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Practical Spirituality - Conversation with Eliyokim Cohen
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Shalom and welcome back to Practical
Spirituality here in the holy city of
Jerusalem
overlooking the Temple Mount at
Ushpizin,
the amazing home center for Torah
and Jewish experience in the old city.
And today we have a special guest. This
is Eliakim Cohen
Yes. who I actually
met today. I was in my synagogue right
you know, in my neighborhood and
and which is amazing too cuz I wasn't
even planning on being there today. I
was going to beautiful show too. Yeah.
love it. I was going to pray somewhere
else. But I couldn't help but notice
this this character over here.
And uh
with his son and I turned out I was also
saw him getting ready to lead the
Kohanic blessing. Yeah.
The priestly blessing and which was very
exciting to get that especially cuz I
just got back from America where you
don't get to have it unless you got
Persians in the room. Right. And uh
and so Yeah. So we met and I'll tell you
the truth I've been trying not to talk
to him since I met him
because I like podcasts where you're
getting to know each other for the first
time. Yeah. And so I don't know too much
about you. So I'm going to interview you
and get to know you and we'll smooth
together. Perfect. Um
the
I just if you wouldn't mind going
without sunglasses for a sec.
Yeah.
That way I can I can sense you sense you
better while we talk.
Yeah. And you have beautiful blue eyes
anyway.
The you know, my my kid came up to me
I sent my kid to go buy glasses and he
comes back.
He was like I don't know, 11 years old
or something. He comes back with glasses
that change color in public. Oh, really?
into sunglasses when you're in the sun.
So he comes back to the house and he's
he's got
prescription sunglasses. I'm like, "What
are those?"
He says, "These are the glasses I
bought."
And I'm like
"Go go return them."
He said, "I can't return them. Why do I
have to return them?" I said, "Well,
then go back to the store and get a
regular pair and you can wear these when
we're mountain biking."
And
he was like, "Why? What's the big deal?"
And I said, "Listen,
so much of developing who you are is a
negotiation with the people you're
passing by.
You know, we're in negotiation for our
our identity.
Right.
And
is very critical.
Yeah, and it's developing. It develops
us cuz it's it's um
you know, you're putting yourself
forward when you're in public.
Right.
And people are interacting. But but the
amazing thing is once you put on
sunglasses people spot you already down
the block instinctually and they don't
necessarily see you but they already
know that won't be someone I'll be
meeting eyes with. Uh interesting.
Yeah, it's very interesting. They that
will not be someone I'm going to be
negotiating my identity with. So really
the only time I wear sunglasses is on
Shabbos. Really? With my Bacha Sharon's
streimel. And it's my way of like sort
of
tuning out from the world. Right.
Shabbos is day set apart from the rest
of the world. And I just when I'm in
shul You wear them in shul too? or I'm
in shul and when I'm walking and it's
just
I like that I'm in my own little
Amazing. Shabbos world.
In that bubble, yeah. I've been doing
that for since I started wearing my
streimel. So There's something to be
said for silence in public.
Yeah, look it's
I'm a very talkative person. So
sometimes it's good for me to Yeah.
step back a little. It's like you know,
it's
it's a help for the soul. My whole way
in I was listening to um
you know, who's the famous thinker that
uh
whatever it's not coming to me but
he was talking about um
on the the whole way in he was talking
about
doing and not saying.
And that the freedom you get by just
doing without saying so much about what
you do. Right. I have a Mitzvah in the
Torah.
a lot of freedom to just
develop yourself and to develop what you
do
without having to constantly
cover for what you said you do. Right.
Right. Wasting your energy with covering
the things you said you're doing. Mhm.
Tell me about yourself. Where'd you grow
up? So I grew up outside of Boston.
Um
it's called Framingham. Framingham? It's
like 25 minutes west of Boston. Yeah.
Great
great town.
I grew up very
like traditional. You know, my
grandparents were
um from two Hasidic family Shinova Mhm.
which is the oldest son of the Sanz
Rebbe. Mhm. The fact I'm in Netanya now
is very Very cool.
They've sort of taken me in as a They
know about your background.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuz you know, they see
me during the week in like pants and a
t-shirt and then on Shabbos they see me
In your streimel. in a streimel. So they
we need to
who are you? Like
So you live on the beach in Netanya now?
I live yeah, we live right
right across from the beach. I mean on
the beach. Mhm. Um right next to the old
Blue Bay Hotel. And you're the last
house in Netanya? We're the last house
in in Netanya. Yeah.
What comes after that? Like sand dunes?
Uh Shoshanat HaAmakim.
And then Tzuk Yam and then Beit Yanai.
Like little little
city comes after. What's on the other
side of your house if you're the last
house?
Is it
Oh, just more
or is it beach?
No, just more shavim going north.
other communities going north?
we're the last Can you You can throw
like a throw a shortcut. Mhm. They
wanted to sort of
they put up big boulders cuz they don't
want people these are really like
idyllic uh little moshavim. One of
them's a surfing community. Mhm. Lots of
young people and then the other one's
more for like the adults. But it's just
a beautiful area. What's the surfing
community called? Um Shoshanat HaAmakim.
It's just north of Netanya.
I wonder if that's where I surf.
Probably. Cuz I was someone took me up
there for a sec. It's
uh it's very known. There's a there's
different surf you know,
out there.
Yeah. Yeah.
So we moved there
two and a half years ago and just
my my dream was always to live on the
water. You know? You did a good job. Ah.
Just love it there.
So you grew up in Boston? I yeah, so I
grew up
very Jewish, you know, very proud of
being Jewish, very connected to Israel.
Just never knew how to put any of that
into action. And um
one thing that that we did do was we
said the Omer.
My grandfather alav hashalom paid us $49
to say the Omer every every year.
Every day like
to count the Omer. So if we miss one day
we got nothing.
So you know, every kid gets a trophy in
modern times. This was such a good life
lesson for so many different reasons.
One, you know, 49 days is about 1/7 of
the year. So 1/7 of the year we were
connected to something
very holy.
And the other thing was that if you
missed a day
no matter how much you cried, "Grandpa,
I did 48." So, no, you didn't do 49.
So
you know, growing up
to the audience they um
between Passover and the holiday of
Shavuot when the Jews got the Torah on
the 50th day, there's a 49 day count
where you make a blessing and then you
um
count that day. So you make a blessing,
you count the day.
And it's pretty simple
uh mitzvah but a very holy one. Very
holy.
That's cool. So
So I would I would go to I'd never even
heard of it when I grew up.
Right. So I'd go to the reform you know,
Monday Wednesday school that I was going
to and I'd say to the teacher
"You counting the Omer?" And he looked
at me like I'm speaking Korean.
So I felt so good. I come home and I
say, "Mom, look at a rabbi at this uh
at this place." So I loved the standard
American
childhood, you know, sports, secular
childhood, sports Judaism was a Monday
and Friday after school and Sundays
until your bar mitzvah.
And then And then you graduate Judaism.
You graduate Judaism and
but you know, never had a desire to
celebrate Xmas. Just I was always so so
proud of being Jewish.
Mhm. So
Did you ever get get it on the head for
being Jewish? Being 25 minutes from the
Jewish community?
What do you mean?
Did you ever get it hit you ever get
anti-Semitic uh did you go to a school
that had Jews or Tons of Jews.
Framingham Framingham has tons of Jews.
So all of Boston Boston
isn't the only place where there's Jews
in Boston.
a Well, there's there's Brookline,
there's Newton. Mhm. Tons of
Framingham itself had tons of Jews.
Uh so you had a lot of Jews. Tons. So I
had two sets of friends, you know, the
Jewish friends and non-Jewish friends.
Yeah. No matter how close I got to the
non-Jewish friends
they'd always
show me that I was different, you know,
they're always cracking a Jew joke or
you know, we'd go out to dinner I'm a
very generous tipper and oh, what did
the Jew you know, leave for? I'm like,
"Well, more than all of you guys
combined." That's what
So
I there was always a wall, you know, and
and my parents always told me no matter
what
you're you're Jewish and you'll see that
there's
there's a wall. And I sort of resented
that for a little bit but then as I got
older I saw that that was just how it
just the way it is. Even my best best
friend a few times said jokes that were
really
I don't like the word offensive cuz I
mean they're they're just but it just
like why would you say that to me at
that point? Mhm. So
you know, then I went to college in
in Georgia at the University of Georgia.
Mhm. And
joined the Jewish fraternity and
then that's where the problems started.
I was always I never
was like mainstream. So, the thought of
going to school, learning
for x amount of years and then getting
that cubicle, it just it never That was
never what I
you know, wanted. So, my parents had
moved down and they bought a baby
furniture
company.
And we had two stores. Basically, I ran
one from college. I was driving back and
forth every day.
And uh
To To Atlanta. So, back back happens to
Atlanta was like 50-minute drive.
So, your parents moved to Atlanta? They
moved to Atlanta cuz that's I was born
in Atlanta. Moved to Boston when I was
like five.
So, they We moved back.
And um
So, I was like one of those like an
athlete in college that knows they're
going to the NBA. I already knew that I
had a job. So, I put forward this When I
say zero effort into
into school. I never
To To me, that doesn't make someone, you
know, I'm very into street smarts, Mhm.
doing your own research, you know, not
just
you know, getting your syllabus, teacher
tells you how to think and then I mean
that's why the world, in my opinion, is
one of the reasons it's so messed up.
People have learned the
have have
have no ability to critically think
anymore, to make decisions
by themselves, to gather the correct
information, to find the truth.
And that that's what Hashem's seal is is
the truth. Mhm. So, got very into drugs
and, you know, started dealing coke in
uh
in college.
Coke salesman.
And Well, it was it was lollipops when I
was in second grade and the natural
progression is
is to coke. So, Starting with lollipops
to cocaine.
Lollipops to coke, yeah. Cute. So, So,
you were in that That was part of
college, too? That was the end of
college, the last two years of college.
Was it Is it a good living selling
cocaine? I mainly did it just to have
free coke.
And then when you have free coke, you
just do a a ton more.
So, it was a very destructive
uh lifestyle. Mhm. But I could do it. I
could
do coke, wake up the next morning,
drive. No one at work knew that I was
up for the last, you know, 39 days in a
row and then come back. You know, the
term highly I functioning uh Yeah, you
seem like the kind of guy that lands on
his feet. Yeah, but Hashem, like, you
know, it I I just made it work. Like,
you just Sometimes life, you just need
to make it Whatever the situation is,
you just need to make it work. You have
to We're not advising that anyone makes
a life cocaine lifestyle work.
So,
Very few people it works for.
So, January 4th, 2008 was the
was the low point of my life and but
that became the high point.
Nice. I was in a high-speed car chase on
cocaine from 35
um
Georgia State Patrol cars.
Nice. 35? 35. And what And
how did they realize to chase you to
begin with? So,
I was
I was on the wrong side of the road and
I saw a car coming and I said, "Oh my
gosh,
that clown's on the wrong side of the
road." And then I saw another car coming
and I went, "Oh my gosh, I'm the clown."
As I'm veering back into the right lane,
I almost hit
a state patrol that was I mean, talking
about me and Hashem, I I literally
almost clipped his car,
turned on the lights, started following
me. I had already lost my license. And I
just
were without a license? Yes, I just for
some reason I Thought running would be
good.
Yeah, cuz I started off slow and then he
tried to ram me. I got nervous and I
just I didn't stop. So, I was in a nice
car, you know, I was I was in a BMW and
my parents
for some reason had just put run-flat
tires on the car cuz my my tires were
low. So, my dad had a day off, he took
and put run-flats on.
You can run over a spike and go another
like 100 miles. So, they laid out the
spikes for me twice and I ran over it
and just
didn't have any impact. So, 35 cars
chased me. I finally slowed down cuz I I
realized at some point that they were
probably going to try to Shoot you or
kill me. So, I like sort of flipped off
the road. They smashed the windshield
and, you know, 30-something guns at my
head
and um
went to jail and
I remember This is This is Friday night
literally as the sun was setting, this
is when the chase started. It's very
like
sort of symmetrical to my own Yeah.
So, I think it was Sunday morning that
the lawyer came
and he said,
"You don't look like the kind of kid
that I said, you know, I'm just I'm in a
low point in life and he said, "Look,
you're You're probably going to get a
year." I was facing 15 to 30 years
because of the assault with a deadly
weapon on a police officer, which is the
car. You know, they charge you with
As if you were trying to
crashing, swerving, spinning, you know.
Hello. I see. Charge you with
Right. So, the big charge was like
So, the the big charge was the assault
with a deadly weapon.
So, he said, "Look, you're facing 15 to
30 years. Obviously, it's not going to
stick." He said, "More than likely,
you'll get a year, do six months. I'm
going to try to get it down lower."
He said, "You have one job for the next
whenever you're
you need You have two things in life. I
talked to your father." He said, "I know
that you
You're home, you're at work, and that's
it." He said, "I don't care what else
you do, but you're not doing anything
else besides that." He said, "You need
to make my job
easy to to help you."
So,
three strange things happened when I was
in jail. One, the first thing they asked
me at the hospital So, they let you out
on bail or anything?
I got I got out on bail. That night as
they took me to the jail, they took me
to the hospital first because, you know,
the cops roughed me up.
And uh
after asking me my name, the next
question they asked was my religion,
which I thought was very weird
considering this is Forsyth County,
Georgia, which is literally the
headquarters of the Klan of the Ku Klux
Klan. It's like their mailing address.
So, then in jail, the guy that was
checking me in, the cop had a "Ne il le
dodie le dodie le" on his ring.
Again, I'm in the middle of a place that
there's probably been two Jews that have
ever gone to Forsyth County, Georgia. I
don't even know how I got up there.
So, I said to him, "It's a beautiful
ring. You're You're Jewish?" He said,
"No." I said, "So, why do you have
It's the same ring my my parents have."
I said, "So, why do you have" He said,
"I just like the I like Hebrew. I like
the writing."
I thought, all right, that's a little
strange. And then in the jail,
this guy made some comment about Jews
and I said, "It's not so nice. I'm
Jewish." He said, "Well, so am I." I
said, "Really?" So, he became my spades
partner. That's all you do is play
cards.
So, his son, who just turned 18, got
arrested with over an ounce of weed,
which at the time was a felony. So, he
took the blame so that his son wouldn't
start off
So, between these three things, my just
it was like Judaism pounding into my
And I said, "You know what? I've done
everything I wanted for the last 10
years of my life.
Drugs, girls, parties, and I'm totally
miserable. I have no
I'm going to start from scratch. And
um Even at the time, I was going
sometimes to Friday night, you know,
services like a conservative shul or
whatever. I said, "I'm going to call the
rabbi that my
my aunt recommended I call this rabbi
six months before this happened." And
three times I called him and hung up the
phone cuz I
I heard his Rabbi Friedman from Atlanta.
I don't know if you know from the
Ahavath Congregation. One of the cool
rabbis, just
very vibrant and just and happy.
So, my aunt was hijacked by Hezbollah in
1985 on that famous TWA flight um that
they made the movie Delta Force.
Out of I don't even know that story. So,
it's a famous flight. The pilot had a a
gun to his head.
Um It was actually in the Billy Joel
song when he says, "Terror on the
airline, we didn't start the fire." That
was the plane he was talking about.
So, they made a movie about it called
Delta Force with Chuck Norris.
So,
She was on that flight?
on that flight.
It was her honeymoon with my you know.
So, she went back and forth.
make it? Yeah, yeah. So, they went back
and forth from Beirut to Algiers five
times. On the last landing in Beirut,
the landing gear didn't open. So,
Crash landing? They had to make like an
emergency landing. So, forget about
having guns your head and like
terrorist,
the scariest part she said is that we're
landing on like the underbelly of the
plane.
So, she She said, "Hashem, if you save
me, I'll
I'll do chuva." Cuz you know, my mom
grew up
basically my modern orthodox.
So,
you know, she knew of my my just love of
of Judaism. And so, she connected me
with this rabbi. I got out on a Monday,
went to shul on Friday night, started
learning with him the following Monday.
Once he told me the Purim proofs, you
know, the 10 sons of Haman, Yeah. that
was it. Started wearing a kippah. So
interesting, that was it for me, too.
Really? That to me was was
There There's some things in life when
you just If you're open to hearing the
truth and and and you finally get just
like a a bludgeon to the face of truth,
Mhm.
that's Hashem giving you a big
opportunity and some people grab it and
and they run with it forever. Others,
yeah, that's cool. I'm I'm not ready to
change my lifestyle. Right. That to me
was I taught that class for many many
many years. And
And if anyone would say that it was
interesting or informative, I would
punch them. Oh, good.
And I'd say, "Any other Any other
adjective?
Any other adjective, but not interesting
or informative because to hear that
the word interesting means that it
stayed in your head and it meant
nothing. And informative is the same
exact
It's funny you say that. the word
interesting because
I went in the next day at work and told
some of my family members
and I mean, I was
I was like blowing my
I was like ready to, you know, blow two
pays off.
And they said that exact word, "Wow,
it's really interesting."
Really Really interesting. Yeah. I said,
"What do you mean it's really
interesting?
This is
you know, like Hashem's
And you know, for the audience, so just
tell them the the main idea is
Yeah.
The main idea is that uh Haman has
Haman, the arch enemy of the Jewish
people and during the Persian Empire
This was during the 70 years of exile on
the 70th year he rises to power,
whatever the whole story. I'm not giving
you the whole story. But the bottom line
is is that his 10 sons show up on this
page
of the Megillah of this scroll and they
show up on like an Excel sheet
where it's like their name and then the
word end and then their the next name
and then the word end like on two with
huge spaces. It's an empty page
basically with names on one column and
the word end on the other column.
And
um
they these sons had nothing to do with
the story before, nothing to do with the
story afterwards. There's no reason they
should be um being presented and and
spotlighted. Yeah. And but in those
names, well before I say that that
Esther, who was the Jewish lady who
wound up being queen of Persia, she she
asked that the 10 slain sons, they were
dead, be hung tomorrow.
And
uh that was her
tomorrow can also be something in the
distant future. That's the it's a dual
meaning. So the king heard that and hung
these dead men the next day. Why
tomorrow? But tomorrow you're right like
you're saying for a prophet this may
mean the future. Well, it turns out that
hidden in the names of these 10 men are
the dates of the Nuremberg trials when
the 10 Nazis were hung in Nuremberg,
Germany.
And
Big vav and a small tafshin zayin.
Right. The the the year was tafshin
zayin, which is the Hebrew letters are
numbers. It spells out the year of the
of it and it even gives the millennia of
what what 707's going to happen.
Right. So tafshin zayin is 707 and and
it has a big vav, which is the sixth
time 707 showed up, which is 5707.
And the um
Yeah, and it's just amazing. And then
the last I can quote you the Newsweek
article from 1946 that only Julius
Streicher went without dignity. He had
to be pushed across the floor wild-eyed
and screaming Heil Hitler. When they
brought him up to the gallows, he looked
at the witnesses and screamed "And now I
go to God." Purim Fest 1946.
Yeah.
And the interesting thing was they were
supposed to be killed by firing squad.
It was only at the last minute that they
were hanged. Mhm. And Hermann Göring,
who was a known cross-dresser, committed
suicide just like Haman's daughter.
Exactly. Göring.
I mean
that was
Haman had a daughter who committed
suicide and the the one of the um
one of the it was actually 11 Nazis they
caught. So there was an extra one and
that one committed suicide and and was a
cross-dresser. We actually have a
picture of him in women's clothing.
Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hermann
Göring? Yeah. Yeah, so I mean that That
that did it
funny that you and I you realize we have
the same voice, too.
Yeah, I've actually noticed that.
You know, when you're doing podcasts,
they're always setting your mic levels,
but our voices are booming voices and
same exact tone voices.
Baruch Hashem. And also high speed. I
was also in a high speed Really? uh car
chase, yeah. Yeah, mine was interesting.
I didn't know I was in the chase because
the speed I was going
I I didn't realize they were behind me.
And I don't know if I ever told this on
I've ever told this on camera. I did
tell it on camera, yeah.
Anyway, but they
I didn't know they were there chasing me
because I was just moving so fast and
Yeah, I mean I'll tell it quickly as I
was just I was doing like I was doing
like 75 in a 35 in Beverly Hills. Oh,
wow. Wrong place to be speeding. But we
were inebriated and
And then all my best friends are in the
car, each of us with an open beer. Oh,
wow. Including me.
And I think I was 16, maybe. And anyway,
but what I used to race cars, so I
freaked out my friends by just turning
right suddenly at 75 mph. Wow. Meaning I
full like hit the gas and just like
did a full wheel tail, fish tail and
then
came back.
And cuz I was going to a giant
intersection. You know, Beverly Hills
has like huge intersections. No lights,
meaning it's just residential, but
gigantic intersections. I wanted to get
one of those just to do donuts. I'm
doing donuts. Wow. And imagine you're
the cops in a high speed car chase and
the guy turns right residentially at 75
mph.
Crazy. So the cops are like, "Whoa, this
is really serious." And they and then
they when they catch up to me
I'm just doing donuts with no idea.
But after a while I was starting to see
lights and stuff. So I was saying,
"Whoa, what was in this weed?"
And you know, spinning around. So did
you do time?
Well, I mean I certainly that night I
did. But the I mean it was Beverly Hills
and
That's crazy. We are the Glazers, you
know, it was Wow. It's pretty
embarrassing actually for for my family
to have to deal with this, but That's
crazy. But yeah, it was um
I actually my lawyer actually got me all
the way down to what they called I think
they might have come up with this term
there.
uh wet reckless
Wet reckless?
It's like
I you know, I I guess they just
overlooked my blood alcohol level. You
know, they overlooked my blood alcohol
and
Wow.
called it wet reckless.
And and that was it. It was like a slap
on the wrist. Baruch Hashem. Yeah, that
was about it. But um
Wow, very very interesting. And and tell
me
when you got that that awakening with
the Purim story. Purim is the actual
holiday that
that that the Nazi was referring to,
which is this book that the whole
thing's coming from. I mean, this is
like it's probably one of the most solid
proofs
that the of God and Torah. First of all,
it's really just a proof that whoever
wrote the Torah
and certainly the book the Megillah
Right.
but whoever wrote this thing was not
human.
Divine divine knowledge.
Human people can't do that, you know.
Amongst a million other proofs of that,
but
but once you say that it wasn't human,
so now you're left with either Martians
or God and Occam's razor would
definitely say God over Martians.
Um and the book itself says it's God, so
Yeah. um
When you had this awakening, what
happened next?
So
in university at this point or you're
still going back and forth?
was at my living at my parents, running
you know, running a business, you know.
Kids running baby furniture. Which I
loved. It was a great
when you're dealing with all the people
with their babies, you know, it's
cokehead
selling you baby furniture. I was good
though. You know, that's that's my thing
in sales was my
right hand. So
So
um
I I took off running and I I my rabbi
suggested he said, you know, you might
want to go to Yeshiva. Mhm. I said
I don't know if I can leave the He said,
"You need to get out of Atlanta. You
need to be in a place now that you can"
So he sent me to Or Sameach in Monsey.
Nice.
My aunt was right down
Oh, yeah. So my aunt was right down the
street. So it was nice to like have a
home base at her house and
um
So I was what? 20
were Once you were in Or Sameach Monsey
and with your family
and a half. No, I was 20 just turned 28
at the time. Mhm.
There with guys
basically at my bright-eyed,
bushy-tailed, you know, some some guys
were just coming from college, some guys
were you know, in their early 30s.
Just a solid group of of guys. Wow. And
just sort of learn how to be
you know, Jewish for I was there for 10
months. It was exactly what I needed.
And then um
And then I you know, I wanted to get out
of Yeshiva and I wanted to you know,
start life trying to figure out what I
wanted to do. So I moved to Five Towns.
I asked my mom's first cousin, who I met
one time at a wedding, if he minded if I
came for Shabbos.
He didn't know that I meant can I live
with you for the next 11 months.
So um that was a great experience there
being in an actual
one of the nice Five Towns homes? Uh no,
just a basic Yeah, just right in
Cedarhurst, right near
No, right near the park in Cedarhurst.
Um great community, Rabbi Spiegel, you
know, at the at the shtiebel. You know
Rabbi Spiegel? Yeah, sure. How long ago
was this? This was 2000
9, beginning of 10. Wow.
Yeah. My son hired Rabbi Spiegel's son.
Oh, Yossi?
Is it who's now the rabbi there? Uh He
took over the shul.
Yeah. So yeah, my son actually hired him
to be the rosh chabura Oh, really? of
one of the Mir Yeshiva chaburas. Wow.
And my son rented a shul and rent and
hired him and Amazing. the son who's now
the rabbi there. Right, right. Yeah,
very interesting. So you were there?
Yeah, so I was in Five Towns and I had
this yearning for for Israel. So I went
to serve my sentence.
Um You still had to serve a sentence?
Right. So so you know, the the car chase
was beginning in 2008. In the middle of
2009 my lawyer calls, I'm still at
Yeshiva, and he said, "You won't believe
this. They threw out every single
felony. They're charging you with three
misdemeanors.
Um
That's the information I have for you
for now. Just sit tight, keep your nose
clean, and we'll be in touch." I was
like
This is like good news, right? He said,
"I've never seen anything like this."
Totally out of the blue. I I thanked him
profusely for what he did. He said, "I
trust you not to do anything. I got a
call from the prosecutor."
So that was a big
relief. You know, I figured I'd still
have to do
3 6 months, something like that. It
doesn't sound like a lot until you've
spent one night in jail and then you
extrapolate that over 3 months.
Um so once
you know, and so then I moved to five
towns, then I
so it was
um
it was between
Rosh Hashanah and and Yom Kippur of 2000
uh nine, I served my I got two weeks in
jail. That's it. Good behavior was a
week. And then since I already did four
days at the beginning or three days at
the beginning, I only did four days.
So I funny story there is
put you for four days? I mean So they
actually put me in solitary confinement
as a as a favor to me because I was
religious at that point.
you from other people.
and you know, I'm wearing at the time I
was wearing a
use solitary for four days? You must
have You must have gone out of your
mind. No, I brought I brought so many
Seforim. I just It was like a four-day
Shabbos. That's really what it felt
like. It's a four-day Yom Tov for me.
So I'm at the courthouse and and the
lawyer says to me
you need to tell the judge what you did.
You need to show remorse. I said, "Okay,
don't worry. I I have a I got this. Uh
so
um he said, "Cuz the judge can throw out
your This is a deal between us and the
prosecutor, but the judge can throw it
out in two seconds and give you the full
time." So the guy in front of me, the
judge asked him um do you think you
should have been driving on weed?" And
he said, "Well, I I felt fine." Judge
gave him a year. No way.
the thing.
So I got And my lawyer looks at me and
says, "See?"
So I got up there and I you know, took
my black hat off and and I really
apologized and I said, "Look, it was a
low moment moment in life." And I gave
basically good cheer.
And judge was
I mean, really impressed because
everyone else in the audience was
looking at me. There was like 100 people
in the in the courtroom.
And the judge said, "I just I just don't
understand. How did you just stop doing
drugs? Did you go to rehab?" I said,
"No, I went to Yeshiva." A Jewish you
know, school for it.
He said
"So how did you stop?" I said, "Well,
you know,
acting like that and and behaving like
that it's it's a it's a disgrace to God.
It's it's not I I just changed. I I
wanted to
change." And he said, "I see that you
wrote the police
like department a letter." I said,
"Yeah, I wrote them a letter of saying
how
looking back, how shameful everything I
did I put everybody at risk. I drove an
ambulance off the road. I mean,
people could have died." I said, "Thank
God it you know, but I said I just
wanted you to know that something good
came from
that night." And the judge said, "Wow,
like Mr. Cohen, I'm very impressed." And
my you know, my mom and dad are sitting
there. And of course, my mom's all
teary-eyed. So he gave me a week. So
I I'm four big burly cops take me to the
from the uh cell at the
at the courthouse right across the
street to the jail. And I have literally
a black trash bag filled with my
tefillin and my Seforim and stuff for
Havdalah. And I'm not not for Shabbos.
So they're not afraid you're going to
So
as I'm there, the the cops open and this
says, "What's all this?" And I said,
"It's my
Jewish books and and my tefillin."
And they went, "What's tefillin?" And
one of the cops said, "Oh, this is
called actually phylacteries. It's what
the people of the Jewish faith use and
they wrap it on their arms."
And then we get into the to the jail and
they bring us the food. I got this great
airline pasta dish. Everyone else gets
like purple baloney. Oh my god.
So some guy said, "How did you get the
How did you get that?" I said, "Well,
I'm an Orthodox Jew." He said, "Well,
how do I get that?" I said, "I guess if
you can convert in the next three
minutes,
they probably have a spare one."
So I'm in the jail for four days. I get
there, the warden comes out and says,
"Mr. Cohen, we've made all the
arrangements for your benefit and and
peace and quiet. We put We're going to
put you in a solitary cell if that's
okay with you." I said, "Great." So the
lady checking me in held this up. She
says, "What's this?" I said, "It's
really long black straps." She said,
"You can't bring this in." I said,
"Well, the warden said it's okay." She
said, "All right, try not to hang
yourself."
Really? Yeah. So that was um
right after that
my letter my lawyer wrote a letter to
the judge asking if I could go to
Israel. I had letters from rabbis.
Oh, cuz otherwise you have to stay in
the country.
on two years probation. So judge said,
"Sure, we don't have a problem just as
long as you check in every month and
you're open to you're you're available
to do a random drug test if we need."
So February 16th, 2010, I came here on a
one-way ticket and just never left. Was
living in uh Yerushalayim. You know Eli
Deutsch that lives in the Old City? So
he's my cousin. So I live with him for a
few days.
Went to Chevron again for one Shabbos
and just
said, "You mind if I stay till Motzei
Shabbos so I can figure out where I'm
living?" They said, "No, you're living
right here."
So
you know
You got a You got like a diploma in
couch surfing.
Yeah, I mean
You're really good at couch surfing.
Well, people
I'm I'm fun to be around. I'm I'm
lively. You know, I like
surfed I Yeah, I love it. I love it.
ran away from home when I was 16 and
really and couch surfed in I lived in
Santa Barbara at the university. That's
actually what Elon Musk did for like a
year and a half. He just stayed at
friends' house.
I love that. I actually lived I lived in
a little hotel in Yerushalayim for
three and a half years. I I like
you know, not feeling like I'm in a like
being mobile, you know?
Sure. Sure.
So um Okay, so so we get to Israel 2010.
10. And Lived in Chevron, then I moved
to Shilo in the Shomron for three and a
half years. That was
that was wild.
liked the heartland more than the city,
I guess. Yeah, I mean
here.
It was perfect for that. Really
everything on my path has been perfect
for that time period. Baruch Hashem.
Yeah, I never overstay. Once I start
feeling okay, like
I feel like I'm missing something, I
went from Shilo then to Yerushalayim
right in the heart of Yeah, it was right
off Ben Yehuda Street on Histadrut in a
little boutique hotel.
Yeah, I I I
I've heard you so many times. I've
watched a lot of your lectures and
stuff. This is a real treat for me.
Baruch Hashem. So then I then I got
married, thank God. And my wife was
living right on the Bnei Brak border in
her parents' like
you know, uh
like apartment that they
uh bought as an investment. So There's
really a There is really yeah. She's
from Ramat Gan. Wow. So the thought of
you know, not having to pay rent and
just being able to enjoy you know,
marriage and everything. So I moved
there. Really didn't connect at all.
Although I did like being in Bnei Brak.
It was sort of like being in Monsey
again. Just
minyan after minyan and you know, I I
liked I liked being around very Jewish
people.
And um
but I that got very you know, we were
there like four years and basically
after a year I wanted to get out, but
then Corona came and it was just you
know, and then you know, my son was born
in 2020 literally the day before Corona
hit Israel. So we were just sort of
stuck there and it was great. I I was
basically just learning all the time
doing stuff on Facebook. I like to learn
Ein Yaakov. So my my 19th time
you know, on Ein Yaakov. So just
that's my stories from the Gemara are my
Sure. They touch the soul.
That's the the legends of the Talmud
that tell these just amazing stories.
Yeah. And maybe there's one that could
fit in here to share with us. I'd like
two things from you.
Yeah.
First of all
the story is amazing. Yeah, it's a
really cool to hear. Yeah, it's a And um
a little later I'll ask how people can
find more of your stuff. I'm actually
I'm just I wrote a book in 2011 that I
just just been sitting there, but I'm
actually going to publish. It's called
From Cocaine to Amen.
And um I want to start doing more
in-person
uh lectures. Yeah, you should definitely
do that.
touring lectures and you know, I do a
lot of stuff on Facebook cuz I have a
huge following, but I want to
How did you get such a following on
Facebook?
How big's the following?
So now it's about over 500,000. It used
to be 1.6 million. And then I had a
website called Jews News. At one point
we were the second biggest Jewish
website in the world. I was a 5,000th
ranked website in the world. Um we were
getting between 500,000 and a million
page views a day. It's huge. Really uh
big site. We were bigger than JPost and
Haaretz and uh and it was it was
truthful news. It was news that you
might not want to hear, but you should
hear. I mean And uh so Facebook
Um we were getting between 500,000 and a
million page views a day. It's huge.
Really
uh big site. We were bigger than JPost
and Haaretz and
it was it was truthful news. It was news
that you might not want to hear, but you
should hear. I mean
And uh so Facebook kicked me off in 2018
because they kicked off basically anyone
that was pro-Trump before the midterms.
All right. And then you know, I said,
"Okay, I'll take a few years off. Just
going to learn." And
and then I built I built it back. Now I
just do pictures and inspiring stuff.
Can't do anything controversial. You
have to know your your limitations. So
um It's amazing that we're at the
greatest time of freedom in the in the
spoken word in the
self-expression. For some people. Well,
the thing is is that at the top though
people own these platforms.
And the people on these platforms do
have the final say of your
self-expression.
Which is very strange. Like there was
never a mouthpiece for individuals like
there is today.
Yet there's still a big brother For
sure.
watching and ready to throw you out.
Um I noticed also that for quite some
time YouTube wasn't allowing anything
that brought into question the
uh the whole Corona period.
For sure. And uh but now I see that that
you can watch anything on YouTube again
even if it's uh against the any
narratives that are Well, cuz they found
out all those narratives ended up being
true. I understand. No, I'm meaning they
just gave up, I guess. But
but but they even though all of that
we've come to a better time perhaps
today of self-expression of of free
speech, but
but the and obviously Elon Musk is is a
champion on that. Fantastic. But
That actually loosened Facebook up. I
was very happy when he bought Twitter
because I knew that it would loosen
Facebook up and it has a little bit.
Oh, really? They used to you know,
getting penalties every 2 seconds. Now
it's
It's a little looser. Not great, but But
one thing that I don't think has changed
is that government
government farm for big pharma
media and high-tech
are still in bed together.
Which is like
the whole reason everything was
so complicated for a pandemic that
wasn't really what it was said to be.
The um
It was the flu.
were Yeah, the flu. The reason things
were so hectic
was because of that of those bed buddies
that never were ever in bed together in
our in the history of our lives and
certainly the history of the world. But
they're all in bed together still. For
sure. And and so It's the same entity
branching out into It's the same people.
Right. You know, like they they do the
You know, there's like five people that
own every single media in the world.
Same thing with the pharmaceuticals. And
then there's a guy that did a really
good um he showed that every top company
in the world is owned by one of three
companies. BlackRock, Vanguard, and
State Street. If you look at the like
Google and their top three uh shares are
all owned by the same company. And then
these three companies all own
stock of these so
the these people run the show. I mean,
that's Right. And and it's it's it's
frustrating, but you see
you know, where where did the evil go
back in the day? Where were the Lavans?
Where are the Nebuchadnezzars? Where the
these same entities still exist. They've
just they might not be a person and they
might be a organization or a university.
I mean, these still things exist.
There's
it's it's getting easier for people to
delineate the good and the bad
I I think in the world now because
um the line has to I mean, I don't know
how much we can do about that, but what
we can I would think do something about
would be that government whose job is to
govern
is not they should somehow
be not allowed to influence government.
Oh, well, that yeah. I mean, that's
Wouldn't that be normal?
interests, that's that is politics.
But it but it's it's not
it shouldn't be. It's not okay. And I I
mean,
meaning even though the Trump
community
is pointing this out I have a feeling
that they're not that different. Meaning
in the end they do have their money
coming from somewhere and it make it
seems like it's coming from the simple
American, but but and obviously big guys
like Elon Musk and stuff, but the um
I I can't imagine it's so different.
Meaning if Trump becomes president None
of that stuff.
all the people pushing policy Right.
have to be on the take, I imagine. I'm
guessing. I don't know.
And look, you see these things when you
actually read some of the stories on the
Gemara
Every generation has had the same
issues. You know, there was
there was a very small handful of
Kohanim for the entire
Is this uh in Yakov legend? Oh, it's
yeah. Let's hear one. Um
So, there were only a handful of of
Kohanim Gedolim, high priests in the
first temple, you know, 410 years. Mhm.
They're only a handful.
They lived long lives. They They They
served as high priests for their whole
lifetime.
In the second temple, you say once you
take away the years of Yochanan and the
years of Shim, no high priest lived out
an entire year. They all died within a
year. There was 300 high priests and
then there's 300 years once you subtract
the years of a few of the righteous ones
from that area from that era. And it
gives an example of one of them. There
was a very wealthy woman named um
um Martha and her husband was
um
was chosen to be the high priest
So, so what do you mean he was he was
chosen? Like the king appointed him.
What do you mean the king of king
doesn't appoint the high priest. And
said she bribed
the king. So, even the a position as
holy as the Kohanim Gedolim
all of that was rampant with
So, you know, when we see these things
now and we say, oh, must have been so
amazing when you actually read the the
story
must have been so
One of the reasons the temple was
destroyed was it was just ripe with
bribery and and impropriety just like
today. You know, there's nothing new
under the sun. It just
things flip. We We might not have a a
wicked king now, but we certainly don't
have a
a great Knesset, you know.
Things like that. So, one of the things
I love about about learning Ein Yakov is
is like making the stories relatable to
today. So, I'll tell you my favorite
one. It's a very short one.
Please.
And and with Sukkot coming up and I know
that that's a special holiday for you.
So, my favorite Ein Yakov is actually
very small. Every holiday is my favorite
because my name's Yom Tov. Oh, that's
true.
But you're known for your my sukkah
You're known for your sukkah. That's a
legend legendary. You know, I was
reading
I was people are ordering their four
species and Oh, that's my favorite thing
to do during the year.
out this thing and ordering mine and
ordering for my sons and
and filling out my name and all the
information and then I'm looking at it,
where do I pick these things up?
Right.
So, it says at the bottom of this very
official printed thing, it says that the
Glazer sukkah Are you serious?
is the pickup point.
So, I turn to my wife and I'm like
how do we wind up being the pickup
point?
They called me and asked me Really? we
could if our sukkah could be where
everyone comes
That's actually really funny. pick up
their species. So, yeah, but these are
all pre-orders that are picked up over
there. Yeah. That's great.
Anyway, so go on. Let's hear
So, Rabbi Gamaliel and Rabbi Akiva, two
of the legendary Tanaim are on a cruise
on a not cruise ship, but on a on a ship
for Sukkot. Rabbi Gamaliel holds that a
sukkah built on a deck of a ship is
invalid. Rabbi Akiva holds that it's
valid. So, it says What's the problem
with What's the possible problem that
it's a it's not on the ground? Yeah, so
you know, probably. Cuz it's just
moving.
Yeah, it doesn't say the whole but so,
it says that So, they board the ship and
Rabbi Akiva gets busy building a sukkah.
And then a huge gust of wind comes and
blows it away. The next morning Rabbi
Gamaliel wakes up and he says, Akiva,
where's your sukkah?
So, I said, why is this so
You could see the personalities and the
humor.
Rabbi Gamaliel sarcastically says,
Akiva, where's your sukkah? Meaning
I you know, he was the Nasi. I said it's
not valid. You say it is valid. A big
gust of wind comes, blows your sukkah
off the ship. Akiva, where's your
sukkah? It's like very
humorous, but it just shows
you know, they're on a boat for Sukkot.
Like why It just It It It opens up These
stories open up an entire world of of
like you know, wonderment for me. I I I
I don't like reading. I only read Jewish
stuff, but but Ein Yakov is
is just like I I I give Torah lectures
on
live live on Facebook. It's called Shiur
on by the Sea. I do it in front of on my
mirpeset on my balcony right in front of
the Mediterranean. And I try to do it
around sunset. So, the skies in the
Tanya for some reason are extra you know
I've never seen sunsets. They're They're
always
orange, pink, and purple. Just stunning
stunning uh sunsets.
So, I try to do it right around that
time so that part of it's the sunset,
part of it's you know, when it gets a
little darker out. And
um
um so, I I I just did one on the Kamsa
bar Kamsa story. It was a 2-hour live
lecture. And you know, they get anywhere
from 1,000 to maybe 4, 5,000
views you know, views. And
you know, the goal is to reach the
people
like we used to be. I say that in every
single
you know, lecture, but I but I love
telling people usually a story from
from the Gemara because they'll realize
that the stuff is relatable, you know. I
remember when my rabbi opened up the the
Talmud for the first time. And he's like
eight different columns and he's like,
oh, this is in Hebrew, this is Aramaic.
I didn't even know Hebrew at that point.
It's very
um
like not like foreboding, but it's very
like, oh my gosh, that that's I'm not
even close to being on that level. You
tell people these stories, they're very
relatable about how big the rabbi was.
They had everyday things, you know, Rav
Chisda chopping wood on Friday afternoon
and uh They really lived regular lives.
Regular lives. Did jobs and Yeah. crafts
and they were um they were often on the
road. Look look at Boaz, you know, Boaz
and Ruth. Boaz was the the Godol Hador.
So, you know, Rabbi Goldstein from
America, he always says, imagine going
to Israel. And he says, I need to find
Rav Kanievsky a few years ago. Where
He's in the threshing floor. He's out in
the fields planting his wheat crop.
Where where
We don't have this like
uh cognizance today, but you're right.
They lived
real lives. Of course, they learned
Torah, but you know Mhm. This is one of
the reason I love being a street rabbi,
which you're also a street rabbi.
Well, I'm not a rabbi, but I I'm calling
you a street rabbi.
We're street rabbis. Yeah. Okay. That's
great.
Many street rabbis out there.
Yeah, for sure. So, it's a new kind of
rabbi called a street rabbi and they're
not they're they're found
on the street. Yeah. They're found
outside. They're found
and
when you look at the stories of our
sages and you look at the Hasidic
stories, you're always seeing that the
that the rabbi is on the move in some
kind of way, you know. For sure. Um even
the Bal Shem Tov, like the biggest
Hasidic leader of all time, is
um
How about Reb Zusha and Reb Elimelech?
They literally
they self-imposed exile for decades. For
sure, yeah. You know? Awakened so many
second they would become kind of famous,
they would put on the street that they
would put on the like the clothes of
homeless people, move hundreds of miles
away, and then just beg on the streets
um until they felt like they had
gathered that level of anonymity
Right.
of being just beggars. Right.
And then they would come back to town.
Yeah. Yeah, you know the the there's a
famous story of Reb the Rebbi Reb
Elimelech came back to his town.
And he had a kid named Loser,
which sounds funny in English.
But a Loser. Right.
In Yiddish, they
they call him Loser.
So, when he was coming back to town,
he'd been already gone for 2 years
begging on the streets
Yeah. of some other part of Europe. So,
it was time to come home.
And
while he was on the streets, he
overhears two women speaking that a kid
named Loser is sick, like really sick.
They were, you know, basically saying
like we got to pray for this
this kid and he has this thought, he's
got oh my gosh, I hope it's not my
Loser.
Wow. And he stops short.
And he says, "Why would my Loser be any
more important than any other
Loser?"
Right. And he
and he left for another year.
He He didn't even go home. Wow. He's
What happened to the son?
It wasn't his son.
Oh, it wasn't his son. Wow. He never he
just That's what amazing
amazing. because of that.
Anyway, but being a street rabbi is very
important because
you know, there's um
there's no air of of superiority or or
like uh
and there's none of that like
achievement. There
you know, your greatest achievement is
that you touch someone's heart.
Yeah, yeah.
And you paid it forward for everything
you got in all the years and
and you're able to help the simple
person. I also think it's easier. My
favorite quote in the entire
uh
Jewish history is from the Kotzker Rebbi
who said who said, "If you can't see God
in everything, you can't see Hashem in
everything, you can't see him in
anything." And I think it's very easy to
especially if you have stories like we
did in the past and are relatable
people, you know, not some giant that's
in the Yeshiva that
it's I think it's much easier to
reach people. You know, I do these
walking lectures. When I'm not doing my
Shiur by the Sea in my house, I do a
45-minute usually before I pick my son
up. I pick him up at 1:45, usually
around 12:45, I walking like by the sea.
I'll do I'm just holding my phone and I
do a walking chat on three topics and
you know, people sponsor them Hashem and
it's relatable. I'm wearing my backwards
hat and a you know, cut-off shirt, but
talking really, you know, very powerful
Torah and a lot of it's related to
what's going on now during the war.
And someone messaged me
right when I started doing this and she
said, "My husband refuses to listen to
Torah lectures. You're the only person
that he will sit and and I I I said to
her that that's really touching because
that's literally the goal. There's some
people that can't relate to
you know, that's why Rabbi Grossman, you
know, is is so the disco rabbi because
he he looks like he's that and then you
you you see him and and he talks to you
and and you realize, "Wow, he's he's
just like just like a regular
uh Sure. So, I think that's very and
that's look, that's why you've been so
successful and your
Yeah, it's the way to go for sure. The I
mean, but again, we can't comment about
what happens why there are with these
rabbis with these giant kind of
positions is because the the Jews think
God since World War really did a good
job of being fruitful and multiplying.
Yeah, for sure. And when they get
fruitful and start multiplying on these
levels, well, communities form and now
there's
well, communities need leaders and
there's in the community and next thing
you know, the community is just giant.
You're now the leader of
8,000 people, now you're the leader of
30,000 people. They're they're leaders
of 50, 60, 70, 80,000 people. Yeah.
Well, once you're leading 80,000 people,
oh my gosh, you you can't move a muscle
without the media and everything
For sure. fully aware and not to mention
the fact that your community doesn't
give a darn what anyone says Right.
until the actual says Yeah, yeah. says,
you know, yes, you know. For sure. I
mean, if the government would say that
you got to do X, Y, or Z, that means
next to nothing without the leaders
saying you must do X, Y, and Z. It's
it's uh you know, there's great power
there. Actually, there's a beautiful
let they can't run away from that power.
I mean, they're in a position where
it was a natural progression to that
level of leadership.
Yeah.
Things obviously devolve if they die.
Right. Because
I know you had a thought, I don't want
you to lose it, but but maybe I already
lost No, no. that if they die, the they
often get replaced by a non-leader
leader. Yeah, unfortunately. Um
There you know, That's why there's so
much fractures in the in a lot of these
communities now. In Kabbalah, there's
flow and structure. Right? The right
side is Hesed and the left side is
Gevurah and that's flow and structure.
Right. So, but leaders always exactly in
the middle of flow and structure. They
flow like the biggest hippie tripper
Right. and they structure like Wall
Street, you know, hedge fund guy.
Right. So, they're they're exactly flow
and structure in one person. That's a
leader.
That's a manager. That's
Right. So,
what happens is if he passes away, now
there's this giant vacuum leadership.
And and so, who are you going to choose
when everyone else is either flow or
structure? Your son.
Well, you choose the son and then
everything devolves because he's either
flow or structure. Right. And once in a
blue moon, you know, you get that rare
situation where the son just happened to
be exactly flow and structure. Right.
And then a lot of them go to the oldest
son, when meanwhile they could have
picked the fifth son who was in the
middle like the father and saved the
entire community. That's what's actually
interesting about I'm very big at the
Hasidish. I like to go to bed every
night reading Hasidic Rebbi stories.
A lot of
you know, like some of the Chabad Rebbis
for instance, it was the last son or the
four you know, it wasn't always the
the oldest. And sons now, my I have I
have a few sons friends that speak
English and they come and they you know,
they have some whiskey on my patio over
and they they tell they tell me the
inner workings of sons. So, the sons
Rebbi has four kids and each one has
been given, you know, the oldest son is
going to replace him when he retires in
sons. One's going to to Tzfat, one's
going to America, and one's going to
lead like the educational institution.
So, they're like a very interesting
organization of it. Yeah, it's I'm
always fascinated by how other people
like other culture, you know. dance
like, you know, once you're going
nepotistic like, you know, through the
Yeah, that's how yeah.
It doesn't always lead to the best.
Look, that's why there's a lot of Rebbis
to flow, everything goes nuts. Yeah, I
mean, look at some of these Hasidic
groups that that have now fractured.
There's now two, you know, whether it's
Ger or some of the yeah. Yeah. The but
the the the main thing is what I'm
saying is once there's that vacuum, they
don't choose the flow guy, they Right.
Because the flow guy,
you know, who knows what he's doing.
He's doodling somewhere. Yeah. And
whereas the structure guy is the obvious
one who understands the system. Right.
Cuz he is a systems person. Yeah, yeah.
And then but the thing is there's no
soul in a system.
Well, that's especially system means
exactly no soul. And the word flow means
exactly soul. Right. And the person who
can be in the middle
keeps the soul in the system. Right.
Yeah.
Um
can I ask you some tougher questions?
Sure, absolutely.
Um
I know about you
just because I know myself that you're a
peak experience junkie.
And I'm also a peak experience junkie.
What do you do for your peak experience
junkie style? To be honest, ad-lib
videos is a peak experience kind of
junkie thing to do cuz you're just on
the spot. I mean, you got to
Yeah, honestly, that's my I
I try to walk 15 miles a day.
So, I yeah, so I basically come home
from shul at
9:30 and I try to walk until I've picked
my son up
and just listening to different Shiurim
and then I give my own.
I used to play golf a lot.
Um I was never into
like I don't surf, I don't I don't
sky dive. I'm not into like adrenaline
type stuff. I love
talking and trying to make an impact.
From when I was a kid, my my fifth grade
teacher told me that I was like Hitler.
And my mom said, "You don't say that to
to the you know, a 9-year-old Jewish
boy."
So, you know, I got fired for that, but
I always really
was proud of of what he meant to say cuz
I'm actually a big World War
buff and
no one captivated an audience like like
him, you know,
so
my in life, you need to know your
strengths. Being humble is not
being like a little nebich walking on
the street. Being humble is knowing that
you were put in this world for a reason
and
you've given certain
positive and negative traits to
fulfill your purpose and to help others.
The Ramban says that there's only one
mitzvah in the Torah that's to help your
fellow Jews do mitzvah and everything
else trickles down
from that.
Basically like the Zevulun and Yissachar
relationship. So, when I became
religious,
um you know, I was into Rabbi Mizrachi
videos. I like the Torah and science. I
like all the proofs. So, I did my own
That's why I got thrown out of Yeshiva.
I didn't I didn't mention that, but so I
did my I did a 3-hour basically like
Rabbi Mizrachi's Torah and science in my
own words trying to reach and it was
very successful. I had a website called
sellmeyourjewishsoul.com.
If you could listen to my video and not
believe in God, I would buy your olam
haba. That was my stick. That's how I
got into
to this and it did well. But, people
started to to know me and I started
getting
um
you know, bigger on on Facebook. Uh what
I'm doing now is I is actually my peak
experience. I love
just talking
the truth and in a way that
that I that I want to give it. And um
well, what I was going to say before in
in this So, there was famous Hasidic
story of
um I believe it was the Alter Rebbe you
know,
Reb Shmuel Zalman
Shmuel Zalman
So, he had a Schneur Zalman No.
Shneur Yeah, right. Right. So, he had a
he had one of his
you know, disciples had an inn and he
got older and he he lamented the fact
that he lived his whole life and he was
never really a learner. So, he gave the
inn to his son and he wanted to dedicate
his time to Torah learning.
This inn was
a cozy place that people knew they could
get a kosher meal and a smile and it was
known throughout the area. When the son
took over, he was a businessman.
Prices went up, lost its you know,
and it world got back to
to the Alter Rebbe and he summoned and
he said, "Do what happened?"
And he said, "You know, I I I felt like
a like an ignoramus my whole life. I
never really had the time to learn. I
want to learn now."
The Alter Rebbe says to him,
"You created an oasis
of Torah, something that Hashem
loves.
There's enough people out there that sit
all day and learn Torah.
Hashem needs foot soldiers. He doesn't
need more Rebbes.
He said, "What you are doing brings some
more nachas than
So,
he he had did something simple, but he
made an impact on his
environment and
you know,
our environment. So, my favorite thing
is you know, everyone has an inherent
desire to change
the world and to and to make an impact.
So, the the Chofetz Chaim of Hashem
another amazing quote. He said when he
was younger, he wanted to change the
world. He realized he couldn't do that,
so he decided to change Europe. Then he
realized he couldn't do that, he wanted
to do Poland. Then he said, "I can't do
Poland, I'll I'll change um
Radin where he lived." And then he said,
"You know what? I can't even do that."
So, he changed himself and by changing
himself, he was
obviously the biggest Rabbi of the last
150 years. He ended up changing Radin,
Poland, Europe, and the world. So, I I
always try to use that as you know, when
you have a a big following, you you I
can reach so many people,
but Hashem will get the word out to you
I just you just need to do your
need to do your hishtadlus. You need to
do your part and Hashem will worry about
the rest. You know, Rabbi Victor Miller,
probably the greatest Rabbi in American
history, the best hashkafah of any
Rabbi, he lost talmidim every single
year because he was too
and used to say, "Everyone in the area
loves me because he's giving shiurim
that that are pure gold to like 50
people because no one else could handle
it.
And now we see we're going back. We see
that it was treasures. One of my
students in New York just handed me a
book
of Rabbi Victor Miller on prayer. Oh, I
mean
it over shabbos and it's it's gold.
Pure gold. I
I you know, I always told the truth when
I taught just like you. Like I love
speaking truth.
Right. And
and
Aish HaTorah gets a blessing for years
and years and years of letting me
say whatever I wanted.
They had no idea what I was saying.
Right.
But, they but they nevertheless didn't
prevent me from whatever I wanted.
Right.
And I owe a lot to Trump because
I had no idea he was running for
president in 2016.
You know, I mean you can be we can be
pretty disconnected from
current events.
Right. Especially when you're in the
Torah world for sure and like I just
didn't know he was running. And my my
chaverusa said that President Trump is
running for president and
and I thought he was kidding and he what
he really wanted was I should watch him
on YouTube.
At which point he puts it on YouTube to
for me to see President Trump giving a
campaign speech.
After about 20 minutes, I just said
like,
"Turn this thing off." Like Like I can't
listen to another word of this, you
know, brain burp. Right. You know, it
was like I just felt like I needed to
dunk a thousand times
in a ritual bath to purify myself from
this talk.
But, it had it went into me and the next
day I was teaching my class at Aish
HaTorah
and I just brain burped from Torah.
Yeah. I just brain burped for an hour
straight. And when I was done, we had
this whole discussion in the room. Like
do we post it or do we not post it?
Yeah. So, I'm Facebook. Do we post it or
not post it? And
and
we decided
we said, "We'll post it for a day and
see what happens." Because I was afraid
Aish HaTorah was going to get a lot of
phone calls because I was I said a lot
of radical things on there. Anyway, long
Better known as the truth. Right. Long
story short is I posted it and
we got more views
in those 24 hours and not one call that
I knew about to Aish HaTorah. There you
go. And from that day on, I just say
what needs to be said no matter what.
Exactly. And um
what I want to say about that Oh, cuz
you brought up Rabbi Victor Miller,
which is really interesting is there's a
guy who was a big Victor Miller student
and when Rabbi Victor Miller passed
away, he couldn't listen to anyone else.
Wow. So, he just was stuck with the
Rabbi Victor Miller
classes. Got the tapes, yeah, he's got
This was my biggest compliment ever is
Wow. He listens to you. good friend who
told him that listen to Rabbi Yom Tov
Sheesh.
Listen to Rabbi Yom Tov Glatt and see if
you can listen to
You're fair. And so, that's exactly what
I give you the fist bump now. So, that's
exactly what happened and he
and then he went through over 700 hours
of my Wow. Baruch Hashem. So,
but this isn't about me, it's about you
really. I'm speaking to the world here,
you know. Say your truth.
For sure. Say your truth and and and
this is what Jordan Peterson keeps
talking about is that
is that speech,
truthful speech,
if you're willing to take it, will be
the greatest adventure of your life.
Well, that's
adventure of your life because it's
going to have consequences. The most
successful
people in the kiruv world speak the
truth. Right. Right. I mean
and the Rambam says unequivocally, very
clearly,
unless you're a talmid chacham, for
women, children, and amei ha'aretz,
which basically is almost everyone in
our generation would be considered
the only thing that works is truth. And
the Gemara talks about it at length. If
you don't have fear of God
and you Oh, people Oh, I love God. God
knows that I love him. Oh, your boss
knows that you love him. You come in 2
hours late every day. You don't hand in
your TPS reports on time. You're going
to get fired. There's there's an easy
structure in life. You need to do
what God wants. There's no
Mhm.
There's no um
we we
the podcast.
No, no, cuz we don't I don't post any
No no no pictures of
Oh, it's
I agree with you, by the way. I think
people putting their kids on their
profile pictures and like what's that? I
think it's
I think it's wrong. Like
I think it's very wrong.
you permission to do that.
Yeah, I think it's very wrong to Look,
there's so many people that can't have
kids. There's so many people that chos
v'shalom have lost.
You don't need to add to other people's
You know, I I I just
that's one thing that I think that that
the social media has
that everyone feels the need to jam
their family their It's just I don't I
don't think it's necessary. I mean I you
know,
Continue with what you were saying that
you were you were in the middle of
I interrupted you cuz your kid cuz your
kid
was on the podcast.
Um
Now, where were you?
Talking about Victor Miller. Oh, oh, the
truth. Oh, so
if you don't have if you don't have a
fear of God, I look, Rosh Hashanah is
coming up. The entire world, forget
about just the Jews, every single
person, thing, creature in this world is
going to be judged. And you know, if you
look at last Rosh Hashanah, there were a
few thousand people that
you know, when we say some by fire, some
by It's not just a fluffy thing that we
like the you know, the the niggun of it
now. We like the tune of it now. This is
how life works. You know, it's it's
scary. We have a judgment coming up, but
there's things we can do obviously to
sweeten the I mean, Hashem tells us give
more charity, give more learn more
Torah,
more acts of kindness. You know, we're
we're at a very low point. People that
live in America, they think, "Oh, Israel
is just going through this." I I I don't
know if people have seen what's going on
in college campuses and on the streets
of, you know, Detroit and and New York.
Hashem is trying to rouse his
children.
And
I feel my duty is is doing whatever I
can to tell people, "Look, you're not
thinking about God. You would never
treat God like you
treat your boss like you treat God.
Like everything's a is a buffet, you
know?
Oh, modesty's not really my thing. You
know, maybe keeping kosher.
It it it's it's not how it works. And
people like
people like getting getting bludgeoned.
People I I had said to Rabbi Mizrachi
once cuz he said to me when when
we were in Monsey, he said, "Eliyahu do
you think that my
shiurim are are too tough? They turn
people off." I said, "No."
I said, "Because you can't walk into a
dark room and turn the lights off." He
uses this
all the time. People message me all the
time.
Cuz he always says, "Oh, this baal
teshuvah that I love from Atlanta." And
they say every he And Rabbi Mizrachi
always sends me, "I used your quote
again and again."
What's What's What's it mean you can't
go into a dark
room and turn the lights If you're not
open to hearing the truth, you're you're
spiritually dark. You're already turned
off. You can't be turned off more.
Nothing that you can hear can offend you
more if you're
if you want to grow, if you want to
learn about life, you can only be turned
on, you cannot be turned off. You're
already in the dark. You're already in
the dark. You can't go into a dark room
and make it darker. It's already dark. I
had to suffer through cuz I was in the
real professional gear world.
Yeah. So many vanilla outreach
situations
that I just wanted to throw up all the
time. Like like being this Mr. Nice Guy
rabbi Yeah. in some college campus or
you know, and
apologetic about gender roles in Judaism
and
and um
I mean, it it just made me so ill
because
the only thing that could have made a
difference was making a strong
difference.
Yeah, for sure. And
and
going vanilla with your your outreach
career.
And I hope someone's listening who's
either in outreach or
will be outreach. You're living the
wrong way.
is going to hear this because
because
there are no more apologies at this
point in history.
Right. We're we're not apologizing.
We're not trying to explain
why this is why
I mean, if you want to explain the
wisdom of Torah, if you want to explain
the the
how
these 30 laws point to a value that you
actually would hold true if you finally
would open your open your mind a little
bit and think about the fact that you
didn't
you know, you didn't
it would be you you also hold that as a
value. Well, well, these are the details
of such a value.
Right. And it's not un-American to have
all those details be something you
observe if it's a value worth keeping
and the Torah lists those values and
and it's um
Whatever. The The point is is to say the
truth. Back to the truth again.
I I don't think there's a more effective
in anything in life. Right. You know?
But it puts us in dangerous water
though, you and I because
because
I always loved this was I would say the
truth and then
and then
I always spoke a little beyond where I
was at.
Why? Because now in the next 24 hours I
got to get there. Right.
You know, you can't be a hypocrite.
Right. So, I mean, there are people who
can be, but if you're not hypocritical
in your nature. So
so you
I always spoke a little beyond where I
was at.
And then would fill those shoes during
the next 24 hours.
Yeah. I don't know if you've ever if you
that you relate to what I'm saying.
I always almost every single time I
finish my lectures they're usually
between an hour and an hour and 15
minutes, the ones that I do at my house.
I always put my son to bed. I I lay and
I watch the whole lecture. And I'm like,
"You know what? 2 weeks ago you
you you didn't do that what you just
said." And I
and I tell people in every single
lecture I said, "Trust me, I get way
more chizuk out of my cuz I said I watch
every single one afterwards. Sometimes I
watch them multiple times cuz
you're you're, especially as a cohen, we
walked up a ramp to get to the There's
no steps in Judaism. It's a ramp. You're
either going up or down. There's no
stopping. There's no getting comfortable
on a level.
You're up or down. It's very um, you
know, it's like a that ramp is a
metaphor for for how we're supposed to
be. And
you know, people want to challenge
themselves in life all the time. You
know, people
they Yeah, I was a great golfer. So, I
didn't go to the a mediocre golf
instructor. I went to a great golf
instructor. People are very comfortable
in Judaism to I like this rabbi. He
He says, "Okay, we can, you know, drive
on Shabbos for for like a you know,
there's always um
a comfort level of of not being
challenged, but but it's life. And it's
better to challenge yourself and have
Hashem have to do it for you, which
we're unfortunately seeing
you know, all over the world. Yeah, we
should probably uh go to that and then
maybe call it a day, but they go to the
situation at hand, but I did I just want
to share with you that
when when COVID hit
I you know, everything shut down. There
were I didn't have my daily lectures
anymore.
Which meant I didn't have anything
pushing me forward cuz my growth was all
happening because I was always speaking
a little beyond where I was at.
So, I finally after the first like 3
months of emergency of it all, I got
back in at least in front of a camera on
Zoom.
And I found I couldn't say anything that
I wasn't
I couldn't speak from a place that I
wasn't at anymore. Really? Interesting.
And I never went really went back. Wow.
So, here I had been
speaking a little beyond myself all the
years
for many years. I mean, a lot of years.
And then COVID hit
and suddenly I didn't have that anymore.
I only had where I was at.
That's a real COVID casualty. Yeah, I
only had where I'm at and
and then I finally got in a speaking
situation and I could not talk beyond
where I was at.
That's interesting.
And so I had to start speaking from
where I'm at. Interesting. And I think
it it created a level of honesty.
We're no longer speaking about truth,
but honesty. Yeah. Well a level of
honesty
That's the same. Yeah. Different side of
the coin. Same coin.
inner honesty. Yeah. And um
I I think our lifestyle is built to
challenge us without having to speak
beyond where you're at. So, we're
already challenged.
Yeah. We're we're constantly in this
incredible growth curve.
This is the an endless growth curve.
Yeah. People have no idea. People People
who
I'm sure some people listening to this
are into growth. Um who have not yet
delved into a Torah community lifestyle.
There's no end. I mean, endless.
It's so intense and it never goes away
unless unless you want to personally go
to sleep. Right.
The uh as long as you're willing to stay
part of things
you are being pushed. And you could even
take my most robotic neighbors who are
like
born and raised in total Torah
lifestyle. They don't know anything
else.
Um you might think that they're just
robots.
Right.
And maybe from outside they look like
robots. I know them from the inside.
They're my neighbors for years and years
and years and years and years and years.
They're pushing themselves 10 times
harder than I'm pushing myself.
Wow.
And these are the robots that everyone
thinks are the robots of the, you know,
black hat Yeah. Orthodox, you know,
black hat attitude world. Right.
These guys are pushing themselves so
hard. It's
unbelievable. Unbelievable what they're
up to. Baruch Hashem.
And it's um
I have such respect for it. And they So,
the prize I'm going to tell you
something deep, but the the What the
What is the Haredi movement? It's a
movement of people are willing to trade
personal authenticity
Right.
meaning like your full self-expression
Right. to trade They're willing to trade
some of that to get continuity. Right.
The collective unit. We're going to
We're going to create a next the next
generation and each one of us have a
unique tattoo.
For sure. And look, it's it's the most
successful.
Sure.
You know, they they did a a poll. I tell
this to a lot of people and they're
shocked.
Of
which groups in Israel stay
you know, it was like the Dati Leumi,
48% stay religious. Oh, really? You saw
that? Yeah. It was And it was in
Haaretz. Like a a place that you
wouldn't think that they would be. 92%
of the Haredi stay
Haredi. So, my friend said, "What What
does that mean stay?"
I said, "Whatever it means, they were
double the next group. So, it doesn't
matter. It means that they're the most
successful." Wow. And I see this, you
know, I live next to a very Hasidic
community in in Netanya. And okay,
there's there's the one or two kids that
you hear about that
but then there's thousands and they're
happy and you know, that that's one
thing that was the biggest shock to me
the first Shabbos I spent sleeping at my
rabbi's house and keeping the whole
Shabbos.
He had a I think like a 15-year-old son
and a 12-year-old son at the time.
So, they had bunk beds and I slept on
the floor. I was 28 at the time. We'd
stay up, you know, 2 hours, 3 hours
talking at night. Walk into their rooms.
You know, my room growing up, Michael
Jordan and, you know, just student
nonsense, you know, not good role models
at all. Walk into their room,
every big rabbi
you know, photograph framed on the wall,
the temple, the Beit Hamikdash is on the
wall. And I It's one of the chapters in
my book. I I walked I went home and I
said to my parents, "I want kids like
this. I want kids that that value this
particular rabbi." And I said, "Who is
this?" "Oh, this is Rav. He's known for
and and the excitement in their face was
like me saying, 'Oh, Michael Jordan got
52 points last night, you know, against
the Bucks' or something." Totally
meaningless and nonsensical. That made a
big impact. putting a ball that actually
fits in the basket, through the basket.
Right. So, seeing Well, 50 40,000
literate people cheer. Well, maybe.
So, I mean, that that was That was a big
eye-opener. And and I said, "You know
what?" And then another time I came home
from from
the davening. And in my rabbi's living
room, there were It was, you know, the
wife hosts the camp in the summer. It's
called Camp Shmaya. It's very famous in
America.
And there were like 30
girls there up between 18 and 22. The
They were the madruchot.
And I walked in and the entire living
room is just filled with, you know, I
was single at the time.
Open the door, I walk in and I went,
"Whoa."
30 very modest
just like plain girls. And I said,
"I This is what I want. This is what I
want to marry. This is what I want." It
was just a It was a Coming from college
where, you know, you're sitting at a bar
and okay, this one's wearing the
shortest skirt, so she's probably the
the easiest to talk to. I mean,
it was such a warped Right. lifestyle.
And when you, like you said, when you
get into a Torah lifestyle,
and you keep peeling away the layer, you
realize that the deeper you go,
A, the more beautiful it gets, and B,
the less you know the how far you have
to go. There's sometimes I'm like, "Wow,
you know, I just gave an amazing
lecture."
And then I realize, "Well, but I haven't
learned
99.99."
And it makes you Right. It makes you
small. And that's that's the beauty of
is always trying to stay humble and
challenged to get,
you know, to go
higher.
Yeah.
The the
um
There's a famous
a famous story of a a very
I forget who it was. It might have even
been
uh one of the big CEOs of America. I
don't remember, but the the rabbi said
that you and I are in the same place of
Torah.
And uh the CEO was like, "What do you
mean? Like, you're this giant rabbi and
I know nothing, you know?"
Right. He says, "Yeah, but
but if you took uh
Michael Phelps and um you in a pool and,
you know, Michael Phelps, an Olympic
gold
medalist,
Right. to swim across the 100-yd pool,
um
who would win?" And he says, "I
obviously Phelps would already be across
while I'm still Right. splashing in." He
says, "Well, what if we dropped the two
of you in the Atlantic Ocean, in the
center of the ocean? Who would win?"
And he was like, "Uh we would both die.
Michael Phelps would probably die a
little later,
but we'd both be So, he said that this
is the the Torah is the ocean."
Wow.
"And though you think I know a lot, I
know nothing. And
and that's the growth. Right, right.
This curve of growth.
Right, it's just a And so, there is a
big price creatively, meaning we're not
having the best musicians come out of
town at come out of our towns, and we're
not having the top writers coming out of
our towns, and we're not having the top
artists.
And we're not getting the best
screenplays and, you know,
there's not a lot of creativity coming
out. However,
intense growth. And so, you want to
point your finger at the fact that
there's not a lot of creativity coming
out compared to Tel Aviv,
you could. And you'd be right. Um but if
you're into growth,
oh my gosh. Yeah.
You It's the You can't get more growth.
There's nowhere on the planet where
people are growing more intensely and
being humbled constantly.
And, you know, it's
it's it's real, serious growth. And And
that growth means more meaning in life.
You know, a lot of a lot of great
artists and a lot of great musicians
were suicidal.
You know, where's Robin Williams? Well,
that's the
the meaning in life is I think we
Well, there's one time I was at I was at
a
a wedding um
in in Scottsdale. And, you know, I went
down and I told them, "I'm going to need
help getting into my room. Can you
please,
you know, So, I go down and I said, "I
need help getting into my room." She
said, "Okay, I'll make you a key." I
said, "No, I I'm I can't There There
should be a note in the computer." She
said, "There's no note in the computer."
I said, "I need help getting into my
you into my room. And I I came down and
I told them that I'm an Orthodox Jew, I
don't use electricity." She said, "One
second." She got the biggest security
guard I've ever seen in my life. Comes
down cross. He said, "What's the problem
here?" I said, "Sir, there's no problem.
I'm an Orthodox Jew, I don't use
electricity. I just need help getting
into my room." He said, "Well, she said
she can make you a key." I said, "But I
can't use
the key myself." He said, "What if I
open the door?" I said, "Perfect.
Great." So, we're walking. He says,
"Tell me about what you're talking I
said,
I said,
"I'm an Orthodox Jew, from Friday night
at sundown till Saturday night sundown,
we don't use electricity. We don't
create anything." He's like, "So, no
cars, no I said, no." He said, "So, what
do you do?" I said, "Well, we learn the
Torah. We have lively meals with family
and friends. We take walks.
Telling really beautiful." He said,
"Wow, it's amazing." He said, "So, no
You don't have to answer any emails?" I
said, "No." "You don't work?" "No."
He said, "Wow, it's amazing." So, so we
get to the elevator and and we're just
standing there. And he said, "Oh, I need
to press this, too." I said, "Sure." So,
he goes, opens the room, and I said, "I
have my passport here and I have a tip
for you."
And he said,
"You You planned all this before?" I
said, "Yeah, this is my first rodeo." I
said,
So, he said, "You do this what, once a
year?" I said, "No, every single
week." I said, "Imagine having one day
of the week." He was so blown away. I
mean, he he probably is now like that
with the Asia. But this was a Gentile
that saw He listened to the positives
of,
you know, we get so caught up in all the
things we can't do as Jews, when not
many people are focusing on This guy was
really blown away. Imagine have more
time with your family, more time with
your wife, more time for yourself.
Yeah, that's cool. I was just in LA. My
My father's Filipino. Living My father's
elderly Yeah. His Filipino caretaker had
shut off the bathroom light before
Shabbat. And, you know, he leaves a
little later.
Right. And I said uh
I said,
and I I turned it back on and I said,
"If you don't mind, you know, when you
leave the house, like, make sure this
bathroom light is on so I have a light."
Right.
He says, "You mean if I shut it off
later tonight when the Sabbath would
come in, you would
leave it off?" Yeah.
And I said, "Yeah, I would be going to
the bathroom in the dark."
He said, "Very dedicated." Wow, yeah,
see? Baruch Hashem. Um Listen, just a
word on the uh
We're going to wrap it up, but
Okay. You You have something you want to
say about uh about the war? So, you
know, at the beginning of the war, I was
doing tons of lectures. And I was
telling people,
you know, everyone keeps
"What can I do to help the soldiers?"
And I write back, "You are a soldier.
You're Jewish. Stop thinking that cuz
you're not on the front line that you're
not on the front line." I said, "The
reason this soldier is coming back is
cuz you're at home saying Tehillim. The
reason this soldier, you know,
the Muslim next to him got blown up and
not you and not him, is because you
challenge yourself and learn that
extra." I said, "Every single person
has,
you know,
something that we can be doing now,
something that we can be helping the um
It says very specifically in in Devarim
that they went out to the army a
thousand and a thousand. Why not just
say they went out 2,000? So, Rashi says,
"A thousand went to learn and a thousand
went A thousand went to fight and a
thousand went to learn." Each tribe had
2,000 corresponding. So, there was
12,000 out fighting and 12,000 out
learning. And I said, "You're not in the
army now. You're not even in Israel. But
don't think you're not on the front
lines. This world This is the front
line. And
we're we're in a very
low position. Hashem doesn't, you know,
When your kid's good, you don't smack
him.
When your kid runs into the street, you
smack him. The harder the smack, and
people don't like hearing this, the more
we're trying to get woken up. To think
that this was
"Oh, the you know, the technology broke
down or the army had a mistake." No.
Hashem said on Rosh Hashanah last year
that this was going to happen.
We didn't do 10 days of teshuvah. In
fact, they came into Yom Kippur davening
in Tel Aviv and were knocking down
barriers. These are things that we
cannot have as Jews. And like the
Chofetz Chaim said,
"You can't change the world. You can
change yourself. And if you really want
to do things to help people in Israel or
soldiers, the best thing to do is to
realize that as Jews, we were given a
Torah, just like you're given a syllabus
in college, just like you're given a
company policy, just like your parents
give you a list of chores, and they want
it done. End of story."
You know, not everyone gets a trophy.
Not everyone needs to be coddled. We
have a role in the world. If we didn't
have that role, or if the world doesn't
need us, just like we say on Yom Kippur,
we no longer are in this
world. So, if you're here and you're
listening,
there are things you need to do as a
Jew. And if you want to help,
you know, the soldiers here,
yes, donating to a barbecue is
fantastic. But taking the time to learn
Torah, to fix a quality that you have
that you don't like, you know,
everyone has that New Year's resolute
Oh, this year I'm going to the gym.
Well, you're going to be stuck on your,
you know, couch January 12th eating
Cheetos with your gut out. that's not
going to last. We need
We need real action now, like you said
before. Words are
meaningless. Everyone says they want to
help. They want to make the situation
better. What can I do for you in Israel?
Easy.
Do what God
wants.
End of story.
We're Jews. We were given
a higher purpose in this world.
And instead of shunning it and always
trying to it's it's racist to think that
we're better. It's not that we're
better. The CEO and the janitor don't
eat at the same table. They don't have
the same office. Just like there's a
hierarchy in a company, there's a
hierarchy in the world. And
we got the biggest punch we've gotten
since the Holocaust. God gave us a
massive
smack last year.
And
we need to take that to heart. And I
don't think we have done that. In fact,
I told my wife after October 7th, I
said, "It's going to be 2 months of
flying high and we're going to crash
down to way worse than we were on
October 6th." And we see that now.
Unfortunately. And it can change. We
have another week. You know, how you end
the year matters. Every single day
Hashem will credit it as if every single
Tuesday and Wednesday you So, we have a
week left until Rosh Hashanah
that we can
fly. Every single person needs to look
themselves in the mirror and say,
"Okay, how can I get better? How can I
better myself, better the people around
me?" And by doing that,
bracha comes down. And
you know, less soldiers are walking into
booby trap buildings, less rockets are
coming in and hitting houses. They're
going to, you know, blow up in Lebanon
instead of in Israel.
We live in a spiritual world. This is
This is like not reality how we live.
God wants nothing more than for us to do
what we're
supposed to do and help others,
you know, do the same. And Incredible
message.
And and that and that's really it. And
we make we make life so complicated. And
I try to say in every single video,
it's it's not easy. If you're a parent
out there, if you're a boss out there,
if you're a teacher out there, you want
and demand things from your students and
employees and kids. God has the same
expectations. All you have to do is just
literally read the words of the Torah.
Not everything needs a rashi. Not
everything is so deep. God says very
clearly what he loves, what he doesn't
love, what he wants, what he doesn't
want.
It's not so so hard sometimes. We just
need to get in the mind space of, you
know what?
God was very upset with us, you know?
Happy A happy God doesn't do what he did
last year. I mean, that's just
the reality. Parents that are really
proud of their kids don't walk in and
smack them in the face. They do it when
they run into the street or when they
put their hand on a stove.
Unfortunately, our hand's way too close
to the stove right now.
As Jews. And it's time to turn it
around. How can people find you online,
especially those who don't have
Facebook? So,
Uh I think you're known just with Yeah,
so I'm online. I have a fan page called
Israel with Eliyahu Cohen. I also have a
Facebook group called I love Israel. Um
You can email me at
YouTube or you on I'm not I'm not on
YouTube. Uh you can email me at eliyahu
e l i y o k i m uh at gmail.com.
My goal in life is to help the people, I
mean, everyone, but specifically the
people that I used to be.
Proud Jews, love Judaism, just never
knew how to
funnel that into action. And that's what
we need now is action. The times of
you know, theoretical stuff and I feel
and I want it is over. We need to act
literally now. And and And if you know,
that's that's the message.
everyone, please subscribe and uh
hit the hit the bell and the likes and
I'm here to share. Great session. Thank
you very much.
What a pleasure. All right.