldn't you always hear in hazard shots you would always hear what that word was this is a part of ministry you never hear repeated you never hear it out loud it was my entire life i've been saying who i thought it was at the end of the paragraph and i heard him say i was like hmm i wonder who's right here i wonder if he got it right or me speaking on the other side speaking of inspiring individuals and personalities this is a real special treat for us we mentioned a story about rabbi grossman the disco rabbi and how he put his life savings on the line to fight uh assimilation and stand up for the jewish people and the people of migdal ore heard behind the bema heard us talk about him and we got this amazing opportunity special thank you to atara of mig delore who made it happen very grateful to her the living legend if you've not yet gotten this book if you've not yet read it you must the stories are blow away inspiring as is the conversation now full transparency you did yarosh woke up 4am to join us behind the bhima rabbi grossman did not we recorded this conversation just earlier we started somewhat abruptly so as we transition and welcome iman know that the conversation starts in the middle of the way that magdalor and its students have been affected by what's going on this is a conversation you're not going to want to miss share it with everyone you know because rabbi grossman is among the most inspiring people we know so without any further ado the disco rabbi chief rabbi we need to wake up the old kids to go to the shelters because they sent missiles they're looking next to magdala emig you have [Music] this situation is very hard for the hand they sent till right this moment around thousand five hundred missiles maybe more thinking tel aviv like aggression like a rain from so much muslim 90 90 from the missiles don't affect any anybody you see one missiles they go in in a place in a building they destroy the building and kill people thinking thousand five hundred missiles in tel aviv in your shall i mean in all in galilee in in the room we need to see also the missing mummies not to believable we need to pray hashem will and that makes us particularly grateful rav grossman for joining us and for having this conversation in the middle of this crisis in the middle of this emergency and so much responsibility on the raw of 10 12 000 children that's an enormous it's a city unto itself 10 12 000 children to be responsible not only for the safety and security but for the mental impact of having to run to bomb shelters of having to fear for life the trauma that comes afterwards that needs the support that needs to love and we know that uh the rub is right in the middle of it and responsible for it and taking the time to be with us means the world to us oh hashem you see also you know one from the seatted ishmael that mig-dal the last couple years make a new system that every 12 kids has apartment in in a couple that's like a father and a mother for 12 kids beautiful buildings in every every building you have but 10 apartments and in every apartments you have you have a a couple they grow up in mcdonald's married they have their kids and they take care of 12 kids and because this is also in the corner mcdonald's the only school that don't stop for one minute wow you have days that israel close to all dormitories old schools but here because they're looking in them like they called us in ibrahim families and because the kids have families mignolet is open the old time in tonight in middle the night when you need to wake up the kids to go to the shelters in every apartment you have also a shelter it's used also for play for to see video to see television but this is a shelter and this skip is thinking that you you take thousands of kids and you need to look at you in the middle of the night to go to shelters can you believe what what will be only this the feeling and everything is your mind that hashem help us that we make therefore everybody is okay and everybody is good and i hope him hashem we need we need to to pray and and i hope hashem will help us that we'll be in this many floyds thank you for the rough strength and for the rob's leadership it's a great choice for us to be together again the rav visited our community in boca raton i was a young assistant rabbi at the time uh i looked younger i was younger it was a long time ago and already then the rub was of course famous distinguished had accomplished so much and i don't know how it is that the rav doesn't seem to slow down or of grossman just seems as time goes on most other people age and they get tired and euro by grossman you just get stronger and you just do more and more and i thought then that i knew a lot about you and i've told the drushers and in writings i've told the story of not only the discos in migdala amec but in manhattan going with uh going with rabbi riskin into the disco in manhattan and but then i've got the book and when i got the book i couldn't put it down i couldn't put it down and that's how he came to this is i told the story on a previous episode of behind the bema of how inspired and blown away i was by by your messiest nephesh by your sacrifice to care about the children of the jewish people to love every jew and you didn't just say it as lip service you put everything on the line your life savings the apartment when you were a newlywed you were ready to go tell the uh the head of the mafia in mig dalai emek that he's got to stop bringing the arab men in because you wouldn't let it be under your watch and where does that come from you know right now you know what happened inside in israel this is much more danger from the hamas from gaza you know the news the last couple days very very hard time go to haife in battiam [Music] every place that you have arabs together with jewish they mamish not to believe what happened the last couple days they did the the police lost lost plus td what you call the control they kill and they they doing and they bring up not to believe also jewish i i against in batyam they take some arab in the they they mummish they they they beat them but i i've been against the way i say you must if you have a government you can't take the hawk like a dime what you call blow on your hands you need to be careful but what you see not to believe in only magdala hamec is is everything is is quiet why you have not alepsia and this is restarted again then this el capone he cleaned up mcdonald's from the arabs never afraid till today to gaming wow all because of that and and and you uh sold your apartment in order to buy that truck and that's a mysterious method so we we really want to begin rebecca grossman tell us about your parents your illustrious background who instilled that value in you a a young a young man young a man in your shallow era kodesh who all of a sudden is willing to sell his apartment a newlywed leave everything you know the comfort of where you began who gave you those attributes that character trait to be mostly nefesh to give it all up to put it all on the line out of love for the jewish people i tell you i grew up in yerushalayim and i've been sixth generation born in jerusalem my father was very very a holy man in a going isman from the great people in israel i remember that used to come to my home my father was very he make 18 18 books of the law firm from alohe in his for seven years in uh i live in maya sharim in in in 1950s arrived to israel the yemenis the new immigrant from yemen in the government at this time put them in the rosh island and at this time the government the government is only the beginning because israel started in 48 and this is in 53 56 and they come and they have not a place for them they built tents in russia in my father and my mother not to believe take a little talk and go to wash iron and go from 10 to 10 and say you if you can take care of your children because the winter was cold in in blotter you know and then we have a place for you to take you in home wow i understand the apartment for my parents was only 70 matters as six brothers and four sisters in my brother my father my mother brought around around 25 kids from yemeni to yerushalayim and everybody in the in the in the the neighbor the neighbors take the kids to take them in i used to sleep for two years with two yemenis in one bed wow you believe you know that my my father passed away is the the prime minister and the old government from israel after the meeting they have every sunday they come to the shiver to my home and they go in in the apartment for my father they can't believe a smoker and i tell him this story and the bed is still done the bed was close to the wind in the night we take him down and in the day they they messed it close to the the wall and i still distorted from the eminence and what is god making just when i speak of the eminence one from the eminence that i sleep in my bed he comes in the file he don't know the government is here the people he comes in and he started to cry and he says to the people this is my bed this is my norm here i grew up wow this give us the feeling that you you understand that you the life you life need to be alive not only for yourself what happened next to maya sharim you have a a big place like um like uh what do you call it neighborhood neighborhood called the neighborhood called if you know the black panthers in israel they used to have a part in the knesset they grew up in this with in this neighborhood and i used to be very close with them i don't know why since i've been a child i was close come and see not in israel is available biggest prize like a nobel prize the television make a a program of meal and they they they go to this to this neighborhood muslim and the people there the islamic says used to be here when he's a child but i have a special feeling for these guys six days all coming in 1967 before the evolve everybody thinks that israel is finished of course you know everybody that has a passport left island because egypt syria lebanon yarden iraq mizraim everybody attacked one time islam god makes a miracle in six days israel succeeds everybody come close to cairo to damascus lebanon in in in yeldon the most important the miracle we come back to jerusalem the old children in the fourth day that may open up the the the dome to go to the cotella maravi 10 o'clock in the morning a hundred thousand people from all over israel staying in 10 o'clock the government open up and everybody's running nobody knows who is the hotel i was in this time my age in this time was 20 21 little mo in i i run and i come to the curtain what can i tell you maybe moshiach will come and will have the same feeling the feeling in this moment was i know what to say and i cry and everybody is crying because 10 days before everybody thinks that israel is finished and here you stay by the cotton come to my mind and i speak to our god and i said shalom can i give you back a thankful for this miracle and i decided i i will leave your russian line for one year one year volunteer myself one year to a a place that they need help for the youngsters mcdonald hammock in this time was the worst place in israel crime dogs old situation why but this is the the fact the fact is that a soldier was ashamed to say that he leaves him ignoring many you have the papers every day but magdalena somebody killed somebody this in this i decided to go to mcdonald i speak to my wife i've been just marrying in my muscle is that my wife grew up in a home from khabad and i said here i have a dream i want to go to mcdonald's she says go see what happened and i will come after you i come to mcdonough you you know i was naive i come from maya sharim mera shaleem every building is a holy shiva talmud i come to magdala and i ask somebody who is the shivering what not issue call it who can i find the youngsters it says in disco [Laughter] [Music] i come in in the disco i see pull him in the middle of the day you know then say girls boys papa they see that i come in viewed in pairs and younger man like the religious they can't believe what you're doing here they're thinking maybe somebody died i look for kaddish you know for million deaths i say i come here you my brothers i want to leave you i want to meet with you they're looking at me like crazy hundred percent because they dream to go to jerusalem you come from yerushalayim here i come but like i am not i can't explain what is as is this is a a spiritual thing i should mine that became like i became this guy is like a magnet a magnet from the fourth day they love me i love them they feel and i used to come every night to the disco every night and then i have my corner and speaking today means then then i come i i take a apartment in mcdonald's apartment in my home became a disco they started to come back home friday night in shabbos in middle and this and this then somebody tell me from these guys that his brother is in jail i said to him your brother is my brother when you go to visit your brother in jail i want to come at you i come to the jail called shatter very hard jail not too far for mcdonough i come in fourth time i go in in a jail hundreds of youngsters there you know not to believe jewish guys in crime and drugs who knows i say every time i joke that i was one time in new york in the secretary ubinomic line that he has somebody in jail in sensing the big jail in new york and the rubber ass that i will go to visit this man and i say a joke that i come in and sensing in jail everybody stay up the thinking that abe lincoln come to make him [Laughter] that's free you'll never see a man like me but here in israel i go to the head from the jail i say to them i want to come volunteer myself twice a week ill i want to make a program learning media prisoners volunteer i don't ask for money he says okay i started twice a week monday and thursday to come and learning with them people care about you know pilgria about his feelings in little by little became a program from rehabilitation through learning right now when i speak to you a rabbi and rap goldberg i speak to you right now i want to tell you that this moment may have been all jails in israel around thousand prisoners in this program in every chain you have a yeshiva today in in in in islam in a year and a half was a big conference from the system from the prison muslim 400 people they all from the government into police social workers the ad from this system prisoner in israel is called his name is asho baknim come up of the state and says this program from rabbi grossman that work in jails around 50 years this is the best program because by 80 percent don't go back to jail wow in i work for five years from 67 five years day and night in the jails in the streets and they i became and my name was rabbi from the israel television make a program of mew in 1970 big program in television the headline was disco lab then i became a i became the name of the rava siri for the prisoners of the name for the barrier these five years make me understand what is the problem from the youth because many times you sit with prisoners people they climb when you sit them with them face to face you see as an isn't a showman he has a feeling you're thinking i come this man that i look in them right now doing things like this climb like this but when you look inside you understand they grow up in atmosphere from crime never receive love never receive education and this brought them to go in and climb i tell every time that i make a chanukah party in jail the first hanukkah party and when i left the jail i leave the jail spontanei i give a kiss van from the prisoners two days later i receive a postcard rabbi i've been the prisoner that you give him a kiss i want that you know i sit in my soul and i cry because this is the first time in my life that i receive a kiss from somebody a man in the age from 40 can say that he never received the kiss this is the problem i say to myself the boy initially don't help me i want to build a home for these kids i want to build an institution like a home and to give these kids love and education and save them from climbing from robots and in 1972 the end for 1972 i started miguel all with 18 boys all story that i have not money to live one day arrived to israel jack in bel rosenbaum maybe you know of them they used to live in muncie and they bel rosenbomb was a specialist of uh what you call a archaeology archaeology and they became hungary and there's book and i had kosher somebody tell me rabbi grossman they come to my home they know that they go to a rabbi they open up their home they they say like habang you know people with the cools in looking they can't believe this is home from alabama speaking me check then i say look you see this girl she sell himself for the arabs for money you see this boy if i will have money i will build a home in the air and take these kids in the age 10 11 and save them they can be rabbis and lawyers and doctors and everything jack rosenbaum says i sent you a ticket come to america i will go meet you from door to door help you he keep his vote and he sent sentiment i come to america and i make it this time around forty thousand dollars come back in and buy apartments this time in a beautiful apartment in big dilemmas five thousand dollars like villas and i start off with eighteen boys and from them is growing and growing today hashem may have more from twenty two thousand graduates it's amazing this is the beginning wow wow so today today we call it a big family if somebody has uh eight children 10 children 12 children with gross money you have 22 000 children that's a lot of tuition and a lot of weddings to play and today today mcdelore is on three campuses 15 schools 160 youth clubs 12 000 current uh young people who are growing my wife's grandfather oliver shalom used to donate i think every year a bar mitzvah for a child in in mcdonald and i know that there's the opportunity i want to invite people if they look if you go to mcdowelloreusa.org migdaleorohrmigdaloreusa.org you can help our grossman with the amazing work that he does regrossman i want to ask you mentioned you grew up in mayasharam and and usually people it's not fair it's not right but they have a stereotype we associate that the the jew who grows up in maya shaaram only cares about one kind of jew and yet of grossman every type of jew loves you and feels connected with you from the hasidis to the lutfish the religious the not yet religious the israel america how are you able to do that how are you able to without compromising who you are without compromising halacha and without compromising your khasidisha background and your khasidisha practice without compromising at all who you are to earn the love of every single type of jew how can we create that kind of actus the truth is that is a gift from god i call you the ms i don't feel any different between the religious and not religious i love everybody and this is my ponyville pony can live order if they feel that you love them they give you back love in because this is a tone who means [Music] if you believe that the old judaism is because [Applause] you my fault you my children if you ever believe the ms or vino volcano bonnie what can you make happy the father more if you show your father that you love 100 i i tell many times story one from the biggest rabbits when he's a child he asks his father is he says in the cedar you say before you're dabbing you say azeni me kabul love your brother like you love yourself this boy asked his father if i will need to decide it what to put in in cedar i will put in before governing i take off myself love god you say every day in kriya the where to love god you go to speak to god say god i love you and i ask you what i want what connection is love your brother you love yourself with his father answered this your question is beautiful has a meaning you know what is your problem you never be a father you will be a father and your children will ask you father what you like better to love you or do you like to see that the children loves wondering the father will answer much more for me you're happy you make me more happy if you love one than under that this is my life the same thing on this one if we believe every jew has an assurance every jewel a kind of showman israel i thank you god that you created me for yuan if you if you think here for the honor from god you need to understand that every jew is a child from a kurdish bowl okay you can have different ideas of course it meets them to yiddish guys look in them look in them when you look in them see the judaism i will tell you a story i was one day in montreal in montreal in canada in there in canada is a a a jewish ethic come to me and it says that they have their families a woman that the father left the home very very hard they have seven kids one boy 15 years old his name is isaac he's a beautiful boy beautiful in his involved in drugs he's a dealer 15 years he says to me maybe you can save him i met this boy started to convince them to speak to him through speaking he says to me but i have not a father i am not a father i say what you have a father i've been your father i will not leave montreal if you don't come with me home i don't go home if you don't come at me make him a passport brought him to mcdonald i can make four books what i go through with this boy up and down and up and down one day i come back from america and he comes to say to me hello and he comes what can i tell you you make a hell cold like a chicken you know they they take you here he knew they have like a mark and they look is looking i can't believe and i think this moment what i do after two and a half years walking is looking it comes to me like this but i say to them like this i want to give you a kiss but i can kiss you if you're looking like this tell me what i do give me give me away what to do he left after our hour he comes back alcohol like may i show him and from this moment it changed himself completely study learning finnish mcdonald's go to the aume wedding is today lives in netanya not to believe what you see from this story the only way if you want to make colorful somebody especially a jew show him that you love him you believe in him and this is one of the big problems in israel the fight between religious and not religious not to believe you know yaya lapid is you know of uzi lapid sure he's my close friend in alex johnson was my cosplay and bibi is very very i was sick three years ago i was sick he comes to my home to visit me left right everybody because they feel i've been not involved in politics i will not involve anything i love everybody and this give them the feeling and this is this is judaism you need to show that you're caring if they feel that you care for them they're ready to give you everything what you want i remember was a stroke in israel from the doctors one time because they want more money they're all doctors in all hospitals in israel they make a stroke not a regular stroke a hunger hunger school stroke you know doctors don't eat and then i've been i've been uh a member in the citadel you know what in the cabinet in the cabinet from the chibravas in israel we have two two chief rabbis in also ten people rabbis they elected one in five years five ashkenazi and five spalding they take care of the whole issue from israel everything the dyoni the the casualties i've been elected five times in this cabinet in the cabinet there in this time i was not there but they decided to say that it's forbidden to be in in in make a stroke the doctors because somebody tell me that the doctor is going to come together friday in shabbos and one from the hospitals i decided to go to be me them shabbos after before shabbos i come with israel i come there i bought a you know a many cases they see me coming i say you give you life for the people your doctors you're walking day night you have a problem i want to mimic you the problem i want to be with you shabbat i can explain you this friday night to all doctors not religious but if your parents they come together dance in this singing kabbalah shabbas and then the old shabbos boxing shabbat shabbat says the headline in television the news rabbi grossman strikes shabbat together he says rabbi i come i come to you against everybody i come that you go there i say rabbi lakovsky you want to hear what i tell you if the strike is going to be over in two days we'll go right away to the doctors and be with them together because if not if you will need the help you will call them in middle of the night they will tell you when i have a problem you're sleeping home and right now you wanted to help you and i tell you a rabbi not to believe sin then every time that i need a doctor i need a professor and i call and they can't forget you both with us together we will do for you everything wow that's all grossman if i can first of all it's very amazingly inspiring thank you so much um if i could just ask a more detailed question it's so inspiring how you describe looking at the nishama of each child that each child has created in the image of hashem what advice would you give to parents though that oftentimes when you're dealing with your own child it could be a little bit more challenging you have to get them to make their bed and to brush their teeth and to do their homework and to you have all these responsibilities and sometimes a child pushes back against that a little bit how does a parent what advice would you have to parents to how to look past some of the day-to-day challenges of raising a child and instead to be able to focus on the nusham of a child see first of all the only way that you can especially in this today's situation in this dog is only with love if you will go meet the media kids strong they have a chance to do everything today they will leave and you will never see them again you need to try to be like not like a father like a like a brother like a friend and do everything they will feel that you you love them meet the problem you can speak to them but but they need to feel that that that you do this with love and if you became angry and if you they making you crazy if the making don't you don't see this you try again and again i tell you factish factish i i don't know if you know we may make seven years ago we built a old farm like a village nearby chemist for religious kids they left judaism called zwarim you need to come to see this something not to believe we have right now there are 110 kids boys from the best homes from the best homes rabbis they left everything they don't want to know from english guys all story what happened i find them in the streets we take them and you see that little by little they change and we speak to the parents in the beginning the parents don't want to come and they won't don't want to see to see their parents but little by little teaching these brothers speak them don't say everything be careful i am in english is very hard for me to explain because my language is in hebrew or but the most important is to have patience impatience and patience and try again and try and maybe she has a friend can convince them maybe you can take him this don't give up this is the stone if you don't give up one day you see certainly they changed himself this is in in one word to say i don't see another way to to take care of this problem because many many parents suffer today because the kids you know today they have the internet and the iphones in the ideas and they saw this notable never been and in the generation that the kids can see every bad things and can have connection but then they need to feel that if they lost their home mfc they're losing out losing they're losing out they need to feel if they lost the law from their parents they lose enough and this is the only way it's take time we need to sometimes take two years three years i don't know how much but if you have patience you will say success wow rabbi first of all it's great to see you again the last time i saw you we were we were walking with a group from the march of the living it was a shabbos morning and all of a sudden we were on a groan heading up heading up the street and and we spotted you so we all jumped you know over to the to the other side of the street and i said i said to the kids i said to all the teenagers that you trust me you've never seen anything like this let me introduce you right now to the harav grossman the disco rabbi they didn't even know what what how could you put the two together but you stopped you spoke to them and when this big group got back to the uh youth hostel for lunch everyone says how was uh you know the davening at the hotel many of them had never been there before they said kotel was great but we met this rabbi you're not going to believe this rabbi we met and they loved what you said to them i remember the story and it was just very inspiring i'm just i'm just wondering you know you speak to all the other russia shiva's and all the other chief rabbis in israel all the other community leaders are you trying to convince them to do a little bit more in terms of you know you know the work you're doing or do they say no you know what that's how rav grossman's work we're we're going to be the russia shiva with the yeshiva we're not going into the disco it's very hard very hard questions very very out but i think little by little they see the con they see the results let's say this village in the beginning they against me why i make a village that i don't that they have a synagogue there but i don't ask him to come to pray let's say you want to give me the keeper no keeper do what you want little by little in their gangster but later they come and they see the difference they understand that this is the only way that you can do but it's not so easy because you know the shivers today they have their way they want only to have the mizzioni they have their reality shows themselves and they himself sometimes the students from migdala come to learning in shivers and they can't believe when they see the father coming to visit the kids they can't believe because they see a boy he knows bahat 200 blatantly he knows he's going and their father and then their father come to the visit i mean and he said that this is kids for mcdonald's and the kids in zwarim in the in the village in the beginning they don't want to come to sydney keys in in in i will tell you a story in this village one day finish and finish the year we make a you know like every school make a party and they finish from the eel graduation and the boys says they want to make at saga what you call a live show in the parents i invited the parents in this show they're making downstairs and i say to the parents come and see the kids from upstairs they will not see you you will you will see them in in they will not see you come and see and they make the show and in the show the showing the behaving the parents behaving to them in the time that they lost a little the idish guide you know they sent them up from home they're going to say many things i tell you not to believe in middle the show the parents can can con the slaughterhouse man can control themselves they leave they come down they go to the boys and they cry and asking for forgiving like this this picture not to believe because these go the boys show them in in life what they going through why what happened by the behaving from the parents brought them a little also to go down this is because i tell you before the only way is to know and to have patience and this is the work and right now i bought many talmud from israel to this village and i say to them don't wait that the boy goes down in the street and then you say them if you see a boy that is standard difference let's take him right away let's do what you can do before we go down this is this is the vector it's a big challenge rav grossman you are a a hero to claudius to all of us an inspiration you always have been and you still are what's amazing is that even with these uh you know three campuses and buildings and twelve thousand and twenty two thousand graduates you still believe that the best is yet to come you're still working on doing more and bigger there's so many ways that you're inspiration to all of us everybody should read this book if these stories were a fraction of the beginning of the stories that could come but you know of grossman for me what really um inspires me and i think obligates me obligates it's michael all of us and maybe we'll close with this question is that i alluded to it earlier you're able to love all of the jewish people and give yourself to claudius without losing out at all on who you are what you believe were you worried when you went into the disco in 1967 so many years ago that you are a kolo young man going into a disco what's going to happen to your neshama what's going to be with your avodah hashem your own personal growth and here we fast forward so many decades later and and not only have you not been compromised it seems only hashem can judge but uh you're a great inspiration to all of us without compromising who you are but also showing that love so were you ever worried about that about about losing your own avodah hashem your own your shamayim while doing this work number one and for all of us how can you be both things at the same time to not lose out to grow to be bananealia to grow as we are as religious people but at the same time to love every jew and to go wherever we need to to show that love to all of hashem's other children i tell you if if you need to decide it that you're ready to give your life but not ready to give you yiddish guide you need to be ready to do everything but not give up and believe that if you keep this they will have more honor for you you me you know they say they say a story that one time a king is in a place and he sees the religious somebody with pairs with the beard with his time on the greece and the king says that his people brought me this man brought me this man these people take this man and say the king want to see you but you can't go to the king like this you need to take up your payers you build take make your model looking nice brought him to the king the king said this he said a lot i want to see it especially the same thing i want to tell you one story that you three uh big people black with models you know like all me models i go to him shalom shalom i take him in my office what i understand one from these people is the chief of the aomay from negalia you know negalia nigerian in africa sure and he is the head from the army and he come to visit the soldiers that the u.n you have in u.n many from many places he has sent the jerry sent soldiers to uan to 11 on the boat from lebanon for peace and they come down to visit his soldiers and he met dale one from the officers from israel from the big officers from the army you mean it and he speaks to him and he says this nigeria speak to the israeli my whole life i heal of the holy land holy land i never be in the holy land maybe can you make me the two show me the holy land he says of course tomorrow night i will meet you in naria you know now here is the border from lebanon a city from islam it comes to this shape of step from the army from nigeria comes to nagia and this officer from israel take him to a nightclub in naria he says this is only this i have in police i look for holy oh you want to see oli i will take you to mcdonald to rabbi grossman wow and god make a miracle evil can come when the kids is playing a basketball the kid says he come adjust when the kids playing stay but he go see under the kids shimane he says rabbi right now i feel what means only what they tell you you need to show up and you can't place the ordinance want to be don't think they will think of you this and this and when they say that you believe in yourself and at the same time you give a manner in the same time lulu them in the same time you see you feel him that like is your child this make the uh uh a point of him to come close to you you know that tell a story that one time was a boy he was sick mentally and he thinks he's a chicken this boy that is sick tinker is a chicken take off the clothing sit in the floor eating fully flow and the parents don't know what to do they go to psychiatrists to doctors nobody can open then somebody comes and says i will open this man come take out his clothing go in the in the in the in the flow instead of your chicken i've been all searching but you can be a chicken with clothing you can be a chicken with bit bit meat meat meat uh with sitting on the shelf you can be a sick and a clothing they can be a chicken like normal in little by little you take them back this is the vault be a chicken but but tell them you can't be a chicken different life you can have happy mediterrane and little by little your success if you believe what you're doing then deeply everything is different robert grossman what you're doing is outstanding you're a hero for claudius everybody should be a partner and join if you go to mcdonald or usa m-i-g-d-a-l-o-h-r-u-s-a-dot-org uh rev grossman is doing the hard work he put it all on the line he sold his apartment to get it started he moved to a city that had nothing and now we do the easy part just to be a partner and to be able to contribute to do our part migdel or usa we can't thank you enough for all that you do for clay strong rabbi goldberg and rabbi moscow which embodies i want to thank you and bless you night night's coming tell us that why hashem decided to give this time the torah because if you together this is the time i bless you that was really extraordinary that interview that conversation rabbi grossman he's just a bright light he's just he just loves all jews it's all real he's genuine it's like it just oozes out of him we would all feel that way and love every jew and be there for every person it just what stood out to you what jumped out to you as the most inspiring i'll tell you what's interesting for me is it almost felt like we were watching the introduction of the ram khal to his messiah's hisham where the ramakhal says i'm not going to tell you many hidusham right now i'm going to tell you things are going to be obvious but they're going to be the most important thing so when he talks about loving every jew and he talks about in terms of parenting having patience with your child and seeing the godliness and those ideas we know about right but we get so caught up in the rat race of life we sometimes lose focus on it and what was so great about the interview was i just felt that we focused us on what's important what is our obligation what is our mandate to love every jew to see the best in our children to bring out their potential i thought that was fabulous robert brodie just loved the way he was all in you know puts his apartment up for sale and he says you know there's no turning back we're just going we're going to make this happen and you see what he ended up doing was unbelievable yeah people can make a real difference in this world what stood out to me the most was rabbi moscow when you asked him about parenting our children and he said it's it's all about love and and when you you know rabbi brody you followed up about um we need more yeshivas and institutions and shul it just has to be about love and positivity that's what this generation needs and he's got the results he's got the results to show it he's got the evidence it was and is amazingly inspiring it is already late so we are out of time but we want to thank uh donnie oppenheimer and the oppenheimer law group oplawfirm.com again for sponsoring tonight for being such a good friend to behind the bema thank you to atara of migdal orr for helping coordinate this opportunity and if you're enjoying you enjoyed that conversation you were inspired or moved by it take a moment rate or review it's not beneath us right or review the podcast that way more people find it and more people share it and more people are inspired by it so thank you again for joining us until next time stay happy