🎙️ Episode 7: "From Polio to Prosperity: How Sruly Orzel Built 12,000 Units and a Legacy of Giving

How does a child paralyze from the neck down at the age of three years old and then as a young man only making $69 a week turn into one of the Jewish community's most incredible entrepreneurs, owner of multiple companies, somebody who's impacting the Jewish world in a substantial way? How does that happen? Listen to this incredible story this week on Jewish Grit. [Music] It's really Orzelle. God blessed you with three industries, healthcare, energy, real estate, and I think many people look at you from the outside in. They see success written all over you. And thank God they're probably not wrong, but we all know that life isn't perfect. And that when the Almighty throws you a curveball, sometimes you got to figure out how to swing. And it takes grit. It takes determination. Can you bring us into an honest moment where things didn't go the way that you felt they would? You had a big challenge. >> So, we went into the real estate business about 18 years ago, myself and a partner, and I was doing a 1031 exchange. 1031 exchange is if you sell a business where you sell a piece of real estate more so, and you make a profit. You can take all the money that you sold the property for, including the profit, and buy another property, and not pay a penny tax. So, I was doing a 1031 exchange. I had sold something that I owned and we needed to buy some property. So, our first uh property that we bought was in Memphis, Tennessee. Got a good deal, looked okay, and then we bought a second one. It was a very, very challenging area to run real estate. It was not so successful. I got a little depressed about it after about a year or two and I said, you know, maybe we shouldn't have gone into the real estate business. I could have stuck to what I knew best, which was the healthcare business. My partner, myself said, you know what? We got to keep on going. And we bought another property and another one and another one and we got investors. And after about 18 years, a little less, actually, about 16 years, we amassed almost 12,000 units mostly in the Midwest, the South, and uh some stuff in New York. New York wasn't the hottest market, but it was a good deal. But as people who know the New York market, the New York market today is a lot different than it was seven, eight years ago since they signed that law in 2019 on how much you can actually charge in increases on rents. You put in 20 $30,000, you make the apartment much more livable than it was and you raise the rent threefold, but that's gone and could no longer do that. But that was a challenge. But we kept on going and going and we kept on buying property after property and you know interest rates were pretty good. Kept on refinancing and refinancing and many of the people who invested with us did very very well. We made a lot of millionaires out a lot of out of out of a lot of people and they did very well and we did well. >> So let's I want to bring you back to that moment. So you buy properties in Memphis and things don't go the way that you plan. I think a lot of people would have said you know let me cut my losses and let me go back to know to what I know how to do which you said was healthy. What was it that made you keep grit your teeth and keep on going? >> Because we knew what we were doing, but we just happened to be in a bad market. One of the properties I remember just didn't have any masle. Example, there was a tornado and it wiped out entire shopping mall across the street. It missed our property, but you know, all the business and the walking of people walking by our property no longer existed. So, the traffic getting into the property no longer existed. that it was very difficult to keep the property at a at a low vacancy rate. We were changing managers unbelievably like every couple of months. It was just very difficult. Memphis is just a very tough town to do business. And we knew that we had, you know, it wasn't a mistake, but we knew that we could do better in some other states. And that's what we did. And we kept on going and going and going. And we had Masle. We had just had Masle. We kept on, you know, my partner Jeff ran day-to-day operations later on. And he was a workaholic. He is a workaholic and you know we we don't just rely on the management company. We have our own asset managers. So our asset managers are actually managing our management company which is an outside management company. Uh because if you can just wait for your check in the mail, don't wait for it. And even if it comes, it's going to be a lot less than if you actually manage the properties the way you're supposed to manage them. So, you know, we know exactly how to manage the properties that we have. Even though we use an outside management company, we have asset managers here that follow up the properties every single day. And we're also a company that we visit our properties practically every 6 weeks. A lot of people just, you know, buy the properties they're down south or they're in the middle of middle America and they, you know, they depend on the management company. You know, whatever you're doing, you're right. you know, just send me the check when there's when there's money in the pot. And we found out that, you know, if you're at 95% occupancy, uh if you can get that up to 98%, that 3% makes a big difference. And we did very well. A lot of God's help. You know, nothing grows without God. A lot of prayer. Uh sometimes we bought properties that we had to really work it to make sure that they make a profit. Uh but all in all, we were pretty careful in what we bought. I always told my partner, I said, "You know, Jeff, we could have bought this and we could have bought that, but we, you know, we we'd rather buy a sure thing than something that looks a little iffy." And the old Jackie Mason uh u idiom that he used to say, "Every Jew knows a building he could have bought. I could have bought that building and I could have bought that building." Says, "Why don't you buy it now?" Oh, now it's too expensive. >> Can I bring you back to your humble beginnings? I'm assuming there were. >> Sure. >> What's the first job that you held? First job I held I actually was a teacher. Uh I was in yeshiva and I needed some pocket money and somebody offered me a teaching job in a casic school. I said how much is the pay? He says $69 a week. This is circa 1971. I said $69 a week. It's more than I have in my pocket right now. I might as well take a chance on it. And I taught CAD kids. I taught for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. And then I jumped into the high school arena and I taught 9th, 10th, and 11th and 12th grade. And um it was enough that I was able to save up close to $10,000 before I got married. And I was able to buy buy a house uh with uh with that money and some money that I made at my uh wedding from wedding presents. And um we made a go of it. It wasn't easy in the beginning. I couldn't find a job, a regular job. Nobody wanted to hire me. I took the nursing home administration course, but because I had no experience, nobody wanted to try and see what this guy could do. So, I knocked on doors for about a year and finally somebody offered me a job as an administrator or actually an assistant administrator in a nursing home. And uh a few weeks after I started that job, the administrator decided to quit. And all of a sudden, I'm the administrator. But to tell you the truth, I had no idea how to run a facility. But I got lucky because the director of nursing was also a nursing home administrator and she ran the whole place. So I could read the New York Times every single morning and I wouldn't miss I wouldn't miss a thing. So that was good. And then uh put me in a different facility. I went a different part of the New York City. Then the guy lost a lease and I lost my job and I was unemployed again. And I got lucky and I was uh hired by an adult care facility, also known as an assisted living facility. And I worked there for 10 years and I got a good salary. I can't complain. Then I had an opportunity to buy a facility and uh it was a losing proposition because they weren't making any money but they had a very high vacancy rate and I felt that I could uh fill the facility up and make some money. And my father said to me, "Why are you doing this? You're leaving a job where I was getting paid at the time $50,000 a year. This is circa 1986." And I said I said, "Dad, if I don't try, I'll never know that I could do better than what I'm doing right now. I got to take some risk." So, I bought my first facility. >> How'd you pay for it? >> I had some money saved up from the salary that I made. I made the down payment. I I didn't buy it actually. It was a sub lease. I got lucky again before we closed on the deal. The Department of Health, which regulated rates, gave us a 25% increase. So before I walked through the door, I was making money. That was about uh it was 1987. Uh and from there I bought another facility and then another one. And today uh between myself and my uh my son-in-law who does day-to-day operations. Uh we have eight facilities in New York. And somewhere along the line I went into the real estate business. And then I went into the energy business. >> What does that mean? >> That's a we call an esco. So if you live in New York and you don't want to buy your gas and electric from Khan Edison, you can buy it from me. So >> what do you do on a day-to-day? >> So I I really spend more of my time running schools, believe it or not. >> Uh I have an elementary school in Yeshiva, which has close to 2,000 kids, and I'm the president of that school for the last 25 years. I also have a high school uh which is located about 25 miles out of my uh and I'm the president of that school. I have an institution in Israel of higher learning and I'm the president of that school. I'm involved in at least another six or seven uh as executive board member uh many organizations including at good Israel of America uh Bismeta of Lakewood I I get around but I don't have much time to run my business so each one of my businesses has a partner who really runs day-to-day operations I keep in touch through emails uh we have meetings so I know what's going on >> so you shared with a little bit about your professional life, your philanthropic life. Um, personally, has life been a bowl of peaches? >> To begin with, it wasn't so easy. At the age of three and a half, I contracted polio. And, uh, I was paralyzed from the neck down and I landed up in a hospital and they said I would never walk. And my father, may he rest in peace, went to see a big rabbi and he asked him for a blessing. And uh he told my father that the son is going to walk out on his own two feet. And 6 weeks later I did walk out and with no lasting effects of the disease and I was a very lucky person. Again there's no luck. This is what God wanted. I consider that my second life. It could have been a lot worse. >> I wonder if that impacts the joy you get when you see children running around. >> Yes. You know when people say to me, you know, I'm getting a little older now and I don't walk as well as I used to. I said, "You know something? I'm happy to walk on my two feet because it could have been a lot different. I don't complain that if it hurts me like this, if it hurts me like that, if I'm walking down the street and I can get to the other side of the street and cross the street in a red light or green light, whatever, I'm happy. I'm able to walk." And uh, you know, I've had some challenges health-wise through my life. I had menitis somewhere along the line. I've had a heart attack. I have a couple of stances. Um, God doesn't want me yet. He's got too much work for me to do on this earth. >> So, at this stage of the game, could you give us a definition of success? >> Well, there's two I think there's two avenues that you have to discuss when you talk about success. One is obviously money. Um, because everyone measures success by how much money you have, which I think is a little overrated. >> There are many people that have a achieved success and they don't have so much money. Second avenue of course is to have a family with children and grandchildren and great-g grandandchildren. Everyone is healthy. They have their own success and you enjoy life as you get older with your children and grandchildren. I think also the third avenue if I had to pick one. There are many people that work in communities. They do a lot for the community uh for the benefit of the community and they achieve a lot of success in what they're doing. They help people. There are organizations that help people survive who lose jobs. Whether they're running employment organizations to make sure that they get a job, whether they give them money when they're making a wedding or they're making a bar mitzvah, uh we started something in our school. Each time one of our teachers uh makes a wedding, we give them a bonus of $10,000. And if you help enough people and you and and you you know you you make yourself a reputation that you're the go-to guy, I think that's a tremendous success. >> Knowing what you know now, knowing your life experience and the diversity of your life experience, going back to when you were making that $69 a week, what's something that you probably would have told yourself that you didn't understand at that point? Well, personally, I I never really expected to be the success that I am in business. I figured I'd make a nice living. I'll get a job. But God had other plans for me. And I did better than I ever thought. Uh I didn't expect to be a teacher. Uh there was only a stop gap so I can have enough money to get to college back and forth and put gas in into my into my car. But I I didn't expect uh to be as successful as I am in any business that I would have picked or chosen. And you know, I've done investments with other people. Most of the time I've done well, sometimes not. And I started to believe that the best person to invest with is myself. Uh because I can control things. I've done well with that. You know, again, nothing happens without God. What what would you tell a young professional, our audience? What's the best piece of advice that you could give them to help them be more successful? >> I recently met with somebody uh a young cassidic fellow who I knew his parents very very well and he came back. He was learn he was in Israel learning in rebbitical seminary and he came back and he was looking to get into something. So he tried to get into the real estate business. Nobody was really hiring anybody. Anyway, he came over to me. He said to me, "Can you help me? I need some advice. So I sat down with him. We went to a restaurant and I said to him, "Sam, what do you got on your mind? What do you want to do?" So he told me, "I'd like to do real estate. I like it. Do you have any possibilities? You have any ideas?" So he was working for a guy for a short time and they let him go because they didn't have much business. Then he decided he was going to buy small deals like small houses and see if he can refer them to people to rent, do a gut renovation, then sell the house for a quick profit. So he told me that he did one deal. I said, "Okay, fine. How much do you expect to make out of that deal?" And he said about $20,000. He explained the deal to to me and I said, "Listen, you know what? I think 20,000 for what you did." He referred a deal to somebody. I think you deserve a much more. Said, "Okay, I'll try." So I met him a few days later in synagogue and he told me, "I couldn't get much more and maybe this is not for me." So I said, "Simraka, you just did your first deal. Keep at it. Don't give up. You're only at this for a month, a month and a half. Rome wasn't built in one day. You got to keep on trying and trying and trying." I met him maybe a week ago. I said, "Simka, how's it going?" Says, "Shrilly, I did two more deals. How much did you make on the other two deals?" I don't know yet, but in between the three deals, I'll probably make more than I made the entire last year. Don't give up. And you have to give every business time. You can't just start the business. Okay, I'm going to make a million bucks overnight and I'm good to go. It takes time. It took us years to build this business and took us years to get a reputation as a reputable company and it took us years to really make the money that we that we're making. Uh we're not billionaires, but we do very very well. And uh I have no complaints. But it takes time. It takes effort. And you just can't give up. The only time I would say you give up is if you don't see any light at the end of the tunnel and you get professional advice that this is not for you or it's not going to make it. There's a time that you have to know when to get out. It's like the stock market. You have to know when to get out. What makes Suri Orzel most proud of being a Jew? >> I'm most proud of the organizations that I'm involved with. I love what I do. I educate over 3,000 kids through being either a president or on the board. I'm involved in organizations that probably deal with another 10,000 kids. Uh I'm involved in international organization a good is a good Israel of America. I'm on the board of trustees and I think we accomplish a lot and that makes me proud when I'm involved in an organization that really accomplishes something for the Jewish community. Jewish community is a very diversified community and I don't care whether you're religious, whether you're not religious, you're Jewish. Hitler didn't care what kind of Jew you were and I don't either. If you need the help, I'll try to help you. I've had people who have absolutely no religious affiliations and I've helped them whether it's advice to go into a certain business or advice with a family. I've done mediation and divorces. Um, I've been around the block and um, some of it is unpleasant. I'm involved in a case now which we're going to have a big meeting tonight. We're going to have a stenographer there to actually, you know, mark down and to take down exactly what what's going to be said. Uh, it's a very complicated case. It's something uh, which would take hours to explain. Um, I got involved because uh two of the children um that were uh from a divorced marriage ended up being in camp in New York and they didn't want to go back to the mother who lived in California. It was very very complicated and um there's a lot of lot of work to be done. It's a big community and there's a um a lot to be said for our Jewish brethren who help other people and that's my biggest pride and joy. You know, when I get up there after 120 years, they're not going to ask me how much money did you make. They're going to ask me, "What did you do? How did you help people? What what what did you do for the Jewish community?" and I hope I have the answers >> based on our interview. I think it's going to be a very nice, solid, resounding yes. >> Thank you. >> The Almighty should give you health and strength to continue your precious work. And we're so grateful that you shared your story with us. Thank you for listening to Jewish Grit, an Oly mentorship podcast. At Olam Mentorship, we believe that everyone needs a mentor. What better way is there to tap into your personal and professional potential than with a Jewish mentor at your side? Learn more at oli.org/mentorship. 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