0:00

Hey, it's Kathy. Before we get into this great

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fill out the form on that page. Hey, it's

0:35

Kathy Heller. Welcome back to Abundant Ever After. So

0:37

in honor of this Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to

0:39

do a bonus episode with my dear friend and

0:42

teacher, Rabbi Daniel Cohen. And we're going to talk

0:44

about what it really means to be thankful and

0:46

have gratitude. I think it's something that we hear

0:48

about like, you should have gratitude, or it's so

0:51

good for you to have a gratitude practice. But

0:53

after a while, it just sounds like

0:56

something that people say, and we don't really do

0:58

it. Rabbi Cohen always has so many wise things

1:00

to share. And I thought that we could get

1:02

his perspective on how we can be more present,

1:04

so we can be there for the blessings in

1:07

our life. And also how can we have a

1:09

better Thanksgiving dinner and really make the time with

1:11

our families valuable? I think you're

1:13

going to find this helpful and you can

1:15

walk into the holidays with a deeper sense

1:17

of equanimity. So without further ado, please welcome

1:19

the very sweet, very wise Rabbi Daniel Cohen.

1:22

Rabbi Cohen is back with us today.

1:25

Those of you who listen to my show

1:27

know that my cup runneth over from the,

1:31

oh, it makes me want to cry, from the

1:33

way in which God has placed on my

1:35

path, such loving

1:37

souls that embody, forget, know it,

1:40

they live it. They

1:42

live life so well

1:46

that I get to live life better by having

1:48

known and having continued to have the

1:50

journey and the honor of knowing such

1:52

amazing people. So Rabbi Cohen, I quote

1:54

you all the time. You've been on

1:57

the show before, but

1:59

there's so many that you've said to

2:01

me that literally like when you have wet

2:03

cement and you put your handprint in it

2:05

and it lasts in the cement so

2:08

many things that you say to me because of how

2:10

you say it it like imprints

2:12

on my heart. Well

2:15

first of all it's an honor to be back

2:17

and I appreciate your gracious words. I have to

2:19

know I feel like you know I talk about

2:21

you too you've had an impact on me. So

2:24

sweet. That's very humbling and

2:26

I appreciate you. You know and

2:28

I also think that that's a really that's

2:31

another beautiful value of yours because truly

2:33

truly the wisest people really learn

2:36

from everything and

2:39

everyone and that's so beautiful

2:41

so thank you. So what

2:43

I want to talk about today is

2:46

gratitude and thanksgiving. You

2:48

know we are many

2:50

of us who are listening because there's people all over the

2:52

world that listen but those of us who are in the

2:54

states have this tradition of going

2:57

home for thanksgiving or we're actually having

2:59

a friendsgiving because we don't have family

3:02

in town. We

3:04

have some family but mostly you know we're going to open

3:06

the doors to friends and it's

3:08

a really beautiful day like it's

3:10

really an incredible thing to stop

3:14

and make a whole day about gratitude

3:16

right and I feel like you're

3:18

going to take this in a few directions because I

3:20

think that as a Jewish person I know enough to

3:22

know that we sort of

3:24

have that gratitude practice not just

3:26

once a year but I would love

3:29

to lean into that a little bit. There's

3:31

so many books on this now that like

3:33

if you're in a state of gratitude you

3:35

know it's good for you you'll manifest better

3:37

blah blah blah blah blah here's all the

3:39

reasons to have gratitude you know here's the

3:41

ROI on gratitude but I want to just

3:43

kind of hear from you

3:46

what does it even mean and why why

3:48

is that good for us and what's the

3:50

best way to really like have that experience

3:53

of being grateful fully. So

3:56

I think that you know one of the challenges in life

3:58

is that we only recognize what we grateful for

4:00

when we don't have it anymore.

4:04

When we have a crisis,

4:06

you know, we have our health and then something goes

4:08

wrong, we say, oh my gosh, I

4:10

wish things were better and we

4:13

fail sometimes to appreciate the

4:15

gift and blessings of every day. You know,

4:17

I felt this intuitively when I had a

4:19

kidney stone many years ago. It

4:22

was so painful, literally

4:26

debilitating. And then when the kidney stone

4:28

passed, as you know, and I'm

4:30

sure many others, Judaism, and I always get a

4:32

laugh about this, they say Judaism has a blessing

4:34

when you leave the bathroom that you're

4:36

supposed to make. The blessing is

4:38

what is open is open and what

4:40

is closed is closed and

4:42

everything is working properly. And

4:45

that notion, and I felt

4:47

that intuitively afterwards, is meant to

4:49

engender within us. Don't wait for

4:52

that crisis, but really have

4:54

a sense, as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel says, and I

4:56

think about it in terms of radical amazement. Everything

4:59

is wondrous. Everything is beautiful. And

5:02

I think about it in terms of the notion of,

5:04

you know, it's all about living a life of humility.

5:07

You know, the last message

5:09

of the prophets is walk humbly

5:12

with God. There's not a single

5:14

person that's entitled to anything. The

5:17

fact that we wake up in the morning and

5:20

we have the ability to breathe God's

5:22

breath into us. And he's saying,

5:24

I believe in you. God is

5:26

then challenging us to take

5:28

the blessings that we have every day, to be

5:31

fully mindful of them, and then take

5:33

that potential and help make the world

5:35

much better around us. And

5:37

we can live our lives with that sense of

5:40

humility and appreciation.

5:42

Our lives are radically transformed

5:45

because I know that I'm getting a

5:47

gift today and I'm so grateful. And

5:50

how can I not appreciate

5:52

the beauty of the world around me? How

5:54

can I not appreciate the person who's right

5:56

in front of me? And it

5:59

leads for a much. richer and definitely

6:02

life that is much more meaningful because

6:04

we don't take any moment for granted.

6:07

First of all, it's so beautiful. I

6:09

wanna like lean into this

6:11

a little bit because I can hear sort of

6:14

the pushback from our minds a little bit

6:16

and what people are dealing with and struggling

6:19

with. And I think about my

6:21

grandmother because she came to

6:23

this country having escaped the pogroms

6:25

in Russia, losing her whole family

6:28

in a horrible village, and

6:31

she lived in a tenement on the

6:33

Lower East Side. And if anyone's

6:35

ever been to the Tenement Museum, it's quite magnificent

6:37

to go through that experience. And I

6:40

went and looked at where she had sort of grown up

6:42

and they had 26 little tiny

6:45

apartments and only one toilet for 26

6:47

people. I was trying to start 26

6:49

units and her mother died of

6:51

tuberculosis. Like it was no clean water. There was nothing,

6:53

right? It was like they came with nothing. Then they

6:55

had even less than nothing, but she

6:57

felt so rich, she told me her whole life. Her

7:00

mother used to say to her, it's

7:02

easy to find the bad, you have to look for the good. And

7:05

when she was growing up, she

7:08

didn't even get to go to school past the fifth grade. She

7:11

actually used to cut shadles. Shadles are like

7:13

wigs and she used to like, that

7:15

should cut the hair on them. And she did that since

7:18

sixth grade to make money because they had nothing. But

7:20

she learned that she could be happy

7:23

if she was dancing, but in order to get into

7:25

a dance club, she had

7:27

to do two things. She had to pretend she was

7:30

Italian because it was restricted to Jews. So she did.

7:32

And then she had to have stockings, but she had

7:34

no money for stockings. So she would take an eyeliner

7:36

pencil and draw a line at the back

7:38

of her leg to make it look like she had stockings on

7:41

and she had the best time of her life. And

7:43

then funny, sweet story. She met my

7:45

grandfather and his name was Benedito, which

7:47

is an Italian name. And

7:49

one day after the dance competition, they became

7:51

dance partners. She said, I can't date you,

7:54

I'm Jewish. And he said, I'm also Jewish,

7:56

I'm not Italian. My real name is Barof.

7:58

I changed it to get in. and they

8:00

got married. But that is really the epitome

8:02

of she always felt rich, she always looked

8:05

for the light. However, what's

8:07

more true, usually, I was

8:10

very blessed to grow up with her

8:12

with that mindset. She used to say,

8:14

I have my millions. I have you,

8:16

I have your mom, I'm a millionaire,

8:18

look how rich I am, right? There's

8:21

a little teaching that

8:23

somebody taught me who came on the podcast and

8:25

it's a Buddhist teaching. And he said, the hell

8:28

realm, this is really good, in

8:31

Buddhism is an insatiable craving.

8:35

And it makes sense. And he said, they

8:37

have this story, like

8:39

their version of a muscle, like their version of

8:41

some kind of like teaching. And it says that

8:44

there are these ghosts. And

8:46

these ghosts in the story have a

8:48

craving that's insatiable in their bellies.

8:50

And they're never full. And

8:53

they say that that's the definition of

8:55

hell is to never be satisfied, and

8:58

to always want more. And I think

9:00

the way we are in society, it's

9:03

all about what did you achieve or how much more

9:06

money did you make or what's

9:08

missing? And therefore, what do you need to go get?

9:10

What else do you need to check the box on

9:12

the list in order to feel like you finally arrived?

9:14

So you're never in the moment, because you're always thinking

9:16

about what more because what's missing.

9:19

And so the practice of looking at what

9:21

you have and being grateful is

9:23

actually not what's practiced. It's usually, oh

9:26

my God, if only this other thing

9:28

could happen, I can feel better. If

9:30

only my mother-in-law was different, I could be happy.

9:32

If only we made more money, I could be

9:35

happy. Here's all the reasons why I'm constantly giving

9:37

you the evidence of why Rabbi, you

9:39

know what, you're wrong. You don't understand all the issues

9:41

that I have. And you don't understand what I haven't

9:43

yet accomplished. And you don't understand what I don't yet

9:45

have. And so

9:47

it becomes challenging and confronting

9:49

almost to hear someone say,

9:52

you should be grateful

9:54

when you're so wired

9:56

into this constant striving

9:58

for more. And

10:00

this feeling it's never enough. So you're

10:03

not feeling gratitude for what is, you're

10:05

always feeling what's missing. So

10:07

what would you say about that? You

10:09

throw a lot on on the table is what I would say. I

10:12

mean, you can write a book just from everything that

10:15

you just said, because there's like so

10:17

much out there. And I guess I'm gonna reflect on

10:19

a few things that you said. There's a beautiful idea

10:21

in mystical teaching that you know, we're all in a

10:23

ladder. And when it comes

10:25

to our material possessions, we should always look down

10:27

and see how much we have. When

10:30

it comes to spiritually, we should always look

10:32

up and see how much more we need to go.

10:36

And we're looking at a society that

10:38

confuses those issues. I mean,

10:40

we are being sold counterfeit pleasures

10:42

and we think that's what

10:44

will give us the greatest satisfaction in life. At

10:46

the end of the day, your mentor and mine,

10:49

Rabbi David Aaron says somebody can be in

10:51

the most beautiful place, but be empty and

10:53

lonely. You can be

10:55

surrounded by somebody that you love. And

10:58

even though you may not have a lot physically, you

11:00

could be the richest and wealthiest person in the world.

11:04

And it's that mindset, again,

11:06

it's easier for sure to talk about it

11:08

than to do it. But I always

11:10

find that, and Rabbi Naqman and Breslov says this,

11:13

the only moment that we have

11:16

is the moment that we're experiencing right now. When

11:20

we think about what I can do or

11:22

what I did, I like to say that

11:24

people have Paul McCartney disease and they have

11:26

anti-disease. Paul McCartney disease is you

11:29

ask them how they're doing and

11:31

all they could say is, yesterday, all my

11:33

troubles seem so far away. I

11:36

could have, I would have, I should have.

11:38

And other people have anti-disease, how are you

11:40

doing? Well, tomorrow, tomorrow, things will be better,

11:42

but you're missing the moment right now. And

11:46

I think actually, what I like to

11:48

remind people is that inside, we

11:51

know what's really most important to be

11:53

grateful for. When

11:55

somebody has a confrontation with mortality,

11:59

it's a great way. unfortunately, to awaken

12:01

a person to what's truly most

12:03

significant. And

12:05

the process of gratitude, it's not

12:07

trying to instill something outside inside

12:10

of us, but it's about

12:12

tapping into a frequency of living that

12:14

in this moment, I'm

12:16

just utterly grateful for the

12:18

fact that I can move my hands, my

12:21

eyes, I can breathe for

12:23

the presence that I have

12:25

right now. And I do think

12:27

that it takes certainly practice to do but

12:30

at the end of the day, it really

12:32

enriches us because we do

12:34

have so much to be grateful for. So

12:37

I think being fully and

12:39

people talk about this, whether it's

12:41

mindful or presence is

12:43

really what ends up cultivating gratitude. And then

12:46

also it says in the book of Psalms,

12:49

you know, spirituality, we might say

12:51

Torah, it restores the soul

12:53

and reminds us of

12:56

what is truly worth pursuing

12:59

and what actually gives me the deepest pleasures.

13:02

God wants us to

13:04

have the deepest pleasures and happiness in life.

13:07

But if all I'm doing is consuming

13:09

the counterfeit pleasures, it's hard to stay

13:12

focused on that. But

13:14

if I create a sacred space in my life

13:16

to think about what's most important,

13:20

what is the kind of life that I want to lead and

13:23

how am I manifesting that and

13:25

reflecting that in the people that I'm with, in

13:27

the choices that I'm making, that

13:29

our lives can truly be uplifted. And

13:31

we do become more grateful people and

13:33

we do make choices that reflect what

13:36

will give me the deepest happiness and not

13:38

just fleeting pleasures. I mean,

13:40

what you just said is like so unbelievable,

13:43

like the counterfeit pleasure versus what really is

13:45

pleasure and that the moment you're in is

13:47

the only moment you have. And that

13:50

idea that what your mind is telling

13:52

you will really be the end all

13:54

be all. There's something so

13:56

much bigger than that. And

13:58

whenever we've been together, I always wind up

14:01

being so moved by how

14:04

in love with the

14:07

moment you are, because the opportunity that's

14:09

always in the moment is the same

14:11

opportunity, which is to find meaning. So

14:14

you're always like, oh my God. And then I bet

14:16

this guy, when you told me the story of you

14:18

were walking out of this coffee shop

14:21

and there was a guy and he didn't have

14:23

his shoes tied and he looked like he was

14:26

disabled in some way. And I'm like, oh my

14:28

God, I get to tie his shoes. And I

14:30

just started weeping because

14:33

there is no

14:36

amount of words you can

14:38

put on how much

14:40

joy and fulfillment that gives

14:43

you versus buying another

14:45

expensive designer, anything. Like they

14:47

don't even, they're nowhere

14:49

in the same list. And

14:53

I just wrote this book, Abundant Ever After,

14:55

which I mentioned you in several times and

14:57

I wrote it to really like deconstruct abundance.

14:59

Because if I ask people what

15:01

is abundance to you? They're like,

15:03

I want to make millions of dollars and I want to

15:05

have a great career. And I'm like, great. Okay.

15:08

You know, like my tradition of Judaism doesn't have

15:11

a problem with you wanting to pursue

15:13

success. And I

15:16

think you have way bigger dreams than that. Like

15:18

I think your dreams are being

15:21

connected to the mystical, finding

15:23

deep purpose in your life, feeling

15:25

deep peace inside. And they all say to

15:27

me, you're right. Right? So it's

15:31

like, they know it. There's no

15:33

problem with, you know, pursuing success.

15:35

But if it costs you in

15:37

the moment, really like

15:39

what you're saying, what the true reward

15:42

is moment by moment. And

15:45

you're instead thinking that these other

15:47

things, which you just said, well, it's

15:49

like a counterfeit reward. Right?

15:52

Like eating gummy bears instead

15:54

of like steak and mashed

15:57

potatoes. Like one of them

15:59

might look pretty. but it won't fill you

16:01

up. It actually makes you sick, but the

16:03

other one will actually nourish you, right? And

16:06

it's not to say you can't also then have

16:08

the cupcakes, like have it, right? But what

16:11

are you actually after? Your mind might tell

16:13

you one thing and your soul's telling you

16:15

something else. And those

16:17

are the things that are available in every

16:19

moment. You don't have to look

16:22

and say what's missing. It's

16:24

you being alive, you

16:27

can be of service right now and

16:30

fulfill that part of yourself that loves

16:32

somebody else and makes someone's day better.

16:36

Well, I'm a big believer in being

16:39

able to kind of to reframe. This just

16:41

happened to me yesterday, actually. I was down

16:43

in Baltimore visiting my nephew, first Bar Mitzvah,

16:45

and I took an Amtrak train up to

16:48

Stanford. And then we got to

16:50

New York and they said, everybody

16:52

off the train, we're not going to Stanford, we're not

16:54

going to New Haven, we're not going to Boston, there's

16:56

a problem. So that's it. They

16:58

just canceled the train. So

17:01

people that were going to Boston had to go to the

17:03

Amtrak train. Me and others had

17:05

to get on Metro North. So

17:07

I'm literally a Penn station outside and I'm thinking

17:09

I gotta catch it, I gotta go. And

17:12

I say, you want to Grand Central? This woman says, I

17:14

mean, never happened in New York, jump in the cab with

17:16

me, you can go with me. She

17:20

said, well, you just on that Amtrak train? I said, yeah, I

17:22

was on that Amtrak train. So we're

17:24

sitting in traffic together for 30 minutes,

17:26

okay? She tells me that

17:28

her daughter is going out with this Jewish

17:30

guy and she starts talking about like her

17:33

life and she opens up about just

17:35

everything. And then I said, thank you so

17:37

much. And then she said to me, she's

17:39

never been to Grand Central before, can I

17:41

help her find the train? So

17:44

then she said to me, you know, you

17:46

thought that I was helping you, but

17:49

you're really helping me. But she

17:51

had a big load of Christmas presents, she

17:54

didn't know where to go. And I basically

17:56

escorted her all the way to the train.

17:59

And she's like, was so happy. happy that we

18:01

were there together. And so I

18:03

realized like, it was meant, I said

18:05

to her, by the way, it's meant to be

18:07

that we're in this cab together. I've never shared

18:09

a cab randomly with somebody in New York City,

18:11

but I knew that was a message. Fast

18:14

forward, I'm on the Metro North trade and I'm sitting

18:16

there and I sit down next to this woman. And

18:19

there's someone says, you won't believe it. Like, I'm

18:22

supposed to be in Providence. I've been waiting

18:24

for four hours. I told her, I said,

18:26

it's meant to be. You're different here. Then

18:28

I told her a famous joke of Ronald Reagan.

18:30

Then I'll get to the point. I don't know

18:32

if you heard this. So I'm reading in this

18:34

book by one of his speech writers, Peter Robinson,

18:36

who was very instrumental in the tear down that

18:38

wall speech. And he said, Reagan would always say

18:41

this joke, parent has two

18:43

kids. One's a pessimist and the other's

18:45

an optimist. And they're always pessimistic. The

18:47

other's always optimistic. So the

18:50

parent takes the kids to a psychiatrist.

18:52

Psychiatrist brings the pessimist into a room

18:54

that's filled with toys. And

18:57

the kid starts to get really like anxious. And

19:00

the psychiatrist says like, what are

19:02

you any anxious about? This room is like filled

19:04

with toys. He said, yeah, but if

19:06

I play with one, one may break. So

19:11

then he takes the optimist into

19:13

another room. And in that room was a

19:15

pile full of dung, pile

19:17

full of manure. So

19:20

the optimist climbs on top of the pile and

19:22

starts digging. And the

19:24

psychiatrist says, what are you doing? And

19:27

the optimist says, there's probably a pony down

19:29

there. So

19:34

Reagan would always say, like there's gotta be

19:36

a pony down there. There would

19:39

be manure all over the place, but there's gotta be

19:41

a pony down there. So I told

19:43

this woman the story. And then I

19:45

just was talking to her about like stuff that

19:47

I do and all that. She says, you know what? I

19:50

think I was meant to meet you. My

19:52

father just died a few months ago. And

19:55

she starts talking to me about like, she's in

19:58

life transition a little bit and her dad. and

20:00

I said to her, there's a pony here. You

20:02

know what I'm saying? Like she was like upset.

20:05

And that's part of cultivating

20:07

that gratitude mindset. You

20:09

know, Labava Charebi would always say that

20:11

you can create heaven on earth anytime,

20:15

any place. You

20:18

just have to let God in and

20:20

have to know that there's a reason for where you are

20:22

right now and then try to find

20:24

a little bit of light in that moment. And

20:27

we can't control what happens to us. I

20:29

mean, there's so many things we can complain

20:31

about, but really this

20:33

whole season is again about reflecting

20:36

that I can't change

20:38

what happens to me, but

20:40

I can change the way I see the world around

20:42

me. And if I pause

20:44

just for a moment, then I

20:46

can hear God's call in this moment and

20:48

I can uplift myself. I can

20:50

share a little bit of that light with somebody else and

20:53

I can create a moment that is

20:55

truly worthy of future memory. You

20:57

know, and that's really what life is all about.

20:59

Zig Ziglar said, I'll just stop after this. Zig

21:01

Ziglar said, most people have destination disease. I'll

21:04

be happy when. But

21:06

again, it's really about finding sanctity and

21:09

eternality in the journey that is one

21:11

of the great poets said, eternity in

21:13

the palm of your hand. It's

21:16

right there. Yeah,

21:18

it's really magnificent. You know, I think

21:21

that we're like dopamine junkies. We like

21:23

chase these highs. And

21:25

of course, then there's a low afterwards, right?

21:27

Like after my husband got married, you know,

21:30

you do the Shever but we do seven

21:32

days of parties and then it's like this

21:34

anti-climactic feeling because you're like, hi for seven

21:36

days, right? Or, you know, you plan your

21:38

daughter's bat mitzvah where you go to Disneyland

21:40

and then there's... But that's

21:43

not what life is after. Life

21:46

is after the in between moments

21:48

and how magical they are when you lean

21:51

in and say, what gift is going to

21:53

show up by

21:55

being here? I'm

21:57

sure if the Dalai Lama had to go to the DMV.

22:00

he'd still have a great time because

22:03

he would realize that's where he is, which

22:05

means that's where he's supposed to be. He'd

22:08

probably serve a big purpose there, and

22:11

they'd probably enjoy that. Yeah, it's

22:14

just so fascinating. You're making me think, I think

22:16

you know this story, but I want to tell

22:18

you, one of our mutual friends, Raphini Friedman, the

22:21

way that I met him was that I got

22:23

lost. I was driving to meet my sister

22:25

in Orlando. She was at an

22:27

Israelite retreat. It was the day

22:29

it was ending. She was flying back to New

22:31

York. I was going to school in Florida in

22:33

Tallahassee, and I drove three and a half hours

22:35

from Tallahassee to Orlando. This is the

22:38

days before cell phones, and this is day before

22:40

GPS. She was at some random campsite, and

22:42

she said, if you don't get there by noon, forget

22:45

it because I won't be able to call you. We don't have cell

22:47

phones back then. This is 2001. She's

22:50

like, and I have to get on my flights, I have to leave for the airport.

22:53

I don't have a way of calling

22:55

her, but I'm looking. I have like

22:57

my printed out travel map, mapquest.com, trying

22:59

to get there. And of course,

23:01

I'm saying to myself by 11.45, why

23:03

am I continuing to drive? She's not going to be

23:05

there. She's leaving at 12, but I'm still not there.

23:07

I pull up at 12.15. No

23:10

one's there. There is no one there, and

23:12

I'm crying. I'm like, what was the

23:14

point of driving three and a half hours,

23:17

and I got lost, and I was really frustrated

23:20

because I was supposed to have been there and

23:22

spent like two hours with her. Sure

23:25

enough, this guy starts walking towards me, and

23:28

he says, are you Barbara's sister? And

23:31

I go, yeah, is she here?

23:33

He goes, no, she's not here. And

23:36

I go, oh my God, and I

23:38

start crying. And he says, you know

23:41

something? He goes, I wonder

23:44

if you're crying because you thought you

23:46

were supposed to come to meet her. What

23:49

if you were supposed to come to meet me? And

23:52

I like can't believe this guy.

23:55

I'm like, what on

23:57

earth is he talking about? And

23:59

also, So I was kind of curious, like I've never

24:02

thought a thought like that before. And

24:04

he's like, you know, I was supposed to

24:06

sleep just now and take a nap. Cause

24:08

I stayed up all night talking to all

24:10

the students, I'm exhausted. And something told me,

24:13

go outside. And then you're standing

24:15

here and he goes, do you

24:17

want to go inside and get lunch? The staff

24:20

is having lunch. So he goes,

24:22

I just have an important question. Do you eat tuna

24:24

fish? Do you eat egg salad? I go, yeah. He

24:26

goes, great. So we sit down. I'm thinking this guy

24:28

is insane. Like what is going on? And next thing

24:31

I know, he's telling me the most beautiful

24:33

wisdom. We're having this incredible, we stayed there

24:35

from noon until the time the sun went

24:37

down. And then he said, do you

24:40

want to come to Israel? You

24:42

should come, I'll give you a full scholarship.

24:45

Come, come for a couple of weeks. And I'm

24:48

like, what is going on? He goes,

24:50

you know what? I have a guy, I'll pay

24:52

for your flight. I go, what? So

24:55

I call my sister and she's like, what happened? I'm

24:57

like, you won't believe what happened. She's like, where were

24:59

you all day? I'm like, you don't understand. And she's

25:01

like, that didn't happen to me. That happened.

25:03

You're going to Israel. You got a flight. I'm like, yeah, she

25:05

goes, so that was just the, I

25:07

mean, it was the beginning

25:10

of everything I really wanted that

25:12

I didn't even know I wanted

25:15

because I got lost. But

25:17

I was found the whole

25:19

time. Yeah. Wow.

25:22

That's it. And that was your Benny. That was

25:24

your moment. And he's how I met you.

25:27

Exactly. I want to ask

25:29

you a different question, which is speaking

25:31

of the Dalai Lama, I'm sure he didn't actually

25:33

tweet this, but he has an account and

25:36

years ago there was a really good tweet.

25:38

And it said, if you want to know how enlightened

25:40

you are, go home for

25:42

Thanksgiving. And I

25:45

thought that's really good because everybody

25:47

tends to be evolved. But

25:49

then when we're with our families,

25:51

the people that like press really

25:53

knows. Yeah. We

25:56

become these like versions of

25:58

ourself that. are

26:01

really interesting, right? And

26:04

people are gonna go home for Thanksgiving and

26:07

I'm curious what your wisdom is. Like,

26:09

what do we need to remember when

26:13

we're with our families and people can

26:15

push your buttons? And some people are

26:18

maybe not that nice and some people

26:20

are actually really nice but maybe we

26:22

don't give them enough slack. Like there's

26:24

a lot of different things happening in

26:28

families, right? And I'm curious what you

26:30

would say so that we can

26:32

all have the best possible Thanksgiving if we are gonna

26:34

go be with our families. Well,

26:37

I think first of all, it's a great question.

26:39

I mean, certainly in the aftermath of the election, you

26:41

know, there's not- Right, not too. Yeah,

26:43

there's a lot of tension out there. And I

26:46

think that we have to reflect

26:49

on, again, it goes back to gratitude

26:51

and the blessings which is

26:53

the blessing of family. You know,

26:55

there are people of course that may not

26:57

have family to go to and

26:59

recognizing that I have

27:02

a roof, I have a family that loves me that

27:05

wants to spend time together. And by the way,

27:07

don't take that for granted. It

27:10

really helps shift and it's

27:12

so easy to dig for the dirt

27:14

in anybody. We

27:17

have to go into Thanksgiving saying I'm gonna mine

27:19

for the gold. That

27:21

to me is like key. And there's

27:23

a very famous idea, again, it's only famous if

27:25

you've heard it before from a

27:28

noted novelist, Rabbi Moshe Cordovera from about

27:30

four or 500 years ago. But

27:33

he said, we have to look at

27:35

others the way that God looks at

27:37

us. Now

27:39

think about it. We do

27:41

things that are counter really to what God wants,

27:43

whether it's with our eyes, with our mouths, with

27:45

whatever, and God every morning

27:47

chooses to find what

27:49

is redemptive, what is beautiful in

27:52

us, breathes into us

27:54

new potential and new life. In

27:57

the essence of humanity, whether you're Jewish or

27:59

not. is to walk in the

28:01

ways of God, to be slow to anger, to

28:04

anticipate acts of kindness, to

28:07

find the beauty in others. And

28:09

that's really what the mindset should be when we approach

28:12

the holidays, really to

28:15

focus on, again, what I love about

28:17

that person, what's positive in

28:19

that person. And I also,

28:21

the strong thing, I think too, is that

28:24

our actions affect our emotions. Many

28:26

people will say to me, I don't feel

28:28

like being nice. Last Thanksgiving, they

28:30

said this, I haven't really talked to him.

28:33

At the end of the day, kindness

28:37

for people that you love, it's easy to be kind

28:39

to a stranger, but it's

28:41

not so easy to be kind to your family, will

28:44

make you feel better towards that

28:47

person by acting in a way

28:49

that reflects the way you want to feel towards

28:51

that person. And I think that

28:55

that also is a way really to create

28:57

a better environment over the holiday of Thanksgiving.

29:00

I also think, by the way, reflecting

29:03

on positive memories, let's talk about this for

29:05

siblings. I know siblings that, you know, they

29:07

may not have the greatest relationship now, but

29:10

when you were five, six, seven, eight years

29:13

old, I mean, come on, you played together,

29:15

you got along, and

29:17

maybe use questions

29:20

as gateways to remind you of

29:24

what really brought you together, as opposed

29:26

to being at the Thanksgiving table and saying, what

29:28

do you think about this election? Forget it, like

29:31

it's not going anywhere, but saying, you

29:33

know, maybe this Thanksgiving, we talk about some of the

29:35

most meaningful memories in

29:37

our family over the past 30, 40, 50 years.

29:41

Why don't we share a memory of our grandparents that

29:44

still pulsates within us? We're only here

29:47

because of the investments of our parents or

29:49

our grandparents, and you'll find that it will

29:51

just help evoke

29:54

such positive, warm feelings that

29:57

I think can be extremely healthy, particularly during this

29:59

point of time. So, you know, prepare for the

30:01

meal, come with a couple questions that

30:03

are questions that will be uplifting,

30:05

that will be reminiscent of positive

30:07

memories. And then I think it'll just

30:09

flow from there. Because when we

30:11

don't have anything to talk about, that's

30:13

when people revert to the snide

30:16

comments or the things that may be

30:18

polarizing, but there really truly is much

30:21

more that brings us together than, than,

30:23

than divides us for sure. Yeah. It's

30:26

really something else that what you said

30:28

is like, you know, mine for the

30:30

gold. That really is such

30:32

a beautiful spiritual practice. And

30:35

also for the people who are

30:37

listening, 95% of my audience is women. And for

30:40

the men and women who

30:44

listen, I can just tell from the cross

30:46

section of people I've met, these are just

30:49

really good souls. And so I

30:51

want to ask from a different side now, because

30:53

some of these people that I meet, and

30:55

I know what this is like, are so kind,

30:58

that they are more

31:01

apt to not really

31:03

be themselves because they want everyone to be okay,

31:05

that they're kind of like people

31:07

pleasing. And they

31:10

want to be able to be kind,

31:13

which is a value, I think, for

31:15

my audience, but they want

31:17

to be there

31:19

and be themselves,

31:22

be present. You know, my

31:24

dad passed in July and in April,

31:26

I was in Florida for a Passover.

31:29

And my whole life, I was always

31:31

wanting everyone to be okay. And I would always be

31:34

the happy one, the smiley one. And I knew

31:36

he was dying. And there

31:39

were so many things in my family life

31:41

from my parents' divorce. And it was a

31:43

lot of just stuff. And

31:46

I had never, ever told him

31:49

anything that I felt, because

31:51

I didn't want him to be uncomfortable.

31:54

I didn't want him to be mad at me. And

31:56

so I would just play a certain part. And

31:59

a friend of mine said, something finally that really worked

32:01

for me. She said, what if you don't need anything

32:03

from him and you don't come

32:05

from a place of hostility, you just

32:08

say, I wanted to share with

32:10

you what's true

32:12

for me in our relationship. She

32:15

said, maybe you would actually create

32:17

the possibility of more connection because

32:20

being really loving by opening

32:22

your heart and not meeting

32:24

him to be a certain way or do anything. So

32:26

I said, dad, I want to talk to you. So

32:29

he's like, okay. So I

32:31

thought it would be like 30 minutes. We carve out and

32:33

then we'd go swimming with the kids. So I say to

32:35

my husband, I'll meet you at the hotel in an

32:38

hour and go talk to my dad, then

32:40

we'll meet up with you guys. I sat

32:42

down with him for four hours because he

32:44

was so touched. He

32:46

said, you don't know what this does for me. Now

32:49

I wasn't coming in there with, dad, I

32:52

want you to know, but I just said, dad,

32:54

I just want you to know that you don't

32:56

have to do anything. You don't have to apologize.

32:58

I just want to share with you that in

33:00

the course of our relationship, there were like so

33:02

many things that I didn't know how to tell

33:04

you about. And I want

33:06

to tell them to you. And he

33:08

couldn't get enough. He's like, I don't

33:10

want this to end. He

33:13

said, it hurts to hear, but I also

33:15

feel so close to you because you're being

33:18

so genuine and so honest. And

33:20

you're giving me an opportunity to

33:23

make it right. And

33:26

we've never had this conversation. And I know

33:29

I've always known, he said that you actually

33:31

did feel stuff, but I didn't know, I

33:33

couldn't guess. And we stopped

33:35

there for four hours and then he sent me a letter

33:37

the next day and said how grateful he was and

33:40

how much he processed. And

33:42

then I said to myself, Oh my

33:44

goodness, I denied myself this

33:47

level of connection with my dad for

33:50

the last like at least 20 years, because

33:52

I just thought to myself, he's not capable.

33:56

He'll never be able to be there

33:58

for me. I'll just. Just keep him

34:00

at a distance, be perfect when I'm around him,

34:02

and then call it a day. And

34:05

so I think it takes a

34:07

lot of courage to be authentic and

34:10

to know how to do that from a loving way is like

34:13

such a high level, right? Versus

34:16

one or the other, like in a state of like

34:18

sort of being closed or in a state of just

34:20

being closed in a different way.

34:22

I'm just curious what you think about that because I

34:25

think so many families need to heal. And

34:27

in order to heal, they need to lovingly

34:31

really talk to each other and they don't know how to do that.

34:35

First of all, I know your dad's presence is here right

34:37

now. Oh, that's so

34:39

sweet. I mean, I feel that the

34:41

fact that you took the

34:44

courageous step to open up to him like

34:46

that in a way that enabled him not

34:49

to feel defensive, but

34:51

just to open up your heart to him. It

34:54

says in the Talmud that when your heart

34:56

opens, you open other people's hearts and he

34:59

did it without judgment, without

35:01

a sense of accusation,

35:03

and you gave him almost

35:06

permission to open it back up to you.

35:08

So that it's a true, true

35:10

blessing, you know, and speaks to kind of who

35:12

you are. And I know you're

35:14

going to feel his presence. It's such a gift that you were able

35:17

to do that. Thank you.

35:19

Yeah. And you're making me think about things

35:21

I should be doing too. And

35:23

what I would say is it's really

35:25

important what you're saying because there are

35:27

the moments over Thanksgiving when everybody's sitting

35:30

around the table. But

35:32

inevitably there are going to be moments when

35:35

we should say, you know what, to somebody that we love,

35:37

let's just take a walk together. Just

35:40

me and you. And

35:42

whether that's 30 minutes or an hour, the

35:45

very fact that you can say to somebody that

35:47

you love who you really maybe haven't spent so

35:49

much time with, let's take a walk together. Let's

35:52

leave the phones in the house. And

35:55

I just want to tell you how much I care about you. And

35:57

it's been on my mind, this thing that you did for me. Think

36:00

about one thing that somebody in your family did

36:02

for you. You'll never

36:04

forget. Go for

36:06

a walk with them this Thanksgiving and

36:09

let them know how much it means to you. Imagine

36:12

if every family found

36:14

a way to do that. What are

36:16

the I'll never forget moments in

36:19

your family. Take a 30

36:21

minute walk with one of your family members

36:23

and let them know. People

36:26

will speak so moved from that because

36:28

it'll speak to the authenticity of the

36:30

relationship. It may actually rekindle a relationship,

36:34

you know, so that long after the

36:36

turkey is gone. The

36:39

renewed friendship and love will

36:41

feel hopefully a deeper relationship.

36:43

I think that's important too.

36:46

Thanksgiving is actually a beautiful holiday,

36:48

but it's a holiday that actually should. Nurture

36:53

renewed relationships, renewed

36:55

appreciation for all the people within

36:57

our family. So, you know, what you

36:59

just share with me kind of sparked that

37:01

idea. And I do think that those one

37:03

on one walks when you're

37:05

not asking anything from anybody,

37:08

that's important to you

37:10

know, too often people say, oh, you want

37:12

to go for a walk? What do you need? No.

37:16

I want to go walk with you just to say thank you for

37:18

a couple of moments in our life that I just want you

37:21

to know meant so much to me. And

37:23

that will literally be the spark that

37:26

I think can really help uplift

37:28

relationships and really

37:30

heal relationships and make this Thanksgiving

37:32

one that will truly be unforgettable.

37:36

It's so beautiful. And I want to just add that,

37:38

you know, why that feels

37:40

so genuine what you said is

37:43

because when somebody passes away, the

37:46

ones that you love, even if especially if

37:49

you're hurt by them, the reason

37:51

you're hurt is because you love that person.

37:54

The only people that could hurt you, really the

37:56

people that really hurt them carry around the hurt

37:58

is people that want to. we had opened our

38:00

heart to. And when people pass

38:02

away, you immediately, after

38:04

they go, recognize

38:07

the good that they did and the bad. And

38:09

you see the totality of a person. And

38:11

what winds up staying

38:13

with you is the good. And then you

38:16

say, I wish I could have had the

38:18

capacity to see and

38:20

acknowledge this while this

38:22

person was here. Even the

38:24

hard things, because there were a lot of good things

38:26

I shared at my dad's eulogy when he passed at

38:28

the funeral that were beautiful, but even the hard things,

38:30

and there were a lot of those, I'm

38:33

now so grateful for those things because it made

38:35

me who I am. My

38:38

parents hadn't gotten divorced. I

38:41

wouldn't have looked for my father in God.

38:44

I wouldn't have gone to Jerusalem. I

38:46

wouldn't have run there like a speeding

38:48

train, looking for

38:50

meaning. If my parents would have had

38:53

a perfect marriage, I would have probably, who

38:55

knows, right? Like, I'm not saying that would have been

38:57

bad. That probably would have been great too. It's

39:00

just that the empathy I have for people,

39:02

the way I can be proud of my

39:04

self-esteem by having not had a dad who

39:06

put me through college or helped me in

39:09

a way it built a lot in me. So

39:12

it's really

39:14

powerful. No one

39:16

has time for anyone. Everyone's on their phone. And it's

39:18

just like, you're not going to

39:20

Thanksgiving for what everyone's wearing and the

39:22

stuffing that they bring. You're going for

39:24

a connection. And to create

39:26

that one simple thing, like let's just go

39:28

on a walk. Let's just have time

39:31

for time. It's just something

39:33

no one does. It actually sounds like

39:35

radical when you say it. That's not

39:37

a radical, but you know, actually I

39:39

think it's a great, great way to

39:42

make this Thanksgiving so much more meaningful

39:45

and opportunity, like

39:47

you said, for connection. I

39:49

wanted to share with you, because I mentioned it to you before,

39:52

but I wanted you to have a chance to

39:54

share because we were talking about the election and

39:56

I'm not here to make a point about it. I'm

39:59

just here to say how it is. so sad that

40:01

families are like literally cutting out

40:03

members of their family over

40:05

that, right? That is, you

40:07

know, I don't think the way that

40:09

we should be responding to that. And

40:12

I share it on Instagram last week, something

40:14

I share with you because you have a

40:16

very deep connection to Senator Joe Lieberman. And

40:19

I share with you that I was

40:21

in college in the year 2000. And I'm just scrolling

40:23

because I wanted to show you, but I think I've

40:25

shown this to you. In the year 2000, I went

40:28

to Florida State. Florida State

40:30

is obviously in Florida. Florida played a

40:32

big role in that election. And

40:35

in that election, Al

40:37

Gore was supposed to win. I was a big

40:39

Al Gore fan. And because I

40:41

was editor of my college paper, I was there that

40:43

night when Katherine Harris came out to tell us who

40:46

was going to win the election because of

40:48

the Florida votes, the hanging chads, the butterfly

40:50

ballots. And we waited till one in the morning

40:52

and Fox and MSNBC, CNN, everyone was there.

40:54

And I was there because I had a

40:56

press badge for being a student journalist as

40:58

editor of the paper. And she came out

41:00

and said that Gore lost. And

41:03

I burst into tears because at that

41:05

point, that was what I

41:07

for sure thought should be happening. He

41:09

was like, sweeter than sweet. And I,

41:11

you know, hadassa, everybody, I was just

41:14

like obsessed with this whole situation. And

41:16

then he said something crazy, which was, he

41:19

was so sad that he said, I don't want to

41:21

do interviews. I'll just, who's the student journalist here? Because

41:24

he was a journalist in his

41:26

early days. He said, I'll do the story

41:28

with you. Let's go. And I, he's like, who is

41:31

it? I stepped forward, you know, I

41:33

put my hand up and he's like, let's go.

41:35

So it's me, Joe Lieberman and Al Gore sitting

41:37

in a room. And this is the

41:39

picture of me walking over to him. I

41:42

can't believe I got a picture, but somebody snapped

41:44

that picture. All

41:48

I said to him the first two seconds,

41:50

five seconds, all I said was I'm

41:52

Jewish, I'm Jewish, and my friend

41:54

Jesse taps on and she goes, all you've

41:56

said is I'm Jewish. I'm like, oh my gosh. And

41:58

he goes, I get it. I know because it's of

42:00

Joe and your, and he goes, I totally put it

42:02

together. I'm like, I'm so sorry. I can't speak. Anyway,

42:06

what I posted on Instagram last week

42:08

was that night, I

42:10

was certain that the next day because

42:12

he lost, I thought the sky would

42:14

fall down. I thought

42:16

this was the worst possible

42:18

outcome. I was terrified, right?

42:21

And then the sky did

42:23

not fall down. And

42:27

I learned to have

42:29

a wider view of the world. And

42:35

that was actually a beautiful gift

42:37

really. But I thought you

42:39

might want to share because you helped

42:42

officiate the funeral for Joe Lieberman. He's

42:45

such a special person in terms

42:47

of a person who walked

42:50

with such honor and dignity in our

42:52

government. Like, is

42:54

there anything you'd want to say about the kind

42:56

of person he was and how maybe we can

42:58

take a page out of that book for

43:01

how we can view

43:03

politics in a loving, healthy

43:05

way to

43:07

just add to the story as

43:09

we go through these times so that we're

43:12

not so reactive

43:14

and scared because when

43:17

you told me that he asked you, it was in

43:19

his will that you would officiate, give

43:21

the eulogy. And I was like, that is such high

43:23

praise because he was such, I don't know that people

43:25

know what a human being

43:27

he was. I don't know

43:29

if you wanted to touch on that at all because I just

43:33

told that story last week because I have a

43:35

personal connection, but not at all the way you

43:37

do. And I thought it actually

43:39

gave me, it gave me peace

43:41

during this time. So

43:43

first of all, I mean, that is an amazing

43:45

story. And the reality is is that,

43:47

you know, I think of two

43:50

things is that he was a

43:52

person that never let the

43:54

politics become personal. I

43:56

mean, he understood more than

43:59

many people that there were real

44:01

implications when somebody had a different political point

44:03

of view, much more than just us who

44:06

are kind of spectators. For

44:09

him, it really meant

44:11

a lot if somebody was voting differently or somebody had

44:13

a different opinion. At the same time,

44:15

he understood that he always wanted to give people

44:17

the benefit of the doubt. You

44:20

know, actually, I was talking with his

44:22

wife Hadassah after he had

44:24

passed away. And one of the

44:26

things, when they were discussing who would

44:28

speak at the funeral, He

44:31

didn't know who he was gonna pass away, of course. But she

44:34

said to him, you want

44:36

the sitting governor of Connecticut to speak. And right

44:38

now that's Ned Lamont, who is the

44:41

one who was running against you as the senator.

44:45

And he said in typical Joe

44:47

Lieberman fashion, yeah, but

44:49

I hold no grudges. We may

44:51

have been adversaries on

44:53

the political spectrum, but he

44:56

understood that really to get anything done, we

44:59

have to find compromise, we have

45:01

to work together. We're not

45:04

here to diminish or demean

45:06

anybody. And he understood literally,

45:08

this is the United States of America, we're

45:10

all children of God, and we can accomplish

45:13

so much more when we stick

45:15

together. And I think that's

45:17

the spirit that we have to continue to, again,

45:20

as I said, mine and other people. It's

45:24

not an existential threat as much as people

45:26

wanna think. One of the

45:28

candidates to the entire country. Now again, you may

45:30

argue this, but at the end of the day,

45:33

we need to find ways to find common

45:35

ground. And he said, if you stay in

45:37

your corner, we'll never get anything done. If

45:40

we try to find a practical solution, at

45:43

least we can find something constructive. So, and he

45:45

lived with that. And for him, by the way,

45:48

no matter whether the person was sitting

45:51

with the Kings or was

45:53

the person who was the superintendent

45:55

at a school, he literally

45:57

saw the face of God in every human being.

46:00

He talked to him, he was

46:02

fully present, he was fully there.

46:04

He came to synagogue many weeks when I

46:06

was here and he would kibbitz with the

46:08

people at the kiddush and eat

46:11

even though maybe the day before he was talking

46:13

with the president of the United States. Nobody

46:16

is too high and mighty to

46:18

not be able to find the face of God in another human

46:20

being. And we have

46:22

to recognize that. That's

46:24

exquisite, it made me cry. At

46:27

the funeral, did Al Gore say anything about

46:29

him? Like what a person he was. So

46:31

this is kind of funny, I mean, they also kind

46:34

of had a little bit of a falling out a little bit

46:36

later on, but they- I didn't know that, okay. A

46:38

little bit. I'm making it even more interesting. Yeah,

46:41

but they made amends and they

46:43

really, you know, obviously

46:46

Joe is eternally grateful to Al for

46:48

giving him this opportunity. Al

46:51

Gore spoke masterfully at the

46:54

funeral, but one of the things I shared afterwards,

46:56

because I do a lot of speaking, there's

46:58

a new film about the senator. Saul

47:01

speaks sometimes on panels, like I'm actually doing

47:03

this week, this week in Washington, but at

47:06

the very end of the funeral, there were a thousand

47:08

people there. I'm waiting to get

47:10

out of the synagogue and

47:12

there's a traffic jam. And

47:15

who's waiting to get out of

47:17

the synagogue? In line, Al Gore. And

47:20

I said, when this man

47:22

was the vice president of the United States,

47:25

the entire place would have cleared for him.

47:29

And here, he's walking like everybody

47:31

else. The greatness of Joe

47:33

Lieberman also was that he never confused his

47:36

role with his soul. He

47:39

understood that at the end of the

47:41

day, whatever we do in politics, that's

47:43

not who we are. And

47:45

he was really able to walk the world with a tremendous

47:48

sense of humility. So I think

47:50

that's an important message in the aftermath of

47:52

the election. One of the things, do you

47:54

remember one of the things that Al Gore said at the funeral?

47:56

I'm just so curious. Well.

48:00

like a message. I think

48:02

he was, and this is I guess my second

48:04

point, deeply inspired by the Senator's faith. His

48:07

campaign was very different than

48:10

Senator Lieberman's. I mean one of the

48:12

things that Senator Lieberman,

48:14

he did not campaign on Shabbat, you

48:16

know, as much as he said. He's

48:18

an Orthodox Jew. I don't think everybody

48:21

knows that. Yeah, he's an Orthodox Jew.

48:23

He literally for 25 hours was off

48:25

the campaign trail. And you

48:27

would say, wait a second, you're running for

48:29

the highest office in the land. If

48:32

you don't campaign for those 24

48:34

hours, you may be missing out on some

48:36

critical votes. Maybe had he

48:38

campaigned more on Shabbat, who knows, maybe

48:40

they would have gotten some more votes

48:43

in Florida. But Joe Lieberman

48:45

lived the life where

48:47

he understood at the end of the day, if you

48:49

honor God, God will

48:51

honor you. And

48:54

I think that's a very important message as well.

48:56

It says in the book of Psalms, the guardian

48:58

of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Politicians

49:01

are human. But at the

49:04

end of the day, I can live

49:06

with what happens because I know that

49:08

there is a God who's watching over

49:10

our country, watching over our world. And

49:13

yeah, the person who was elected may not

49:15

have been the individual that I wanted. But

49:17

belief in God and the

49:19

higher power is also I think a way to

49:22

maintain a sense of faith. And

49:24

I've said this so many times in our

49:26

community, that redemption can happen in an instant.

49:29

We have no way of understanding the

49:31

ebb and flow of politics in the

49:33

world. And why despair? Why lead a

49:35

life full of anxiety? Really,

49:38

any day miracles can happen, and

49:40

light can shine over the entire

49:42

world. So that to me

49:44

is an important message for

49:47

all of us to maintain our sense of

49:49

faith, to know that I can't

49:51

change the world, but let us all focus on

49:53

changing the world of one person every day. And

49:56

we may be the spark that will

49:59

hopefully herald. of that new and better world for all

50:01

of us. So beautiful. Thank you

50:03

for your time and for your wisdom. Thank you.

50:05

Congrats on your new grandchild. God bless you. Thank

50:08

you. Thank you for blessing us with so much

50:10

love today. My pleasure. Bye,

50:12

Rabbi.