A Spiritual Framework

Lori Palatnik, the founding director of Momentum, an organization that works to strengthen Jewish identity and connection to Israel. Lori speaks about what inspired her to begin Momentum, how she organized a team to found this incredible movement, and what continues to inspire her in life and in the work that she does.

She highlights the power of a woman and explains that “If you inspire a woman, you’re changing the world,” because women are so incredibly influential in their homes/communities.

Transcript

It is my distinct honor and pleasure to have the wonderful Mrs.

Lori Palatnik on the show today.

And she is here to share with us from her decades of experience leading communities and founding her very own initiative that is now responsible for having brought tens of thousands of people over to Israel for a meaningful experience and connection with their heritage and their spirituality that really brings ripple effects back to their homes and their communities and the world at large.

So it is an honor and a pleasure to have you here with us today,

Lori,

Thank you for being here.

It's a pleasure,

Thank you for inviting me.

Incredible,

So why don't we start with your story,

What you've been doing for decades now,

You've been leading communities,

And I'd love to hear what exactly it is that you've done for those of us who haven't met you yet,

As well as how you became so passionate about your work.

Okay,

Great,

So I grew up in Canada,

With a Jewish family,

And really,

But living outside the Jewish community.

And I traveled to Israel in my early 20s and sort of had a reawakening of my Judaism.

I ended up meeting my husband who's from Chicago here,

And we started our life really working in Jewish communities in Canada and the United States.

And I found more and more that a Jewish community,

And probably any community,

Lives and dies by where the women are at.

That you can inspire a lot of men,

And sometimes if you do inspire a man,

You've created a problem in the marriage.

If he wants to grow spiritually and his wife doesn't,

But so sometimes if you inspire men,

You create a problem,

But if you inspire a woman,

You create a solution.

Because it's really women in general,

There are exceptions,

Really hold the light and the spirituality of the home.

And that's why Jewish women are commanded to light the Shabbat candles,

Because they really bring the light,

The direction,

And the tenor of the home.

And women in general hold the three most important decisions a family will ever make,

That impact a family now and for generations,

Where we live.

If your husband wants to move to another city and you don't want to move,

Or another country,

And you don't want to move,

Are you moving?

You're not moving.

Where our kids go to school,

The school we pick for our children is not just who our children will be,

It's who our grandchildren will be.

Because you're setting your kids on a course of socialization and values.

And who we socialize with,

Who we hang out with is who we become.

In general,

Those decisions are primarily in the hands of women.

So I used to speak on campuses,

You know,

The Penn and Brown and Yale,

But I found more and more that if I inspire a 20 year old boy,

I inspired a 20 year old boy.

But he has a 17 year old sister and a 14 year old brother and parents.

If I inspire the mother,

You get the whole family.

It's just strategically smart and more efficient.

So in 2008,

I gathered seven women together and the eight of us went away to Utah.

And we went away.

And I really consulted with people who do this for businesses,

That they take an eclectic group of people into a boardroom and they find their commonality and they establish a mission,

Vision and purpose.

So I asked her if I could do this for nonprofits and she said,

Yes.

So when we went away,

I walked them through the process in order to come to this mutual mission,

Vision and purpose.

And we established at the time,

What we call the Jewish Women's Renaissance Project.

It is now called Momentum.

I'm the founding director of Momentum.

And we came up with many ideas on how to bring this mission to fruition.

And one of the ideas took off like a rocket,

Which is this idea,

Which is as you introduced,

Of taking Jewish mothers who have children at home under the age of 18,

But are families that are more disconnected from their Judaism,

Their Jewish values and their connection to their heritage and bring them on a one year journey that begins with an eight day,

Profound transformational experience in Israel.

And we do this in partnership with organizations around the world.

We now partner with over 230 organizations in 32 countries.

And four years into this project,

The Israeli government contacted us,

Who are you?

What are you doing?

Let's talk.

And we now have a beautiful and tremendous relationship and partnership with the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.

The Diaspora Affairs,

Meaning the Ministry of Israel that really takes responsibility for Jews outside of Israel.

So we have four goals to connect to Jewish values,

To really to realize that there is so much wisdom,

Which I believe we're gonna be talking about from your heritage,

To engage with Israel,

To take responsibility,

They go home and they're on fire.

And it's in Hebrew,

It's akhdut fallo akhidut,

Which means unity without uniformity,

That we don't have to be the same in order to come together to create social change,

That we have more in common than we have apart.

And we have to focus on that.

So we have now brought over 20,

000 women.

And now we're bringing husbands.

We have men who are coming because the women go back and they push their husbands out the door.

And that's one of the reasons we rebranded with the name Momentum.

Because momentum,

If you picture the word momentum,

It begins with mom,

And then it goes to men.

But in the middle,

It's me.

It's really,

It's empowering yourself.

It's really,

If I'm not for myself,

Who will be for me?

That it really begins with you.

So this incredible experience that these women have has that ripple effect within the family and their communities.

And we very firmly believe that if you inspire a woman,

You inspire a family.

And if you inspire enough families,

You can inspire a community.

And if you can inspire enough communities,

You can change the world.

Wow,

Well,

You know,

Truly you're doing it.

I've seen firsthand these women,

And now the men come back from these trips.

Especially in the Los Angeles community when I lived there.

And I saw the way that they were bringing the wisdom,

And they were bringing the passion and the commitment,

And infusing their homes and their communities with kindness and true friendship and support.

And it is tremendous.

So I can't acknowledge you enough.

I mean,

It's just what you,

The vision that you had is incredible.

And I think it's the perfect segue into wisdom.

And you know,

You've already shared this beautiful idea that we don't have to necessarily be the same in order to be united.

So I'm gonna pause for a quick second and just try this without the fan.

Cause I'm like noticing a little background noise.

No problem.

This is so easy to edit out.

So it's like,

No big deal.

I just wanna see how that sounds.

One second.

Are you okay without it on?

Yeah,

Yeah,

Fine.

Okay,

Okay,

Okay.

So I'm gonna start that again.

My husband just bought it for me this morning.

I'm sorry.

That's so nice.

And I just,

When it moves,

I don't know if something was hitting a microphone maybe.

Maybe it's me here.

No,

Cause it doesn't move.

It just stays the same.

Oh,

Something is like,

Almost like a little fuzz.

I just wanna make sure I can hear you really clearly.

Testing one,

Two,

Three,

Testing.

You're perfect.

You're perfect.

Okay,

So segueing into this idea of wisdom.

I find it fascinating that you have identified the mother,

The woman as the influencer.

And I'm curious to hear more about the wisdom behind what you're doing,

As well as the wisdom that you are giving over and sharing that's changing these lives and changing these families and communities.

Are there certain guiding principles that you believe can benefit any woman?

100%.

So first of all,

The wisdom from the Torah is the wisdom for the world.

That the Jewish people were charged with a mission at Mount Sinai.

And we were supposed to be,

It's called an Orr Legoium,

A light unto the nations.

That we are supposed to be a beacon of a morality and values to the world.

And if we were there,

Then all nations would rise.

All boats would rise.

So the idea which I spoke about is that,

Is really the reason that we are targeting Jewish mothers is because they're the influencers in the Jewish home.

But the reason we're targeting Jewish people is because if we can get them to that place where they can be that example.

The Jewish people,

We're not better than the non-Jewish world.

It doesn't say anywhere in the Torah that we're better.

It doesn't say we're smarter.

It says we're stubborn.

But we are,

We're like the oldest child of the nations.

God loves all the nations.

I love all my kids.

I don't know how many kids you have.

I have five kids.

I love all my kids.

There's no question.

But,

You know,

If I sometimes ask people,

Like if you're the oldest,

Are you the oldest in your family?

Where do you find?

Where do you find?

I'm the second of two.

Second of two.

So if I asked you,

Is you have a sister or brother as the oldest?

Older brother.

Okay,

So if I asked your older brother,

As the oldest,

Did he have more responsibility than you did?

I think it was,

I think it's harder to be the oldest in a certain way.

Okay,

Let's not go,

Let's not go there.

Just answer the question.

Okay.

Did he have more responsibility?

Did he have more responsibility than you?

If you're the oldest,

Did you have more,

Generally the oldest?

Yes,

Absolutely.

Okay,

They have more responsibility.

Was he expected to be an example to you?

Absolutely.

Right.

But did he have a special relationship with your parents because he was the first?

Definitely.

Yeah.

So,

You're the oldest.

Definitely.

Yes.

So I love all my kids,

But my first one changed my life forever.

Okay,

I wasn't a parent before then.

And she's the only one who had us exclusively.

Everybody else had to share.

So,

The Jewish people were like the oldest child.

God loves all the nations,

But we do have a special relationship with the Almighty,

But it comes with responsibility.

And we are supposed to be an example to the rest of the nations.

So,

That's our job.

We're not doing a good job.

Harvey Weinstein,

Jeffrey Epstein,

Bernie Madoff,

We are very dim light onto the nations.

We're not proud of it.

We are ashamed of it.

And we have to make change.

So,

The idea is if you don't understand your job,

Let's say you're hired for a job,

And they're like,

Well,

What's my job description?

I'm like,

My daughter right now,

She's actually interviewing for a new position.

And I said,

Did they give you a job description?

And she said,

No.

I said,

It's very important that they have a formal written job description.

Because how do you know,

How can you be judged how you're doing both for yourself and from them to you if it's not clear what your job is?

If you don't know what your job is,

How can you possibly accomplish it?

So,

One of the things that we share with the women and the men on Momentum Trips to Israel.

And if you want to know more about this,

Just go to momentumunlimited.

Org.

Momentumunlimited.

Org.

And you'll see our website.

Not only are there opportunities for you to apply for trips in the future,

But there because of COVID and everything,

We have a ton of educational podcasts and webinars on.

And instead of inspiring 3000 women a year,

We've now been inspiring 3000 women a day.

It's really been incredible.

I'm gonna include all of the links in the show notes so that all of our listeners can easily click it.

Oh,

Thank you so much.

So one of the things that we share is as a parent,

Because the one thing they all have in common,

They might be coming from Guatemala and Moscow and LA and Vancouver.

But the one thing they have in common is they're all parents,

They're all mothers or they're all fathers.

So we talk about what is your job as a parent?

According to the Torah,

What is our job?

We can forget our job,

Especially now.

We're the homeschool teacher.

We're the short order cook.

We are the chauffeur.

We are the referee.

That's not our job.

Our job as parents,

We are educators.

We are teachers.

I don't mean homeschool teachers because our kids are not in school.

We are teachers of values.

And what is the best way to teach anything?

Don't get a whiteboard and your kids come down in the morning and you say,

Okay kids,

Today's value is honesty.

And you write it on the board.

Let's talk about honesty,

Okay?

They're not listening to you.

You need to be an honest person.

They need to see you interact and be on the phone and that you're not fudging your words or you don't tell them,

Tell them I'm not in when you are in.

Get it?

You have to be an example.

So why are we teachers of values?

Because we believe that the Almighty has entrusted us with these precious souls and we are supposed to teach them and to help to shape them into being the ultimate they can be.

The Torah is a guidebook for that.

That these values that create a just and moral society are really in our hands and it is our job to make sure we pass these on to our children.

So you can't just talk the talk.

You have to walk it.

It doesn't mean you have to be perfect.

Nobody's perfect.

Everybody makes mistakes.

You read in the Torah,

You read in Tanakh,

Which includes the prophets and all the writings.

There are a lot of people making mistakes,

Right?

Do you learn from that mistake?

Do you grow from that mistake?

Does that mistake help you to be a better person?

Or is that mistake your downfall?

Or it could be your springboard to greatness.

These are all the things that we have to teach and model for our children.

And most of it is being that example.

So when we choose to invest in the mother and the father,

We know that's an excellent investment because the return on their investment is how it spills over to their children.

It's so incredible to think about this idea that in a lot of ways we can redirect all of the energy that we might have thought we needed to have that lesson with the whiteboard and really focus on telling.

Rather than focus on telling,

We can focus on our doing and our being that model.

So that's a really,

Really incredible idea for all of us to take away.

And I'm curious to hear a little bit more from you when you speak about the ethics and the values that are in the Torah and the way that those are really universal values.

Especially for those of us who might be new to Torah,

New to spirituality in general,

And perhaps even for many of us who've been around it,

Are there ideas that come to the forefront for you by way of values that you really think everyone can benefit from learning about?

100%.

So we could be here forever and ever,

But there are some things that I think could resonate with everyone.

So one of the important tenant and foundation idea from the Torah for all nations is that there are no problems.

There are only opportunities for growth.

That means that this whole world was created to help you to realize,

In order for you to realize your potential.

And there is no way you can realize your potential unless there are challenges put in your way.

You know that.

If you read any biography or autobiography of anybody who's great,

They did not,

It was not all candy floss and ice cream.

It wasn't just a smooth sailing.

And when people say,

Oh,

He was an overnight or she was an overnight sensation,

And you sit down and talk to them,

It did not happen overnight.

That greatness happens through adversity.

You see that.

And you know,

Like in the holy temple,

We had the menorah and we used olive oil.

And if you take an olive off the tree,

Like you can't get oil from it unless it's crushed,

Unless there's pressure.

And that's when,

And that light,

And when you have that oil,

You can light from that oil and bring light into the world.

So there's adversity that happens and a certain amount of pain that happens before you get that pleasure.

And when we say light,

That means the clarity,

That if you have clarity,

You can make good decisions in life.

And it's really,

It's another idea is clarity or death.

Like if you have clarity in life to make good decisions,

Now we're talking.

Confusion,

It's not that ignorance is bliss,

Ignorance,

That's a Western idea.

Ignorance is not bliss.

Ignorance is death.

Knowledge is bliss.

Knowledge is bliss.

To have knowledge,

To have wisdom,

To be able to make good choices in life.

So I remember years ago,

I had a video blog on a site,

And it was a popular video blog.

And if you Google my name,

All this stuff comes up,

Lori Palatnik.

So I,

On this site,

People would comment on the video blog.

They were like,

Some of them liked it,

Some of them didn't like it.

And I didn't comment back.

I would just go and I would see,

And they would fight amongst each other.

And it was like part of my entertainment,

But it was also to see what resonates with people and what doesn't.

I could count on one hand,

Of the hundreds and hundreds of video blogs that I did,

How many times I wrote,

I actually wrote back.

Not that I didn't read it,

But I didn't want to be part of the conversation.

I think it was better for them to discuss it.

So one time,

I don't remember what the blog was about.

It was just a three minute blog.

And somebody wrote,

A woman wrote,

Dear Lori,

Nice for you to say,

Because your life is perfect.

If you had our problems,

And if you had our lives,

You wouldn't say that.

I wrote back,

Dear so and so.

I have problems and I have challenges in my life.

I said,

I have challenges in my life,

Just like you in every aspect of my life,

Health,

Wealth,

Relationships.

But I choose to frame it,

That these are my opportunities for growth.

That the Almighty sent me these challenges for me,

For my good,

So that I could be a better person.

You choose to see these challenges as,

And you're blaming and complaining,

And that brother and that mother-in-law,

The Almighty sent you your mother-in-law,

Sent you your boss,

Sent you your neighbor for a reason.

Not that so that you can blame and complain,

But so that you can become a greater person.

These are your opportunities for growth.

These are your opportunities for growth.

And so you see,

We have the same lives,

But it's how you see it.

We cannot,

We are framers,

That's who we are in life.

The Almighty throws things at your canvas,

Things that you never in a million years thought would ever happen to you.

If you knew walking up the aisle,

What was really gonna happen,

You probably wouldn't walk up the aisle.

If you knew what was gonna happen after you gave birth to this child,

You probably wouldn't have done it,

Okay?

But the Almighty leads you into these relationships for your good,

And He throws challenges in your life for your good.

So you can frame it as that opportunity for myself to grow,

Or you can frame it in a very different way.

And just like you know,

That the frame of a picture can either enhance and bring up the beauty of a picture,

Or it can distract from it.

And what we do is we distract ourselves and we create a very unpleasant picture by not seeing that everything that the Almighty sends every person in your life,

Every challenge in your life,

Every blessing,

Every source of pain,

Every source of joy,

It's all from the same source.

It's all from God,

And it's all our opportunity to grow.

I can't tell you how much I love that.

I'm thinking about this idea of framing every single thing as an opportunity.

And it's life altering.

If we were all to start doing that with one issue right now,

We can do it.

So there's a mystical idea in Kabbalah,

There's a mystical idea that before we're born,

That apparently our soul that is in some spiritual place with God,

That our soul doesn't want to come into this world.

But God says,

No,

This soul,

This body.

And our soul,

Why doesn't our soul want to come into this world?

This is not an easy world.

As we talked about,

There's pain and challenge.

Why would you leave sitting at the feet of God,

So to speak,

The being in God's presence to come into this world and like having to like go through puberty and having visa bills and somebody breaks up with you and like,

And you get fired.

So apparently,

Because we don't have a choice and God says the soul has to come into this body,

Into this world for its own growth,

For its own mystical travel through this universe,

Our soul says to the Almighty,

Fine,

I'll go.

But please,

We beg God for certain challenges so that we can make the most of this world.

So when we are going through challenges,

When we are going through challenges in life,

We have to remember our soul begged for this.

So sometimes my husband will come home and he'll say,

How was your day?

And I'll say,

My soul begged for this day or my soul begged for this teenager,

All right?

My soul begged for this.

So the Almighty doesn't make mistakes.

He,

Again,

Everything happens for a reason and everything happens for a good.

And you know how people say like,

It's always good in the end,

It's true.

It's always good in the end.

So if it's not the end,

If it's not good,

Then it's not the end yet.

So we are in the middle of the journey.

We are in the middle of the story.

Do you ever be in the middle of a movie and it's like a suspense thing and you're like,

Oh no,

What's gonna happen?

And like the poor guy who's the protagonist.

And in the end you see like,

Oh,

It all makes sense in the end.

It doesn't mean that everybody ends up,

Wealthy or healthy or even alive,

But you see that there was a plan and that this is the way it's supposed to be.

So we are in chapter three.

We don't know what happened in chapter one and chapter two in other people's lives.

You know what happened in your life,

But you don't know what's gonna be in chapter four and chapter five,

Because we are human beings bound by time.

We see that we dwell on the past,

We worry about the future and we live in the present.

But God is not bound by time.

God sees past,

Present and future in one glance.

He sees where you came from,

He sees where you are and because he's God,

He even sees where you're going.

So you have to remember when you meet somebody also,

You meet them in chapter three.

You married your husband in chapter three.

He had a whole,

He had a mother in chapter one and chapter two,

Okay?

And in the introduction before you got him.

You meet people in the middle of the story and that's why you were supposed to,

There's a very strong Jewish value and a strong human value to judge people to the good,

To judge people to the side of favor.

Why?

Because you don't see the whole picture.

It says you can't judge somebody until you come to their place.

And since you can never come to a person's place,

You didn't have their parents,

You didn't have their upbringing.

You can never,

Like,

You know,

There's an idea when you,

When somebody has a loss and you go to console them.

In Judaism,

It's you pay a shiva call.

So you're really,

It's not a comforting thing to say to somebody,

I know how you feel.

Even if you,

They lost a father and you lost a father because you didn't have their father.

Even during this time of COVID,

People are saying like,

Well,

We're all in the same boat.

It's not true.

We're all in the same storm but your boat is different than my boat.

Oh,

I like that so much.

We're all in the same storm but we're each in our own boat.

So you can't judge a person.

You can't judge because you see like there,

And also it's a very,

Very strong concept that God judges us the way we judge others.

God does judge us and we're happy that he judges us because it means my actions count.

My decisions actually matter.

But God judges us the way we judge others.

So if you're gonna be exacting with people,

If you're gonna focus in on their mistakes and not their goodness,

Then the Almighty is gonna say,

Oh,

That's what you think judgment is?

Then I'll be exacting with you.

I'll focus in on your mistakes and not your goodness.

But if you focus on a person's goodness,

Even with their mistakes,

And if you give them the benefit of the doubt,

And if you know that there's a whole story that you don't know,

Then and you're judging them to the good,

The Almighty says,

Oh,

That's what you think judgment is?

That's how I'll judge you.

Wow,

These ideas are so profound.

And I'm curious how some of these ideas,

This wisdom,

How the wisdom has changed your life personally,

And also how you have seen the transformations of the now tens of thousands of human beings that your work has touched.

So when I was starting my,

As I said,

When I was starting my Jewish journey in terms of educating myself and empowering myself with these ideas that are thousands of years old,

That are relevant today to our lives,

That was a huge revelation to me.

Like I grew up,

It was dusty Bible stories and bar mitzvahs and giving money to bonds for Israel.

I had no idea that it was what we call Torah tayim,

Instructions for life,

Instruct teachings for life,

That it's relevant to my life,

That it's wisdom that can help me,

And this is what I started learning in my early 20s,

To help me make the most,

To be successful in the most important relationships in my life and to help me to make the right decisions.

Who to marry,

How to make a great marriage,

How to raise great children,

How to be successful in business.

It's how to realize my potential,

My personal potential.

It's all in there,

But you have to read it and you have to learn it and you have to question and you have to grapple and you have to apply it to your life.

So also it's,

You know,

We usually judge ourselves,

How are we doing compared to the people around us?

Well,

Compared to my friends,

I'm a little richer,

Thinner,

More generous,

Kinder,

You know,

Person,

But God doesn't judge us compared to our friends.

God only judges us compared to us.

And we all have different levels of potential.

So the biggest thing that happened on the beginning of my journey was to look myself in the mirror and to realize,

Yes,

Compared to my friends,

I'm.

.

.

But compared to me,

I knew that I was just getting by,

That I could be so much more,

That I could easily sail through and based on what the magazines are saying is success,

I can be there.

But who's kidding whom?

I could be so much more,

But it means I have to change,

I have to work on myself,

I have to be real with myself.

And that was painful and exciting at the same time,

That I could be more,

But they don't call growing pains for nothing.

Facing,

You know,

I used to say like,

Oh,

You know,

I believe this or I believe that,

Like men and women are the same,

Okay?

Well,

Based on what?

Well,

Everybody knows that,

Well,

Who's everybody?

So I really had to basically take everything that I thought was true and have the courage to put it out there onto the table and to re-examine it.

Is it really true?

What is it based on?

And some of it was true and some of it wasn't.

And it was hard to face some of these and to really say,

Well,

Then what is true and to have my journey.

And it was not smooth and it was not easy,

But I sought out the greatest,

The wisest people I could relate to.

And I had to,

It was a tremendous journey to self-growth.

And this is a journey that ends at your last breath,

That you're always,

You know,

You're going through different things in life.

Like once you get married,

It's a whole different ballgame.

Once you have kids,

Once you take responsibility for whatever,

Fill in the blank,

You really have to keep re-examining these values and how to reapply them at different stages of your life.

Because unfortunately for most Jewish people,

At least in North America,

It's a,

The bar and butt mitzvah world becomes your graduation out of Judaism and instead of your graduation in.

So we have a very infantile view and perspective on Judaism.

And now that you're not 12 or 13,

Now that you're 25,

35,

45,

55,

Take,

Re-examine,

Take a second look at your value-based and your heritage and to re-examine and to empower yourself.

You know,

We always take pride,

Like to make educated decisions in life.

Whether you're choosing a car or a college,

You always like,

Of course you make it,

You know,

You compare,

You test drive,

You look at the specs,

But when it comes to who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with,

What values do we have in common?

What do we want to impart to our children?

What is gonna be written on our tombstone?

What do you want people to say at your,

You know,

In your eulogy?

That's,

We're like,

We're winging it.

We're like hoping it all works out.

This is not a good way to go through life.

So it sounds like you really had this shift into living intentionally that happened for you in your early 20s.

And I'm curious over the course of your journey,

You mentioned that it is part of the response of the Jewish people,

Of the people of the Torah,

To sending people to,

In terms of creating this ideal world,

The world that we're working so hard together to create.

And I'm curious if you are open to sharing with us a little bit about what that vision looks like for you,

What our potential is,

How we could look in the future,

And kind of painting that for those of us who are looking for like a model to work toward.

Well,

We're kind of working our way back.

If you go back to the beginning,

The beginning of creation,

God put us in this garden,

Gun Aiden,

The garden of pleasure,

That's what it means.

God put us in incredible,

The world was for us,

That God says,

Just take,

Enjoy my children,

Enjoy.

And we could eat from any tree,

But except for that one.

Okay,

And of course,

That's the one we ate from.

And then we're kicked out of the garden,

And we're kind of working our way back ever since.

So the Almighty,

Just like you see,

There's a reason why honoring your parents is on the side of the,

If you look at the tables of the 10 commandments,

Is on the side of man to God.

And it's not on the side of man to man.

Why is it there?

It's not a bad editing job.

It's because if you look at your relationship,

A parent to a child,

Or your relationship to your parents,

It's really the model of the ultimate relationship was your relationship with God.

So just like we,

What do we want for our kids?

We want our kids to have the deepest,

Most meaningful pleasure possible.

We really want them,

And we're gonna go,

Oh,

I just want my kids to be happy.

Well,

That's not really true.

You really want your kids just to be happy?

Your kids would be happy not to go to school,

Okay?

Your kids would be happy to eat chocolate ice cream for dinner.

Your kids would be happy to stay up all night watching video games.

Is that what you want for your kids?

No.

You want them to have,

Yes,

You want them to have pleasure,

But you want them to have meaningful pleasure.

You want them to have a meaningful life.

And sometimes,

Making good choices in life for them doesn't always equal happy.

They'd be,

A man would be happy to sleep with a secretary,

Okay?

That would make them happy.

Just people should just be happy.

No,

But that would be a wrong choice.

That would be an immoral choice.

That wouldn't lead to a meaningful,

Pleasurable,

And realizing your potential life.

So really,

You want your kids to be good,

But good based on what?

Good based on what happens to be,

What the popular sitcom is,

Where the smart aleck kid is,

And the stupid parents.

Good based on what?

Based on what happens to be in now,

Or what happens to be politically correct now,

Or what happens to be fashionable now.

That you really want to look to something that's timeless.

What does it mean to be good?

What really brings meaningful pleasure?

And that's why we look to our heritage.

We look to the Bible.

We look to the Torah to say,

What is the bar of good?

Because if you keep moving the bar,

Then what is this?

You're just raising trendy kids,

And you see the result.

If removing yourself from that guidebook creates stronger families,

Happier families,

A more moral,

Just society,

Then whatever we're doing,

Let's keep doing it.

But since you see the breakdown in families and society,

And the pain of divorce,

And the collapse of the family unit,

And the rise of drugs for people who are just desperate to numb themselves away from life,

Something's going wrong.

Something's going wrong.

So we're really going back to the future,

Okay?

We really have to go back in order to see what the future could be,

To have a society where you,

Again,

Where you have the greatest pleasure possible in a meaningful way that has timeless values,

And not trendy values.

It's such a beautiful idea to think about this pleasure,

This ultimate pleasure,

This ultimate good,

And what you shared in the beginning,

This idea of all boats rising,

That we can all,

As a world,

Live a really rich,

Meaningful,

Pleasurable life when we are in line with our greatest good.

In order to do that,

You need examples.

That's why the Jewish people are supposed to be that example,

Because you see that most people,

They grow up in families.

Are their parents happily married?

Are they an example of what a marriage is?

A lot of people are coming from either divorced families,

And if they're not divorced,

Are they really your example of what a marriage is?

Are they happily married?

And you see in life,

Who is the example in public life of what a marriage should be?

It's very few people who you would say,

Wow,

They're such an example.

Like,

You know,

There,

It was,

You know,

When I was growing up,

Wow,

Bill Cosby and the Cosby Show,

Okay?

Like there's an example of a really good family,

And look what happened,

What the heck happened to Bill Cosby.

So you see that- It's so true.

Put people on a pedestal,

Like what is that pedestal made out of?

Is it just an image?

Is it just the public image?

Is it just for money?

Is it just for fame?

What is going on here?

Again,

People are not perfect,

But if we don't,

You know,

People need mentors.

When you want to be successful in your career,

Pick up,

Everybody knows,

You have to have a mentor,

Right?

And so you need a mentor in life as a woman,

As a parent,

As a daughter or a son,

As like,

You need a mentor.

Where are examples to make life work?

And you need to seek those people out.

And it's very,

You know,

To be part of a community even,

Like the concept of community.

Okay,

It's getting noisy next door.

I'm just going to close the window.

It's okay,

Sure.

Take your time.

Israelis are so funny.

Like they talk very loudly.

They shout at each other,

But it's a regular conversation.

Okay,

Sorry.

So you were saying that in order to really create this life that we want,

We need to find models.

We need to find mentors.

I'm curious to hear when you were starting out or even now on your journey,

Have there been significant people from history or in present day that have guided you?

Yes,

Definitely.

I've been very blessed with role models,

Beginning with my mother.

She should be well.

My mother,

She's not particularly religious,

Though she has a very strong spiritual aspect to her,

But she was really my role model.

I was raised in a very strong feminist home,

But feminism,

Not some of the feminism that you see out there in the world that sometimes created some issues and problems,

But the feminism that really created positive social change,

Which is people treating people like people and not objectifying them and women seeing opportunities.

And she really was very much,

I think the biggest thing she gave myself and my siblings is the idea of following your dreams.

And just because the whole world is saying one thing doesn't mean that you should necessarily do that,

That you have to find your passion and follow your dreams.

Unfortunately for her,

That we all did that,

And now none of us live in Toronto where she lives.

She's like,

I wanted you to follow your dreams,

But could somebody please live in Toronto?

So there's a fallout to that.

So that she was really my very,

Very strong role model of that,

Of creativity and entrepreneurship and appreciating and loving people and to follow your dream.

I also had very great Rebertsons.

A Reberton is somebody who is a spiritual role model in the community,

A woman,

And a Reberton,

Dina Weinberg,

She should be well,

And a Reberton,

Fagee Turski,

She should be well.

These are great Reberton,

Esther Youngreis,

Of blessed memory.

These were great women who became strong leaders in the Jewish people and really inspired me in different ways and in many ways.

I would say in history,

And I'm looking to,

Again,

The Bible for a historic role model,

I definitely,

I see that I would choose,

If I was gonna choose anyone,

I would choose Queen Esther.

Okay,

Esther Hamalka,

Queen Esther from the Purim story.

Why?

Because Esther was,

If you remember the story of Purim where Esther,

She's in the palace and she had the evil king and she's chosen amongst all the women.

She was very,

Very beautiful.

And the Jewish people were in peril,

Like that a call went out from Haman to destroy,

Really,

Like to annihilate the entire Jewish people.

And so Mordechai,

Esther's uncle,

Came to her and said,

Esther,

You're in the palace.

You have to go before the king and you have to beg for the salvation of the Jewish people.

And she said,

No.

She said,

If I go before the king and I'm not invited and he's not happy with my presence,

It'd be off with my head.

He was that kind of king.

And Mordechai said to Esther,

Which is the most telling part of the Purim story,

Esther,

If salvation is gonna come to the Jewish people,

It doesn't have to be through you.

And if destruction is gonna come to the Jewish people,

Don't think that you and your family will be safe in the palace.

But maybe God has placed you at this time in this place for a reason and you can make a difference.

And she asks everybody to fast and to pray,

Especially the children and their pure prayers.

And she gets her courage up and she goes before the king and she saves the Jewish people.

So why is that an example?

Because you see,

Like we all have fears and we all are like,

You know,

Just concerned about the people in our realm.

But Mordechai helped Esther to get in touch with the part of her that,

You know,

We're playing,

We're here for a reason.

And that the Almighty has given you certain talent,

Skills,

Resources,

Connections,

And it's not just for you,

That there's something greater out there.

And we have to rise above our own fears and we have to find our inner courage.

The blessing I always give to people is that God should give you unbelievable,

Incredible clarity in every aspect of your life and the courage to live your clarity.

Because sometimes we know,

Oh,

We know,

We have a soul and we know the right thing to do,

But sometimes we just lack the courage to follow our clarity.

That's so,

So absolutely true.

Well,

I could really speak with you all day,

But in the,

In respect for your time,

I just want to ask you one final question,

Which is,

You know,

This idea of having the courage and facing fear that we all have these fears.

What would you advise for someone who's just starting out or really looking to expand their purpose-based business or their purpose-driven organization to stay for the long haul?

How can they do that in the way that you have,

Laurie?

So one thing is that you have to figure out why God put you in this world.

Like,

Why?

Like,

Why are you individually here?

What is your role to play in God's plan?

You complete your,

It's like a puzzle that has a missing piece.

You're the missing piece that completes the picture.

So if I complete God's picture and the whole world would not have been created without me because I complete the picture,

What is it that I'm supposed to do?

So one of the first steps in finding that is to find out what is your passion?

What,

What jazzes you?

What is it that gives you the most meaningful pleasure in life?

For me,

It was really helping other people realize their potential.

Like that was,

It's really,

If I think about all the things that I do or the things that really give me tremendous pleasure,

So I see that that,

So to create a job,

To create an organization,

To create a company that is a platform for you to take what is,

Again,

Your purpose in life,

That piece,

That in order for you to complete that picture,

Create something that supports that.

It could be manifested in many,

Many different ways.

I chose this nonprofit organization to found it to help other organizations succeed because again,

We do it in partnership with all these other organizations to help them have more success,

To help the people who come through it,

To help them to realize their potential.

You see the ripple effect of that.

So whatever it is that you see is your talent,

Your skill,

Like,

You know,

Some of those people come up to you,

They go,

I'd love to be part of Momentum.

Like,

Can I be part of it?

I want to help you.

So I'll say to them,

Okay,

What's your talent?

Like,

What's your thing?

It doesn't mean what is the title before your name or the letters after your name,

But what is it that is your special something?

And then you take,

There was a doctor who said to me,

I can take complicated ideas and I know how to synthesize it down to really,

To be able to explain it to people.

I said,

Great,

You're the help desk.

So years ago,

We had something called the help desk.

And somebody asked,

Like,

How do I navigate,

You know,

To get on the trip?

She was able to synthesize it down.

So she was the help desk.

So she's not,

She,

But in life,

She's a pediatrician.

Okay,

So obviously in her job,

She's able to take complex medical and scientific ideas and explain it to her patients,

Parents or the patient.

So she was able to take that talent and apply it to the Jewish people in our organization.

So does that give you a- I love that.

It's really harnessing a passion and then using it to serve.

Exactly.

Makes so much sense.

Well,

This has been such a fabulous conversation and I really appreciate your being here.

I wanna go ahead and remind the listeners again,

Where can they connect with you and what are you up to right now?

Where can everyone find you and- Okay,

So in order to find me or to find the organization and everything that we have to offer,

Go to our website,

Which is momentumunlimited.

Org.

Momentumunlimited.

Org.

You can reach me if you wanna reach me personally,

Laurie,

L-O-R-I,

At momentumunlimited.

Org.

And you're not bothering me.

You can reach out to me,

But go on because what we've been doing is like unbelievable live webinars,

Virtual road trips.

We have incredible experts that we bring to help support people.

We've become a lifeline for tens of thousands of people around the world during this time.

And we're not letting go of that lifeline.

We're gonna get people through it.

We're all gonna come out,

But we're not going back to normal.

People go,

I just want everything to be normal.

If everything goes back to the way it was,

This was for nothing.

We have to emerge as better people,

Committed together to making a better world.

Wow,

That is so beautiful.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me and all of our listeners.

It's really,

Really an honor to have you.

My pleasure,

Thank you.