Encountering 4 Great Men in 5 Minutes: Rabbi Scheiner, Rav Gav, Rabbi Majesky & Gedale Fenster

Discover the unexpected as I, Coach Ratner, detail an unplanned reunion in Jerusalem that reminded me of the deep roots and personal connections fostered through our shared faith. My conversation with Rabbi Moshe Scheiner, a catalyst in my family's spiritual awakening, becomes a centerpiece of reflection on this episode of the Living in Clarity podcast. 

Embark on a narrative journey that intertwines the joys of community, the wisdom of a retired army general's class that challenges us to rethink our engagement with mainstream media, and the delightful surprise of bumping into Rabbi Gavriel Friedman in my very own neighborhood. This episode is a tapestry of heartwarming encounters and enlightening discussions, certain to leave you with a renewed sense of purpose and perhaps a little more clarity on your own path. Join us and see where serendipity might lead you in your life's adventure.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hi, welcome to the Living in Clarity podcast. This is Coach Ratner, and welcome to my new format. I've been doing my podcast now for a bit over two years and we've been trying to do mostly videos with all our podcasting. But I found that it's not so easy, especially here in Jerusalem where it's hard to find space and a camera. I know people do it through different platforms, like Riverside, which I'm using right now for the first time, and I'm really excited about it because I want to make it easy for myself.

Speaker 1: 0:31

I always say, if you want to be successful in life, find it a way to do what you want and when it's fun or easy, because if you don't make it fun or easy, you're going to have a hard time doing it. You know, of course, anything we try in life can be painful, but if we can't keep our eye on the pleasure, we're never going to be able to handle the pain. So I'm really excited about trying this. I'm actually later today going to be giving some class at Asha Torah. My friend, shout out to, barry Cohen, sent me a brand new wireless microphone that I'm very excited to use so I can start putting some new product out on Spotify, apple and possibly also YouTube. But these podcasts you have no idea if you're reaching anybody. And I just got back from a 15-day trip to America where I spoke 11 times in seven days. It was a huge trip between Chicago and New York and everywhere I went people said oh, I've been watching your podcast, I like listening to you. And you don't realize it. When you're sitting in your room or you're sitting in your own community, no one tells you. But when you get out into the world and people tell you that you're making a difference in the world, it's very exciting. So today I just want to do a short podcast, just kind of practice with my new platform.

Speaker 1: 1:41

But I'm going to talk about something that happened to me on Shabbos morning when I was walking back from the Kotel to my house in Rehavia. I had davened at the Kotel in the morning and went to a kiddush and on the way back I was going through my mill and mall. And when I got through my mill and mall I ran into a great rabbi. His name is Rabbi Moshi Shiner. He's from Palm Beach, florida, and my family and I used to spend a lot of time down there many years ago when we got to know him and he's really one of the main reasons why our whole family made that transition from secular Judaism more to observant Judaism. And we stayed Jews. We didn't have to convert, but we just started taking on more mitzvahs and doing more commandments and make it more a part of our life. And he was a major part in that. And I saw him across the street and we ran the middle of the street together, gave a big hug and his wife was there, dini Shiner, and he had about I don't know 15 or 20 people from his community in Palm Beach, florida and we were just going crazy because we haven't seen each other in such a long time. And he invited me that day. It was Shabbos morning. He invited me that day to a class at the King David Hotel given by a general in the army who just retired and he's running his own program now and it was an amazing, amazing class. It gave me a lot of clarity on what's going on in the war. Really, the main takeaway from that class was stop listening to the news. I mean, it's not reality. It makes you feel bad, it brings you low self-esteem. That was the main part of it. But the exciting thing was I ran into Rabbi Scheiner. I was so excited. And about a few minutes after running into him I'm walking up the hill up to Rehavia and you won't believe what happens.

Speaker 1: 3:20

I run into Rabbi Gavriel Friedman. Now, I run into him a lot because we both teach in Asher Torah, but he doesn't live in my neighborhood. He lives in French Hill, which is, I mean, if you had to walk, it's probably an hour and a half, two hours away. I'm like Rav Gov, what are you doing here in my neighborhood? He goes. I'm here for my daughter's future husband's ufruf. It's an idea that when someone's getting married they go get called to the Torah before their wedding. And with him was another rabbi named Yisrael Majeski. Now, I remember I've never met him before. He's you know he's a. You can certainly recognize this guy from far away. He's a big guy, he's got a big red beard and I used to watch him on tour. Anytime, he's a great speaker and he was with Rav Gav. I'm like what are you doing here? He goes, I'm here for the wedding.

Speaker 1: 4:14

It was amazing seeing these two guys in my neighborhood right after I saw Rabbi Moshi Shiner and I was talking to them. I was so excited. And some man walks by and Rav Gav says to me he goes, coach, you should meet that guy. I go, who is it? He's Gadal Fenster. I go, I know Gadal Fenster, I used to listen to him all the time and Rav Gov says you definitely want to meet that guy. So I say Shabbat Shalom to Rav Majeski and Rav Gov and I run down the street and it's Gadal Fenster walking with a friend of his and I introduced myself to him and his friend said oh, do you know where the Chabad is? They were going to lunch in the neighborhood. And he goes do you know where the Chabad is? I go, yeah, they just moved right across the street from my house and I mentioned to him you know, I just taught there last week, which I did.

Speaker 1: 5:00

I taught a dating and marriage class last week. And Gedal Fenster says to me oh, what'd you teach about? I go, I taught about dating and marriage. And he goes what'd you teach about dating and marriage? And I said well, I talked about the four phases of a loving relationship. He goes what are they? And so I told him the four phases one being the crush, two being the research phase, three being the commitment and four being never leaving, and I kind of told him a little bit about it. He goes I want you to be on my podcast and I was so excited because I was at that time right next to my house. So I ran upstairs I said goodbye to him they were going to lunch and I ran up to my family who was waiting for me to have Shabbos lunch.

Speaker 1: 5:39

I go you won't believe what happened to me today and I mean can you imagine you're walking home and you run into four great rabbis, like four great men? I mean, what does that happen? I was joking with my wife. I go, you know, when I lived back in Rockville, maryland which you know, there's great people there, also, just not the same caliber and I'd be coming home from shul and I'd run into a friend of mine, like Mark or somebody, or Jay, and I go hey, how's it going? We talked for a few minutes. I go home. I go, yeah, I ran into Jay or Mark, and you know I went to the street.

Speaker 1: 6:13

But here in Jerusalem I went to Rabbi Moshi Shiner from Palm Beach, one of the greatest rabbis in existence in its current time, and Rav Gov, who's? You know my gosh, he's one of the most popular speakers in the Jewish world Rabbi Majewski, and then, of course, gadal Fenster, who's extremely, extremely popular and then he invites me to this podcast. I mean, where does that happen? How did like? I can't even imagine.

Speaker 1: 6:36

And, by the way, this is after I'd just been to a really cool kiddish in the old city. It's a private rooftop kiddish where lots of people come to, like Ken Spiro and Foyle Shore who runs the whole really amazing people. I'm just like pitching myself that I'm in this neighborhood, in this area, with all these great people and it's really humbling to know that I run to them on not a daily basis, but occasionally. So I want to thank you for continuing to listen to my podcast and we're going to start doing some more filming. I'm going to start filming some more recording and I'm excited to try this new platform called Riverside and see how it works out, and I hope to see you next time on the Living in Clarity podcast. Have a great day.