Siyum Hashas: Celebrating The Life and Legacy of Stephen Neuwirth A'H

i' would like to welcome everybody to This Global and essentially International has which is taking place here in New Rosel my name is mosha shed I'm director of all Torah which is a project of the Orthodox Union there are people who have taken upon themselves to learn daim for this SE in Uruguay Mexico Brazil Alaska Sequim Washington State besides the regular places across Israel the United States Canada the UK South Africa Australia I hope by the time this evening is over we could understand why and how people from across the globe would commit to learn in memory of Shalom Ben paratz all Shalom Steven newworth who lived here in the community I would like to on behalf of the Orthodox Union welcome the distinguished guests and thank hopefully as many people as I can without leaving anybody out who were very instrumental in putting this see him together here tonight RAB Moshe how Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union who's here with us Rabbi Dr Josh Joseph Executive Vice President Co who had a last minute cancellation Rabbi gek CEO of O kosher RAB mosha elephant C CEO of O kosher RAB mosha elephant C oo of U kosher Mitch AER the president we have Ezra Friedberg here who is the chairman of the Torah commission Torah board at the OU and Rabbi Steven wild who has joined us rabbe wild was instrumental in founding this program together with Steve I also want to thank the people in Ur roelle first and foremost Rabbi ruen fin the mar asra here ax associate Rabbi myin Eagle Daniel Bloom Daniel Gordon Bruce shanzer Robert Friedman krie schriber byan Epstein who were all so instrumental in putting this evening together and I certainly couldn't we certainly couldn't have done it without Reena H who works with me at the OU and Usher tesser who literally spent the last month to six weeks working and putting this program together I have to admit I was a bit hesitant when thinking about this program how are we going to get people to learn 2711 daim in memory of Steve newor Steve he wasn't a great Rabbi a celebrity an actor a singer how would we get people from around the world to actually learned D him in his memory I think the answer really epitomizes who Steve was many of us have heard over the year how Steve not sure what the right word is but he used RAB AA as his hero of sorts if he was in extreme pain he would say it was worth it was worth rabaka so how could I not be happy he used to talk about how Riva started learning at an advanced age and how great he became how could I not I want to share one thought and then we'll begin the program I'm just here to introduce and as Steve would say he actually I will share a short anecdote before I share the thought on RAB AA Steve was very very he recognized people's time and value people's time so much so when we were building the olda application and we were adding a splash screen in memory of Natalie's father Al Shalom Steve was concerned to make sure that people shouldn't have too much of a delay to getting to their Shear that's how that's how concerned he was about people's time there's a medish that relates the story about RAB Akiva AKA was sitting and delivering a shear and the people were falling asleep his Tam his students were falling asleep and he wanted to wake them up so he shared with them sort of bizarre statement and he said you know Esther Esther hamala Queen Esther how was she able to rule over 127 countries and he said because her great great great great grandmother was Sarah sarahu and she was 127 when she died so she took inspiration so to speak from Sarah who was 127 and therefore she was able to rule over 127 Nations seems very bizarre first of all why were falling asleep in this year you know we can understand why people like us fall asleep when we're listening to us but R his students you think that they would fall asleep when was delivering AAR and what did he tell them to wake them up so Elia desler in M explains as follows he says there are two ways to inspire people to critique people and to inspire them to get better one way is critique their actions and tell them what you doing is no good you got to start doing this better and that better and that's how you become a better person that's one way but that wasn't Bea's way Bea's way was to inspire people to think about greatness think a little bit out of the box think about something which you may not be comfortable doing how can I become a greater person and he said you know where I see that I see that from Queen Esther Esther hamala Esther hamala had a big job she had a large task to save the Jewish people how is she how is she going to do it she thought about s IMU saru who lived 127 years and we know Rashi brings the k that teach us they weren't just 127 years when she was 100 she was like 20 for for sin when she was 20 she was like she was seven for beauty every minute of her life was complete that's who Esther took inspiration from and looked at s and said that in order to achieve greatness you got to look up when will my actions reach the actions of my fathers and I think that epitomizes Steve Steve was a person who himself and the way he inspired others was look to be greater become a greater person always look up you may not be able to see instinctively what you're able to do but look up and you become a greater person I would like to call upon Rabbi Kim Axel who will lead us into hm and following RAB aelod RAB ruen think will speak followed by how and then we will have the S followed by a buet dinner thank you [Music] la [Music] we're very honored to have Rabbi mosha sched with us as well as so many of the very important rabbis at the Orthodox Union and many other rabbis who were here all of the the principles rabbis of of S who with whom Steve was very very close so it's a very bitter sweet very Bittersweet evening on the one hand the great joy in completing Shas time for for tremendous celebration and on the other hand it's not even a year since the the passing of Steve and I'm seeing over here I see Natalie and I see the boys the whole waknin family who are here and they're really still in a in a state of a state of loss so my my task is just to say a few a few words about Steve so of of late there are magazine articles that speak about Steve and people speak about Steve and they speak about the last six months of his life which were Stellar which were unusual which were great but in fact he lived for 60 years and in fact the last six months of his life were only informed and only lived in the manner that they will live because of the first 59 and a half years of his life so it's important to know that Steve was a a a very complete individual and he was a person who had a steady stream of accomplishments from the very beginning of his life until the very end of his life he was a concert quality pianist he could have been in the philarmonic was a great musician he had great knowledge of of Music he was also a very great athlete he could have had a major league career he was a wonderful wonderful baseball player he was a Winer of fix he could drink a wine and tell you the the year of the Vintage he was a very l loyal friend anybody that was fortunate enough to be his friends he was a very loyal friend he was a super litigator he was a a super attorney he was involved in some of the really biggest cases in corporate law but we also know him here in Elle as a person of tremendous the house was always filled with people he was a person who hados he loved people the Torah and he was able to bring them close to Torah just by his personality just by his being anybody who was fortunate enough to be in the new worth home for a shabas meal over a yomtov saw the Delight that the entire family but especially Steve had when Steve would make Kish it was a celebration every single Shabbat in that house they were call a Shabbat but it was a it was a celebration every single meal every single shabas every single yov what a shabas table what a yov table they had it was a place that was a b there was so many rabbis who visited so many we had so many MIM who were there I was fortunate to be there many times with the mimim okay Steve also had a tremendous amount of coveron he remembered every single Rabbi even if he was light years away in practice and in Attitude he still remembered those rabbis each one that allowed him to go up another rung on the ladder and he honored them he had covered her Torah he loved Torah I know for many years he attended my gamorra class sat up front first Row first seat first row very very very bright very very bright he was from Yale at a time where Yale actually gave you a stellar education a great education so one one time that we we're learning the gor so one of the people in the share asked why why isn't that denigrating to call him a a big Rabbi to call him a cobbler to call him a Shoemaker so Steve immediately said no he's a he's a mendor of bad Souls Julia Caesar but immediate quick quick in fact we know and this was something that for Steve was of critical importance critical importance T now of course T was important he saw it with that RAB Sal's writings on on the Kish would be would be published properly that was very important but t a person who had a schedule which was unimaginable he would come straight from the airport he would come straight in 5:30 in the morning for DF yomi just literally came in with his bags he he would never miss he was a person who was a great attorney as I mentioned before and sometimes he would pull all nighters all nighters who would come into 5:30 in the morning come in bad but the D was important and he was sharp he was sharp once we started learning he was very very sharp he understood this that what keeps the Jewish people going what makes the Jewish people what the Jewish people are he understood that intuitively even before he actually learned that much so much so that when Orin was a little baby where he Orin he was a little baby he would bring him to the DFI because we learned to gor that Rab's mother would bring him to see a and RAB said you that's why I'm as great as I am because I saw my mother brought me so he brought he brought Orin that was something that was very very important to him he was also a very sensitive person in the in the last months of his life as as most people here know he was he was quite ill and he dedicated those last six months of his life totally dedicated to to the study of Torah on liter literally through pain through treatments through everything through everything he would have a minion in his house for Shak then the learning would begin and he had after was something amazing I was working with Steve we were going hopefully publish it translate it there's a a very Arcanist really not well known in on the first peric of the r t you don't even find it in many editions of the and it deals with it deals with it deals with Free Will and determination versus God's for knowledge God's omniscience and it's a very complicated piece and we were working on it and we were going to translate it and publish it that was going to be our our joint our joint effort but it became so obvious as he was learning now if you ever see the piece you'll know that you really need to know a lot of Greek philosophy he he knew it all he knew he knew his socres his Plato his Aristotle ptinus he knew them all he knew it all we also learned the OS of the we didn't get through we got through half of the half of the first in that there's a very famous statement and it it dovetailed with with the it's a very famous statement that makes there is no pain there's no suffering there's no distress to any person who knows the light of Lights of Truth so the question is what does that mean what is the light a light of Truth so we speculated but then when we were learning the Kish and he says I have theat I know what it means because the Kish makes a distinction as the ramban does between we speak about that got a lot of faith now there are two things there's and there's this faith and this belief says what is so the says is the person has trust in God that even if negative things come his way or her way that you know that whatever God does is for the good I believe that with every fiber of my being that what God does for the good and he said that's me that's me I believe that everything that's happening to me is for the good and as he would as would I mean I'm not the only person learned with him many people learned with him he heard the story of the brisar and his son on the train in Old mil so that became his Mantra Ain old mil he died with that in his hands ain't old mil he would mouth he would mou it even when he couldn't speak any longer he would mou this I just want to say one one other thing Rabbi Waxman from Muny once told the story we we I mentioned the story to Steve that the Nazis came into a house and the person who was a big Rob was sitting and learning and the Nazi raised his gun to kill him and the said in German to him please I need just two more minutes I'm learning a toast F I think I have it I almost have it I need two more minutes give me two more minutes that's all I need the Nazi was was shocked say okay I'll give you two minutes he finished the toast so I mentioned the story this is an incredible story true story and Steve says I want to be that person I want to be that person really incredible that's how he lived and that's how he passed what do we take away from all this nice stories about a person what's our takeaway what lesson do we learn from the life that he lived and I think that one of the lessons that many lessons but for me the lesson is that it's possible for a human being to be dealt a a terrible terrible terrible edict and to grow and to live life to its fullest until the very end and to grow from that Challenge from that Affliction he died smiling anybody who was in in the hospital with him those last hours he was happy he was smiling and I think that he was smiling I think he even said it he had the opportunity to be M sh sh how he treated the nurses how we treated the doctors with tremendous tremendous respect and appreciation with thank you mouthing thank yous even though he couldn't speak but he had a smile because he was Mak him like his hero as rabed mentioned his hero was RAB yiva he often said it and he demonstrated that he was like RAB one of his famous statements that he told all of us was we are all foot soldiers in hashem's Army that's how we lived and that's how he died thank you Rabbi thinkink I'd like to acknowledge my parents who came and maban the president of meris of the OU who was very instrumental when we began the old da program so thank you for coming as well like to call upon Rabbi mosha Hower Executive Vice President of the OU to speak thank you thank you Bishop Rabbi think and appreciate so much your uh you're hosting us here and um and have the privilege of hearing your personal Reflections it was clearly a long and and Rich relationship with Steve I'm probably one of the few people in the room who never met Steve in person we met several times over over Zoom um I had the privilege to join the OU shortly after the launch of aldaf which was exactly four years ago that aldaf was launched at the beginning of the current cycle of The Da hayomi and um through that was able to have some Impressions was able to have some impressions of this person so I want to say first at the outset that in addition to all of the specific qualities that have been described about Steve we're here tonight as well because Steve was the father of nothing short of a revolution in Torah study alaf is something which has brought access to regular and consistent study of the talmud of Torah to thousands of people every day it's it's uh incomprehensible to imagine the the constant return on this investment in building something Visionary that is just utilized in such a rich way every single day and we we are forever grateful for the partnership of Steve and Natalie and family to give us our organization the privilege to be part to be part of this together with him but when you think about aldaf you think about an app an app on a on your phone on your smartphone you think about the thousands of people and the thousands of pages and it's a big numbers game and what I think we're here what we're here to to to recognize tonight is something which is much bigger than that much deeper than that and in this I want to just address myself if I may to Natalie to to your sons to Steve's Sons to the family to to see what we had the privilege to see in Steve and what is the dream of all of these pages of talmud the vision of every one of them and if there's an image to draw for you I would like to draw the image of a person standing up at the Torah we all know when we see it regularly a person's called up to read from the Torah they un roll open the Torah they look at it they give a kiss they make a blessing usually over the open Torah they make a blessing over the privilege of Torah study blessed are you Hashem who chose us from amongst all the nations and gave us this gift of the Torah and they proceed to read the Torah to read from the Torah and then when they finish reading we are particular we close the Torah we roll the Torah closed and we say Another Blessing and that blessing that BR is blessed are you hasem who gave us the Torah of Truth an eternal life you implanted within us in the earliest sources in the tour it notes that while before we read from the written Torah we're making the blessing on that written Torah when we finish we roll it up and we address the oral Torah the da the talmud what we see as the oral Torah and when it comes to the oral Torah the scroll is not the parchment that lies in front of us it's not even the page of talmud it's certainly not the app on the smartphone the scroll is the eternal life that it makes a part of us we study not to accumulate Pages we study not to be able to cover more and more volumes of the talmud we study so that the truth the beauty the values the striving everything that is there in the Torah we study so that should become part of us when we dream about this app when we dreamed about this app and what it has done has gone beyond our wildest dreams Beyond expectations beyond the goal set and we think about all the people who are studying it it's not notches it's not a scorecard of how many pages studied it's the easiest thing to measure but we know that people who are punctuating their days starting them interrupting them in the middle ending them with the study of that Torah Shabbat Al at the end they roll it closed and they say blessed are you Hashem look what you have made of us through our possibility our opportunity of Engagement in God's word look at the life the eternal life the way to live in this world the that you've made of us and that was what we all saw even from a zoom call from Zoom call that's what we saw in this remarkable person that was your husband your father your family member your friend your Community member we saw how a person can just transform themselves I think he started off even before he learned his first page of gamarra he was a pretty fine person from what I understand but he was just busy in the act of refining himself further and further and becoming a greater and greater person that's the task for all of us that's why we open up the gamar that's why we open up the Torah that's why we study we study to become to become to become those that greater person uh his impact the revolution which he created will never be able to be measured it'll never be able certainly to be measured by numbers it'll be measured ured by the thousands of people who like him will grow to be more refined people people who will sanctify God's name wherever they go because the impact of the Torah that they studied through his yours your revolutionary Vision your revolutionary gift will continue to grow great Jews wonderful people that will follow in his way thank you thank you very much it's a it's an honor to call upon Steve's Sons to come forward and to and to make this SE him so there's a lot of Torah to say there's obviously a lot to say about my father um but before we make we make the seeum while everyone's here I just I want to take the chance to express AAR satov to a lot of people one of my father's main qualities was his gratitude his appreciation not just for things that people did him but for the beauty of the world the beauty of the Torah he appreciated everything um and so I just want to say thank you first of all to everyone who came tonight everyone who made this event happen uh Rabbi sched I was we were personally in touch with RBI sched thank you but I'm sure there were a lot of people um that made this happen so thank you um this was a a certain certain type of year for me and my family and it was a very hard year um but there were a lot of people that that made it possible that made it a lot easier for us communities the yenner community the S Community friends of ours each each one of us have a group of friends that took us through this year and whether it was like really talking about what we were going through or it was just sharing a casual laugh or if it was if you were checking in to see how we were doing or or if you were even if you were someone who we don't know so well who saw us at a certain moment and wanted to say something but held back because you didn't want to make us uncomfortable we appreciate that and if you did say something and it was the right moment it was helpful anyone who even going back anyone who came to Shiva even just to stop by we you know to my father's honor there were a lot of people there but we appreciate every single person who came and the the whole year you know these emotions they they come in waves and these are waves that are kind of hard to hard to ride but with the people that were with us the friends that were with us I'm I'm looking at my friends in the room I'm looking at my brother's friends my mother's friends my father's friends people who were there for us we I we appreciate it so much and this was really not easy and it it won't be easy but it's it's much more doable it's much more manageable because of the people that are that are with us rabbis who guided us each one of my brothers my mother we all have individual rabbis family rabbis of the family who guided us through these times Rabbi thinkink Rabbi Axelrod Rabbi Epstein we we couldn't have done this without you for our family the this is not like uh this year we were introduced to places outside of this world because now that's where our father is and so there's there's a lot to think about philosophically and and and all of our rabbis took us through that so we we appreciate that um most importantly I want to thank um I want to thank the family um the our cousins our ants our uncles um particularly um the women of the family we you were there for my mom and um you were there for us and every shops we did every time we got together um even though my dad's seat was empty the rest the house was full of love and I know we know what you guys did for us every week you you made impossible times possible um me to um my father was very grateful for everything everything think people did even though he was often doing more for them he appreciated every single thing that anyone ever did for him um I mentioned when I was standing in this same spot a little less exactly a year ago that when he was in the hospital he couldn't he couldn't speak he was only able to write notes he would thank every nurse that came in a nurse came to change the trash in the back corner of his room and and he didn't let her leave without writing her a thank you note and she wasn't even she was just changing the trash so I really want to say thank you on behalf of my family everyone that's here you know what you did you know what you did for us every interaction we had this year even if it had nothing to do with the loss that that we're going through that we're all going through just having you around you know there's there's a big there's a big cavity there's a big loss that we all feel in our own way and it's kind of like as if you know there's a hole and it can't be filled in but everyone comes to stand around that hole and and be there with us and and feel it with us so we we appreciate that and again there's so much to say there's Torah to say there's we could eulogize my father for hours and hours and hours but I just want to take the chance to say thank you [Music] um we're grateful we're grateful to Hashem we're grateful to the Torah we we've spoken about how we don't we can't imagine how someone would go through this without the Torah without amuna without the the philosophical Outlook the perspective that the Torah provides even the most tedious Halas of aus we appreciate them all whether they were hard or easy we're grateful because and we should all know this that the unity that we've seen that my family has experienced and people have witnessed it people have people here know that the community has come to take care of my family that's because we're Jews it's like communities like this are very they're rare and it's because we have the Torah that gives us a sense of community that gives us a sense ofas for each other that we take care of each other that we look at out for each other it's because we're Jews because we have those values and so we're grateful of that even though we had to go through this we went through this as Jews and we were surrounded by Jews and we felt the love of Jews and I'm grateful last but not least to you know on the topic of this year specifically I'm I'm grateful to my father I'm great we're we're we're grateful my me and my brothers my mom were grateful for everything he did he spent his whole whole life dedicated to us um and he we know about the amuna that he had and how he accepted his situation with love even with joy and you know even when he you know was was told like this is it I don't think he was I don't think he was ever scared to die he was he know he knows about the place where people go he he would come home from SCH like excited talking about something in the do that spoke abouta he knew abouta he wasn't he know he knew that death is really not the end in essence but I also know that what must have been very hard for him was knowing that he won't be able to continue to take care of us of my family and I know that he would trade he would trade some of his reward in Alla just to be here and to take care of us further and to keep you know being there for us but something that's really cool is like he kind of had this last act as a father this this like closing inning where we didn't know it at the time but the amuna that he displayed to us we woke up every morning and there it was like it was like we woke up every morning and there was like a Tana in our kitchen like that's what it was like and we didn't know it at the time but he was actually giving us the exact lesson the exact perspective that we would need immediately after he was gone he figured out a way to continue taking care of us even after he couldn't be here anymore and so while I'm thanking everyone who helped us through this year I want to thank him not to go into the actual total gratitude I have to him for my entire life that my whole family feels for him but we should we should all take that lesson we should all learn from my father the amuna that he had we're in dark times right now we speak about Jews coming together we're in dark times right now and my father was an example of how with the Torah when with love of Jews there there is light in dark times and it's a lesson for all of us to learn and it's what we're it's what we're giving honor to tonight it's what we're celebrating tonight so thank you um I'm just G to briefly explain the final gamar outside um share a quick thought and then read it inside in Aramaic so the final gumar of Nida teaches us that a person who learns hos every day it is guaranteed that he is destined for olaba and we learned this from the PUK uh his ways are Eternal and the gamar goes on to teach us that we should read this as hos instead ofos hos are Eternal um just a quick thought I think that this is a very uh fitting Kamar to read on my father's first yard site um I think one of my father's many admirable qualities was his how much he loved to learn and specifically when it came to Torah andos and throughout his whole life but specifically in you know the months of his illness [Music] um he he really loved to learn Hala and I think he was the epitome of how a person should really interact with Hala in one's life um because the way that he learned Hala was with very genuine excitement and he and he showed that it's one thing to learn H and to understand it but it's another thing to act it and anybody that that knew my father knew that the way he acted um with ala was with genuine excitement and that that really radiated to everybody around him and he would talk about it all the time and it it was very um inspiring and I myself every day use his memory as inspiration when it comes to acting as a Jew and um may we all use his memory as inspiration so I'm just going to read the final gamar inside tahu sh [Music] Bara aai Bara abari Bara RAF Bara rakish Bara for an for [Music] shalom [Music] for [Music] everyone should please help themselves to buffet dinner and we'll come back in a few minutes to continue the program I mentioned before that there was a person who took D of gamar from seim Washington when that email came in I had no idea where seum Washington is I'm not even sure I'm pronouncing it properly so I Googled seum Washington and it turns out that it's west of Seattle so I sent this person an email responded thank you for taking daim perhaps you could let me know what's going on in sequum Washington what inspired you how you connected to our program and taking daim so I'm gonna read you a little bit of what this person sent me back and subsequently I had a conversation which is now on YouTube if you go to the old off Channel fascinating conversation this person writes back he says yes I use the olda app for hours every day other than chabas no exaggeration I listen to shim I read the papers EG talik methodology wild thank you for that that one we have someone in Washington learning from taragan Torah and I print the da from the app I have started and stopped learning talmud several times in my life with the help of a Kusa a tutor and alaf I made it all the way through kadus and I'm working on my way through bakama he says I'm currently living many miles away from an orthodox community olda and other electronic resources Bridge the geographical Gap and he says I will learn these daam with gratitude to the man who sparked the digital platform from which even I as Yeshiva drop out may even learn all of sh and do so daily better and better he says he selected One D from each of the available masas which will give him many hours over a few weeks to work through a sweeping introduction to much of sh as a whole through these masas he says although none of the teachers will ever know me or the impact your daily work has on my life on most days I truly have Mr newworth and he mentioned some of the teachers he uses to thank for my return to chass with meaningful success after 20 years of interruptions and failures he says every Mitzvah I learn brings more and more Mitzvah I keep which is truly a joy what a gift January 2nd will be for all of us thank you so very very much he ends off so these are the people that a man like Steve newworth is impacting I obviously have to thank Natalie and family and the boys without them this event wouldn't have happened so I don't have many words to say but the amount of time that we spent together working on every detail to put together this beautiful event thank you I would like to call upon Rabbi Steve wild who when we began this project it was the end of 2018 and our goal was to have it launched by the the has which was almost exactly four years ago January 1st 2020 and RAB W and myself worked together to put together this beautiful platform and together with Steve we're able to have it launched for a while I'd like to call upon you to share what the vision was and some words of hasara remembrance of Steve Rabbi shed thank you Rabbi think Rabbi Axel rod in the various ranim to Natalie to Orin to Eli to Benny to nunno and to the extended wne family as well as to Steve's brother it's an honor to be in your presence um two I just two aspects of Steve's life which he was such a multiac Ed human being such a multifaceted Jew no one really can encapsulate encapsulate who and what he was i' like to focus on two areas when he would in the and duties of the heart when he asks us you know what essentially what's theit what is the foundational underprint of what it means to be a Jew you know and people say well it's Tor kulum it's a religion of wisdom people say it's the shabus it's the notion of of acknowledging God as the creator of the universe the god of physics and chemistry and biology others want to say we gave charity to the world it's a religion of generosity but he says rakia that what defines a Jew you know homo judaa so to speak is a human being who has Prof a profound sense of gratitude a grateful thankful human being and I don't think there was any human being that Define gratitude the way Steve did and the second area is humility when you're a schlamazel it's very easy to be humble when you're someone who's a renaissance man when you're at The Cutting Edge of of your profession when you've been an active player in the White House when you've litigated cases that will be written in the books of various law schools of text it's not so simple to be humble when people look up to you rever you respect you but no one was more humble than Steve and I just want to share a few areas I I had the blessing of meeting Steve when Steve Natalie and the kids came to the builtmore the builtmore in Phoenix I was a scholar in Residence there and we would learn together and that's where we struck up a relationship ship and when Steve would come out to California to La for partners meetings if he had a litigate a case we'd get together late night we'd always get to together for dinner for cigars and talk and learning and sit into the late hours of the night you know just talking and learning and he had this fascination with Rabbi salvic salvic was was a renaissance man himself he was someone who just had a thirst for knowledge who saw God's Universe not as a series of contradictions but is this this beautiful multifaceted tapestry and that's who Steve was and Rabbi think was articulating the multiple multiple areas of knowledge that Steve had a curiosity for had a background in had a thirst for and we spent quite a bit of time just our relationship was was was rooted in learning and I learned from Steve in many many different areas and the great ones the real great ones are the most humble and that's who Steve was Steve loved this community remember the neighbors of this are not our ideal neighbors you wouldn't Define them as the poster children for Shak to when the Sho was trying to build what the community the township what the neighbors put the Sho through in the cost and think about the crash of' 08 the economy and having to spend a Fortune of money just and and building underground parking spaces having to build this institution not the natural way but in order to fit into very very limited constrictions and Steve would talk about getting up every shopice trying to fund it trying to fund it to pay down the mortgage to cut back the mortgage and it's one thing to do it today it's another thing to do that in ' 08 and ' 09 he revered and he loved Rabbi he had incredible respect for Rabbi fin who was a multifaceted Tom he appreciated the of Rabbi and he loved this community I remember I had the honor of of being the one Outsider who used to get invited to the pre-thanksgiving event Robert and Myon and Carrie and Bruce and in the group and and he he felt that the members of this community were family to him and Natalie and he appreciated each and every individual and he appreciated the sacrifice that people made in ' 08 and in 09 when who knew what was going to be who knew what was going to be with the economy with the the context of the business environment and he was so proud of this sh and of the various members of the sh you know it's not easy to learn gamarra it's not easy to learn the great rishonim the great classical medieval commentaries but it's one thing at least if you pick up the language as a kid when it's easy to pick up foreign languages it's easy to become immersed in it Steve didn't have any of that he came to it later in life and he loved Rabbi Fier and then he took upon himself the doomi you know talking about a man who's in his 40s and now he it's it's one thing to learn Hebrew but to learn classic Aramaic and he's a man who was up late at night with various various ch challenges in terms of cases that he was working on managing staffs of attorneys and early in the morning he was there learning that DFI he started with M Sanhedrin and he traveled through the yamat we had many conversations about that and he said you know I want to continue with the dafi but I'd like to learn beun even though it's fascinating to get the breath of the yamama tal but the Sea of the talet I'd like to delve into it we talked about it and I don't know if Rabbi spurk is here but before the do he'd get up early every morning and learn beun learn Reon beun with Rabbi sperka and this is all before a very challenging day at Quinn Emanuel this is before dealing with some of America's toughest lawsuits with ramifications for thousands of stakeholders and one thing he never missed we had many meetings I guess his his secretary used to refer to Rabbi elephant myself and Rabbi schwed we were the Jewish Mafia the rabbis would always show up to Quinn Emanuel we'd meet with Steve there's only one reason he would cancel our meetings and that was to be at the basketball games or to be at a seum or to be in an event of whether it was Orin whether it was Noo-noo whether it was Eli or Benny he would never miss their game he would never miss an event whether it was at s whether it was at TABC he almost it's like he didn't sleep it's like he lived he lived a month and a day and he was so gracious to us the rabbi salvic project the Kish where we took 40 some years of shm of different talks of the RV and we compiled them and the support he gave us and then this project this project was a dream our goal was to have 10,000 people download the app in fact originally we didn't know from apps we thought we would create it on a website and we were told no the future of technology is in the world of apps and I shared that with Steve and Steve did his research and he said that's the direction we're going to go and Rabbi elephant Rabbi schwed myself we would s sit in Quinn Emanuel with him and bounce different ideas what we would spend the funds on what the focus would be and it was very important to him that it be something that anyone and everyone could grow from to have all of the tovos and Shas with an English explanation so that people didn't have a background or people who didn't have enough of a background could swim not only in the yamat talud but they could swim in the world of medieval France and medieval Germany and they could grow it was there for a parent who wanted to learn with a child for Bar Mitzvah it was there for someone who would have a y site and maybe they couldn't Master Basra but they could Master M the Milla for a y site and of course it was there for those of the daf yomi but just to give you a context our goal was 10,000 today we have over 880,000 who have and use the app 12,000 use it each and every day so far this dream that we dreamed together with Steve this Vision that we had 2.2 million hours of the yamama talmud of the talmud bavy 17 million streams and we included a history of the do the totus something that Steve appreciated there's a there's a incredible man he was was a well-known tax attorney right by Moshe schw he retired at 60 just to commit himself to learning and on many of the daim inas he takes the world of what we call the mifa that you and I would have to spend 18 hours 20 hours and in a beautiful way lays out the key sources so that if you were going to teach on the highest level or you going to teach on the lowest level you would have the crucial sources there underlined bolded and in so many different components and Steve was a man of broad Vision we talked about the fact that this is never it could be the best product in the world everyone has the best product in the world but the world we live in if you don't Market the product if you don't Market it and you don't so to speak stimulate people's fancy who's going to use it and a major part of the budget was specifically targeted marketing that we spent nine months on and then follow through marketing and Steve was there holding our hand every step of the way he was a partner he yes he was a fun but he was not a funer who was absentee he was an active Dynamic partner in this and he said you know the Cote I've received that Natalie myself our family received for the Kish we want I this should be done quietly no one should know and that was his condition and his father-in-law who he revered the wne family and the Beautiful M of Moroccan jewelry that they brought to Steve's life and the humility of his father-in-law the Sim of his father-in-law when Steve's father-in-law passed away he dedicated the project to Mr wne again don't put the name in English do it in a very humble way we could go on and on and on about Steve but one thing and I think we all know this he had a partner he had a partner in every step of the way and that was Natalie and Natalie and the boys came first what she brought to Steve her M her family what she brought to Steve these four incredible young men he's special unique like their father each of them is unique and special in their own way and he cherished Natalie and he cherished his boys you know in life most people are not great at everything most people who are at The Cutting Edge of their industry of their profession are usually the worst fathers the worst husbands that wasn't the case with Steve his family came first he invested in s he loved Young Israel of new relle he invested in us at the OU but with everything that he did whether it was at the White House whether it was wakel Lipton whether it was at Quinn Emanuel his family came first and that is just one inkling of who he was and where I want to end is my last two conversations with Steve and like Rabbi thinkink said Rabbi thinkink said let's it's true what Steve was in the last six months of his life is is a living saer Torah but we have to understand the breadth and the depth in the history of his life his appreciation for his parents his appreciation for his siblings his appreciation for his upbringing his professional career cuz Steve was was larger than life and he wasn't just about the way he died it's the way he lived and I'll quote you the last two conversations I had with Steve Steve as Rabbi think said was spending most of his time learning but he was reading because he was just he was bigger than life he had so many interests and he sent me two books he says I want you to read them and after after you're done reading them let's discuss them he sent me a book called The Escape Artist it's the famous story of Rudolph verba there were polish prisoners of War who escaped aitz one but never ever before Rudolph verba no one had ever escaped beer canal and no Jew had ever escaped and Rudolph verba escaped with one goal to prepare and to warn Slovakian Hungarian marar rushian jewry about what was happening at aitz that they had moov the tracks from the city of osbin to the genocide Factory of aitz to what we know as banal they had built crematoria three in crematoria 4 in biran now and that racing against the Soviet Union who was making stri not by the week but by the day the ultimate war was the annihilation of Hungarian Slovakian and marmar rushian jewry Carpathian ruthenia Mountain jewry and he came and he told and he prepared them and he met with the leadership and the leadership of Hungarian jewelry did not share it with the population and Rudolph verba like so many survivors was a tragic a tragic figure and Steve read that book and we spoke about that book for hours and the other book he gave me was by a man who's probably the preeminent papal historian at Brown University Professor kurtzer it's called the pope at War it's a story of Eugenio pachelli you and I know him as Pope pasus I 12th in my homework after reading those two books I reached out to Professor Michael Burnal Professor Burnal is today in America the preeminent Holocaust historian who was a very very engaged Jew I shared with him who Steve was I shared with him Steve's situation and condition I said Professor Burma what can you share with us what can you give us because he knew Rudolph her but personally and he' done research into papayas the 12 Eugenio pachelli and we talked about the moral responsibility of leadership we didn't just talk about the two books but we talked about the ramifications of those books you know Steve's a trial attorney but he's much more than that he was a philosopher he was a sensitive Soul he became a huge Tom he had a linear analytical mind and he was this incredibly humble grateful human being humbled to walk before God humbled to to study to learn God's Torah to study and participate in God's world and profoundly grateful for his parents his siblings his upbringing for his education for his aesy for Natalie for the four children that Natalie brought into the world and gave him for this community and for the ability to swim to swim in the world of the talmud in the rishonim and in God's world in the world of kma of wisdom and of decency and like I said we could go on for days and days there's certain people that are just Larger than Life and that's who Steve was but what stood out to me was his profound humility and his profound sense of gratitude thank you you Rabbi Wild before I call upon RAB elephant to speak after RAB elephant finishes speaking there'll be a tribute video in honor of Steve like the call upon Rabbi elephant c o kosher and longtime D mager at the OU Thank You For Preparing this beautiful event thank you to the newor family when Rabbi sched told me about tonight's program I thought to myself I have the challenge that every last speaker has how to D in all day that what I want to say hasn't been said before but thank God what I want to focus on tonight has really not been touched upon and the reason I want to speak about it is because I had the privilege about speaking about this issue isue quite a number of times with Steve as this wonderful project of alaf was developing and as my colleague my friend and my partner RAB wild just said we never in our wildest dreams dreamt that this would be where it is and I asked Steve tell me what did you do in your life that you had the that you had the privilege to be the father the mother the funer and the inventor of all death and he never as we've heard tonight so many times mentioned and his in great humility never of course answered the question but I think as I got to know Steve and as I learned more and more about him I think besides everything that he accomplished which I am certainly not the person that could enumerate or appreciate everything that he did I think there's a lesson that he taught us all the lesson of the power of what one person can do and in this week's para the Torah begins is these are the names of the Jewish people Hab who arrived to Egypt and the med says a that we say inak every morning counts the Stars he gives a name to each star what is the medish teaching us the medish teaching us that we we look up at the sky and we see an incredible infinite number of stars and we think to ourselves what is the purpose of every one of these Stars what is each star doing and during the day we don't even see those Stars tells us the posic that we say every morning God knows that every Star has a name the name reflects the personality the goal the Tas of every Star and God is telling us even that those stars that you don't see you need the sun to go down to maybe see some of the Stars has a purpose in this world and I think that's what Steve taught us you don't need to be a rabbi and you don't need to be a rashash Shiva you need to be a a good person and want to do what's right there's an incredible medish the med says there who was a t that we just discussed that we're learning now in thei everybody was participating in bringing sacrifices to the B mikdash you know as I individual Who's involved with cashis we know that animals are expensive and he couldn't afford to buy an animal to bring a sacrifice so he decided he's going to know we go we visit Israel you come to the cast of maravi you have these huge Stones he decided he's going to work on a stone chisel a stone and donate it to the B mikdash and he spent days and weeks working on that stone he finally finishes making the stone he finally finishes making the stone now he has to get it to Jerusalem how are you going to get a heavy Stone like that to Jerusalem there wer no cars there weren no trucks he finds five workers and he asked them will you transport this to Jerusalem they say yes and this is the fee he didn't have the ability to pay God saw what he wanted to do so God sent five malim that looked like people and he asked them will you help me bring this to Jerusalem and they say yes we will with one condition IMU you have to participate and if you will participate we'll take it and he says when I get to Jerusalem maybe I'll get the treasury of the B mikdash to pay for the transport and they agreed and of course the stone came to Jerusalem it was put into the B mikdash and these five Mal disappeared Steve was that Malik four years ago five years ago we Rabbi wild and myself were dreaming about who and how can we spread the word of Torah the word of Dai and what's special about the Dai is not that people learn every day the same da of course it's important that commitment that mitzvah but what's important is that every person and I've been learning DFI I've been saying a DFI for over 30 years and every person in my life who I have met that learns the da the first thing they tell me is not how much they've learned and how much it's helped them become a they tell me how it changed their life how it change the life of their family and Steve we will looking Rabbi while and I were looking for somebody to dream with us we were looking for a Malik and a who sent us that angel his his name was Steve WTH he was an angel but he told us you need to come with me he didn't say that here's the funding go do he he he demanded he demanded with everything that we've heard how mild mannered he was and how how humble he was he we I very much recall a meeting that we had a number of us one evening in a restaurant in manhatton and there was some disagreement about the vision and Steve said well if that's not what we're going if that's not what you want then I'm not going to do it he had a very clear dream he had a very clear Vision how the DFI as it changed his life should change the lives of others and it did and olda has done that and he was taken at such a young age such a tragedy so much more could have he done for Claus and when I learned this medish about the malim about the angels that Center of I thought Steve was that angel sent a Malik to this world he sent a Malik to this world to plant the family he was so proud of the tradition of his wife's family of that Moroccan tradition of that Sardi tradition and one of the mhog that I've observed in that Community it's not the same in the ashkanazi community when somebody is called up to the sa of Torah they say we say the Gabi says y mod get up Steve every time he learned a piece of gamar yam he thought he was getting up he was being uplifted he was elevated and that's why in thei community after someone has an alyah everybody goes over over to him and kisses his hand and asks for a blessing from that individual Steve was that person Steve was giving us a blessing Steve was the individual who was a Malik that sent I want to conclude with a story that I just read the other day there was a boy in the ISA Lakewood a wonderful wonderful boy a big who got married and they were making chevas for him and since he was such a special boy all of the Russia Yeshiva from the Yeshiva came and they all spoke this boy's grandfather was a regular simple Jew and he gets up and he asks I would also like to speak and his grandson the is sort of offended what's my grandfather going to say in front of all of these great rabbis but you can't say no to a grandfather his grandfather gets up and he says I need to say a story he says there was a small town in Europe and there was a one school in that town and there was a boy in that school who was a big troublemaker and the teachers and the rebies and the principles always had issues with this boy this boy one day decided he's going to do the trick of the of the year he put an animal a sheep into oresh and when they'll go up by shakas to open up the Orin to take out the sa for Torah the Sheep is going to jump out that's what he and that's what this boy did the principal said this is it we have to expel him this is already past any acceptable behavior and the boy says to the principal before you expel me I want you I want to have a d Toro I want to go to the rabbi and we should talk this out the principal had no choice they come to the rabbi and the principal says this boy's behavior is beyond any level of acceptability we must expel him and the boy says you know this is a town a small town this is the only school only yes in this town if I am expelled I will never go to Yeshiva again and I will go to public school I'll I won't who knows what will be of me are you ready to take that responsibility and the principal the Rabbi says what do you say Rabbi principal he had nothing to say and he had to accept and back into the school the grandfather at that Chev BR says I am that boy and imagine what would have been if they would have expelled me they didn't expel me and I was able to build a family and I was able to have tonight A A I don't know what the world would have looked like if there hadn't been a Steve newor in this world Steve newth was that boy Steve newth was that Malik that AES sent to this world to raise such a beautiful family that a kesu sent to this world to give us the ability to spread the word of Torah and it has now expanded to mishas and has now expanded to paraa and the sky is the limit but it all started from one man who said I am going to do whatever I can do and not leave it for someone else that message that Steve taught us that lesson of his life that he taught us will certainly remain with me and my family with us at the O you who are so indebted to him for having helped us be the vehicle for that should be a for his wife for his children and it should be for cl that is he is sitting now in shim next to the with all of the tan and and I've said in previous occasions probably together with r Shapiro who may be as much as he did fori Steve did fori they should go to the and say bring shom to cl bring peace amongst us bring peace to us from our enemies so as he wanted that we should all be able to spend our days constructively learning Torah and that we should be we should have the privilege to see him again thank you reab elephant before anybody leaves this evening please make sure to take a safer toim and also a safer shich Chua why is there a safer shua this is a safer that Steve spent his last months last months of his life learning that safer again and again and again and felt that this was a safer that was very important for people to learn there's a beautiful art scroll English translation so please take the Sha and the could you please close the lights so we could see the video thank happy birday to Let's Blow one wait wait wait make a wish make a wish okay one 2 3 Steve fundamentally is probably one of the most spiritual people I've ever met he was really just a regular guy and yet he had that super quality about him it was almost like just I'm going to be excellent at everything right I'm going to be an excellent attorney and I'm going to be an excellent father he wanted his legacy to be that people would learn more that people would spend more time with Torah the capabilities and and the skill set that Steve had was was unmatched he was a realist but he was a dreamer and he put his realism into his dreams I don't know anyone who had the respect for ranim that Steve had if it said Rabbi before his name he treated that person with tremendous difference real der Steve was a man of Truth he found that truth in learning he found that truth in the Torah he found that truth in Hashem he found that truth in CLA Isel [Music] Steve lived in the moment working hard playing hard learning hard being an amazing father an amazing husband he really in every area he taught us live in the moment as a Jew as a mench as a person I've been in the rabit for over 50 years and I've known many really great human beings some of the finest human beings on the face of the Earth and among the very top still Steve new worth Steve made me feel like family like it just I mean that's what our friendship was I hope I did the same for him I I you know never got a chance to ask and never really talked about it but I know how he fed the void for me and he really had this gift of making everybody feel warm and welcome what was really unique about him was he was able to take from every experience the value of of that experience in every facet every area whether we were talking about TR whether we were talking about politics whether we were talking about friends whether we were going out for Stakes or cigars or whatever it may be it was always something oh did you know this oh what about that you know that was the that was just the way it worked all across the board AA and Benny had this basketball tournament uh in Orlando and Steve said to me he goes hey look the boys are going down to Orlando why don't we both play hookie it'll be the best time it's like okay let's go for it and so the two of us went down with our sons we did Disney World we did Epcot we went out these incredible kosher meals in Orlando and Steve you know just he loved having a great meal and just the whole the boys had the best time after the tournament they both got knocked out at some point he was like let's go to Wet n Wild and we spent the afternoon at Wet n Wild and then we you know get to the airport right before the plane takes off and it's amazing cuz I don't know what possessed me but I have this great video of Steve at the airport where we go what and wild Steve where did we go R and wild that's right did we have a good time Steve newor I think so gentlemen did we have a good time this weekend we sure did that's way I'm always going to remember him I'm going to remember him as this guy who just figured out a way to live life with purpose to live life with joy to be a great dad to be a great friend uh and honestly I I miss him every single day Steve was a phenomenal lawyer Steve had an unbelievable ability to master enormous amounts of material and texts and distill them into bitable sizes what would normally take a lawyer two weeks to figure out and digest Steve could do in a matter of hours I had just transitioned from the Quinn Emmanuel Hamburg office to New York and he said like hi I'm I'm Steve newworth have a seat um I have um two cases I want you to work on and we're going to trial in 6 weeks so this very important um and it was Wednesday and I hadn't even signed a contract yet and and he he said like and and I need that motion by Monday and I said okay you know obviously you know I'm happy to do it um you know I wanted to let you know that that I'm Jewish and that I keep the Sabbath and at that time Steve got up from behind his desk stood up put his fists on the table and said I'm Jewish too I'm sh shabas and Shar kashus and you have till Tuesday my son got married uh last year during Kaneka December 22nd and um Steve was already sick at that point um and so my I spoke into my son he was looking for uh suggestions for who could be a good Aid and I suggested maybe he'd want to consider Steve and he said you know that's a great idea so I called Steve and I and I said my son would really like you to sign the cuas he was concerned at first that his Hebrew handwriting wasn't good enough um and wouldn't look professional on the kuuba so first just to understand the essence of his ability as a perfectionist he spent at least a week practicing writing his name so that when he wrote it on the line of the kassuba it would look professional so that's just one small side point but he was overjoyed with the opportunity to do this and you're talking about a guy who was at the time very sick and um they came to the wedding and he signed the kuuba and all of that was great seeing him was great dancing with him privately was great you know being able to just rejoice in the Sim with him was great given how close we were but the the most amazing thing was waking up the next morning and having him write how special it was he had never been an aid before he had never been an Aida obviously before and the opportunity to participate in a Simka at that level given how in retrospect how sick he was and and what a TI it was for him to have to shlep all the way out to Long Island on a winter night to participate and the joy and and and and never complaining and just doing this the joy in being able to be M A Mitzvah was an incredible incredible experience for him and an incredibly moving experience for me five years ago four years before he before he passed away he had uh come over to me and he had asked if I would be able to find him AA he wanted to learn in the morning take off a few hours of work or delay starting his workday and you know begin to hone his gamarra skills he had already made a CM masas but now he wanted to work learning Bean learning how to learn learning the language of the gamarra he was rigorous in his defense of the two hours a day he learned so much so that no matter what was going on whether it was a hearing a trial a meeting the rule was he takes no phone calls and does nothing before 10:00 a.m. because the first two hours are for Hashem the first two hours are for learning people are very often satisfied with minimalism I did enough Steve was never satisfied with that he was looking to be the maximal person that he could possibly be and whatever he accomplished he always wanted more I don't think there should be any confusion that he was probably one of the most spiritual and one of the most religious people and he felt it so deeply it wasn't just for him he made other people want to do things with him which was the incredible part I mean you've heard the stories 100% his kids coming with him to dafi in the morning he walk into sh first first minion and his kids would be there with him like at 5:30 in the morning his kids were there kids wanted people wanted to do stuff with him he'd asked me if I enjoyed today's do what did I thought about this or I would ask him a question about something that I learn heard and sheer and like and he would give me a thought he always encouraged me um you know to increase my learning I think his kids have a Rashi teacher and he said this is the best thing that um he's ever experienced because he was never able to learn Russia at a young young age and now he's doing it alongside with his kids and this is just tremendous for him Steve was an incredible father the way he would come to basketball games and schedule things around basketball games he took their education seriously their Torah learning seriously their secular learning seriously he knew his kids were going to be growing up and knew this is the school he wanted them s was a school he wanted to send them to and he wanted to make it the outstanding school and he did he really contributed to the point where s is the number one day school in the country yesterday's da it said that M and one of the things they say is Mos and simple explanation usually people say is peros but I saw explanation that MOS means not just that you're focus on your own religious growth it's your focus on being a father and making sure that everyone in your family as much religious growth as you do so it's not just to have mosos Milos mean be like the OS that you actually can transport that Torah to the Next Generation and I think Steve was excellent at that Rabbi thinkink once shared with me the beautiful words that when a person who is like a sadik dies it is a painful and sorrowful moment for those of us in this world but for the person who is like a sadik this will be the greatest time he will be welcomed in shamayim by the other tadim and the members of his family who had passed away previously I feel confident that tul Nama with all its Merit and goodness is a complete peace close to Hashem and experiencing hashem's mercy and greatness and loving kindness please Hashem May Tully be sitting with you in Ganan studying the Torah that he so loved he taught all of us what means it's easy to have faith when everything is going brilliantly but to have faith when things are not going very well when you have a young family and you're only 60 years old and never toess to have that kind of rock solid diamond Solid Faith in Hashem that things are going to be okay that that Hashem will be with them always that was something I brought tears to all of our eyes anybody who knew him and visited him and saw him during his last months we're all stronger and better because of it he was giving he was caring he was fighting and he was loving um somehow all at the same time that's what I that's what I take from him that's what I took from him that's what I miss about him and that's what I see in his in his children and Natalie um wonderful wonderful people who I know will continue to bring the things that he brought to this world they will continue to bring it to the world to the to the people around them um for for years to come I think of him every day and I always think what would Steve say to this what would Steve think about this so I think look he he would love if if the old do app and if the OU and if all of his friends are learning more if it is a source of harbas Torah for for for CLA he would be over the moon because I have no doubt Steve is up there in shmay at having a Kusa with the kind of people like rabi AKA and those kind of people and and he's on a madrea that's very high near the rebon he just wants the end result to be that we're all doing better in Torah learning more caring less about the gashos and more about the RAS the world should know that there was a person who lived amongst us who wasn't a rabbi and wasn't a prominent individual that everybody knew his name but dreamt big and did big and that everybody everybody had has that opportunity to dream big and accomplish big