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The Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection is the one-stop shop for the Torah inspiration shared by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe in one simple feed. The Jewish Inspiration Podcast, Parsha Review Podcast, Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Living Jewishly Podcast and Unboxing Judaism Podcast all in one convenient place. Enjoy!
00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
From the Torch Studio in Houston, texas, featuring leaders and personalities from Jewish communities around the globe. This is the Sunday special edition of the Jewish Inspiration Podcast with Rabbi Ari Abole.
00:23 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Welcome back, my dear friends, to a special edition, to another special edition of the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. Our guest this week is Gitti Fredman, and I hope that in the course of our conversation, we'll all be inspired by her story and learn incredible things from her. So, gitti, where are you from?
00:43 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I grew up in Lakewood, New Jersey.
00:45 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Wow, Lakewood.
00:52 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I learned in Lakewood for a couple years. What was it like growing up in Lakewood? Growing up in Lakewood in the 80s and 90s? It was very different than the Lakewood it is today. It was very wholesome, very simple. We went to camp with the Brooklyn girls and we were the out-of-town girls. The Lakewood girls were the out-of-town girls. If you wanted cool clothing you went to Brenda's in Brooklyn and it was very, very wholesome, very, very nice. We kind of knew all the girls our age. There were three high schools Base Yakov, base Kayla, base Shandell. It was much, much smaller and I had a very happy, healthy, wonderful childhood what does it become today?
01:30 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
it's just a bigger city with higher standards of materialism, but I think the whole world is becoming more um I think really inclined yeah, I think with internet and shopping online like everybody's cool so I mean it's a big challenge because you know, baruch Hashem we give great thanks to Hashem that our community is growing. It's growing exponentially. I grew up in Muncie, I grew up in Brooklyn and then Muncie, and when I was in Muncie I mean we basically knew everyone in Muncie. I mean there were, you know, let's say, 15,000 people in Muncie. And when I was in Muncie, I mean we basically knew everyone in Muncie. I mean there were, you know, let's say, 15,000 people in Muncie and you knew just about everybody.
02:10
You knew the boys, your age, the boys my age, I knew everyone who was my age. And today you go there, there's like 350,000 people there. It's like there's traffic everywhere you go. It is impossible to get around, it's like nobody knows anybody, right. And I feel the same with Lakewood. I mean I haven't been in Lakewood in many years, but it's really an interesting transformation or an explosion of growth of the Jewish community. This is the natural. You have the same thing with Yerushalayim. I mean, you go to Jerusalem and Jerusalem today is nothing like it used to be when I lived there back right when my wife and I got married. So do you ever go back and visit? Yeah, and how do you feel about your old stomping grounds?
02:54 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I mean I love visiting. I love visiting. I love getting almond milk latte and not having to ask the barista 10,000 questions if my coffee's going to be kosher. I love visiting my parents, I love visiting my brothers, I love shopping there. And when my kids were small and the school system, I always used to say I cannot imagine living here. And as I get older I say like okay, I could move back for totally different reasons.
03:30 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Do you ever feel like, oh, it's a good thing, I'm moving back to wherever I live? Now I'm just like to get out of there.
03:35 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Oh, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I admittedly like I say this all the time I love to be a big fish in a small pond, and maybe that explains all the other places I've lived, cause I think I can just jump ahead and say that I've we've lived in. My husband and I have lived in Silver Spring, maryland, where he was getting his first masters. His parents may they rest in peace when he was becoming much more like right wing and serious about Torah and davening and keeping halacha, they were concerned. They were definitely more modern Orthodox and they insisted that he go get a master's. So he studied under Rabbi Lobiansky, rabbi Aaron Lobiansky, in Yeshiva of Greater Washington and they had a program where the young men could get their master's without going to a college campus. Rabbi Breitowitz taught and so when we met he was still in that program and we lived in Silver Spring, maryland.
04:36 - Intro (Announcement)
And then Rabbi Loboyansky told him to accelerate and we moved to Eretz Yisrael.
04:41 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
So we lived in Yerushalayim for three years, ramat Bechemesh for four years. During the time that we were in Ramat Bechemesh, my husband's best friend moved to Portland, oregon. He came home from the goodbye party for his friend with this inspired look in his eyes. It was Erev Pesach. I was cleaning a freezer for Pesach and he said we're going to do that too. Now, mind you, I'm from Lakewood. I didn't even know where Portland was.
05:07 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Well, there is a Portland, maine and there's a Portland Oregon.
05:11 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I had no idea. I just thought it was really strange that our friends were moving to Portland. We were all going to live in Israel and be holy.
05:21 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Now, I mean, your husband was also in the Jerusalem call right.
05:24 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
This is after. This is was also in the Jerusalem Kol right. This is after. This is after being in the Jerusalem Kol no no no, he joins the Kol after he's inspired by the goodbye party.
05:35 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Oh wow, oh wow, and he went to go learn in the Jerusalem Kol Baravitz and Berkowitz.
05:41 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
He says we're going to go do that too. And I was cleaning a freezer for pesach and I literally remember thinking this I'm not going to argue about this now so I just smiled and I was like, oh nice and um so. Sure enough, after pesach he did not go back to his halacha kolah, a kolah where they put a strong emphasis on learning Jewish law, I think for that spring summer kind of Zman semester. He was learning in Ramat Bechemesh, unsure of what to do, and then he joined the Jerusalem Kola, rabbi Berkowitz's Kola, where they train young men to leave Israel strong. Don't leave burnt out, leave strong and go make an impact in the diaspora. So our first community building job was in Seattle, washington.
06:34 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
How was the experience in the Jerusalem call?
06:36 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
For me.
06:36 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
For you, for your husband.
06:39 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
We had been long time big followers of Rabbi Berkowitz. A whole, not enough time for this podcast. A whole hashgacha part the story. We lived in his building oh, wow our son wow our son called my husband tati and he called rabbi berkowitz daddy because his he would hang out in his apartment with his daughter like rabbi berkowitz.
07:02
His daughters would like help me with my baby, and moshe called rabbi berkowitz daddy that's incredible so we loved rabbi berkowitz, but we didn't join the cola when it opened because we were going to live in eric's sister, al and and contemplating going, going out right, so we had definitely not to port right Portland?
07:23
No, no, not, for so we had. We had moved to Ramat Bechumish where it was a bit less transient, where people were staying and settling and not moving every minute. So anyway, our first community building job was in Seattle, washington, and then we moved to. Four years later we moved to um, minneapolis, to Minneapolis, minnesota, where we ran the AISH branch for seven years. My husband felt that he should leave the nonprofit sector so he studied to be a licensed marriage and family therapist. I got hired by the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, so it was a little bit of a continuation of what I was doing with Aish. And then we decided that we should go be near family and we moved to be near my husband's siblings in Chesterfield, missouri. So I like to be a big fish in a small pond. So you know, lakewood for me is, you know, it's just huge and I think you can make you tap into things and talents and things you didn't know you could do when you live in a smaller place and you're needed to step up.
08:39 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And what are the challenges? Living in Chesterfield, coming from Lakewood, where you have an overabundance of kosher accessible anywhere and everywhere, children's clothes that match for all your children, and here you move to Chesterfield, missouri, I mean it's. It's similar to living in Houston, texas, where you know, for us buying food for Shabbos, we need to go to three, four or five different stores sometimes because this store has this and this store has that, but no one has everything. I mean that's. You know, in New York you have those luxuries, in Houston and probably Chesterfield, you don't.
09:13 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Yeah. So we made a choice. Like I had been visiting Chesterfield for 21 years I you know it's my husband grew up there 21 years my husband grew up there we would visit my in-laws I knew exactly what I was moving to and we made a decision that this was the right choice for our family. At this time, I am working toward a place of acceptance. It's a beautiful place. It's very beautiful, it's very artistic. There's one beautiful place. It's very beautiful, it's very artistic. There's one shul. It's a very beautiful, close-knit, supportive community and every time I get back to it, every day, I say this is my beautiful city, this is where Hashem wants me right now.
10:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
One day, at a time. How many children do you have?
10:02 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
We have four children.
10:03 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Can I know how old is your oldest? 21. And your oldest 21. And your youngest?
10:06 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
14.
10:07 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Wow, okay, so that's amazing, amazing. So you spent many years teaching, getting involved in outreach organizations from Seattle, minneapolis, and now living in Chesterfield. I mean, typically, people in New York, new Jersey, grow up in a regular yeshiva lifestyle, aren't running to go out and teach out all over the world. What made you do that? What was the trigger that you said you know what? This is my destiny, this is my calling, this is what I'm going to, and you're here in houston doing the same thing inspiring people through your challah baking program. Uh, what? What is the? What was the transformation? What? What triggered it for you?
10:53 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
um, like we left is. I was expecting our fourth child. We left Israel. I was crying. I cried the whole way to the airport. I remember leaving and thinking when are we ever going to be able to come back? Like, if you work in a community, kolal, how would you ever come back? Like, how would I afford to bring my family back? How would I get back? Like my neshama, my heart is just in Eretz, yisrael. It's where I feel most connected.
11:25
It was a very difficult adjustment. I had to learn how to open my heart and mind to all the people that were coming for Shabbos and I really started to listen to their stories. And so much of my Yiddishkeit. I never worked really hard for it was just. I had a healthy, happy, wonderful home. Shabbos was great, kosher was great, wonderful home. Shabbos was great, Kosher was great. I didn't really work too hard on anything. And I remember hearing this his name was Victor. I remember hearing Victor talk about the three like modes of public transportation he had to take to come to Rosh Hashanah services and thinking like, wow, this was Maseerah Snafesh for for him to come and just like doing that extreme devotion yeah, I had to do like that, that shift in my mind of like there are people that are working very, very hard for their, their steps that they're taking to connect to their judaism and I can learn from them.
12:34
I came thinking I had so much to teach them the girl from Lakewood and Yerushalayim and then I realized I had so much more I could learn from them.
12:44 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
You know, it's an amazing thing. I grew up also in a totally from home. My transformation was when I was about 16, 17 years old. I realized that I was in robot mode. I put on tefillin every day, not because I knew what I was doing, but because this is what we do. I kept Shabbos, every Shabbos, not because I knew what I was doing, but because this is what we do. And suddenly I stopped and I asked myself, like why in the world am I doing these things? I need to learn more about this, I need to investigate. And as soon as I did that and I saw all the beauty and all of the incredible gift of Yiddishkeit, of our Jewish faith and our Torah, I was like, oh, my goodness, I have to share this with the entire world. And that's where my passion really kicked into high gear. I was like I started going to Russia and going here and going there. I was like I have to share this because the whole world needs to know. If everybody knew this, there's nobody who would neglect Shabbos if they knew what Shabbos really was. There's nobody who would say I don't care about kosher if they really knew what kosher does to their soul.
13:48
I tell my students that I'll never get a reward. I come up to, hopefully, the gates of heaven. They're like what did you do right in your life? And I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm right down the street from a McDonald's and I never ate McDonald's, right. I'll never get reward for that, and you probably won't either. Growing up in Lakewood it's just like I don't know about you, but I never had a desire to have McDonald's.
14:09 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Oh my gosh.
14:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
It never even occurred to me.
14:11 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Exact Marshall.
14:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And sitting here and that the challenge that they have every time they pass a Burger King or McDonald's or a Whataburger welcome to Texas, right, a Whataburger to them it's like it's the biggest challenge in the world not to go in and get one more, because this is what they grew up on. But I want to share with you an amazing story. I had once a student of mine who was at the time I think he was about 68 years old and he was sitting at my Shabbos table and my father said to him he says you know, you're learning with my son for many years. I've seen you here. Every time I come for Shabbos, You're here. He says what changed in your life? What changed You're learning for so many years? He says you know something? Nothing really changed.
14:58
But last week, for some reason, we have a tradition in our family every Saturday night we go to a specific restaurant that's a shellfish, a high-end shellfish restaurant. Last Saturday night, when we were waiting to be seated, I turned to my wife and I said you know, something doesn't feel right about this. And he said I learn with Rabbi Wolbe every week and I know this is just not consistent with what we're learning. And he says. I turned to my wife and I told her shellfish will never cross these lips, ever again, and to me that's like the greatest growth any Jew can take. You know, in Lakewood we see so many people who are just ordinary, amazing Jews, amazing, amazing Jews, committed to their Yiddishkeit, committed, they would give their right arm, they'd give their soul, they'd give everything they have to maintain their Yiddishkeit, to maintain their Judaism.
15:53
But it's very possible that there are only two categories of Jews, and I think this has been my mantra for years there's a growing Jew and there's a stagnant Jew. And I don't believe in reform, conservative, orthodox reconstructions. I don't believe in any of those. There's a growing Jew and a stagnant Jew, and you can find Jews from every spectrum who are growing Jews and every spectrum people who are stagnant Jews. And how many people do we know who grew up Orthodox, that are just stagnant? Nothing changed. From when they were eight years old to their 80 years old, nothing changed. And there are other Jews who make that step when they're 68 years old and say you know what? I grew up eating shellfish. I grew up doing this my entire life and now I'm making that change, and even though that change is not A to Z, it's A to B. It's one step in their growth and that's their transformation. So I don't know if that's consistent with your experience.
16:48 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Oh my gosh, whenever I would teach age classes, we would talk about the point of free choice Rabbi Dessler talks about in Strive for Truth. Right, ni kur ha-bechira, the point of free choice. We each have a different point of free choice and I give the same exact parable about the McDonald's that I get no reward, and a lot of the students, a lot of my friends, students, teachers because we're all learning from each other they would get tremendous reward every single morning when they wouldn't get an egg McMuffin, because I have never gotten reward for that. And, um, because we each are judged on our point of free choice, where that, where that friction is, where that battle is going on and and like that's, that's where it's at moving it, each and every person, every moment.
17:41
We get to choose, we get to move that point of free choice throughout our life and that's where we get the reward and that's where we decide our destiny. We decide our point of what kind of shows we watch. We get to decide what kind of language we use. We get to decide what kind of language we use. We get to decide how we treat other people. We get to decide, like your friend who, at 68, stopped eating shellfish. We get to decide every minute and make those choices, and that's where the greatness lies, and it reminds me of this story. I'm going to jump ahead to the Shabbat section. Is that okay, rabbi?
18:17 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Sure sure.
18:17 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Okay. So it reminds me of this section with Shabbos. Like I never struggled with Shabbos. I love Shabbos, I love bringing in Shabbos, I love sharing Shabbos with other people.
18:27
And my husband's sister made partner. She was like the first female her age to make partner at Goldman Sachs and she was this is a bunch of years ago already and she was throwing herself a partner party, so a big party in celebration of making partner at Goldman. It was on a Saturday night and we our four kids were small, so we made arrangements for all four kids to go to different friends, bought gifts, had a babysitter, sleep over Thursday night so that Friday morning we could catch our early morning flight and you know she could take them, she could get them off to school and have one less night that you were asking friends a favor, all the logistics that go into going away when you're young parents. And we get onto the plane and we're so excited we're going to spend Shabbos in New York and right after Shabbos we're going to go to the partner party.
19:18
And they start announcing like there's a delay. Okay, an hour delay, we'll still make it. Two-hour delay, five-hour delay. There was no question in our mind when they announced the five-hour delay, there was no question in our mind that we were not going to risk breaking Shabbos, for the party to a party like.
19:37
That's just not where our point of free choice was. We were not going to risk breaking Shabbos to go to a party. So we get off the plane, we call all the people and say that we'll have our own children for Shabbos and on the way home I was truly bummed, like I was really bummed, I was really really excited and I suddenly I had this moment. I was like I think this is the first time that I did something hard for Shabbos in my 30s.
20:07 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And we don't appreciate it. Growing up as a firm Jew, it never occurred to me in my life to flick on a light switch on Shabbos. Never, it just never. I never had like this temptation Like I just want to turn the light on Shabbos Never it just never. I never had like this temptation like I just want to turn the light on or look at my phone. It never occurred to me never.
20:24
And to my friends and students for them to think of, even, you know, parking the car around the block, you know, to have a little bit of a more respect for Shabbos. So they're not going to park right in front of shul or in front of my house, it's just in each person, at their step, taking their step, that is appropriate for their growth. Where they're at at the moment it's not. You know, Eish has this known thing the four misconceptions about Judaism, and the first one is that Jews believe that it's all or nothing. It's not all or nothing. Take your step, take your step, Take your step. So what would you say as a word for those who still live in Lakewood, who live their ordinary life you know, don't bother me, I'm not going to bother anyone else to get out of their comfort, to go out and inspire other Jews. What would your word of encouragement be to them?
21:17 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
inspire other Jews. What would your word of encouragement be to them? That's such a good question. I'm thinking. I'm thinking it wasn't on the list. I didn't ponder this yet. Maybe this will resonate. Okay, what if one of your kids were struggling? How would you want someone to greet them? What kind of warm smile, what kind of nonjudgmental attitude would you want someone to greet your struggling kid with? So that it would be this warm feeling for them that they would say, wow, if observant people are careful about their between man and God and that bubbles over into their love of their fellow Jew. Like I, want to do a little more, maybe.
22:15 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Right, 100%, no, no, I agree, agree with that and I think it's.
22:18 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
It's such a like if you can't relate to a stranger, you, if you, if you can't relate to the jew in louisville, kentucky, who is disconnected, think about how you would want someone to treat your kid if they were struggling and these are all hashem's children.
22:34 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
We're all hashem's children. We're all Hashem's children and we need to do everything we can. So it's like. The challenge is that it's not nearly as comfortable living in your community or my community here as it is living in Lakewood. I mean, Lakewood is known as the capital of materialism when it comes to Jewish lifestyle. You have every type of Jewish luxury possible. It really is an amazing thing.
23:06 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
But everything has its flip side.
23:08 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
That's true. The question is I mean, this is the challenge of the eternal challenge of life is the spiritual versus the materialism which one wins? And when you're living in such a place where it's so comfortable to live there, it's very difficult to get people or to encourage people to take a step out of it. And people come here to Houston to visit, so that we have two types of people. There are some people who say, forget it, this is like you guys are living in La La Land. And then there are other people who say this is the most refreshing place ever. I wish I can live here, I wish my wife would be okay, even thinking about coming for a Shabbos and checking out the city. So you have these different perspectives and Baruch Hashem, we have many, many families who have moved here and love it. We have many, many families who have moved here and love it, but it's not always the case. My perspective has always been that if I, when I started here in Houston in 2005, so we were the only organization in town that wasn't a shul, there were shuls and that's it, and torch and we in the process of starting a kolol, a full-time kolel, which today is the Lakewood Kolel. I had a meeting with Rabbi Aaron Cutler from Lakewood and I said to him I have a big complaint for you. My complaint is that you have 6,000 guys sitting in kolel in Lakewood. If you sent out 10 guys to every city in America, it'll change the world. It'll change the world. Just send 10 guys. They did that in Denver. It changed the entire Denver community. So, baruch Hashem, we have that here now in Houston. But send them everywhere, 10 guys, and the guys are just sitting in Lakewood. They can be such amazing assets in every community. Send them to Tampa, florida. Send them to Boca Raton Say I think they just started something in Boca. Send them to Boynton Beach. Send them to West Palm Beach. Go the entire coast all the way up. Send them to every city wherever there are Jews. Send out 10 guys to go learn a kolal. It will transform. They don't have to be outreach experts, they don't have to be proficient in language, in the art of persuasion, they don't have to do anything. Just sit and learn Torah. You'll change the world. And I think it's just an opportunity missed. And I would encourage my friends I do all the time go out and make an impact.
25:39
Like you said, a big fish in a small pond. That's what every Jew is In Houston. If you're at a minion, you count. In Lakewood maybe, maybe not, not likely right, they have another thousand people to fill your spot. And the same thing with your schools, your children. In schools, I mean, they have for every seat in a class they have 300 kids enrolled to fill that seat. You don't have that in Houston. In Houston, your child counts. In Missouri, your child counts. Is that not the case?
26:13 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
A hundred percent. But you know what, when I was in my 20s and 30s, I was all over that You're preaching to the choir. I was calm Anytime. A friend from Lakewood was frustrated that her child didn't get into school. I was like come here, we want your child in our school, we need your child. Everyone has to do what works for them and you also can't underestimate the power of living near your family 100%.
26:42
So every single person has to have their Das Torah, every couple has to talk it through and everyone you know I'm with you, I'm with you. I think people stretch and grow and I think I personally have gained, gained a lot, but every single family has to figure out what works for them and you can live. You can live in lakewood and drive to manalapan and have a partner in torah. You can live in lakewood and you can have guests and you know every single person. You can have guests for a cure of shabbaton.
27:17 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
You can live in Lakewood and just be a mensch and when you see people be kind and generous and friendly and you don't have to teach them anything. And I think also the fear is that people always ask me, like they're going to ask me a question I don't know how to answer.
27:33 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Yeah, I 100% agree that in the like 13 years of outreach, very rarely were there rough questions. And when there's a rough question, you just validate it. You just validate it. You just say, wow, that's a great question. Do you know who the greatest prophet was? You lead them to say Moses and Moshe. And then you say Moses had questions for God and even Moses couldn't understand everything.
28:00
like part of our being Jewish is accepting that we don't know everything we don't know everything, and it's like it's so rare that there's a rough question, so, like I would say, and it's okay if you don't know the answer, I would say 95% of it is inter-personal relationships being kind, making a Kedesh Hashem, being human being vulnerable. That's the majority of it.
28:27 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
There's a story that I share. This is a true story that happened to me. I was in Costco, my favorite store, and a guy walks over to me and he says to me you're Jewish, Can I touch your tzitzit?
28:39
wow so I said sure. So while he's holding my tzitzit, he's says to me do you realize your responsibility as being a jew? He says we, the nations of the world, look up to the jewish people. You need to be, you're God's chosen people. You need to be a good example for us because we look up to you. And I was like shocked, like this guy gave me the biggest uh Musser schmooze of my life, like is this the most unbelievable thing? And the truth is is that people look at us to be an example, to see what honesty in business means, to see what it means to be truthful in every word, to see what it means to be kind and compassionate and loving, to see what it means to be. You know, you look at the Chesed organizations in New York, new Jersey. They're second to none to none. There is no place on planet Earth. There's no. Let's start with Hatzalah. Right? We have now Hatzalah in Houston.
29:41 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Yeah, it's unbelievable.
29:42 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
There's no other community on planet Earth, aside for Orthodox Judaism, that has a Hatzalah. Hatzalah is a volunteer ambulance organization that, anytime anyone has an emergency anywhere on planet Earth, you can call Hatzalah and they'll be there to help you and it's all free, and they'll be there faster than your local fire department. They'll be there faster and it's all free. The same thing is with havera, which we also have now in houston.
30:08 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Right, you have we have havera manchester there you go.
30:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
So it's an unbelievable thing that any type of non-medical emergency, there's someone there to help. You have a snake in your house, you have a bird in your house, you have a car that doesn't start, you're out of gas, whatever any type of emergency that someone has that's non-medical they're there to help. And then you talk about renewal, which is for kidney transplant. Then you talk about all of these organizations like Chi Lifeline. It's the most unbelievable community that we're here to help each other and to assist and to provide guidance. If someone needs guidance for mental health, if someone needs guidance for marriage, if someone needs guidance, you have organizations that deal with every single one of these things. It's the most unbelievable thing that this is what the Jewish community is supposed to be about. This is what we're about. You don't find it in any other community on planet Earth. You won't find it anywhere else. Nothing like it.
31:05
And that's what we're proud of and that's what we need to be a shining light to the world for All right, so on to the next question. So Holocaust, holocaust happened 80 years ago. I have three grandparents who went through the camps, who went through the camps, who were through the ghettos, who were through all of the remarkable miracles that they experienced. Many lost. My grandparents lost the majority of their family. Do you have any family that has been through the Holocaust or saved from the Holocaust?
31:36 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
So all my mother's parents were, I think, second generation American and my father's parents were Hungarian. There's a legend in our family that my grandfather, aron Svi Avigdor Svi, means deer, and so in Yiddish that's Hirsch, so he went by Hirsch. Aron Svi Avigdor Svi means deer, and so in Yiddish that's Hersh, so he went by Hersh. There's a legend that he went to America. He was kind of like the black sheep of his family and his parents and his siblings didn't want to come. They said it was the Trefa Medina, the unkosher country. They were scared what would happen in America.
32:16
And he was in America and he heard what was going on in the Holocaust. This is the legend that he sent a fake wedding invitation that he was marrying. I think he either wrote Mary or Christina and I think 11 out of 12 of his siblings came running to save Herschel and he saved them from the holocaust, meaning they came wanting to make sure he didn't marry out of the faith and he saved them. There was a married brother with a child and I think they they perished in the holocaust.
32:49 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
So that's the legend in our family well, people try to do everything they can to get their family out. And people didn't realize that it was such a dire situation and where people were, you know, millions and millions of people were murdered. You started saying you're.
33:07 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Oh no, he had that personality like a very um street smart, savvy personality. My brother is named after him and he has that same personality. That that same personality.
33:19 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
So what do you think is the most important lesson for us to learn from the holocaust, where you have six million jews at least? At least you know he had 42 and a half thousand concentration camps in ghettos. I mean, you think of the, the, the state of humanity, where you had the germans were claiming to be the most civil, the most educated, and here they go and murder in mass every Jew they can find, with heartless murder. I mean, it's just unfathomable. How does humanity get to such a state and what do we do to prevent such a thing in the future? I'll tell you why I'm asking this. Okay, because I don't know. We don't have any answers. We may have thoughts and ideas, but you know, to me I think that it's critically important.
34:18
This Yom HaShoah was very different for me than all the previous ones. I'm 45 years old and I've lived through 45 Yom HaShoahs. But I was in Poland a few years ago and this Yom HaShoah I was giving a class about Yom HaShoah and I was talking about it and I got all the statistics together and everything and what we can learn from it, and I sat with my son he was 12 years old and we started looking through the pictures of Auschwitz and Birkenau. And we saw the rooms filled with shoes and I started crying Because here my son was very excited to get a new pair of shoes. I said look at all those shoes in that room. He talked about thousands and thousands of pairs of shoes. I said every one of those pairs of shoes. When those children got those shoes, they were so excited for their new shoes and their parents were so excited, like we all are. When we get that new pair of shoes or that new outfit, new outfit, whatever it is, we get so excited. I said those, those are those, that's our brothers and our sisters.
35:24
And they were murdered, they were taken and here are their shoes to show the world what's left. And I I would just I couldn't control. I was just like overwhelmed with emotion that an entire world was taken away from us, an entire world. Now the question as to why this happened. I think look at the results, look at what happened. As a result of the Holocaust, we have the most incredible growth of Torah in the world. There's never been a generation that has had this much Torah in the history of the Jewish people, like Lakewood, like Jerusalem. You go all over the world and wherever you go, in all corners of the world, there are people studying Torah, there are yeshivas packed with school children, and I think that it's just the most remarkable rebound ever, where the Jewish people were down to nothing. And look at us today. So if you have any thoughts, I'll be happy to hear about it.
36:26 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I don't know. I think it's just such a heated topic. It's hard to talk about the Holocaust without possibly saying something that could be triggering for a child or survivor who of course there was so much emotional, like trauma and that got passed on or just any time answering the why of something that's out of our league could just be so triggering.
37:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And it can minimize it.
37:01 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Right.
37:02 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
You know so.
37:03 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Right, I mean personally. I don't feel comfortable commenting other than for myself.
37:11 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
What do you want your children to know about the Holocaust?
37:14 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Yeah, I don't know that I've done a great job of it. What do you want your children to know about the Holocaust? Yeah, I don't know that I've done a great job of it. I don't know that I've done a great job about the Holocaust.
37:21 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
No, no, no.
37:22 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Talking about the Holocaust, but what I want them to know.
37:24 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
I know that I haven't done a good job about it, which is why I'm talking about it now. Right, right, right. That's exactly why I want to bring it as a topic of conversation. I think in our schools it sort of was pushed away and I had rabbi. I had rabbis in yeshiva that were survivors, or their parents were survivors, and no one really wanted to talk about it because they you don't want to traumatize the next generation. You don't want them to know my grandma.
37:46 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
You don't want it, you don't want their, their, their, their connection to be because of the holocaust. Don't do this. Your grandfather would roll over in his grave, meaning we're moving away from that guilt model, right? Right, so I totally understand. No, I think, for what I can tell myself is that resonates for me, and I can only share things that resonate for me is that, like you said about the shining of light and the Kiddush Hashem, we never were supposed to be huge in numbers.
38:21
We were supposed to be huge in impact. My mentor is. One of my mentors is Aliza Bulow. Do you know her?
38:26 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Sure.
38:27 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Okay. So Aliza says right. So Aliza says that she's from Wisconsin, so she has two cheese parables. When you make cheese you use rennet and you only need a tiny bit of rennet in the milk to make the cheese. She says the Jewish people are like rennet to the world.
38:45
We're supposed to change the world and be a light to the world, but we only need like we're never supposed to be huge or big, and so what we know is, if you think of the Jewish people, like a tree, right, the roots and the trunk are strong, and then there are branches. There are going to be branches and leaves that fall off, but that doesn't mean that the roots and the trunk aren't strong. So, as the Jewish nation, we're good. We have a promise from Hashem. We have a haftacha, a promise from Hashem. We're Hashem's chosen nation. We're here. We're here for good. We have a promise from Hashem. We don't have to worry. When we worked in outreach, a lot of times we were invited to these roundtable discussions from like Federation or like different organizations, and it was like let's talk about Jewish continuity right, it's a big buzz word, jewish continuity and my husband would always say I'm not going to these meetings, like I'm not going. He was like we don't have to worry about Jewish continuity, we have a promise from Hashem.
39:57 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
That's correct.
39:58 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
So, like if I want my kids to want to know one thing, it's like you could choose from back to the point of free choice. You could choose to move your point of free choice away and then maybe you're going to be a branch that God forbid falls off, or a leaf that falls off and dies, or could choose to be a healthy branch. It's up to you. We have a promise from hashem amistra hi do you want to be part of the healthy branches or do you want to be a branch that falls off? Right you, we get to choose. Now, that's but that that that doesn't go for the people in the in, in the holocaust. They didn't get to choose.
40:37
Well, I think they had Meaning like we can't say that they chose out. That would be a terrible thing to say.
40:41 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
That's correct, that's correct. So you know to me, like we know, that they're called the Kedoshim, the holy ones. They died because they were Jewish, which is the highest level a neshama can get to, right, you know, we a neshama can get to, we're all here to rectify our soul and to get our spirituality and holiness to a point of the greatest connection to Hashem. There's no greater connection to Hashem than being fully, fully committed to our Jewishness. And every Jew who died, who was murdered in the Holocaust, died because they were Jewish. And that's the sanctification of the soul to the highest level.
41:20
And in a way, we envy them, because who of us wouldn't want to be like that that we are totally, totally committed to Hashem in every way possible. It's a very challenging thing and I hope and pray that our, that our, our children don't forget, that we don't forget and that our children don't forget. The idea is not that we have a memorial day. That's not the purpose here. The purpose is to recognize with pride who we are and not to hide from it, and that when, when an opera guy who ran over to you in costco that's correct, it's.
41:59
You know he was.
42:00 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
He wasn't a jew, but he, but he sure had a vision and an understanding of what jewish proud jew looks like that he wanted to hold on to your tzitzit and he was giving you a pep talk it was quite an interesting scene, but yeah.
42:16
But back to the tree and the branches and Aliza's. Like you know and this is a message I would share to parents of children that are struggling, Of course it's not what you thought, it's not what you thought you would want, but we don't have to get hysterical. But we don't have to get hysterical. We don't have to feel hysterical. The jewish nation is going to be okay right, all right, I appreciate that.
42:44 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Thank you. Uh, about shabbos. We mentioned shabbos earlier. If you had an opportunity to share with our listeners here what is your joy for Shabbos? What is the greatest delight of Shabbos? You know, the Talmud already tells us that. Hashem tells Moshe I have the greatest gift in my treasury and it's Shabbos. I'm giving it to the Jewish people. Let them know. So we know it is, but everyone has a different thing about Shabbos that they relate to. What is that specialty for Shabbos in your life?
43:18 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I think when Shabbos comes, I immediately feel less anxious. We know, like six days a week, we're supposed to be creative. That's why we braid the challah in six strands. Right Braiding represents human beings' creative imprint on this world and we're supposed to do that. Judaism gives us that ratio. Six days a week lean in, try to make the world a better place. Shabbos, lean out and remember that it's all Hashem. We stop and we remember we are not in control. We go through these motions called hishtadlus, which means trying. None of us are on the level that we don't have to try to make a living to fix the world, but really it's, it's all hashem. And so when shabbos comes in, it's just like okay, like I can only sit in what I've prepared, um so six days a week.
44:16 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Hashem is giving us the opportunity to feel as if we're in control, and then the seventh day is for us to remember you're not in control. I've got this.
44:23 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Yeah, it's like a total hishtatlas is this exercise in trying, but like putting in our effort but still remembering that it's all Hashem, which is crazy if you think about it, like we're going through our whole life and it's all just. I say hashtag Hishadlis.
44:45 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
That's right.
44:46 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
It's a wild thing.
44:47 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
So what's your favorite part of Shabbos?
44:53 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Just not having that feeling of like I have to answer that email, I have to, I have to post that thing, I have to run one more errand. Um, just no, you don't have to do, you don't have to feel any of that. You're just enjoying your friends, your family, your connections, those deep connections.
45:18 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
What would your word of encouragement be to someone who's struggling with taking that step? What would you tell them? I really want to keep Shabbos. It's idealistic, it's really nice, I'm sure, but it's not for me. I live out in Kansas or wherever, and it's just Shabbos. I mean really, I'm going to stop close my business. I'm going to just stop doing what I'm doing. What say you?
45:48 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Let's see. Listen, it's controversial if you're supposed to talk about this or not, but there's different opinions. But I've chosen to share this with people because I think there's a lack of awareness about what proper burial is. So I've chosen to share that. I'm on the Chavar Kedisha and what's grounding for me about being on the Chavar Kedisha is that it's just this huge reminder that our bodies are a temporary house for our soul and that the shrouds we put people in have no pockets. And that's to symbolize that we can't take any materialism with us to the next world.
46:30
In Judaism, we believe in an afterlife. In Judaism, we believe in an afterlife. So this reminder of getting people ready for their Jewish burial, it's like you can't take any of the money with you. You can't take it with you. So it really. I mean, obviously we have to do hishtablus, we have to try, we have to try to support our families, but you can't take a penny with you. So you'll make more money on shabbat, okay, so you'll make more money on shabbat, and then you'll, after 120 years, you'll be in a in the same shrouds as, hopefully, in the same shrouds, and that's why I'm choosing to talk about this. If anyone can, can if anyone has the comfort level to talk about end of life and death. So many jews are unfortunately choosing cremation and it's it's something we need to start being more comfortable talking about death. Um. So yeah, like we spend so much time trying to make money, we can't take it with us to the next world and you know it's an amazing thing.
47:41 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
One of the most inspirational businesses in the world is B&H photos. B&h photos is an entire city block in New York city. It's owned by two Shoma Shabbos partners and the site is closed. Partners and the site is closed. You cannot purchase or check out from their website on shabbos. The store is closed on shabbos and we all know most people who own retail stores will tell you shabbos is the busiest day. That's when everyone's out of work and that's when people can go and shop and spend money and in in their commitment to Hashem and His Torah. Their site is shut. You can.
48:18
I tried. I tried it because I was here. I'm in here in Houston, so we're central time. Over there it's Eastern time, but when Shabbos kicks in in Eastern time, which is where they're located, you cannot check out of the site. It is an amazing, an amazing commitment and a devotion. Not only that, also all the holidays, so you have Rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur, sukkot, pesach and Shavuot. The site is shut and it's the largest camera, audio, photo, video store in the world and I don't think that it takes away from their business. I think, on the contrary, there are people who told me that they'll only buy there because they know that they're God-fearing Jews, and because they're God-fearing Jews, they trust them, and so it really is amazing that you know no business is too big to take a break. Hashem is bigger than all of us and he says listen, you work for six days. This is a day to rest and to give everything. Put everything in the hands of Hashem. Recognize that he's the one who gives us everything.
49:24 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Yeah, and everyone on their level.
49:28 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Like it says, Shabbos is the source of all blessing.
49:29 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Right. Who doesn't want blessing in their life? Who doesn't want blessing in their life? And, like on my own level, I struggle with time management and every Friday it's like an exercise and like how peacefully can we bring in Shabbat? How much honor can we give Shabbat? And it's it's only in our best interest. It's going to come back at us. It's the source of all blessing. It's going to make us more blessed.
49:55 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
So I just want to add something to your repertoire that if you say your time management, so I call it punctually challenged. Okay, so because I'm like the king of, uh, my students will laugh and they'll be like, yeah, we know.
50:11 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
It's not easy. I try to put 65 seconds in every minute so, but that's the reality of my husband's much better at time management and like he's like, just lean on me, I'll tell you it. Everything takes more time. Like everything, however long you think it's going to take, it takes. There's transitioning time that you're not accounting for that's right.
50:30 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Like I have a meeting at 10 o'clock, so I leave for the meeting at 10 o'clock, but it takes time to get there, so it's always that's the challenge, yeah, so.
50:40 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Working on our deficiencies.
50:42 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Life is a constant struggle.
50:43 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
That's for other cheese Marshall.
50:45 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Oh, that's.
50:45 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
That's Aliza's other Wisconsin cheese, marshall. That our souls have holes by design they go deficiencies, the rennet one. There we go, by design Ego deficiencies.
50:53 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
The rennet one. There we go Very good the.
50:54 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Jews are supposed to be small and the holes by design. If you get cheese that has a hole, you don't take it back to Costco and say this cheese has holes. Cheese is supposed to have holes and that's our souls. They have holes by design.
51:05 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Perfect, Perfect, Excellent. So there are many great things happening in the Jewish people, with the Jewish people today. I mean we spoke about a few of the chesed, the kindness organizations that we have that just are really amazing. When I lived in Israel there was a book about this big of all of the gemachs, all of the free loan opportunities that were available I mean there was to list them is just unbelievable.
51:34 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Chickpea gemach, you have a baby boy on Friday. Come get chickpeas, right.
51:39 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And there was cell phone loan gemachs. There were amulets for baby birth gemach. There was the bris Medicine, the medicine gemach, there was you name it reading glasses gemach. There were table and chair gemachs. There were Lost children, lost children, they were how do you call it? You know these boxes, a box gemach, so if someone was moving they can borrow boxes, they can bring it back it was just unbelievable dislocated elbow or a shoulder it really is.
52:07
It's amazing, but so there's so many great things going on with the Jewish people. What makes you most proud to be a Jew? When you walk around and you say I'm a proud Jew, what is that? What is? What does that encapsulate?
52:20 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Everything you said the chesed, the kindness, the, the how we help each other I mean, like there's nothing compares, like you said me, ka'am Chayisrael, who is like the Jewish nation? We just excel at that stuff. Who is like the Jewish nation? We just excel at that stuff. I think, recognizing that the Torah is good for us. Hashem created the Torah preceded creation. The rules, the boundaries they're good for us. Look what's going on around us my husband's a licensed marriage and family therapist. The gates that Hashem set up, that are in the Torah, the boundaries they're good for us. The Torah is good for us. The Torah gives us structure.
53:07 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
The Torah gives us. It's the manual for living.
53:09 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
It's good for us. You look, you walk around, I'm proud, I'm proud to All the contractors. We're fixing a house now. All the contractors know, like she doesn't shake your hand and you know, like explaining to them in our culture this, in our culture, that, like I'm so proud to have these things and to live a principled life that separates us and reminds us that we're holy, like you said, like the light onto the nations. You look at the royal family right, there were all these funny memes going around like the royal family, like is she a Hasidic girl from Muncie or is she a duchess? But you look at Kate Middleton and people are like, oh my gosh, look at the pressure. She has to look good right after a baby. This that, yeah, she has more privilege and she has more responsibility. And that's us. We're royals. We have more privilege and we have more responsibility and we have to.
54:06 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
That's right, there's nobody who showed up in a tank top to the coronation. Everyone was fully dressed, properly, with full sleeves, formal, and everyone was fully dressed properly with you know, full sleeves, formal.
54:19 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
And it's not formal, it's dignified, right, we are royalty.
54:21 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
We're all about dignity modesty is not.
54:23 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
When we say sneers, it doesn't necessarily mean modesty. It means what is dignified, what is appropriate for someone of my status and and we should be proud of that. We should be proud of being dignified and having that beautiful status of being the light unto the nations the torah gives us the guidelines of how to have a happy, fulfilled life.
54:47 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And when people move away from it, even in the smallest way it it starts small, but you know, a hundred miles away it becomes a very big separation and a big barrier. And 1,000 miles away it's even more. And the more we're able to have ourself devoted and committed to the word of Hashem, the better that will be for our children and our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. Today we are one generation away. Used to be three generations away from complete intermarriage. Today we are one generation away. It used to be three generations away from complete intermarriage. Today we're one generation away.
55:20
It's frightening, and I think that that's the biggest concern for our generation today, because if we're not fully prideful of our Judaism, why should our children continue to maintain it? There are a lot of exciting things out there that can engage our children. The most exciting thing is the life they live in their own home and when we're able to share that joy and that love for our Yiddish guide, for our Judaism, there's nothing more powerful than that. What is the most important thing for the Jewish people to know today?
55:54 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I'm really excited about this one. When I saw this one.
56:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
When I saw this one, I was looking over the questions on my flight. Okay, I think it's so. Talk to the camera. You're talking to all the people here Okay, and this is your state of the union. What is the most important thing for the Jewish people to know? Go?
56:08 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Okay, I think the most important thing for the Jewish people to know today is that Hashem loves you, not just thank you, hashem. Hashem loves you. One of my kids and a friend within I don't know 24 hours both texted me. Hashem hates me and I said it does feel that way, doesn't it? Sometimes it feels that way because we can't invalidate people's feelings, but what I wanted to say is Hashem loves you. Hashem loves you so much and what we are experiencing is our neshama, our soul, is at the gym.
56:45
Okay, I go to this amazing gym. I love my gym. It's so big and there's so many different parts of the gym. There's the yoga section and the Pilates section and the spin studio and the strength and the cardio, the room for cardio, the room for bar. Right, every single thing is a workout. They look so different. Right, the flow class looks so different than the spin class, but they're both a workout. They're both a workout. Everyone's getting a workout. It looks totally different than the spin class, but they're both a workout. They're both a workout. Everyone's getting a workout. It looks totally different.
57:20
We look around. We see people who have what seems like they have easier children, more money, better spouses, whatever stories, whatever narratives we tell ourselves about things we see around us, things we see on social media, things we see in shul, what it looks like people are doing, where they're eating, what they're doing where they're going, what kind of wedding they're making, what kind of party they're making. Whatever it is, whatever stories we're telling ourselves, every single neshama is at the gym getting a workout, because that's what we're here for and it just it looks very different. The person you know holding this yoga pose, that doesn't look as intense as the spin class, they're getting a workout. And the person just holding a little two-pound weight in the barre class doesn't look like a lot, but I'm telling you it's working their core and we just have to remember that Hashem put each and every single one of us in the right class at the right time and it might look different at different times of your life.
58:32
It might look like one era of your life you're in the spin class and the next era in your life it seems like you're in the yoga class and it looks different. It may feel different at different times, but we're all getting the neshamah workout that Hashem wants us to get and Hashem knows us best. He created us and it might not feel that way. You might feel like texting someone Hashem hates me that's really how it might feel. But if we can remind ourselves that Hashem loves us, if we can wake up and, no matter the obstacles we have to get through that day, if we can remind ourselves that Hashem loves us, it will change our perspective and it will be a paradigm shift for us and hopefully it can help us get through our days with more self-love and more acceptance, because Hashem is our Father in Heaven and he loves us.
59:34 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
You know, rabbi Brody was here last week and he said the exact same words. He says do you know that Hashem loves you? He says anybody here who would like, I will sign a document that says Hashem loves you. And one of the women came over to me after the whole program was over and she showed me her letter. She says, dear, her name is Anna.
59:56
Hashem loves you, signed Rabbi Laser Brody, and I thought he's like people sadly need convincing of this. But Hashem wouldn't put us into this world, the world would not exist at this moment with us in it, if we weren't crucial to be part of this world. And he repeated that again and again that people need to recognize and I think it's because of our media that people feel that they're not worthy or they're not essential, and that's not the case. You look in the Torah how every single person counts, every person means something, and if we're able to use the encouragement thank you so much for that to realize that we mean the world to Hashem, which is why we're here, and to always remember that Hashem loves us Incredible.
01:00:44 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
I'm speaking to myself because I'm still mourning that I don't do outreach Like my 40s is looking very different than my 30s, right? So I launched a new business and it's different. It's different. The muscle of being a businesswoman is different than being an outreach reputant. And I keep telling myself, if Hashem wanted you to be an outreach reputant right now, you'd be an outreach reputant. Right now, you're building a business and that is exactly what Hashem wants you to be doing Amazing. So I'm taking my love of people and my love of baking and I'm teaching people how to bake.
01:01:18 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Beautiful. So what are your coordinates? What are your, what's your website?
01:01:22 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
How can?
01:01:22 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
people follow you on Instagram, on Facebook.
01:01:24 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
It's called justbakeitorg and we provide online and in-person bread baking workshops. We have five workshops right now Challah, pretzel, challah, new York style bagels those are the savory ones and the sweets are babka, chocolate, babka and cinnamon buns, and we ship out kits. So bakers of all levels will be successful and that is what I am embracing right now is building this business. I get to come to fun places like houston. This community is beautiful, by the way. The energy at the mother daughter event was great and it was beautiful to see the tell me the name ireland minion yes, the ireland minion and um super fun.
01:02:14
I can come to your city and bake with you.
01:02:19 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And I should bless you with tremendous success and thank you for coming to visit Houston. And are you on Instagram?
01:02:25 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Yeah, Instagram is at Just Bake it Workshops and Facebook is Gitti Fredman, or Just Bake it Workshops.
01:02:33 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
And do you want to share your email?
01:02:35 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
Gitti at JustBakeitorg.
01:02:38 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
All right. There you have it, my dear friends. Thank you so much, gitti. Thank you so much for joining us, thanks for having me and have a safe trip back, and we look forward to seeing you back in Houston in regards to your husband.
01:02:48 - Mrs. Giti Fredman (Interviewee)
My sister's moving here in August.
01:02:49 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Interviewer)
Oh, very nice. Yes, All right, my dear friends, thank you and until next week. Have a fabulous week.
01:02:56 - Intro (Announcement)
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