David Nesenoff - Part 1

Episode 181: Modi sits down with multi-hyphenate David Nesenoff, author of "I Never Met The Rebbe Many Times".

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Transcript

Welcome, Guest, And The Book

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Let's start on me and then I'll introduce our guest and then go to the wide. My camera is that guy. His camera's that. That's the double. Amazing. Okay. We ready? We're all that testing the sounds good. Okay, we are. Oh, exactly. Wow. Hi everybody and welcome to And Here's Modi. We have a very, very, very special guest in the in the in the studio today with us. David Nissenhoff. Did I say that right?

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Nessunoff.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Nessunoff. Nestinoff, okay. Um, who I met in a kosher restaurant in in Florida. I was eating. He came over, he said, I'm a big fan, and I have a book for you. I said, Thank you very much. And I don't usually read people's books because it's very hard for me to read books. But your book got me right away because on the cover of your book, there was a picture of the Rebbe that I had never seen before. It's an amazing picture. Uh you know, do you know the background of this, of this, of this picture?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Yeah, first of all, pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Pleasure to have you here.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

And I have one thing to add before about that picture, which is really important. I'm glad you noticed it. Um, I know you rate the way people come over to you. Oh yeah. Okay. So I'm in a restaurant, I see you at the other table. I'm gonna see you a couple of nights later at a show. Right. So, you know, there you are, you know, with Leo and some other people. And uh I'm gonna go over, you know, not child go over. So I'm about to go over and I'm gonna play it cool, you know, because I want to get an A rating. Okay. So then some other people come over. Right. Now I'm in a line. Okay. Yeah. So it's like it's worse. It's like now I'm down to a B because I'm in a line. And then I say hello, we take some pictures of my wife, Leah, whatever. And then um, I go back and sit down, and I realize, I want to give him my book. Yeah. So I maybe I even say something to you. Maybe I just run out to the car.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

You went to the car and you got your book.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Now I'm coming over. Now I'm down to a C.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Okay. I'm not bothering you. No, not at all. Not at all. You don't know you don't know our rating process. You don't know our rating process. Yeah. So I whoever's in who whoever's ahead of you doesn't have anything to do with your rating. Okay. The fact that you gave a book, you had it, you were fine, you were great, and you blew me away with the with the with the book. But but you took the book, you were very gracious because you didn't know what the book was.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Always nothing but very nice. Always book. Thank you. We were really impressed. You asked me, what's this book about? Now you're in a restaurant, but you eat. You don't ask somebody what the book's about, but you did. Yeah. So you said, What's this book about? I said, What's a rabbin? I traveled to 800 Chabad houses in the world and I wrote some experiences, you know. And you were like, Oh, that's very nice. You know, that was the end of it. And then someone sends me the video, you know, the podcast that you're talking about this book.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

And I'm like, whoa, he read the book.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yes, which I don't, which I usually don't.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I know, and it's it's a book, you know, I was never a reader, but I wrote the book. So I wrote it for people who don't read. I'm writing a book now, I can't read. So anyway, so the picture, getting back to the picture, um, because it's called I Never Met the Rebbe Many Times, which we'll explain in a minute why that's the title. But the picture, I'd never I looked for a picture, I wanted a picture of the Rebbe. Right. This is the Labavich Rebbe, Chabad, Chabad and Lubavitch, same thing for people. And and um, and I wanted the picture that usually have him walking out with the the sack with all the letters inside or pointing, or is that a so I found this and and it to me his finger was right here, you know, and I thought, is he adjusting his hat, or is he just thinking? Or to me it was right where that thumb is on his head, yeah, he's got the entire world on his on his mind, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Or maybe he's or maybe he's connecting to his third eye, this the sense that, you know, when you do schema, you put your hat, your hand on the head to get to the the third eye. Who knows? Just an amazing yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

And and so it hit me that this is this is the rep, but this is him in thought. It's not about him with me, it's him looking at himself. And so I I I actually you know contacted that they had to get rights for the picture. Of course. I contacted the place and I paid Who was the the photographer? It's in the it's in the uh copyright page. So it I don't remember the name of stuff with the video.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Uh cover. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shlomovyshinsky.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

So I'm gonna tell you I've a good story about that too.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

So what happened was after I got the rights, after the book was published, it's coming out, I get a phone call or an email saying, Oh, you have no rights for that picture. Oh wow. I'm like, well, he died on the front cover, all the books are out there. Right. So I call up, and it was the son of the guy who gave me the rights. And he said, Oh, his son. Yeah, the son of the the one who owns it. Right. So he says, Oh my god, my father never gives out the rights to that picture. He must have literally liked you or something. I said, Well, good. Then he stood stood back and said, You you would because I had the paperwork. He said, You have the rights. And so that's the picture. And I rarely see that picture around.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I rarely see that. But then after I saw that, I sort of I began to see it a few places.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Um I will tell you a story about I bought a picture from his studio. So in 2004, I bought an apartment and I wanted a picture of the Rebbe in there. And I um I my friend brought me to him, my friend Hai Marcus brought me to his studio, and there was one picture that was so intense, I couldn't believe how intense. I wasn't and I bought it r right away and I framed it and I put it up, and I it was too strong. It was way too strong for the apartment. The apartment was too small for what was going on in that picture. And I spoke to him and I asked him afterwards, I saw him in Crown Heights, I said that picture I I bought from you, and I showed him a picture of it. He said that it was in his camera in a role that he hadn't developed in a very long time. It was the Rebbe getting an Aaliyah right before he had his stroke at the at the grave, at the at his father's, at the the Friedrich Rebbe's grave. Uh he's he was heading over there. And that's what I realized that that was just too much. I couldn't put it was too intense of a picture to keep on the wall. Um but uh that so that's what it is. So the book is amazing. The book is absolutely uh I it takes a lot for me to read a book. Uh, but the stories were short, and the stories were for anybody who has ever had a chabad experience, has had any connection to a chabad rabbi, a chabad house, a chabad on campus, a chabad on uh uh uh an individual you met somewhere. It was unbelievable. I I it's every story was a Mashir Khanji story.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Yeah, yeah. I I I I enjoyed it. I was also a big book bookend guy. You like to begin a little story and then end it with something that makes you feel it ties in with what I began with, you know, like that. And and the the title itself, um, I never met the rebbe many times. Right. It it I I I think with a title like that, I could have had empty pages, people would have bought the book. Yeah. It's just such a I don't know how I came up with it. I was first like the maggit of Boga, Boga. That's right. Because I'm a I'm a Maggit as a guy who goes around the world talking. Right. And I've been all over the world. And so I thought, oh that, you know, but then I said, Well, I never met the Rebbe. And I said, But I met the Schluchim, I met his emissaries. Yes. Because I met his emissaries, I met a piece of him each time, so I never met the Rebbe many times. Right. Hence the name. And uh it it really tells it

The Rebbe Photo That Hooked Us

SPEAKER_02 7:40

all. And I'm I'm always fascinated when I tell talk to younger, you know, teenagers or kids, and I ask them, Well, you you know, what do you think that title means? And they get it. You know, they get it. So and uh and the stories are you know just uh incredible. I mean, they're they're Rebbe's stories, but a lot of them are personal stories of things happened to me or my kids, and I wasn't a chabadnik, you know, I like everybody else. I you know grew up I grew up on you know Long Island, a conservative Jew, and uh, you know, went to YU though and then became a conservative rabbi and and uh then I was as you know, I was got this famous thing happened to me in the White House with Helen Hill.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, so let's discuss that just so the people listening to this know exactly like what more you what you're known for on a bigger base.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Yeah, yeah. I I I I I was I was leaving the conservative rabbinite. Okay, I had a note for that, whatever. You know, it's it's uh you just entered it, I know with your congregations. You speak all over the world. I can see your conversation.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

I I want to tell you something. The they they got machiach energy too. Yeah, no, I they are they're uh bringing people together, they're having events, they're they they they can afford me. Um they they're doing great, and they're doing they're making everybody in the community feel welcome, and it's a it's it's a great thing. It's a great thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

You're a shliach in a sense.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

You're gonna be able to do that. I'm I'm 100% a shlich, an emissary of the Labava Cherebi, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

So I get to do what you do in the sense that I no longer have to do the the uh the logistics of being in the synagogue. I go in, speak, and leave. Right. Same, same. Just in, out, done. Same.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

I've done I I used to have a joke that I've been into more chabad houses than for Rebecca Kotlarsky.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Because I I performed in all of them. When they could afford me, they would bring me in and we'd have a great event. Great events.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

I used to tell Kartlar Rabbi Kotlarsky, Oliver Shalom, that um that uh who has more points on our uh you know, on our travel uh travel log. Yeah. But tell a story about you and uh and the press. So what happened was I I was I was sitting in my house in Long Island saying I'm I'm you know done what do I want to do with the rest of my life? You know, I always say you're sitting staring at Facebook. If you turn off Facebook for just a second and you look at the screen, you see your face. Right. You know, something like, who are you, David? What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Right. So I came up with this idea that I'm gonna help Eritus Rowell and help Israel.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

I'm gonna go around with my camera, I'm a filmmaker. I had to film at Sundance, I'm a filmmaker, you know, where a lot of Yamak is. And I said, I'm gonna ask people one question, you know, any tell me something about Israel, you know, and they're gonna tell me about the falafel and masada, and then I'm gonna put it and make it go viral somehow.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Just push that button. And that was my idea. That's what I'm gonna do the rest of my life. My wife came in my office and said, That's what you're gonna be doing now? I said, Yes. She said, Is there dental you know, money? Dental coverage? Yeah. Well, we'll talk. So my son was up in his little room, he's a teenager, and he called the White House. He wanted to film uh the Hanukkah Minora lighting from that. So they call him back, you know, and they said, Uh, Do you mean you want to film the Hanukkah at you know six months from now, or you want to come next week for Jewish Heritage Day at the White House? So he said, Next week for Jewish Heritage Day. It's a very proud moment for every parent when your child learns how to lie correctly. So he said, you know, so he got a couple of trespasses for me and my son and his friend who shouldn't be allowed in public places. And and the three of us went down to to the White House. And I'm at the White House, you know, and I'm standing in front of that, you know, podium that the uh you know the press person the auditary always has, and I'm taking pictures of myself, I'm you know, I'm being Bill Schwitzer, you know, whatever. And and then a funny thing is I saw uh this was Obama who's there, I saw President Clinton, former president, walk by. Oh wow. I ran up, I was like, you know, I'm crazy. I go, Joya Bill Clinton, you know. And and he was like, uh he's like, oh, he walked off, and I was so excited, I turned to the next guy. I said, that's Bill Clinton. And he said, I know, I know, I'm Joe Biden.

unknown 11:24

I know.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Oh yeah. So I met Joe Biden. So anyway, so what happened was I'm at I'm at the uh I'm at the White House and and uh we're waiting for Jewish Heritage Day to begin in the afternoon, and I'm walking around and I see Helen Thomas, who was the almost famous journalist in the world. She was there for 60 years in the White House. She was 89 years old. I always tell my audience, I think she dated Lincoln's younger brother. You know, she was old.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Right. So those of you who don't know, uh Helen Thomas was uh uh uh you know when you see the the the press uh being briefed by either the president or the press secretary. She was in the front row. She was there, just pictures of her as like uh like in her twenties all the way to her 80s, probably, right? And she was the center. The president's always had respect for her. She was like an it was an iconic thing. She was always in the front row. So that's so this is who he's talking about.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

She always had the first question. Thank you, Mr. President. She was in a couple of movies also that particularly.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, she was a character. She was a character.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

So I didn't know anything about her, by the way. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Which is which is where we can start all the rambling you got to right now. This is where we can start this section. But I don't

Title Meaning And Living Like A Shliach

SPEAKER_01 12:30

I was giving you a taste of when I do it. You were giving uh the cana for the preparation for this story. You were giving everything. Joe Biden got into the story, Clinton got into the story, Marcia Tukas got into the story. You had an interaction with this woman who was a part of the press corps, and she was iconic and she was 100 years old when you met her. She had a whole career of being a press secretary, and now you're about to destroy it for her. Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

I went over with my camera. I had a little camera on me.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

All the other stuff was a little camera.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

It was the uh whatever, the little cameras they saw. So I said, Um, you know, any comments on Israel? And she said, uh, she looked right at the camera, she said, tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. I said, ooh, you know, I was like, what am I what's going on here? I don't know who I said uh I figured I'm a I was a I had a press pass for 60 seconds, I figured I'm now pressed. I'll tell her, I'll ask her next question. I said, I said, Where where should they go? She said, home. And because I asked the next question, it changed my life and her life and everybody else's life. And I always say the journalists today don't ask the next question. They said, Where's home? She said, Poland and Germany. We should go back to Poland and Germany. Not and and that was the first time, by the way. We really heard that it's not go back to Tel Aviv, Netanyahu, go back, get the other side of the West Bank. This was river to the sea, you know, go go back to Poland and Germany. So this was this was I'm not just anti-Israel, I'm anti-Jewish. So it was a it was a big moment. Anyway, I I I went and posted it, um, and uh uh I uh it it it became national. Global news.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Global news. Global news. It was the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

I I mean I I was I I received thousands and thousands of death threats in the hate mails. I'm sure it was crazy what went on. You know, and and I'm I'm sitting in my little piece of the story. I'm sitting in my son's uh you can really get the rashi on this. I'm sitting in my son's bedroom, you know, in his little soccer wallpaper, watching the emails come in. Yeah. And and he's all What was the year? What was the year? Uh it was uh 2010.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

2010, okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

So I'm sitting there and uh he he and and and I'm getting all these emails coming in, and and then the uh and I'm saying to God, you know, God, what what am I doing with the entire world press corps? Yeah, you know, and then the phone rings and it was Ari Fleischer. Right. You know, and I'm like, thank you, God, this will do. So so uh and he said to me basically, you have to have a message. You're gonna go on every television station in the world, you gotta have a message. Right. I said, Ari, what's the message? He said, You gotta figure that out.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Ari Fleischer was the press secretary for George Bush. Right, right. One of them. Right, right. He's a Jewish boy, yeah. So very nice guy. I know I met him many times.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Very nice.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

So um anyway, so so uh he said he needed a message. Okay. So What was the message? Well, what happened was my son comes home from school and I said, Ari Fleischer called. And my son says, I know, I told him to call you.

White House Viral Moment And Bene Israel

SPEAKER_02 15:10

So my son's a real I said, Well, he called. So he said he we need a message. I said my son said, Well we're not smart enough to figure out a message. We gotta get some advice. So I said, Who do you call? He said, You're on the front page of everything today. Today, anybody will take your call. So he says, Who do you want to talk to? So I'm thinking, you know, I don't know. I said, Ellie Wazell. Oh he says, You want to talk to Ellie Wazell? I said, Yeah. He walks out of the room, he comes back and seconds later, here's Eli Wazell. Wow. I get on the phone, it's Ellie Wazell. He says, There is evil in the world. So I said to him, What's my message? So he he he knew exactly. So he said uh something really interesting. He said, I read that you're involved with Lubavitch, Chabad. Yeah, I mean it's crazy. Everybody knows he's sitting at home having a thank you with a Danish knows what my life is. So he says, Why don't you find out what the Rebbe would have wanted you to say?

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Oh, exactly. There's nothing else you can say.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

I show up the next morning, my Chabad minion. I don't have a little entourage, a guy carrying my talus bag, my film, you know, now you know. So I tell to the rabbi there, right, Chaim Grossbaum in Stony Brook, and I say to him, What's the Rebbe's message for me to say? Right. So he took it very seriously. That's what Chabad, they take it very seriously. Because Chabad's always in the front page. You have to. They're always in the front page. No, what's going on in the world? No, go back to the story. So anyway, so so so he he says, let's call Avram Shemtov. Avram Shemtov, big Shelech Philadelphia, goes to the White House, the whole thing, and he says, he gets him on the phone, he knows exactly what was going on. He says, This is the Rebbe's message. Basically said, if you have a friend and you don't see your friend for many years, is it still your friend? Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. He says, But if you have a child and you don't see a child for a year, ten years, fifty years, a thousand years, is that still your child? I said, Yeah. He said, We are not the friends of Israel. We are Bene Israel. We are the children of Israel. Our relationship with God, the children of Israel, and with Israel is forever because we are the children of Israel. I went across the world around telling everybody with the children. I was on CNN two days later. I'm like, that I don't know what they asked me, but I went, we're the children of Israel. Wherever I went, I told the story we're the children of Israel.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

First of all, uh Shkah, very good that you that you knew to find uh to ask for help. That's a that's a big thing. Not that you came up with the message. You went and you and um it's amazing. It's an amazing story, it's an amazing way to get uh one of the Rebbe's messages out.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, you know, and that got me involved in telling the story over and over again and going to Chabad houses and places. And then I started making it a little more humorous and funny. I realized like you, you know, you more you push, you can make it more humorous and funny. And I even though I wanted to give Toychen in substance, people like people went to the humor, you know. So I was sitting in Los Angeles at a red light, and the car pulls up and the guy opens the window, and I look at him and he says, You're the comedian. And I'm like, What do I do to be a scholar around here? Right, right. Like, you know, if you're funny, because people are not funny in general. So if you if you can do it with humor, yeah, people really go to it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

So that's that's that puts you first of all in the in the in the the spotlight, the line. I don't know what the expression is. That that got you out there. Yeah. Okay. You had a message. Yeah, we are Beneathroy, we're not uh the friends of Israel. We are Bene Israel, we are the children of Israel, it's an amazing thing. And then this book came out. And it throughout the book, you talk about your son, who it he he's He's a Lobabich, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:34

He's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

He's in business with me, but he's yeah, and he's uh a the there's great stories about him in there.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yeah, yeah. He he he he he's very unassuming. Whenever people meet him, he always says he they he feels like he should have a cape or something, but he's a very quiet, unassuming, humble guy. Right. But but he did a lot of things. He went to Cuba, he went to here, he went to, you know. Um and uh I might have told you he he he even brought me to prison once too for for Yom Kippur, um, which was you know such knock as you get from your children, you know. You know, you you want to go to you want to go to prison for Yom Kippur?

unknown 19:03

Oh sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

As long as you're not visiting him.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Yeah, yeah, no. We went there and uh and uh we we uh had there were the twenty twenty uh double murderers Jewish, you know, that were in the prison that we uh catered to there. Trevor Burrus And what was the takeaway from that? Aaron Ross Powell Well the takeaway from that was my speech to them was a uh a a chossid machus viva, which is the re words of the Rebbe. Means uh a person makes their environment. Most people think you are who you are because the environment made you, but you can make the environment. Right. So I told that speech to these guys there. Not that I thought, I don't know, you know, how are they gonna make their environment? Is it really work in prison? The Rebbe said it, so I said it. Then later my son said, I want to go to the shoe. This is the uh uh uh solitary confinement area. Okay? Because there's one Jew there. We always represent. There's one Jew. So we said, I want to go. I blew chauffeur there, he said, on on the sound of the chauffeur on Russia. Sean, I want to go back to that guy. So I said, okay, let's go. So we we go to the this big uh steel door about to go in, and it's thousands of you know, hundreds of guys, whatever. Uh really my son said, I just want to warn you, Abba Dad. I want to tell you when you go in, they're gonna be screaming the most disgusting, vile things out of their mouths. Like they're taking dirty words and making compound dirty words. It's just so I'm like, okay, okay, I can handle it. We open the door up, we step in, we've got our hats and our jackets, you know, and we hear from every mouth in the entire place. And my son says, they remember me from Rosh Hashanah. Oh and I said, A chosid mach this fever, one Jew can change the entire environment of the beautiful. The mouths that used to have vulgarity were now making the sound that was heard in the Besan Migdash from the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

That's so beautiful. That's what I took away.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

That's beautiful. I the uh one of the things in your book that I connected with so much was when you uh what when when you pray in the morning, right? So we have the you get to the psalm of the day. When you get to the psalm of the day, and you know, and we I sometimes have no idea what day it is. Because my our between traveling to get to shows, waking up, getting to the next place, landing, doing the show, next place at the or we come home and you know, um I I I don't know what day it is. So in the morning when I'm sitting at at the table with my talus and filling, and I I get to the server and I get to the section where what day is it? I turn to Leo and go, Leo, what day is it? He goes, It's Tuesday. And you tell that that you also it's probably the most important prayer. It's one of the most it it really it reminds you. Well, the the it that and the addiction thing just it's it talks about being present.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

It's about being present.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

I think all of Judaism is trying to get us to be in the moment. Yeah. You know, we say a blessing before we eat, we say a blessing after we eat. So we could be in that moment. Yeah. We we everything we do is just to to get us to realize it's it's the now. You know, it's very interesting. We're now counting. The Omer between Passover and Shivuot, we count these days.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

It's a very interesting thing that those of you who don't know, but between the holiday of Passover and the holiday of Shvu'ot,

Prison, Shofar, And Making The Environment

SPEAKER_01 22:10

which means weeks, we count every day. We make a a a conscious when sundown comes, there's a conscious uh uh action of counting the day in brief.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

So is so I'm gonna tell you something that will change your change your life.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

I'm always looking for something to change my life.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Every blessing we make, you can go back and make the blessing. Okay? I eat an apple, I don't eat an apple, I don't say the blessing over an apple. Tomorrow I say a blessing over an apple. I could do it. Right. I l I miss a day of Hanukkah, I can still say the blessing. Right. Okay. I forget to say uh this is real technical, you know, murida tal, I could say. Right. Go back any blessing I can go back and say. You can never get cheated out of a blessing. You can always go back. Except for counting the Omer, if you miss a day, you can't say the blessing anymore. You can still say the count, but you can't say the blessing over. Right. And I'm like, why is that? I'm like, really?

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah, why is that?

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Well, you know, they say, oh, it's because you're supposed to do a complete good. So say the blessing the first day and say, I'm in the last day. Yeah. Right. So so I looked up, I want to see what the Rebbe said about it. He said was something he said that this blessing is different than every other blessing. He said, This is every other blessing is tied to a task, you know, a ritual, a candle, or whatever. This is a blessing over time. Time is something you can't go back for. Once you sp every time you have to treasure it. You can't, you this moment we're having now, we we we this is this is my life right now. You're living your life right now. We're in the most important moment. I have people in my life, you have people in your life, right? But this is the most important moment. You can't go back for time, you can't squander time. We're not wasting time here. Right. Not just getting through. So when you make a blessing over time, if you miss that, you can't go back for that blessing. So it's it's a reminder how important it is. Just like you said, the day of the week is the most important blessing because you can mumble through, you know, mumble through all the blessings. When you get to that one, it's like, what day is it? Right. And we should probably treat every blessing and everything the way we remember the day of the week. Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

And you also talk about how addiction is is it's uh you you phrased it beautifully in the book that people uh with literally, and it was like with no judgment either, that the uh people's addiction is they're trying to get it to be in the moment. Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

So people who are who are depressed, and by the way, addiction is not about addiction, it's about depression anxiety most. Right. Right. You just people who are depressed are focused on the past, and it's terrible because the past is coming.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

No, it's easy to it was a beautiful part of the book. Uh look um so so give you you said, yeah, people that are depressed are focused on the past, and people with anxiety are focusing on what hasn't even happened yet. Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Beautiful depression anxiety, that's the worst feeling you're like this. So so what do you do? A person takes drugs and alcohol to get into the moment. They want it to design. And by the way, it works. It does work, but it will kill you ultimately. It's not a healthy thing to do. So so even though it momentarily works and puts you in the moment, right, it you can't function. So so what we want to do is we want to do things to be in the moment. Yes. You know, and and part of that is is, you know, everything in Judaism is always about other religions, I'm sure also, about trying to get you to recognize this day, that moment, that new moon, this holiday. Yes. You know, we're we're counting the days. That's what we if we could be in the moment every time, we we really have a different life.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

We do.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

I agree with 100%.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

I I I I I always uh I was talking about and by the way, I'm sorry. The reason I don't know if I mentioned I I own drug and alcohol rehabs, and that's why I got involved, you know, in understanding that a little more as far as, you know, and I lived in when we started, I lived in the in the rehab for five years with my wife. Oh wow to start it. So we really got to know and they're wonderful people. They just it's a struggle, you know. So we really got to know, and it helped me go out there and tell other people about life. Not even people who aren't addicts, just how do you should appreciate life?

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Yeah. It's a very beautiful uh way to it's a very w I in the book, it's very it's it's written be beautifully, and I I very much connected with it, yeah. Um there's uh obviously there's limitations of how much you can take of drugs and all and wine, you make a blessing, but that could also be too much of that is is is uh becomes an addiction.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Right. But we make blessings over one, we don't just drink it. If you can't if you can't make a blessing over something, don't do it.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

It's and you can also adjust your your blessings. You know, in the morning I wake up and I have a cup of water with a lemon in it. And I I say I say the uh shahakal on it. I say that I say it when I open the faucet because I I remember when we when you went, I went for a tour underneath the cotel. Did you ever do that tour? The underneath the whaling, the Western Wall in Israel. There's a tour and there's water, and like that the guy, the tour guy was telling how they were

Time, The Omer, And Addiction

SPEAKER_01 27:00

able to bring water to their home from this dripping of the water. I'm like, wow, you know, and here I am at home, and I'm able to just pop up this little lever and water just shows up. So I began to have a different appreciation for the fact that we have that, that water just you open a thing. So I say the the the blessing on when when when I open that up, fill my water with uh with the lemon, and then drink it. And you know, I just it just you you can make adjustments. It's an appreciation. It's an appreciation. You have to have an appreciation.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Yeah, and and people, I say it like this when when I'm driving somewhere, I can't wait to get there. I should appreciate the moment I'm stuck in traffic. I'm walking my dog, you know, go already. You know, I should appreciate the walk, the tree, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

I don't have to hug a tree, but uh it it takes a lot to really, and we're gonna go back to to Chabad, but you don't know why you're going through what you're going through when you're going through it. Wow. So I recently went to visit the Chabad house that made me what I am, the the the on-campus Boston University Chabad house of Rabbi Posner. Rabbi. I spoke there.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Uh you might have been in the audience then.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

No, I was way back then. Okay. Um and you know, uh here I am now. Um I'm a comedian. I I'm a shlich of the Rebbe. I am uh uh I want to just get the message out that Mashiach is here and you should act like it and behave like it and create Mashiach energy. And when I went to Boston University, it was it was a nest, it was a miracle. I wasn't a great student. Whatever essay I wrote, whatever, what whatever I did to get in there, I got in there. And I didn't realize that my whole being there was my whole Jewish education. I had nothing to do with Boston University. That was the the clea, the the the vessel. But in there, I was I went to the I found Rabbi Pozo in the Chabad house. There was a yeshiva on campus. Rabbi Cement had a yeshiva. Kids were going there to for for their for their uh where they were learning for for their smikha, for their uh uh rabbinical ordination. And I was there with three classes, and I was I used to go there all the time and learn with them. And then I loved Yiddish. I loved to learn the the Rebbe's uh sikhs, the Rebbe's dissertations and discourses in Yiddish, and then a Yiddish class opened up in BU all at the same time. So here I was able to keep chabbis at the Chabad house, able to go to the yeshiva and do the school and and and learn voice to do cantorial singing and and everything was just so I you know I I you don't realize that I I went to Boston to for my Judaism, for Chabad, not not for BU. I have a degree, it's framed in everything. Right. But I I really went went there to connect and and to and to meet the Rebbe. I I we many times went down and drove to meet to to to to get a uh a uh a dollar from the Rebbe and also these books that the Rebbe gave out at different times. One of them was at the the Yordsite, the year anniversary of his wife's death. He gave out this, it was a pink colored book with a five-dollar bill on the back. We have those. And you know, I'm sitting with so we sat and we forbrenged with the students of um, we had a uh a hangout with the with the students that were currently at the Chabad of Boston. And uh and I um I I brought these books to show them, and the the rabbi sitting there, and his sons are there who never met the Rebbe. His sons are Schluchem. His sons are re rabbis and emissaries, and like they like here's Modi sitting here with these books that he received, and they never met the the the Rebbe. Which which which isn't you know, his work was so powerful you don't really need to meet.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

And um He was also very ahead of his times. We're sitting in a podcast studio with cameras. The Rebbe had cameras out. I I Orthodox Jews did not do that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

So I when I was 13-ish or so, I figured out the timing was when the Rebbe was doing his broadcasts, and I would just put the TV on cable and you all of a sudden you just see the Rebbe, this rabbi in a black hat, in a black coat, sitting with the table and sometimes a a cup of of wine, uh the the the the the the silver cup, the kijko, and a and uh an ocean, ocean full of chasidim. And he was speaking in Yiddish, being translated by Manus Friedman. Yeah, and we I had on the podcast, and I I don't know why I couldn't turn it off. I don't know why I couldn't turn it off.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Yeah, but um You you mentioned No You mentioned his wife. Okay, and I I talk about the Rebbe and I I want to write another one about the the and the Rebbe and I never met many times. Yeah. The women of Chabad are tremendous. Tremendous. Um there's there's one quick story about and it's not in the book. It it's um it's the the she would have to get she was like a movie star, she would have to get away from Grand Heights every once in a while. People she'd never private life, you know. Her husband's the Rebbe, you know. So she would get every day they would take her like out to Long Island somewhere just to get away, sit at a park. And uh Hesed Halberstaff, one of their helpers of the Rebbe was one of the driver, he just retired this year. And one time she says they came back to a detour in Brooklyn, and they took a detour to the side and and uh they went down a different road. They're at a red light, and he she looks out the window and she sees this woman crying, screaming. Green light, they go on. So the Rebitson says to the driver, could you go back and find out why she's why she's crying? Go back, comes in the car, he says, She's being evicted from her house right now, and the marshals are taking her furniture and blah blah blah. She says, Find out how much she owes, and if we paid it now, if they'll bring it back in. So he comes back in, says, What is it? She writes out a check for $6,700, gives it to the driver. The driver gives it to the marshal, they bring the clue, she says, Let's go. I don't want her to know anything about it. They go. The driver who tells us the story, that's all we know of, turns around to the Rebbits and says, Why? Why this woman? You can give $100 to 67 people, you can give a thousand dollars. Why this woman? Why, why, why? You don't even know her. And she says that her father, who was the previous Rebbe, said, We all have detours. We had a detour today. This woman was my detour. Most people think that I was supposed to go there. My life was supposed to be that way, my child was supposed to be that way, my my job was supposed to be that way. And we're so fetching over where we're supposed to go. She says, embrace the detour. Yeah. The detour is the tour of your life. Yeah. And that's that's I I listen to that story all the time in my head. I tell it because I need to hear it.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

The detour is the real tour of our life.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

It it's having to, well, especially when you're traveling and you're traveling so much. I had a great little story. This um, I was in Milwaukee, and uh the driver that took me to the comedy club

Detours, Travel, And Human Connection

SPEAKER_01 33:50

was a guy from the West Bank, Ahmed. And he and I began talking. We had a great conversation. It was a 40-minute drive to the to the to the show. And he, you know, it's two people, it's it's not two governments talking. We had a great conversation, real mesh energy. And then um he said, I'll give you my phone number if you want me to pick you up tomorrow. Uh uh I said, uh, it's an Uber, it's 15 minutes from the airport, my hotel. I don't need it. But I said, you know, why why not? Let me text him tomorrow, 7:40, pick me up. He picked me up, he was great, charged a lot more than what an Uber would have cost, which is okay. I'm at the airport, the plane was delayed and then it flew in and then took back off, and it was a mess. And then I needed to get to the Chicago airport. So I said, let me just text this guy. Where, hey, hi, how are you? I'm dropping someone at the off at the airport. I said, can you pick, can you take me to Chicago? And he took me to Chicago, you know, to the airport in Chicago. It was a little thing, it didn't mean anything, but no, it was just two people that had a moment to connect, you know. I had a connection with a guy from the West Bank. Right. How how often can a Jewish comedian from New York say, I had a connection with a guy from the West Bank? Right. It was just the world needed that for a minute. Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Right. People are people.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

You know, people are people, but you it's I don't know. To me, I always see those, I always see that stuff as Meshir Khanji.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

You know, other people go say, you had a delay and you had to change. I don't know what you're talking about. The Rebbe says you're never stuck.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

You never, you know, there were women called from our airport once the Rebbe's office said, we're stuck here and you know, uh, whatever. So the Rebbe's secretary would say to talk to the Rebbe, they get back, he says, the Rebbe doesn't understand the word stuck. She goes, Well, stuck means when you can't move and blah-b. She goes, he speaks ten languages. He knows the word stuck, meaning you're not stuck. You're where you're supposed to be. That's what you're supposed to figure out what you're supposed to be doing there. Why are you stuck at that airport? Why are you at the airport? They started handing out candles and whatever they did. You know, so we're we're never stuck. If you live your life like you're stuck, yes, you're gonna have a different life. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

So so I yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. What what's the story in in this book that that people talk to the the most about? What's like the most the most powerful of all the stories?

SPEAKER_02 36:04

I I I I well the powerful the I the the last story in the book, I held up the printing of the book um after October 7th. It was being printed, I stopped it. Okay. I needed to add one more story. And I was I was this is a tough story. I was I was sitting in my son's soccer, you know, at the last day of Sukhas, and uh Rabbi Bookett, the rabbi of Boca, comes in and he says it's my my uh brother's yurt site, the anniversary of his death. He says, but I never met him. He said he said he was uh uh basically a quote unquote a vegetable for fifty fifteen or nineteen years. He was he was uh in a facility. So I'm like, whoa, you know, that's a you know, crazy story. So so he says that when he came to Boca and he was at the first synagogue, a guy comes up to him at Century Village, you know, Century Village is I know everybody's a hundred years old, you know, it's called Century Village. So the the good 95-year-old doctor comes up to him and says, um says, I was the one that delivered your brother. Oh wow, you know, who and he says to him, and because of me, it was in bre he was in breach. I broke his spinal cord. And it was because of me that he was in a facility for 19 years. Oh my god. Rabbi Bucket was like, I never heard of it. He's telling us this story in the socket. I'm like, whoa, whoa. And he says, he says, and the doctor said to him that at the time I was so distraught, I wanted to leave my practice. I knew your parents could sue me. I was finished, you know. So Rabbi Bucket's parents, who were Holocaust survivors with their own story, they went to the doctor and said, There were no accidents. We don't want you to leave your practice. God, the abuster, as they say, the one above is in charge. Okay, but we do demand of you one thing you deliver all our future children. And the doctor looked at Rabbi Bucket and said, I delivered you and your eight siblings. Now, why is that such a powerful story? It's powerful enough. Within 24 hours the next day was October 7th. And as I heard and saw what was going on, I thought, I wish I could have the type of faith, the type of moon uh, you know, that Rabbi Bucket's parents had to just say, God's in charge. How do we deal with October 7th? God's in charge. We don't know. And and the name for God, as you know, is was, is, and will be, you know, because we're sitting here right now at this exact second. God is is with Moshe now on Moses on Mount Sinai, he's with us here, and he's with Meshiach already.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

He's living all it's an uh it's an energy. God is an energy. I I I I always talk about this uh shero Israel, the Lord of God, the Lord is one. Oneness is an energy. So it's and that's the energy of oneness, not achir, not different. It just see everybody as being the same and uh try to find what what whatever you can that that brings you to the oneness and to what what what do you have in common, not what do you have in in so i in in difference.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Yeah. So so it brings us back to a little lighter than that story was uh either the Rebbe had a great sense of humor. You know, the grebbe wasn't he was a serious rabbi, but he had he was he was had a great sense of humor the way he talked to people and didn't. He appreciated humor. Yeah, you know, and I I know he would appreciate what you everything you're doing. He does appreciate what you're doing. So there's a story about American Pharaoh, which was a horse okay, a horse that won the Preakness in Maryland, it won the Kentucky Derby, and it was owned by Jews. Okay, and if it wins the Belmont, it would win the Triple Crown. Right. Okay, this is in 2015, and no one had won the triple crown for over 30 years. So of course, the night before, a few blocks away from the Belmont track, the jockey comes to the Rebbe's grave.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:33

And we know what he's praying for. Okay, he wants to win the Belmont so he can win the triple crown.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

So he's praying there, you know, and he's a jockey. You know, so so the next day he races and he wins the triple crown. And first time in 30 years, whatever. So some could say, well, it wasn't the Rebbe, it was a good horse, this snap. So interestingly enough, he won in two minutes and 26 seconds, even though secretariat years earlier, famous horse, won in two minutes and 24 seconds. Okay, the reason I mention it is because I know the Rebbe had something to do with it, because 226 is what he won. 226 Francis Lewis Boulevard is the address of the grave of the Rebbe. So the Rebbe had a little fun. He said, I'll I'll make you win and I'll make it 226. Okay. My address. So, you know, these are these are Rebbe stories. You know, these are there are a lot of greater miracle Rebbe stuff. Of course, there are a little fun with that one. Yeah. So and I was there, I was there yesterday, okay, and I wrote, I wrote a what we call Pond. You write a note to the Rebbe. Not that we're praying to the Rebbe, we're asking him to be our ambassador. Where we go to the graves of our sages and ask, could you put in a good word for me? Okay. I I went there, I put in a I asked for a lot of things. I asked concerning you in Radio City. I know it's coming up, it's a big deal. I'm very excited about it. I I know it's it's uh you'll do great. I said to the Rebbe, not only make him do well, but make it come easy. Yes. Okay, it should just come easy. Yeah. So don't you know. So and I brought back uh the cookies for me.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Amen. I mean this I don't know why. But the most delicious cookies. I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

I don't know, but when I'm there, I have milk with it.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

You know, they have a I have a car I take it. I use a car to take it. No, thank you very much. It's just that's like these are the best cookies in the world, the cookies that are at the Rebbe's grave.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

They used to not be in plastic. Um thank god they're plastic now. COVID made a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Everybody be cramming at it. It used to be in a nasty uh a cardboard box and everybody's fingers would just in there. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Now the COVID did some good things.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Speaking of going to the Rebbe's grave, see I I I've been to many graves of many holy rabbis, and I really feel there's different energies in all of them. The energy I feel at the Rebbe's grave is that of energy to go help somebody else. That was the that was the that was the I in my summary of the whole work of the Rebbe's. Uh, if you want brachabats, if you want success and and blessings, go help somebody else. Right. It doesn't have to be with uh uh $10,000. It could be help help them get out of a chair, it could be anything you do to help somebody else. And that's why I always say be the friend that brings the friends to the comedy show. Just bring them. They need a laugh. You you don't know, you don't know what they're going to do. They need a laugh. Just so that's just a way to to to to do that. And that's the message I gave. I I when I sat down with the students of I sat down with the students of the Chabad of Harvard and BU. That's the whole message. Whatever blessings and success you want, here you are looking for grades and looking for your next graduate school and for a soulmate, and you're looking for all this stuff in college. Um, it's it it it just helps find a way to help somebody else. Doesn't have to be with money, doesn't have to be with the Rebbe says the word bitl.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

You know, bittle, everyone tries to explain it. Bittle is I explain it this way, you'll remember forever. A full glass of water, you can't put any more in it. You have to spill some out in order to grow. Right. So we have to give to others. If we want to grow, we got to do for others. Otherwise, we're full of it. We have to give to others. So that that's what you're talking about. That doing for other people, doing for other people. Um, and and that's that's what it's all about. And that that's what the rebo is all about. Just everybody should do for other people.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

Yes. Be bital. So when you leave the rebel's grave, it gives you that energy to do that. And are you you're praying for opportunities to do that? Yesterday was the Yort site, the year anniversary of the 101st anniversary of Repshaila from Karestier, which is an energy at his grave, is just you walk in there and you just feel like, wow, blessings are gonna just happen. And they do, and they do. I mean, I was my three years, four years ago was the first time I ever went there, and my life has changed so much since then. And obviously, it's it it works because people keep coming in the hundreds of thousands.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

So it's right, people wouldn't be coming back if they didn't feel like still because some so yeah, uh when I was in Florida, uh, a person I prayed with just handed me a book. It was the Reb Shailized book. Yeah. Never read it, never he he. Actually sponsored the book or something in Toronto. He said, Here, you have to read this book. So it's on my shelf right now. And you just said Shilas. I remember running to read it now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

No, that's a it's an unbelievable energy. And I was there with his um, I was there twice with his at that time oldest living great grandchild, and I was there with his great grandchild. Is that crazy? And it's a town two and a half hours out of out of Budapest on the border of Ukraine, and people come there in hundreds of thousands. And the people in the area can't just don't believe this is a thing.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

The Hungarians that live there, like, what are they coming? They just on the yord site they build tents and have food and kitchens and and the traffic and the police that they need to bring and the infrastructure for it.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

And you'll be there for the yard, you were there?

SPEAKER_01 44:52

I was there for two yord sites. Um this year I wasn't. Uh but it's it's very, very special.

SPEAKER_02 44:59

So it's a different energy, the two graves. So when you travel, you you must hook into all the Jewish sites or communities or sages or I mean, I know you're running and running, but there must be opportunities that you are getting a feeling for, especially in Europe, for what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

Yes, in Europe, yes. Yes, in Europe. And they the opportunities find us. We we we never really plan. We you you do one post, hi, we're in Berlin.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Floods of hi, can we bring you to this restaurant? Can we take you here? Can we show you that? Can we and we Leo's very good at vetting those uh experiences. We had an increasing experience in Vet V Venice. Yeah. Very uh, I mean, it was it was God wanted us to be there. So he made a show. It was actually, it was within four days of the Yortside. This is three, four years ago of the 99th anniversary uh of the Yortside of Reptilis. So we were in Hungary, and the guy wanted us to do a show. One of the worst shows I ever did. Okay. It was a horrible show. Why was it bad? It was uh it was one of the worst shows. What is bad, man? I'll tell you. The guy called it money, it was his wife's birthday. He was a Lakewood guy. It was his wife's birthday, and he thought he'd surprise her with bringing me. It was three couples. They were just three couples, and they had a whole crew of chefs and people to organize events for them and all of that. So they had a minion

Ohel Energy, Tzedakah, Twizzy, And Closing

SPEAKER_01 46:30

within them of just people who were working, and he thought he'd bring me. So I'm like, okay. And he put me up for the weekend. So I went to the, I had a I had a Shabbat at the at the the the ghetto, uh, the Jewish ghetto of Venice. Yeah. And this woman who was unbelievable, unbelievable, who was an Israeli. She's the only uh uh licensed Israeli-speaking tour guide of Venice. She took us and we saw Venice as if somebody who lived there. We saw the insides and unbelievable experience, unbelievable experience. The show was horrible. The wife hated me. It hated me with hated every fiber of my body. She was upset that this was a surprise. She and she was upset that her friends were laughing. Do you know how hard it's to do comedy for six people? It was the worst. But we took it. It was a full trip to a full first class trip to Venice and a chunk of change. And we were just in hungry. It was just it was whatever. It was I would have done it again right now because it was so good. But the wife hated me so much, she had no sense of humor, and she just like, and the and the husband was cracking up and she was looking at him, like, why are you laughing? That's not funny. And then he like texted his guy, okay, make this end. And then and then I looked behind him, and Leo's flashing a light like this, like, get off. Wrap this up. And we wrapped it up and like, and this was in a villa in this house. It looked like a James Bond movie. You couldn't, you couldn't, we saw parts of Venice that nobody would ever see. Eve, ever, ever. And it was just an amazing so things like that happen. That's um, and Berlin, Munich, uh, all these places where I can't tell you the experiences we have, uh Jewish-wise and and and not Jewish-wise, and just being in those places are are unbelievable. And I talk about that a lot in the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

But um Jackie Mason always says, you know, uh used to say anyway, he would say, uh, you know, the the husband looks at the wife. Is he funny? You think he's funny? No, he's funny. You know, they won't laugh unless they had people you're never gonna get anything to laugh at him because they're too busy wondering if the other one's laughing. Right. So but but um but it's an amazing experience. Uh have you been to I I was in South America um on a whole tour through uh Sao Paulo, Kurchiba, Rio, you know, in Brazil, and then I went to Uruguay and Paraguay, and the biggest audience I ever had was in uh Buenos Aires, 4,000 people for uh Rebbe's anniversary somewhere. So um uh and uh it was you know one of those big things with the cranes and the this and that everybody a lot of Jews in Argentina. So um and and the uh head rabbi, the head schleach there said, Who's Nessenoph? Last year they the year before they brought in the chief rabbi of Israel speaking. Who did you bring in? They go, Don't worry, don't worry, he's very good, he's very he's funny, he's good. And then the guys get to me, he goes, You better be good. You know, so very well, very well. It was good. So you you you just you lecture, you just lecture. I uh it's a show now. It's really it's a show. But you sit down, you're not standing. No, I'm standing, I'm doing a show. I'm a I'm a stand-up guy. Really? It's called now the show is called The Can We Smile Yet. That's the show.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

Can we smile yet?

SPEAKER_02 49:34

I know you do like a pause, the same kind of conversation.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

I do pause for laughter, yes.

SPEAKER_02 49:37

Yeah, can we smile yet? Because people are wondering, you know, are we still mourning? Are we still this? So it's called Can We Smile Yet. It really resonates with people. And so I've been doing that that show, you know. I I you know, then then it's uh it's it's been fun. You know, you're getting people to laugh about things and and the you're right, the bigger the audience, the better.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

Yes, the bigger the audience and the the easier it is to do it. What's this next book you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 49:58

So this is actually my first book. This was called David's Harp. And um this was um I I was after the Helen Thomas thing. I um after the Helen Thomas thing, uh I don't even think you'd buy it anyway, but but I'll send it to you if you write me. Um I I became an editor and publisher of a couple of Jewish papers, one in the Five Towns and one in Israel. And these are articles, and then I would I would do cartoons uh of two Hasidic Jews and and uh so they're all you know, all different kind of interesting, funny stuff. But that was the first time I wrote. But the the the second book was a little more uh took a lot more energy to put together, you know.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

That was a David's Harp by Dr. David Nissenov.

SPEAKER_02 50:38

Yeah, na it's Nesinov. Used to Nesov Nostanovich, but Nat they got you say Nat. Nestinov.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

Nestinov. That's right. Okay, so that's that book. Great. I have now. What are you a doctor of?

SPEAKER_02 50:47

Uh uh rabbinics. I got a you know I don't know. If if someone's on the floor, okay, and they're dying, right? Yeah, you're I'll say Kottish.

SPEAKER_01 50:55

I'll say Kottish. It's funny. So I got for them. That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

But um but I have uh Davidinspires.com is my you know where people with an S. But um but the new thing you mentioned about people helping other people, yeah, it fits right in with what I'm doing right now. Um people to give advice to other people. Not therapy, but once a person gives advice to someone else. If you anybody, it could be yourself, it could be anybody in the street to give advice. And and it's your twin advisor, you know, somebody who relates to you. When I at the at the people used to say to me, when I at the drug rehab, they'd say, Oh, were you ever on drug? You know, are you an addict? They say, No, I don't want to talk to you. They want to talk to people who've had the same experience. Right. So it's called Twizy, Twizy.com. Twizy is a street word for your twin, you know, your twin advisor, Twizy. So Twizy.com, T-W I Z Z Y. And that's people can make money advising other people, and other people can call people 24 hours a day like an Uber and get advice for 15 minutes or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

What kind of advice?

SPEAKER_02 51:51

On anything. Someone broke up with a girlfriend, someone uh has is mourning, someone has a child who's autistic, someone who anything somebody wants, they can find the other person who has that experience. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 52:03

So so if if someone they'll be matched up with somebody I'd rather have someone who had a who who knew how to avoid that experience.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Well, you might be able to avoid the experience of being a drug addict or whatever it is, if if you can, you know, if you have a child you have a problem with, you can you can speak to somebody who has advice on that experience. Could be just a uh a Jewish mother at home that knows everything, you know, and she can give advice. She can make some money giving advice. Right. So it could be a anybody that wants to give advice and and actually not drive an Uber but make money sitting on a couch and I'm giving advice. That's Twizy. It's live now? No, no, it's being built in Poland right now. Wow. Okay. And and uh we're gonna you know, we're we're gonna be you know starting. I'm working with uh a young guy who you know you need somebody under 80 to do this stuff, you know. So he's 26 and he knows social media and and we've been putting this thing together. So but it's a it's a neat idea. And actually a lot of it came out of the fact that I want to reach another level of tsudaka. Like I know you talk about tsduka sometimes, giving charity. And and um I I I thank God I was successful in business recently, and so I'm able to do that, but I want I want to reach another level. I think this might you know might be the thing to bring us there because I think the key when I speak about business, the key to success is giving charity. Yes, okay. You can have all the business things in the world, okay? But you the secret is, and don't wait till you have a million dollars, you know. Secret is give now, every day, give whatever it is. As long as something's leaving your pocket, I always say God's the greatest boss in the world. He gives you 90% commission. What other boss gives you 90% commission? And and but giving giving to charity on a regular basis, and if you give more than you can afford, God has a great calculator.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

Yeah, you know, which we will uh great time to mention our sponsor, uh Whitz and Luxembourg, the law firm that not only does well, they do good. They are very, very super philanthropic. Arthur Luxembourg, friend of the podcast, who is always helping. And he's an unbelievable person. And Randy, his wife, who listens to the podcast, to tell him what we're talking about. And they are uh they are partners in this podcast and also AH Provisions, uh, the most delicious glak kosher food out there and uh packaged well, beautifully. It it gives you like it, it it's like this. It's like packaged, like you want it. You really want you really want it. And um, and they uh they are our partners and then and the most delicious hot dogs in the world. And please keep sending us pictures whenever you see their products. Oh my god, this is the Modi sponsor. Um, and uh kosher dogs.net is their website. And with the promo code Modi, you can get 30% off of your first purchase. And Seth is a great friend of the podcast too. And um, yes, so back to uh go ahead to to to giving, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

Um so so yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 54:55

No, uh yeah, you uh pe people need to know the giving charity, it's uh not just like it doesn't have to be massive amounts, right? But you have on your Venmo, just keep like a few different places where you can just like send 180, 360, send $52. So have just a keep keep that like momentum going.

SPEAKER_02 55:19

I think somewhere in Crown Heights it says 1-800 Nessenov. Okay, because everybody calls me. Once you start giving, people call. Right. You should never say no. Oh, it's whatever it is, you can give, you do it, make a pledge, whatever it is. And it really it changes your life. It really uh people somebody says, Well, I don't have a job, don't worry about it. Give a little Tsudaki, you'll get a job. Yeah. And and I am a very big believer in that. You know, also pray. You know, pray is good.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

Prayer is very good, yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

So so um I I uh when I was moving, it's I think it's in the book, when I was moving from Long Island to Florida, which is what people do, um I I I saw in the corner of the garage, we were cleaning it out, a a box of of uh uh prayer books that I used to take to the Shiva house, you know. So I and and there it was sitting, you know, as a rabbi, I would take it to a house and whatever. I came home one day, it was left there. So what do you do with it at midnight? You know, we were moving on the truck. I gotta get rid of this this box. So I tell my kids, go down the block, it's late, but you'll leave it in front of the synthesis of synagogue, they're a form synagogue, they'll be happy, they'll I don't even need the deduction and the whatever. Just leave it in front of the door. Right. So next morning I'm with my daughter because we're moving. I take her to you know, Starbucks for, you know, uh first father-daughter kind of thing. You know, she never goes out with her father, but we're moving. So we're drinking our little venti, lati matis, whatever there. And my this woman comes in, she goes, Oh, I hear you're moving today. I said, Yes. She said, Well, you're getting out just in time. What are you talking about? She said, Well, you didn't hear? No, what? She goes, They found a bomb at the Reform Synagogue. Someone put a box there last night. It's a bomb. So my daughter's like, Oh no, it's not a bomb. I'm like, shh. So the lady leaves, and my daughter says, Ah, but you have to tell them. It's the prayer box. I said, No, no, no, no. Don't tell anybody and don't tell your mother. So we go outside, we go, they they closed off the block. There were ambulances, there's a helicopter, they there's police cars. I'm telling you. So we get close, and the cop says, Gonna move it along. So I said, uh, I have information regarding the bomb. The bomb. I I I so he pulls me out, I go back there, and there's the this guy comes out, he looks like he's from NA, you know, from NATO, a general. And he's like, I understand you have information regarding the incendiary device. And I'm I'm looking over at my little Nebuch box, this poor little thing sitting there, and there's a little robot coming in for the kill to pick it up. Right. And I run over there and I pick it up and I rip it open, I go, They're prayer books. Right now, why do I tell that story? Because it's the greatest mushle, it's the greatest little fable or story, allegory that tells you your prayer books are explosives. Oh that's how powerful they are. They're that powerful. And the Rebbe says we say the same word for reproach, in war that we say for prayer, because there are two battles. There's always a spiritual battle and a physical battle. Some of us have to fight the physical, but all of us have to participate in fighting the spiritual battle. Those prayers really are powerful. And I say more than King David's slingshot, his Psalms that he wrote were more powerful.

SPEAKER_01 58:25

Yep. We are um one hour in, and we're gonna do another hour, part two. Um where can people see you? Just so we what is the best way to reach you and contact you?

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Sure, sure. So David Inspires with an S.com. David Inspires.com, or you can go to twizzy.com, Tw-I-Z-Z-Y.com, and see what's going on with our new uh project that you could make money giving advice. Okay. Um you know. The Rebbe said have a mashpia. You know, you have uh an advisor. So here you can make money being an advisor, um, whatever skill you have, you know. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

Um I am uh but this airs, we God willing will have uh the tour dates up for uh a whole bunch of shows. Um London shows we are gonna be announcing by by by then, and then um uh a bunch of uh shows in America too. Uh so go to ModiLive.com and find one near you, find one near a friend, get them tickets, be the friend that brings the friends to the comedy show. And uh thank you all for tuning in for part one of me and uh David Nessenoff. Shine, I got it right. And um thank you.

unknown 59:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

Let's do another since we we have the studio, right? Okay.