Latest / In the Valley of Giants / Storyteller of the Infinite | Rav Nachman Seltzer | ITVOG Ep. 34

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Storyteller of the Infinite | Rav Nachman Seltzer | ITVOG Ep. 34 · In the Valley of Giants

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To every person, show us them. Get up, get out of your comfort
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zone and show us them. I'm ready to be most than
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average for what I forever it is.
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I want to be somebody I want to do, I want to serve you.
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I want to help Klaus off and someone say, OK, that's what you
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want, I'm going to come towards you.
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But you know the average person knows the top 10 writers in the
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world, right? So he knows John Grisham, he
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knows I don't know Stephen King, let's say, right, these are the
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top guys. Fine, So that's the top guys out
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of millions. You know, JK Rowling, he knows
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the top. OK, so that's out of millions of
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people. So here, how many people are
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riding in the from world? It's a numbers game.
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And what's interesting, I think is that in the non Jewish world,
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some of the top people are Jewish.
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I mean, that's the Hibbish. The Hibbish is that even at the
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time you have people like Simon and Garfunkel were Jewish.
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And so you have that's what that's that's the Hibbish.
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That should be the opposite and yet we still managed to make a
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walk even though numbers wise we're we're like very limited
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compared to the amount of people making content in the non Jewish
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world. Why can't we talk more about the
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forces of evil and fighting it? Like why can't there?
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So we talk about the forces of evil.
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And fighting. But we do.
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That's one of the arguments against our school.
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Well, one of the one of the arguments was that it wasn't
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necessarily meant to be that any person could just pick up and
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go. All right, Salsa, thank you so
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much for coming in today. Thank you for having me.
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Of course. So, so I have so many questions,
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but I actually want to start right in the thick of it, right.
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So we are the Jewish people. And as you didn't, it's no
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secret, OK, Christians are going to think that they have the
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right religion and truth. And we're going to, we're Jews.
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We have the right religion and truth.
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We're the bearers of of wisdom. Why does our writing?
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Not talking about you, of course, but why does our writing
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in music just this mediocre in comparison to the rest of the
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world? What?
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What is it? What are we?
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It's a very good question. I think the answer is very
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simple though. It's a numbers game.
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If you're going to have, let's say, 10 million non Jewish
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people writing books, so you're going to have it.
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If 10 million, you're going to have an, you know, going to a
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certain amount. Let's say you know, the average
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person knows the top 10 writers in the world, right?
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So he knows John Grisham. He knows, I don't know, Stephen
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King, let's say, right, these are the top guys.
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Fine. So that's the top guys out of
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millions. You know, JK Rowling, he knows
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the top. OK, so that's out of millions of
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people. So here, how many people are
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riding in the firm world? It's a numbers game.
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And what's interesting, I think, is that in the non Jewish world,
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some of the top people are Jewish.
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I mean, that's the finish, the Hibbish is that even at the time
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you have people like Simon and Garfunkel were Jewish.
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And so you have that's what that's that's the Hibbish.
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That should be the opposite. And yet we still managed to make
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a walk, even though numbers wise we're we're like very limited
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compared to the amount of people making content in the non Jewish
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world. And yet Hollywood is still full
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of Jewish people. So you would you would you would
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claim that if I were to do a study and compare the successful
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gentile authors with non successful gentile authors that
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the statistics would be somewhat the same versus successful Jews?
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I mean, there's probably the statistical probably, thank you
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so much, way more Jewish people successful than non Jewish
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people based on the numbers. Because if you take the ones who
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are successful the Jewish world than the ones who are successful
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in the non Jewish world, way more Jewish people are
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successful. Just there's not that many
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talented people. The most talented people out of
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them are not, are, are not using that, that talent in this, in
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this area. They're they're choosing to,
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let's say be a Rebbe. They're choosing to be a lawyer.
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I don't know. They want to make more money.
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So that's the you're limited as a as a writer, you're limited
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really capped in a certain sense, how far you can go in the
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from world, right? Unless there's a miracle and
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some and you some. And you write 58.
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Books. OK.
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So in general. In general.
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If you've written five books and the average numbers are not in
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your favor to be become well known all over the world.
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OK, I do a lot of books every year, but Hashem.
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So if you're going to do 4 books, 5 books a year and and
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some of them haven't, but Hashem are very successful.
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So then those numbers, maybe they might cross over to the non
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Jewish world at some point. Yeah, but again, you're limited
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just by the amount of people buying books.
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You're limited by the amount of things you can write about, but
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that the person who's who's in the non Jewish world, he could
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write about anything he wants. OK, that's a different time now.
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OK. And.
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There's a bunch of things here, OK, The main thing is that let's
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start with the main thing. The main thing is that there's a
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lot. There's not that many people
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writing books and therefore because it's not them, you know
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how many people are very talented, right?
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So you know the top 10,000 people, the non Jews, but that's
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out of millions here. It's out of few, out of 2003
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thousand, whatever it is, it's a very small amount, right?
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So that's by, that's by nature it's going to be not as good.
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Following that phenomenon, then, wouldn't it be a much better
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approach for us to have less published authors and just
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publish the ones that are worth reading?
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Because Jewish art has such a bad rap, I feel.
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I mean I. Said before, so I'm safe.
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You know, you think you remind me of a question somebody asked
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a person who had a lot of children, he said.
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How come you bring so many children into the world?
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So guys, so which one should I get rid of?
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So which one? Maybe not that one, maybe not
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him and Yanko, which one should I get rid of?
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The answer is that every person who has a dream, every person
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thinks that their book is going to be successful, they all think
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it. Nobody's thinking I'm going to
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write a book and no one's going to go for it.
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Everyone thinks it's good, right?
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So. I don't know do that, is that
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what? I think when you ride a safer
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right if you if you if you're putting it out, you don't think
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it's good, then what are you doing?
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Clearly you think it's good at some level you believe in.
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Otherwise you're going to be spending all this time to put it
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out. So everyone believes it's their
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baby. Now you're telling me it's not
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good? You don't like it, so don't buy
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it. You know what I'm saying?
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What music? I think the more music that
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comes out, the more chance there's going to be good music.
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It's a lot of good music today compared to music.
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State of Shot. OK, Because that's a lot of
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people making music. So more music is being made.
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There's more chance you can have good music, which everyone calls
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good. What's good is very subjective.
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Everybody likes something else, right?
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There's I think the more you write more people write, the the
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the better it is because it's going to be out of those people.
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You never know when the next amazing writer is going to show
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up. Who's going to suddenly take the
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world by storm. You never know.
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Michael Bruce's wife, Missus Kamarnik, you this Kamarnik
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wrote a book called The Last slave.
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The last slave was a huge hit about the story, you know, about
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the peso story, but trying can a huge it.
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Who would have thought it became a huge it.
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So she shouldn't, she shouldn't write a book because no, she,
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she wrote a book and she's a great writer and now we know who
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she is. And I think every person who
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believes in themselves, you have to believe in yourself.
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If you believe in yourself, you think you have to share with the
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world, go for it. You know, that's what I think.
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OK. But the second Goody, you said
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that we can't write about everything.
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There's certain topics that are off limits.
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So what do you mean by that? You can't write about
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everything. You can't write about the
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fidelity. You can't write about how
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necessarily, you can't write about people doing, let's say,
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crimes, the nivel pet. There's a lot of things you
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can't write about. Well, nivel pet for sure,
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because there's no positive side of nivel pet period.
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But OK, but let's say crime. I'm going to say crime.
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How about violence? OK.
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Lush and horror, Yeah, you're limited by them, by lush and
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horror. Lush and horror.
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You don't want to write lush and horror about the Jewish people.
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We're limited. You can't write Russian horror.
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I made a decision when I started writing that I'm going to be
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focused on the positive side of the Jewish people, and I've
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tried very hard to keep that. That's been my my theme.
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I think maybe Ashem likes that, that I'm focused on the
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positive, not the negative. Well, I'm, I'm not, I wouldn't
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say that that we should focus on negatives, but like, why can't
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we talk more about the forces of evil?
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I'm fighting it Like why can't there?
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So we talk about the forces of evil.
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And fighting, yeah, but we do. But in general, in general, it's
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not. It's not so much spoken about.
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What do you give me an example of what you mean?
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What do you mean? So what if we wrote a story
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about, what if you wrote a story about the Barcoqua Rebellion and
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how bloody it was, you know, with a lot of visceral detail.
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Personally that's not my thing, but I feel like there are
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certain people that especially like history buffs or or people
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that are men that like violence. They might find those stories a
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bit more interesting then reading about how amazing
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Shimbarkai was in The Cave. Now I have no problem with
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Shimbarkai and he's one of the best people that have ever
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lived, but I feel like there are aspects of Yiddish kite that we
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kind of leave on the table because we don't want to talk
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about them. And the Gemara, by the way, it's
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not like the Gemara is afraid of.
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Violence, the Gemara is not not just violence or is full of
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things which we would not be able to write about.
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I'll tell you, I'm just going to throw it out at you.
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Let's say we will. Let's say we'll go with you.
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We write about Kikla, the story about Kikla.
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I'm saying one reason not to do that is we'll be Akiba doesn't
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really doesn't come out looking very great.
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That's why Akiba believed that Bakar was Mushiya.
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And and if you're going to write the story where it could really
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happen, it's when take pretty much many stories from Tanakh.
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If you write them the way they really happen, it's a it's a
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it's very hard to understand a lot of times what was going on
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over there. We don't maybe we're missing
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information. We're the type of Judaism that
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the type of things that were going on at that time, the type
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of things that are going on today.
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It all very, very different type of realities.
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Always We don't understand almost the reality that would
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keep us safe. You wanted to join Baku's army.
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What did you have to do? You have to break off your
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thumb. The bikini said you have to
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mutilate yourself to become that was I don't Baku percent.
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I'm not really Kiba, but that was bikini was behind.
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He was, he was his patron until he said he was in mistakes about
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Khazib. He's a fake mashiach.
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So that was it's like. But but that's that's on us,
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meaning we need to understand those things as well.
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So let's write about those things.
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So you can write about it. It's, it's hard to understand
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what was really going on over there.
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But I don't know if anybody really understands it.
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It's a lot of mystery. A lot.
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That there's an aspect of terror that hasn't.
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Been taxed is an aspect of Torah.
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It's just a very again, you could write about.
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I don't know how many people would actually be interested in
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that personally. I don't know how many people
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actually. Fanatics in history.
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A lot. A lot of people.
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Would care? Yeah.
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You think so? Yeah, it's a very dark, maybe
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important time. It could be your right.
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There's a time of tremendous hope, right?
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That ended up in tragedy. It could be your right.
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I'll tell you there's a how do you know what's a good business
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to to open up? Right?
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How do you know? How do you how do you decide?
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Right. So you walk down the street in
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German colony, let's say immigrify him.
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Look around. How many stores there?
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OK, there's like 10 pizza stores, so I'm going to open up
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a store selling, you know, fishing rods because there's no
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fishing rods store, but there's all these pizza stores.
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The answer is no. If you open up a fishing rods
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store, you're not selling any fishing rods.
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No one's coming to buy fishing rods over here.
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Maybe Inertolea by the water over here.
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If you open another pizza store, you'll have a good chance of
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succeeding. You got to ask yourself, how
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come nobody's writing this book? If people were interested, there
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would be more people writing these books.
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But people aren't so interested, otherwise they would do it, I
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don't think. You're right.
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I'll tell you why. NIA Cotton or It's Not My
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Business, but have you ever read I think it was a book by Milton
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Steinberg was a conservative rub, I think, but he wrote a
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book on Alicia Benavali called As a Driven Life.
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Have you read this book? It's a fantastic book, but I was
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so disappointed with it. I had to read it for some class.
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I was taken in college. And the reason why I loved it is
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because it was written so well. It was engaging.
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It was it dealt with really difficult things.
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It really caught me. I couldn't put it down, but I
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was disappointed because I was like, no, that's that doesn't
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show up with that Gemara. And I don't know where they're
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getting that from. And that really doesn't sound
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like All Stars. Like, wow, you know, it'd be so
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amazing if someone could just write this book based off of
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what we know what Khazal said it'd be.
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It'd be a tremendous book. And I think it was a best seller
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too. I think there's just certain
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things that are are not easy to write about.
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You know who? Did this.
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Marcus Lehman did it. Marcus Lehman, he wrote a
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keyboard, he wrote a books like this.
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By the way, a guy came, a guy emailed me last year and he
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asked me to write the the book about Dovremac, the the life
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story of Dovremac that'd be. Amazing that would be.
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Amazing, except it is incredibly hard to write the life story in
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a way I I don't want has to Shalom that anyone should think
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that double mouth is not that sad like he was.
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If I would has to Shalom in a way portray him in a way that's
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not him because it's hard to understand the gemaras, I would
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not think of such a risk. I thought about it, I discussed
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it with people, I discussed it with people whose opinions I
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respect and I came out. I don't want to take a risk and
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write a story about double ML Such a great person if has to
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Shalom I'll be married in this covered but.
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What if we were able to to to give it over and the exact way
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the Hazel give it over? Do you?
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Can't. If you do that, you go go
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through the Gamaras. I did.
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You can't. How are you going to write the
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story of you shy and WML in a way that that the average person
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could understand? It's very hard to understand.
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So then why? Does Ghazal say?
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Ghazal, for whatever reason, weren't scared of these things
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and they put it out there. So why?
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Can't we copy it because? We're not ghazal.
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We don't have very shoulders, OK?
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But you know what they say? Not everything that's spoken
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needs to be written. Not everything that's written
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needs to be published. So then why is it there they?
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They gave it to us for by the way, who by the way, the gamma
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is written in a way that's hard to to understand, right?
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So article came along and made it easy to understand, but it
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wasn't necessarily Dahmanam. Originally, Dahmanam didn't
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learn it. It was written in a way that was
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hard to understand. That's one of the arguments
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against art school. One of the arguments was that it
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wasn't necessarily meant to be that any person could just pick
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up a guy. There's so many.
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Pirusha managaditos that are so deep and harshav and no one's no
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one is ever going to read them unless they, you know, spend 30
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years in a base Madrish. This is an opportunity to bring,
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like a layperson, a really deep aspect of Evan no Malek, instead
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of it just being a question that they had when they were thirteen
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years old and no one answered the question for them.
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No. It could answer the question,
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but I don't think every. I don't think every topic is the
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topic topic to talk about. I talk about it in class.
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I don't think every topic is a topic for the for the world.
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I don't think everything's not everything I talk about in
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classroom. There's a way I've talked about
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in a video, not everything Again, there's you have to know
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what's what's right. Not everything is right for
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everyone, right? But people say to me, how come
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when I write a book, I don't put it all out?
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I'm not writing an expose on people, not you know the line.
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The public has the right to know.
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No, they don't. Who said the public has the
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right to know? They don't have a right to know.
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They have a right to know what the person telling his story
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wants them to know. Otherwise they don't have a
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right to know. So you have to know what to
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write about. Just because Ghazal wrote it
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doesn't mean you have to write it because I'll have the
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shoulders to write. We don't necessarily have the
14:15
shoulders to turn that into a, into a novel of that we have we
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have to understand it's a Shiloh.
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It's a real Shiloh. I discussed it.
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I came out, you know what? I don't think I'm the right
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person for this job, right? Like.
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Look we're all for sure agree with you isn't things like Shia
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Sham pawshit shot of Shir Shiram is nothing that we could write
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about. That's that's devil pawshit.
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Shalmala had his his his infinite wisdom and and Hazal
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broke it up and that's that's not a subject we're supposed to
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be writing about Mask him. I do think that that Devin Malka
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is really difficult. Yeah, I.
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Do agree and we love it. I wanted I got excited.
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I know I want to write about it, but.
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Like a part of me is just like, that'd be so amazing if like,
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you know, I did it for. Kids, but there's.
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There's there are 22 year old guys that are off there forget
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on the dare. Also there that that these
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stories that are deeply mean something and and instead of
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just being, you know, we're never going to understand who he
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was. And like those are the things
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that we just don't talk about. They're included in now because
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they're critical to who to who we are and the fact that we
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can't understand them properly. And when I say we, I mean me,
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OK, because that we don't understand because we haven't
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spent our time with the Gemaras. That's that's that's a concern
15:25
in me, but there's someone that can come with it's a real album
15:27
bubble that can work with Godola and can and write what what
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really happened, how it happened and what it means for us to grow
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from, you know, nothing. Write that for fun.
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If you would, if you would, if you would write the book about
15:37
Dovromach for real, you would end up feeling very bad for
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Dovromach. You would.
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You would feel that Dovromach had a very, very, very hard
15:47
life. That's what you would end up
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coming out with. Yeah, I.
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Hear that? But but.
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But it's, it's, it's, it was, it was sad.
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How much? How much backstabbing?
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100% it doesn't. Portray but but fuck Care but
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that time in a good light. No, but but fuck.
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Care for me like from what I am for the for me, it's like
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fucker, it was so difficult backstab all the things that he
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witnessed and all of the the difficulties that he had and
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yet, yeah, it became. To me, no, I agree with you.
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He's the hero. He is the hero.
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And now there's no bigger hero, and he is the hero.
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I'm with you. I'm saying if I'm reading this
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story, I would be. I would be very sad by this
16:26
story. You wouldn't be.
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Excited like I'm I would be. Excited if this story is.
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Proof that anyone could be anything.
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He could be Mama anything. He he Mama climbed up to get to
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get care of us. She had me climbed up every
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single mountain. I mean, yes and no.
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He did come from from, you know, from Ross.
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He came from the right. He came from Ushah.
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He was never, didn't have ever in his Life, OK.
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Well, he came from. The right place, you know it's
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not anyone Ross's. Is so partial.
16:51
He came from he came from from what's his name?
16:53
From Boaz. He came from great people.
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He came from, You know, I'll tell you something which is a
16:58
little controversial over here. OK, You like controversy.
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I'll tell you a line. No, I'll tell you after him.
17:03
Not since he passed away. Not as he Finkel passed away.
17:05
So I remember speak. I was by my red beer.
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I'm missing Kaplan Shabbos and I said to him now everyone's
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saying that you could or if nothing Suzaraya that you could
17:13
become a gala. Anyone could become a gala dark.
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He said not true. He's not true.
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He said if nothing Suzie became a gala dark.
17:19
He came from the right family. He said to me he was lazy Uzzo's
17:22
nephew. You think he would have become
17:24
if he wasn't that from there and lazy Uzzo took him and he made
17:27
him sleep. He was his roommate and he and
17:29
he took care of him and he gave him her his son to learn and he
17:31
groomed it. He said that's not true.
17:33
It's not that to me. It just happened.
17:35
Any person comes. He said you want to you could
17:37
become a you can become great. Come become Rosh to Shiva
17:40
Kaladar comes from specific places.
17:43
Double Amel came from that place.
17:45
He has the right pedigree. He's starting to say he had a
17:47
hard life. Yes, but I I feel if I was
17:51
writing that book, the hardship and the challenge far outweigh
17:56
the glory and the the the the happiness.
18:00
It's just like a very, very sad and like it's a hard book now
18:05
that's it can't be done. It's challenging to write it
18:07
very, very challenging to write it in a way that the average
18:10
person can pick up and read. It would be extremely
18:13
challenging to get a scum up for such a book, and I would never
18:16
put that without his scum up. It would be walking through it
18:20
would I don't think I'm not saying probably wouldn't happen.
18:22
I'm not I'm. Not saying we shouldn't work
18:23
closely with Kodon, with these it wouldn't.
18:25
Happen. I could tell you I don't think
18:26
so to get out, but I have no scums at any of my storm but on
18:30
this one because it's so sensitive, right?
18:32
But I, I don't think, I don't think anyone would give us gum
18:35
for such a book. That's good because it's it's so
18:37
sensitive to me. That's Kavan maybe.
18:39
So again, if a person wants to take the time and devote the
18:42
time and work together with the governor and every single thing,
18:44
it could be done. But that would be so it could be
18:47
done. But the person has to be decide.
18:48
I'm going to take five years of my life.
18:50
I'm going to devote it to this. But I.
18:51
Think this is the reason why I think at least Jewish writing is
18:55
a little bit limited, yes? We are limited.
18:58
And who says that's a bad thing? We're limited.
19:00
I am. I think there's certain things
19:01
I'm not I'm not I'm not saying that limitations are are bad
19:04
limitations are are are are critical.
19:06
OK. But I'm saying that there are
19:08
certain things like total We should we should be able to
19:10
write about total you, you can. But you have to also understand
19:13
that just something was written thousand years ago doesn't mean
19:16
I understand the same. It has to be known.
19:18
You have to know how to do it today, and you have to also.
19:20
And if you're a person who wants to put out a lot of content that
19:23
you don't have the time to sit around and wait for 10 years
19:25
till you get our Skarma to work with someone who's so busy to
19:28
give you that type of feedback that you need to do it.
19:30
I, I've worked with, I'm thinking one particular project
19:34
in mind that was for kids. And just to get the feedback
19:36
from one particular person. I was name everyone trust.
19:39
I saw right away I dropped it. I said, I'm not doing this, not
19:41
for me. I don't have time.
19:43
I don't have time to work with the right person because they're
19:46
so busy. I'm going to do things which
19:48
aren't so sticky. I don't need to, I don't have to
19:50
do that right. So I, I, I moved along to other
19:53
things. There's a lot of things which I
19:54
don't need to do that for. And I Barcosum, they're doing
19:57
great things and they're inspiring countless people and
20:00
they're not so hard to write. But if somebody's that's he's,
20:03
he's, he loves and he wants and he wants, he's ready to take
20:07
five years of his life to to, to put out the book in a way that's
20:10
going to make people think more highly of him.
20:14
It's a challenge because it's a very hard challenge to write the
20:17
miscellaneous at the right again.
20:19
Of course, he overcame everything but the Gamar.
20:22
So you see itself, The Gamar contradicts itself.
20:23
Gamar says, and everyone says he was hacked, he was making a
20:25
mistake. And then the Gamar says that
20:27
that's enough. He said you have recent, so they
20:28
have a Stira. You have.
20:29
And WMF said about himself that I was the one that the person
20:33
who took the lamb is guilty. We have.
20:35
It's contradictive. Gamar itself contradicts itself.
20:38
It's hard to write these things. We're not.
20:40
Disagreeing, I guess. If there's something that Ghazal
20:42
said and and someone who's never going to know it can now know it
20:47
because it was written in an interesting way from a mighty
20:50
pen, it should be done, I hear. That Prince could pick up a
20:53
tomorrow in an art school. He's not going to do it.
20:56
Why not? I'm not.
20:56
Maybe you? Will that'd be great.
20:58
If if someone's going to do it, then you don't need the books
21:02
because Hazal is a much better source.
21:03
What do you think when a guy in a shop this afternoon that wants
21:06
to sit back fingers? The shop this afternoon, Couch
21:08
reading. Maybe, maybe not some things.
21:12
Are too harsh don't matter too precious to just treat as couch
21:17
reading he's not couch reading don't America is the man we love
21:20
more than almost any of our ancestors we connect him because
21:22
he fell and got back up there are.
21:24
Certain people that that I was being somewhat hyperbolic when I
21:29
said it in that way. My point is that I think books
21:34
are amazing because it gives us access to information that we
21:37
maybe wouldn't have access to otherwise.
21:39
And I think it just be a good opportunity.
21:40
But what you're saying 110% the the the focus I I?
21:44
Took it very seriously. I took the offer very seriously.
21:46
I thought about it very seriously and then they came out
21:48
that I wouldn't. I don't.
21:49
I didn't feel I'd be able to do it justice because I love Double
21:51
so much, because I I revered WML so much.
21:54
The cryos, Yeah, the cryos I would not has the song Want to
21:58
take a risk? I would never.
21:59
Write the book. I want you to write the book I
22:01
thought about very. Seriously, I hear.
22:03
I hear but and. Then I said I can't take that
22:05
risk because I really would not want to take AI, wouldn't want
22:08
to take a risk. Or has the song portrayed WML in
22:12
any way? That's not incorrect.
22:13
That's not correct. So I can see a writing process
22:16
and your decisions is quite serious, obviously.
22:18
But so there's there's something in my mind that is a complete
22:22
enigma. It's like, Mama, should I look
22:23
at you and it's a go through. Ready.
22:25
Yeah. OK.
22:26
You're married, I'm assuming. Yeah.
22:28
With children. Yeah.
22:29
Hashem. And you put out how many books a
22:31
year? I tried for four.
22:32
Or five books a year, 4 or 5. Books a year?
22:34
You said you have a chavrusa. I have a chavrusa morning for
22:37
over 20 years, yeah. It's Chavrusa morning, OK, And
22:39
in the afternoon is when you write.
22:41
Yeah, I mean every day is different because some days I
22:44
there's some days I teach if I'm not learning or or or teaching
22:50
than I usually write. So, so or podcasting.
22:53
Like, apparently. So either there's a secret ghost
22:56
writer we don't know about that you're using.
22:58
My wife. Or there's a secret and and I
23:02
want to know what it is. How do you balance all that?
23:04
How do you balance all that? So this guy, there's a guy I
23:31
remember as a kid, my parents, no person was a writer.
23:34
He wrote books. I don't know if I want to
23:35
mention his name, but he wrote books which were with with not
23:38
art school, not Feldon, but they were mainstream.
23:41
And he and he ended up this guy wrote about like real like these
23:46
type of topics he wrote can. You mention one.
23:49
Me that everyone will know the Golem.
23:51
He wrote the book called the Golem.
23:52
He wrote the book called Dibook. This this person.
23:55
And he wrote a lot of interesting things.
23:56
Afterwards. He went off.
23:58
He's the person who went off. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:00
It says a lot about a person and what they write and where they
24:04
go with it. And like you say, he he actually
24:06
wrote things more than other people.
24:09
You know when a person does that, you got to ask yourself
24:11
what's really going on with it, right?
24:13
Right. OK, I hear.
24:15
All right, back to the secret question.
24:16
So what's your secret? How, how do you get all of this?
24:19
They get all this because it's not just even writing the book,
24:21
because I'm assuming you edit I. Mean I do an edit and then it
24:24
goes to my editors, right? And then it comes back and then
24:27
it goes. Back and I input the changes
24:30
then it goes back so. How do you do this?
24:33
So, so the question is first about the interviews, like first
24:37
the interviews, right. So that that happens.
24:39
Yeah. OK.
24:40
So that happens while I'm writing one book at a time.
24:43
I write a book at a time and while I'm writing the book, I'll
24:45
interview people. I'll take an hour, you know, at
24:48
night, an hour and a half and I'll interview people.
24:50
The idea is that when I finish whatever project I'm doing that
24:53
I should be, I should be able to start writing the next project.
24:56
I like to be finished with the interviews for the next project.
24:58
Sometimes I'll go to AmeriCorps or I'll take a week and 1/2 with
25:01
LE Berry took two weeks, 2 1/2 weeks and we just knocked off
25:04
all the interviews. And then that way I'm ready to,
25:06
to run when after that. Basically it's, it's a very,
25:10
it's called discipline. It's called discipline.
25:12
That's really what it comes down to.
25:14
Are you going to discipline yourself and sit down and write?
25:17
That's what it is. And that's what I try to do,
25:19
that I sit in my office and I write.
25:21
That's what I do. If you.
25:22
Weren't a Jew, I wouldn't believe you by the.
25:24
Way there are 15,000 people in the world who put out the amount
25:28
of content I put out with the. Havrusa in the morning and the
25:31
family and kids people. I don't know what their schedule
25:33
is. I don't know what they do 15,000
25:35
People put out this amount of content either as a novelist or
25:38
a journalist, whatever it is. 15,000 I just found out the
25:41
number. I just looked up the number.
25:42
That's the number of people who do it to put out that amount of
25:46
content. There's not not that many people
25:48
15,000. OK, so you're one of the 15,000.
25:52
How many people are there? 7 billion people on the planet?
25:54
Something like that, not 8. Billion.
25:55
OK, 8 billion, yeah. So not a lot of people, but does
25:58
it. Does do you ever get stuck and
26:00
have to like take a break and do you ever just get tired of it,
26:04
frustrated, tired of? Writing or tired of what?
26:08
That was a good. Question OK here, how about
26:09
tired of a particular project? Do I get tired of the some
26:13
projects I'm not thrilled about? There are projects that haven't,
26:16
that weren't somehow I got into them.
26:19
But in general, I really like the projects I do.
26:21
Really Hashem sends me. Thank you, Hashem, because he
26:25
sends me. Really, I love the projects I do
26:28
and they're and they're each one of them once out there and if
26:31
they're not supposed to happen, they fall to the side.
26:33
It's just amazing to watch it. They just fall to the side, but
26:36
what's supposed to happen happens.
26:37
And for the most part, I really like them and I believe in them
26:41
and I and I think they're like such amazing projects and
26:44
they're really important. So I I'm I'm very in I'm I'm
26:48
really like convinced and far coiffed on these projects.
26:50
So I don't I don't usually burn out on them but I but like. 90
26:54
hours in, you know, you never want to be like it's too much.
26:56
You need to. It's come out like that's
26:58
amazing you feel that. I know.
26:59
Take a project, right? Murray Mazelton just came out a
27:01
few weeks ago. Pisa came out running Murray.
27:04
I mean, it's a book. If you read the book, you'll be
27:05
like blown away. You'll be blown away by this
27:07
book. The man was the probably the one
27:10
of the most top three most unique people last 100 years.
27:13
The Jewish people, the serial for the boss, I call them you
27:17
don't you don't get you don't get tired of in the middle.
27:19
You you want to get it out right, because it's going to
27:22
it's going to influence people at table.
27:24
Ronnie Book Now that rabbit, Moshe Schwab.
27:26
Yeah, Yeshiva Muncie Schwab's nephew Schwab's.
27:29
I mean, I want to call the book of the Mahan.
27:30
I don't know if I'm going to do that because the Mahadic.
27:33
I'm all he's also the Mahadic. The fact that I'm thinking about
27:35
calling it the Mahadic because that said something, right?
27:38
Right, you understand? This is a man that that any
27:41
principal, any Rebbe can learn from.
27:43
It's it's a it should be the type of book that any person
27:47
should pick up and read. So I believe it's going to help
27:49
Clay as well. And this is and all the books on
27:52
some level are doing that. Think about Ellie beer.
27:54
Ellie Beer as a kid, right? Did not succeed in the
27:57
classroom. He he didn't got kicked out of
27:58
every elementary school he was in.
28:00
He didn't do well academically. And this is a kid who succeeded
28:04
opening up the number one of the most amazing organization in the
28:07
world, not just in Israel, not just with Jewish people in the
28:10
world. See, what do you see?
28:11
Here's a kid in the school today.
28:12
He's not successful. He's like, I'm a loser.
28:14
I'm nothing. No, you're not.
28:16
You could be another Ellie Beer. You'll have you on Ted Talk.
28:20
You know, it's an amazing thing if you think about it.
28:22
Yeah, for sure. You know, I was on Behind the
28:24
Beema. Me and Ellie were on Behind the
28:26
Beema and the book came that it's a rabbi, the rabbi who does
28:29
that to podcast from Goldberg. So he said to me, well, what's
28:33
your, you know, your education? Where'd you go to school?
28:35
I said basically I finished my education in fifth grade tour of
28:40
the DAS, you know, then I went to school for that and Ellie
28:42
said it's amazing. He says this guy finished, you
28:45
know, I finished like 8th grade. You know, Ellie Neves elementary
28:49
school in our in our city. We're busy with college,
28:52
college, college. These two people did it.
28:55
You know, I said it's an interesting thing say here, this
28:58
is amazing for people who are, you know, not successful.
29:01
Look what you can be right. And that's why they don't take a
29:04
rabbit. See young guys.
29:04
I see they have the book over here.
29:07
Here's a person who changed the entire world.
29:09
Incredible. You'll see Wallace changed the
29:11
whole world, by Grossman changed the whole world, but everyone in
29:14
their own way. And there's so much room for
29:16
people to change the world. Every single person.
29:18
Yeah. These are books which I'm
29:20
inspired by. I'm inspired by them.
29:23
If I'm not inspired them, I try not to do them.
29:25
In the creative process, do you ever get stuck in what?
29:28
Sense where am I getting stuck? Yeah, break it down for me.
29:30
Sure. I can imagine if someone will
29:35
have the alpha dolls. So if I'm writing a share, it's
29:37
a really difficult round bum. I'm trying to crack it, right?
29:40
Every once in a while I can just be like, I can't crack this
29:42
round bum. I can't.
29:43
And I sit in there for half an hour, an hour, two hours, and
29:46
then maybe it'll come to me. And sometimes what I need is
29:48
like, OK, the round bum has to stay.
29:49
I have to go to the rash. But tomorrow I'll do the round
29:51
bum again, right? Do you ever like, you're trying
29:53
to get something out, you're trying to finish an idea and you
29:56
just get stuck in that way and you need to come back to it?
30:01
Maybe maybe in novels, I don't write novels anymore, but in the
30:04
beginning I wrote novels. Maybe there it's more like
30:07
writing a Kabura because it's me Makadish all the time.
30:11
So maybe with novels there it was a little.
30:12
Sometimes you get stuck. But with biographies, I have the
30:14
information right, stuff to write it right.
30:16
You have to figure out where it goes.
30:17
You know how to write it. And then we're to put each thing
30:21
that's you know, it's, it's not like you're coming.
30:23
You're not being Makadish so much here.
30:25
It's just you're being Makadish and how you put the words
30:27
together and how how you present the information is there.
30:32
Yeah. That's that's the difference.
30:33
You understand what I'm saying? Yeah, I do, yeah.
30:35
Yeah, I do. It's.
30:36
Less of a There's less room for writer's block right when it's
30:40
when you're not being haddish from A-Z, right?
30:44
Right. Yeah, there's a there's a famous
30:46
famous. It's a saga that everyone talks
30:48
about and I really dislike that saga.
30:50
I want to hear what you think about it.
30:51
Sure, there's certain people that they say I don't like Dolan
30:55
books because I read it and he was 3 and he was amazing and he
31:00
then I get nothing out of it. Personally, I read a book like
31:02
that and I'm like, look at the godless Adam.
31:05
I mean, Oh my gosh, like it's it's just yet another proof of
31:09
that kind of baracle. Put a settlement leukem in us
31:13
and we could really do anything at any point of our lives.
31:16
But what what do you what's your question?
31:19
What what do you feel about that?
31:20
That question that people have? Our biography is a little
31:24
because they're just amazing. I write I like that those aren't
31:27
I I'm writing books for the main part about main.
31:30
The people are not necessarily amazing when they threw.
31:33
I mean, Murray Murray was a person who was who got, you
31:37
know, he left Chaim Boleyn when he was a young teenager, even
31:41
though a putner would take him to elevator with him to go up to
31:43
the Chi He left Chi Boleyn and went to public school and then
31:47
got kicked out of public school because he beat up an Italian
31:49
kid and his father was like, and the social work of the school
31:53
wrote like incompatible with society, will never succeed in
31:58
society. You know that this is not a
32:01
person who was a Sadiq when he was three.
32:05
He was not. He was riding through the
32:07
streets on his bicycle, working out in the park.
32:10
He was a tough kid. He was strong.
32:12
So I'm writing books. I'm not necessarily writing
32:14
books. If that's the story, if the
32:17
story is that this person was, then that's the story.
32:21
I'm going to write this story how it was Adam Makloikis with a
32:24
family of rabbits. Look, Shiner.
32:26
Yeah, the American family, Israeli family.
32:27
Israeli family, American family was like, yeah, we can put in
32:29
the fact that he played baseball.
32:31
He liked baseball. He spoke about it, right.
32:34
He said the only divisive between Rev nonsense fee is that
32:35
he was a Cub star and I was a Pirates man.
32:37
He said that his. Speeches really say that.
32:39
So the Israeli. Family was said no, no, he
32:40
didn't mean it. He was trying to kazak the Bach
32:42
room. He didn't really mean it.
32:43
He himself, I'm like, Rabbisa, you don't understand.
32:47
It's nice to write this. It's good to write it.
32:49
It's more Khashif that he played baseball.
32:51
Then he became a research shine and Mary Buckwell's grandson,
32:53
granddaughter. It's more Khashif, right?
32:56
So you have to explain that to them.
32:57
Yeah, because the Israeli, they're like, no, no, he was
32:59
not. So I tried to do it and we did
33:01
it and I did it say no, we're not going to put it in.
33:03
Of course we put it in. Did you get?
33:04
Backlash for that? No.
33:05
Not backlash. It's a good thing.
33:06
It's wonderful. He himself did it.
33:08
Why? We get that?
33:08
He did it many times in many speeches.
33:10
Why would we get backlash? That's exactly what he himself
33:12
said. I hear when you're doing
33:15
research, you're getting all these amazing stories.
33:18
Do you ever realize this story is there's more than the kudos
33:22
to the story. I wish I knew them.
33:23
This is a better. There's a better story out
33:24
there. Yeah, you do?
33:25
Sure. And what do you do with that?
33:27
Do you do you? So I keep on.
33:28
Asking like Reverence Young rights, I had a question.
33:31
How did she become how did she she ended up giving invocation
33:34
at the Republican National Convention.
33:35
But George W Bush, I said, how did this lady from from 5 towns,
33:40
how did she give the invocation to the Republican National
33:42
Convention? How did that happen?
33:43
So I had a question. I kept on asking about it into
33:45
like 100 people, that project. I kept on asking people, do you
33:47
know, do you know? No, I don't know.
33:49
Do you know, I don't know. Finally, I'm sitting on Hatton
33:51
with a group of people. I asked him and this guy knew
33:54
because he said I'm the one who brought her.
33:55
I introduced it to the Republican Party and we brought
33:58
her to the Republic to, to, to the, what's it called to this
34:00
convention, that convention, they got to know her.
34:03
And eventually that's what led to her speaking at the, at the
34:05
Republican National Convention. So when I when I have a
34:08
question, I just keep on going. I try to get a good answer
34:11
eventually. Eventually a lot of times I get
34:13
the answer. Not always, but a lot of times
34:15
is. There ever a time when like
34:17
there, you don't get an answer and you fill it in with your
34:21
best guess. Very rarely, if that's
34:24
something. No, I don't know.
34:25
No, I look if I have to absolutely have to write how to
34:29
get from point A to point B, I'll write if the person doesn't
34:32
know. I mean, while has told me his
34:33
father, his father's, you know, got on the boat to go from
34:37
Europe there to straw and he and he he took a guy's uniform, put
34:41
it on. He got on the boat hitting the
34:42
thing and the whole and he ended up standing.
34:44
He didn't have paper. So he you know, so I didn't know
34:46
how he got out of the how did he get out?
34:48
He jumped out the window. OK, And then from there, how did
34:51
he get from there to to the you're good.
34:53
So I had to make up that he ran, you know, he ran through the
34:55
city and he found they were good.
34:57
I didn't know exactly so, but it's got to be that he got had
34:59
to get from point A to point B OK, It's obvious he got so that
35:02
I filled in because that's for sure.
35:04
He for sure had to get from the British to the Irgun.
35:06
OK. But in general, I really try not
35:09
to this is a this is a real story.
35:11
It's a real story. I don't want to put my.
35:13
I'm not putting myself in there. Are there shmuas that you'll
35:17
hear about a particular person and your mavar that the story is
35:22
not true but it's bivest and positive?
35:25
Will you add that in any way, even if you notice if it's not?
35:27
True. Yeah, No.
35:29
Even if it's everyone says no. No, if it's not true, it's not
35:31
true. I don't put it.
35:33
You have standards of. Course we don't put it in things
35:36
which aren't true, no. I hear why, Why writing what's
35:42
what was the story of you, of you deciding that this was when
35:46
did you realize you were good at it?
35:47
And when did you realize not only were you doing, were you
35:49
good at it, but it was your topic, it was your purpose?
35:52
OK, so good at it. I think from a very young age I
35:57
was. Very young. 2nd grade, 2nd
35:59
grade, 2nd grade, Yeah. How do you know?
36:01
If you're a good writer at 2nd grade, second.
36:03
Grade. My teacher gave us a a
36:05
composition to write called If I Was a Leaf and I wrote If I Was
36:10
a Leaf, I would join the Miami Leafs Choir.
36:15
And I thought to myself, that is such great writing.
36:19
She didn't get it. I was so disappointed with her
36:22
that she didn't understand what I was telling her.
36:24
Did you tell her? No, I didn't.
36:25
Tell her. I know I didn't tell her.
36:27
She didn't get it. I was very disappointed in her.
36:29
But I understood at that point that that I that I have, there's
36:33
something there that I understand is my Kafka.
36:36
When my first book came out and people responded in a very
36:38
positive way, then I understood I should probably continue over
36:40
here. I mean, there's a difference
36:42
between continuing and like you're national seltzer, you
36:45
know. OK, so.
36:46
You know it doesn't happen overnight.
36:47
You know it takes time to become let.
36:50
Me ask you a different way. I'm sure that when you wrote
36:53
your first book, were you learning, Kayla?
36:54
Like where? It's Berkowitz.
36:56
Berkowitz 10 First ten. Yeah.
36:57
OK. Yeah, really.
36:58
Yeah. OK.
36:59
Fun. That's great.
37:01
Were you learning 2 starm? OK, so there was a point where
37:05
you had to stop, you know, reading Coach Berkowitz Tower
37:08
because it was a tough. I stayed.
37:09
In the mirror for 15 years, on and off, different places
37:12
teaching, but I was really doing 2 starm for fifth.
37:15
I mean, I was riding. You never cut.
37:17
Into any of your storm I'm. Saying for the most part, for 15
37:20
years I was I was riding at night or on the way you shall I
37:23
am and being a star. And it wasn't so much, but
37:26
that's like a different. Hushman like there's there's
37:28
I'll just share with you a story.
37:30
I hope it's true. It's a great story but the
37:33
founder of Maguen La Colette, his name is escaping me at the
37:37
at the moment. But he was a Tom and as far as I
37:39
know for Shoma, Zaman, Orbach and maybe for the story, but
37:42
apparently if Shumzama Robach came over with him with Benny.
37:45
Benny Fisher. No, not as I got.
37:48
Yeah, yeah, Benny Fisher, a fantastic organization, by the
37:52
way. Amazing, incredible.
37:53
Everyone should look them up and support them if you can, but
37:57
just explain a little bit what they do.
37:59
They if a person has a particular just for our viewers
38:03
element. So they will go above and beyond
38:05
finding the best doctor for your ailment.
38:07
Doesn't matter if husband. They're very good.
38:09
They're amazing. They're amazing.
38:11
They save people's lives. They really do it.
38:13
So he was apparently a choice Summoner of shaman, and Shaman
38:17
tapped him on the shoulder when they had the base match and
38:18
said, I'm sorry, but you, you don't belong here anymore.
38:21
He says. Rabbit, what do you mean you
38:22
love me? I love you?
38:23
He says, yeah, but cholesterol needs you.
38:24
They need, they need your vote, the more than they need to tell
38:26
us. So you ask.
38:27
You what? What?
38:28
How did I decide? The answer is I made a husband.
38:31
I said I'm never going to be a eon market share.
38:34
It's not going to happen. Why not?
38:35
Because I don't have that kind of head.
38:37
I can't put AI can't I can't make an eon share every day.
38:40
It's just not my head. I don't think that way.
38:41
I can understand your share and I can ask cautions on your
38:44
share, but I'm not I'm not going to be the person sitting and and
38:47
and and coming up with a share every day.
38:49
It's not going to happen. And if that's the case, see if I
38:52
if I devote myself to to 15 years of eon.
38:55
So basically I'm setting myself up for a life of frustration.
38:59
Can I teach? Yes, I've always been teaching.
39:01
I could teach great. I could have amazing classes.
39:03
You could look at my class, people like my classes and I've
39:05
been teaching for years, but it's not going to be that.
39:09
So if I could have become an ear maggot cheer and that could be
39:12
that could be my top kid wonderful, maybe I would have
39:14
done that. But you have to ask yourself,
39:16
where are you going to be successful?
39:17
Where are you going to feel a seat book?
39:19
And if you're not going to feel a seat book, then that's not the
39:21
place for you. So that was my I I came to that
39:23
decision pretty good. I came to the understanding of
39:25
myself pretty quickly that I understood that's not going to
39:27
be me. And if that's not me, so I'm not
39:29
going to, I'm not going to spend the time trying to get to that
39:31
place because I'm not going to get there.
39:33
That's not going to be my place. I could always learn.
39:35
I'm always going to learn. You should always learn, but you
39:40
know, A you should learn on the things which are going to play
39:42
to your strengths and B, you have to know where can you have
39:46
C book in life? So well, Hashem, I made a
39:49
choice. I said here is the place.
39:51
Hashem gave me a certain kayak, let me develop that kayak.
39:55
Why should I spend it on something which I can't?
39:57
It's not. That's not the guy he gave me.
40:00
The future writers, yeah, that don't exist yet.
40:04
What should they be doing to get to that place?
40:06
I mean, you, that was a very conscious hush, but I'm not
40:08
sure. People sit down and they're
40:10
like, well, I'm learning through Starma Day.
40:12
And by the way, could go the other way, too.
40:13
You know, you could be an accountant and be like, this is
40:15
not where I'm supposed to be. People can just sometimes be
40:18
either complacent or unhappy. You made a very conscious
40:20
choice. Being like, this is not what I
40:22
should be doing. This is the thing that I should
40:24
be doing. Should always.
40:25
Be learning, but I know not several.
40:27
Be focused on trying to become a maggot.
40:29
Sure. And you I.
40:30
Wasn't I wasn't trying to idea. Yeah, I wasn't.
40:32
Saying this, I was supposed to. Find the right thing for them,
40:35
right? Right.
40:35
So how would you encourage people to to do that?
40:38
Because it sounds like a difficult process rather?
40:40
Isaacs, the Roshiba of of Neva Serat of Neva Serat by under
40:44
Hashem Kipper. He is a person who's a lawyer in
40:48
Manhattan and he chose to leave that field.
40:51
He went out to strong and came out to Shiva.
40:53
So there are people who make this decision.
40:55
I think every person should ask himself honestly, where's what's
40:59
my top get in life? And if my top get is to be that,
41:02
then great. But not everyone's tapped to be
41:04
with Shiva, and everyone's task is to be.
41:06
You know what? You have to know who you are
41:08
since you're. Mentioning mimic Sarah.
41:09
So when I worked there, I heard a great story from a Berg that I
41:14
use often on Tommy them and I think everyone should be using
41:18
it. But apparently gives an exercise
41:20
every once in a while or he says, I want you to write the
41:22
person that you wish to be everything that you really hold
41:28
value and like 40 years. Who are you?
41:31
The boys all write out something incredible.
41:34
And he says, OK, how do you get there?
41:37
I want you now to write how to get there.
41:39
And it really is Mahosik the boys, because it puts their life
41:42
into perspective. So yeah, there are there are
41:45
Yahid that that take a look at their life and be like, where do
41:48
I need to be? I think it's an important
41:50
question that we should be asking a bit more because we
41:53
wouldn't have, we wouldn't have Nachman Saltzer if you didn't
41:55
ask yourself that by the. Way every Shabbos I have, not
41:58
every, but a lot of Shabbos is I have bachram or I have girls.
42:01
I go on the table right when the beginning of the suit.
42:03
I ask every person what their name is, where they're from.
42:05
I mean, because their family, what their parents do and what
42:08
do you want to do? And, and it's interesting to see
42:11
people think a lot of times they say they don't know yet on the
42:13
night, you know, I, I asked them to, to try to tell me what it
42:16
would be if they, what, what, what do you, what would you like
42:18
to do? If you could do anything in the
42:19
world, what would it be? You know, and, and people come
42:22
back to this year and they're like, wow, you know, get your
42:24
games straight if you're coming there, because he's going to ask
42:26
you what you want to do. And I think it's an important
42:28
thing to think about. You know, what do you want to
42:29
do? What do you want to do in life?
42:31
You have a life, how are you going to use it?
42:33
What's the best, How can you make the best impact on Kaisol?
42:35
What can you do for Kaisol, right?
42:37
That's not what your nation could do for you.
42:39
What can you do for Kaisol? And if you can make a Parnassus
42:41
out of it, that's the best grab by.
42:43
Kennedys, That's all I hear for aspiring writers.
42:50
What tips would you give them? People that maybe don't believe
42:53
in themselves or aren't sure that they can write, you know,
42:55
writing a book is a big deal and then you need to find a
42:57
publisher and all that stuff. What would you what?
42:59
Message you need to be passionate about it.
43:02
It's not about it's not like writing a book just because it's
43:05
not like that. It's like you write a book
43:07
because you have something to say.
43:09
What do you want to say? Is there something you want to
43:12
tell people? Is there a topic you want to do
43:14
you feel we need to discuss? And you have to know also, if
43:17
you're going to write a book and it's going to be a topic that
43:20
people aren't necessarily interested in, then you may be
43:23
very disappointed afterwards because they're not going to buy
43:26
your book. You have to know that if you're
43:28
going to write the history of Lou of an Eswick, which is very
43:32
cautious, but there's not that many people who are going to
43:35
probably buy a book on the history of Lou of an Eswick and
43:38
how that you know and how they got the Lou of an Eswick from
43:41
Corfu territory strong from not that many people about.
43:44
I don't know how many billion vices your book.
43:46
It's a positive topic, yes, and maybe you're interested in it.
43:48
You know, you have to know if you want to write a book, you
43:51
have to know what what are people interested in meeting
43:53
about? You have to find, you have to be
43:55
attuned with the people again. What's your point there?
43:58
What's you? For me, the real goal of writing
44:00
books is to sell books. I may as I would sell them.
44:02
Once I came into his office in art school and I said to him, I
44:05
saw, I was just in the store. I saw stacks in my books.
44:07
He goes, we don't like stacks. We want books out, we want them
44:10
out. Then put new stacks.
44:12
To me, the goal is to get the books out.
44:15
The implication I think that you're giving, tell me if I'm
44:18
reading you correctly. It's not get the books out.
44:20
So I make a lot of money. It's getting books out so you
44:21
make a difference, right? So people actually read what you
44:24
have to say, of course. Of course that's the point.
44:27
You want people to say to meet you want them to meet you what
44:29
they say. I grew up on your books.
44:31
Your books changed my life. I became from because of books.
44:34
I, I, I, people come up. And said that, yeah.
44:36
I'm credible. People told me I became from
44:38
literally we became from we're from today.
44:40
That's because of that book. This person I, you know, Zara
44:43
shushen, thousands of people every shot was learning it.
44:46
They, they, they, they learned it and they've seen Yeshua's and
44:49
children and partners and, and they send me stories and it's a,
44:52
it's an amazing thing. So that's what you want.
44:54
So you have to pick, but you have to also know what, what?
44:56
So there's two things. It has to be something which
44:58
you're passionate about because if you're not passionate about
45:01
it. It's not going.
45:02
To go, it's not going to go, you're not going to want to do
45:03
it. And it's, and, and it's going to
45:05
come across in your writing that you're not passionate about it.
45:09
That's number one. And #2 the people have to want
45:11
it, have to be interested because you're writing for the
45:13
people. You're not writing for yourself.
45:15
Just be yourself. You don't have to write a book.
45:16
You know it. So there's two things in those.
45:18
They both have to. They both have to fit.
45:21
Right, it's very. Important.
45:22
Otherwise you're you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
45:25
Now, how do you write? The more you write, the better
45:27
you'll get. How you?
45:31
Keep on writing. You you write, you'll own your
45:33
voice. You'll develop your voice.
45:34
It's not about going to school here you can look it up to say
45:37
it's very for a good writer, it's not necessarily going to
45:40
school. It's opposite.
45:42
Sometimes going to school. If you have a professor tries to
45:44
tell you how to have a voice, then it ruins the voice.
45:48
It's better to be a unique individual voice that's better.
45:52
Use your in your own voice is better when it comes to writing.
45:55
School gets in the way with writing, so it's great.
45:57
We have to have what? So you keep on reading, read,
46:00
read and read and read and read and write and write and write
46:03
and eventually you know, the more you do that, the more you
46:06
can, you can break the rules yourself.
46:07
You can break the rules if you if you know the rules well.
46:11
In terms of the feedback, you just made a couple points.
46:13
Now what's what are like a couple pieces of feedback that
46:18
were just so Mahazaki What really made a difference?
46:22
To you. SO assumption is a great
46:24
example. So assumption it was feedback.
46:28
If that's safer, you know, we put it out.
46:30
We didn't know that it's a homish safer.
46:32
At the end of the day, it's a homish.
46:33
So put out a homish safer. There's so many farmer hummish
46:37
like how are we going to know how we know it's going to sell
46:39
when I. Saw it come out.
46:40
I was like, I wonder how people are going to, you know, pick
46:42
this thing up also from the. 200 years ago. 250 years ago, right?
46:45
Right, there's an interesting choice it was.
46:47
Yes. I didn't.
46:48
I was kind of pushed. I was like bullied into it and
46:51
eventually and and it became it's a it's a revolution, right?
46:56
It's a revolution. So so hit feedback feedback
46:59
while I'm in America in doing interviews, a book on Ha
47:03
Hambaruch, Syrian chief Rabbit, the Syrians and flappers for 50
47:06
years called Hambaru. So my wife got a call lady.
47:13
She's what wants to speak to me. So we thought she must be an
47:15
interviewer for the book. She didn't even know there to
47:18
write the book. What does she want?
47:20
She says that she organized shurum in the Syrian community
47:23
and the ladies there's like between 20 and 30 shurum of
47:27
people who learn Zara Simpson wow every week and they're doing
47:32
ACM on their first year in deal and they want me to come speak
47:35
in the summer at the seal that's.
47:37
Incredible. I had no idea this was going on.
47:39
I had no idea. So I'm coming, I come to the
47:40
seal and I'm talking. If we're talking about hundreds
47:43
of people who learn the safer every week.
47:46
That's feedback, my friend. There's nothing like that.
47:50
That's feedback. And I, I went to speak to a lot
47:52
of the groups myself. I met them and their teachers
47:56
are using the safer as a springboard to teach them about
48:00
all sorts of other things. It's a beautiful thing.
48:02
And I know that all these people over there are waiting for the
48:05
next one to come now. So that's just one thing.
48:08
That's just one safer That's and there's a whole series, but I'm
48:11
saying that's one, one of the things that I do.
48:13
There's a lot of feedback, but over the years we have a lot of
48:16
feedback in many different areas of the short stories and
48:19
Farrakhan. The feedback is very good.
48:22
It's very helpful. It allows you to because it's a
48:24
solitary job at the end of the day.
48:26
So it helps you do that, you know, helps you out with other
48:29
people. So getting feedback is a very
48:30
helpful thing. It helps you keep, you know,
48:32
keep on plugging away. There's one more thing I wanted
48:35
to ask you about, since you have all this free and spare time
48:38
between writing all these books and learning and being a family
48:40
man, etcetera, etcetera, filing all over the world, somehow,
48:43
somehow you're also going to write music.
48:46
And is that a very different engine for you, like writing
48:51
error or producing music versus, you know, writing a book because
48:55
it feels different? It's creativity, basically.
48:59
OK, but. It's still different, yeah.
49:01
I mean, but it comes from the same part of the brain, the
49:05
right brain versus the left, right?
49:06
There's a great creative side and then there's a math side and
49:09
I'm not math side is not my thing, but the creative side is
49:12
my thing. So it comes, the music comes
49:14
from that side. It's all, it's the creative
49:16
side. It's funny.
49:17
Music is a lot about math I love, right?
49:20
Patterns but. But there's still a lot of room
49:22
for creativity in music, I think.
49:24
And I mean, that's for sure. And the hit is the cop in the
49:28
song, the hook in the song, and the writing's the same thing.
49:31
You got to be mahadish in writing.
49:33
You know, I don't, I try not to write biographies.
49:36
Just coming at it from when the person was a little boy.
49:38
And I try to shake it up and flip it around.
49:41
So it should be in, it should be interesting.
49:43
It should be different creative, something you pick up and you
49:45
write. It reads like a novel, but it's
49:47
but it's true. So music again, it's coming from
49:51
that side. Yeah.
49:52
It's, I mean, I today I'm not doing, I'm doing much less music
49:54
today, right. It's a lot.
49:56
It's a lot, a lot more music. What are you doing?
49:58
Less. I don't have the choir anymore.
50:00
I used to have the kids choir, so I did a lot of music.
50:02
Today I just do once in a while a song for MDY or whatever, so
50:06
it's much less, but it's there. It's nice here and there we, we,
50:11
we use the talent for Hashem that they use the, the, the
50:14
music of the song. Every share starts off with
50:16
that. But that's with that music, with
50:18
that theme song, you know, So it's very nice.
50:21
It's, it's part of again, Hashem gives a person a talent.
50:25
The person should use that. I think every, every person has
50:27
talent, right? Every single person.
50:29
Show me a person if I get to know them long enough, I'm sure
50:32
I can identify a talent and every person has talents.
50:36
So you have to use your talents and how you say, but how am I
50:38
going to do it? I don't have a way to do it.
50:40
I'll tell you a story. How, how like Hashem, Hashem
50:43
gave you a talent. Hashem wants to see what you're
50:45
going to do. I'll give you a personal story.
50:49
So when I was when I was Barb Youssef Berkowitz, I had, we had
50:52
a beta storm. I was looking for a few hours a
50:53
day to do what, what can I do between being a storm, you know,
50:57
can I get a job for a few hours a day?
50:59
I didn't. I wasn't sure what I was going
51:00
to do. I had a crossroads.
51:02
I was young. I wasn't sure what I'm what I'm
51:03
doing. So I thought to myself, I'm
51:05
going to go. So Jonathan Rosenbaum had an
51:08
office where I had solid building is today, of course, in
51:10
center one. That was his office.
51:11
Then I'm a CAD. That was really sad.
51:13
So I said to him, so I knew him because he went to my final,
51:16
he's having my final, Shulen Arnoff.
51:17
I said, I'm going to go in and say see if I can get a job of
51:19
him. So I went, I surprised that I
51:22
didn't have an appointment. I just went in and I asked the
51:24
secretary, can I speak to him? And she asked him and he said
51:26
yes, because I came into his office and I said, I want to
51:29
know if I could, you know, maybe work for you and help you write
51:32
or research. And he said, I'm sorry, I don't,
51:33
it's a very small operation. It's just me and my secretary
51:35
and you know, I don't need anyone, but I go to the store is
51:39
opening up an office and you shall I maybe work for them.
51:41
And I was like, I'm not just the politics, but thank you very
51:43
much. I walked out and I'm like, now
51:44
what? You know, I'm all dressed up and
51:46
nowhere to go. I said, I'm not ready to give
51:48
up. So what should I do?
51:50
I look at the directory of the of the building and I see I'm
51:52
going to try one, one place and I walk into one place and see if
51:55
they need someone. I don't know what they do.
51:57
I'm going to give it a shot. So I saw a company on the 3rd
52:00
floor and I took the elevator up to the third floor and I see
52:03
that looks like a very nice company and the doors open up.
52:07
I walk in, the secretary is sitting there and she was on the
52:10
phone. I just walked past her into the
52:12
custody and I start walking around and it looks like a very
52:15
nice place, good vibe and I'm walking around like 10-15
52:18
minutes just checking out the place.
52:19
I don't know what they do, but it looks like a nice place.
52:22
I can see myself sitting at two or three hours a day doing
52:24
whatever they're doing. A guy comes over to me, can I
52:27
help you? I said I don't know, can you?
52:29
You know, he said what do you, I said, what do you do here?
52:32
He said, can you write? And I said yes, yes, my first
52:37
book is coming out soon. What do you do?
52:40
I said we outsource for a newspaper in America.
52:43
I said, great, when can I start? Not so fast.
52:46
Give me a sample of your writing.
52:49
So I said, OK, all right. So the next day I came.
52:52
I had to print. I had to have a printer.
52:55
I had to print off a floppy disk like 2 chapters of The Edge, my
52:59
first book. I took it to a print store.
53:01
I printed, I came back to him, I gave it to him.
53:03
I said, when are you going to give me an answer?
53:04
He said give me two weeks. I'm like 2 weeks.
53:06
You know, you work for a newspaper like you need 2 weeks
53:09
to read 20 pages. All right, whatever.
53:11
Two weeks. They didn't, He didn't call me
53:12
back. So I called him back and I said,
53:13
what's going on? He said, oh, I didn't read it
53:15
yet, I'll get back to you. So he calls me back.
53:18
He says, listen, I'm sorry, I don't know if you're the right,
53:21
if you're right fit for others. So how are you going to know if
53:23
you don't give me a chance? He goes, I don't know.
53:25
I don't know if you have what it takes.
53:26
I'm like, So what should I do? You said try how much I am a
53:32
DIA, try Mushbaka, write short stories, whatever.
53:36
So I got off the phone. I was very upset at this, at
53:38
this individual because I said to myself, it doesn't hurt you
53:42
to give me a chance. It give me one thing to try me
53:45
and if you don't like it, don't pay me, but give me a shot.
53:48
I gave a lot of people shots because of this story in my
53:50
life. Give a shot to a person, give
53:52
them a try. So I sat down, I was very upset
53:56
and I wrote my first short story.
53:58
Was it about him? Nope.
53:59
It was about someone else who disappointed me.
54:03
And then I wrote the story. And then I said to myself, where
54:06
should I send it? I So I picked up Hamadiah was
54:09
lying on the kitchen table and I looked at the back and said
54:10
editorial offices. I said editorial offices.
54:13
That sounds so formal. That sounds so official.
54:16
I'm my confidence was a shot. I'm scared.
54:19
I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna try.
54:21
I can't try. I can't call the editorial
54:23
offices. So I did it.
54:26
And then my parents had a friend of a short lineman who was the
54:29
editor of Light magazine. He was a big pioneer in the
54:32
Jewish book business, one of the first people to do books.
54:36
And he, he came to visit my parents and he said, I'm
54:39
starting a new newspaper for the Satmar community in English
54:42
called American Jewish Monitor. You want to write for me?
54:45
I didn't know why he asked me. So I gave him some of the
54:47
stories I wrote. He said I'll publish them all.
54:49
So he published them all. Six months later, the newspaper
54:51
folded. And then by that point, OK, I
54:54
already published, you know, 6 pieces.
54:56
So I called Ramadiya and I got the lady Sarkhava Mizrahi.
55:00
And I said, are you looking for writers?
55:02
And she said always what have you, have you written anything?
55:05
I said, turn over the newspaper on your desk.
55:07
She turns over. So you see that ad?
55:09
That's the edge. It just came out this week.
55:11
OK, send me some samples. So sent us some of the stories
55:14
and it took us some time. Eventually we we, we figured out
55:16
what to write. And my first story was published
55:19
around Shibuya's time going back kind of over 20 years ago.
55:22
And bar Hashem, within a short time, they became the genre that
55:27
tells the story. It was it was amazing.
55:29
I was in England looking into a cure job and I bought a
55:31
newspaper in Hempden and I had somebody was writing to the
55:34
editor. We love the stories.
55:35
And I was like, wow, people like my stories.
55:37
I felt it was amazing. You know, people, it's like, you
55:40
know, you're starting and people are writing stories to the
55:42
editor how much they like your stories.
55:43
It's great writing a letter to you know who felt that's his
55:46
look. So OK, a year and a half go boy
55:50
and one Shabbos I'm at someone's house and across the table
55:55
there's a couple and this person looks familiar to me.
55:59
The woman looks familiar and I say to her after I might say,
56:01
where do I know you from? She says.
56:03
She gets a look on her face. She goes, I'm the secretary in
56:07
that company. She says we know we made a
56:10
mistake, maybe come work for us now.
56:14
That's great. Story.
56:15
And I said, I learned a tremendous lesson in this story.
56:19
Hashem says, oh, you want to be something?
56:20
You want to be a writer, You want to be a singer, You want to
56:23
be a psychologist, You want to be a therapist, You want to be a
56:25
Rebbe, You want to be a Rasha Shiva, You want to be a lawyer?
56:28
You want to be a doctor. OK, OK, show me, right?
56:33
Get out of your comfort zone. Exactly.
56:35
And make it happen now of course you can't make it happen, but
56:39
you could do your stylist and I will meet you.
56:42
But you have to show me it's important to you.
56:44
And if you do that, I don't care who you are, I'm going to meet
56:46
you. But show me it's important to
56:47
you. And that's for every person.
56:50
Show us, get up, get out of your comfort zone and show us them.
56:53
I'm ready to be most than ever for what I forever it is.
56:56
I want to be somebody I want to do, I want to serve you.
56:58
I want to help Kaiso and someone say, OK, that's what you want.
57:02
I'm going to come towards you. And so for me, that's the answer
57:05
to your question. How is the person supposed to
57:07
start? The answer is start.
57:09
It doesn't matter how you start. It doesn't matter.
57:12
Or stylus is not about what exactly you do.
57:14
It's about showing Hashem that you're doing something.
57:18
And at the end of the day, Hashem is going to help you and
57:19
He's going to help you. 100 There's no question about that.
57:22
And you'll be shocked where you end up, but you have to start.
57:26
You have to try. Give Resolve seltzer.
57:28
Thank you so much for coming. Thank you so much.
57:29
For having me, it's a pleasure.