Findling Events

In my time of technology and ideas of finding ways to keep myself busy there is rarely a time for just, well me. I happened to click on the My Yahoo to look up a research idea and noticed that “Dead Poets Society” was on television. I never get to be a vegetable and this is no exception, instead I am sitting on a couch, with a laptop, watching this movie - writing to you. Does that make any sense? I literally have no ability to disconnect myself for pushing forward with the idea that I learned from a movie at the age of 13, capre diem. There is a man on the glowing tube who is a shadow of his former self, so young, so out of his element from what we truly know, Robin Williams. Most people know him as the “funny, sweaty, improv laden and crude comedian.” I knew him from “Live at the Met:”You try and do special things for your kid. I thought “I’ll take him to Disneyland. That’ll be fun.” Disneyland for a three year old… Mickey Mouse for a three year old… bullshit. Mickey Mouse to a three year old is a six foot fucking rat!

This is what made me laugh, then learning that I do not and will not stand by the ordinary. Morgan Freedman said a few years later “Get Busy Livin or Get Busy Dyin.” This all falls back into an idea I had almost twenty years ago - what makes this life worth anything is doing exactly the opposite of what people expect from you. I learned from Robin Williams, Mozart, Einstein, John Nash - people that at the time of their existence, those years ago and in the now people looked at them with wonder because they were different, they were genius - life exists for them to go beyond the normal realm of what anyone thought they were capable of contributing. I said to myself some years ago not to conform to what is expected from me, by society, my parents (that is a whole other ball game) and most of all myself.

Once in high school I noticed Thoreau, Whitman, Shakespeare - it was not just about poetry, stories - this was about the romance of life, sucking the marrow from life. You do not have to like his comedy, his acting - but by the time I reached senior year at Boston University I wrote 33 pages on this thespian. I learned that you can be funny, you can dress up as a Mrs. Doubtfire, but understand that he played a role like this because he understands that the funniest man comes from the most serious student of life. Friends envision me as the funny one sometimes, how can someone who constantly contemplates life, can’t find the ability to be a couch potato understands the comedy of life? The funniest aspect of modern society to me is the fact that millions of Americans are so naive and detached from reality that they find the most joy in watching American Idol (believe me I think that Simon is hilarious).

Look at a photo from a hundred years ago; try to find a picture of people, kids, and teenagers from 1906 - more than likely they are worm food today. What did they find joy in, Monday Night Football, reality TV, ESPN? I am not saying that cable TV is evil; I am never one to miss the Daily Show. But heading into my 28th year, I can’t help but see my friends who are mesmerized by an existence that is not their own. It has a new view, a different feel, the message is the same, don’t be resigned to lead a life of quiet desperation. Do I have your action plan? No, but most of my time, most of my interaction with people, young professionals consists of how to improve a life, their own life, the life of someone they might are “woooooing.”

Pretty easy to get some when you are making someone’s life easier isn’t it? No, I am not of this mind, but think about how many times people do things for something without anything. Do you think the NY Times has an opening for “Emperor of the World?” Doubt it. OK, let’s move on. I do not know if it is Reality TV or the internet, who knows what else it might be - but there are no more Shakespeare’s or Whitman’s, is there a need? Has humanity and society changed so much that the need for inspiration has been lost to technology? I am haunted by the very simple idea that Robin Williams looks like a baby compared to his current state. He found his “YALP” - he found his passion, his driven desire - what makes you want to get up everyday and want to say “I WILL DO THIS” - what drives your ability to keep breathing?

Will it ever be enough? When people enter my apartment, it obvious I have done some out of the ordinary activities. The flat looks like an art gallery, random objects placed at sequential order and books like “MOZART.” Did I read a 600 page book by the same name, yes? Did I learn something from the book? Yes, music breathes life. Listening to certain music, understanding how it was composed, why it was written, what the inspiration was for the composition. I also have to wonder if it makes me hypocritical to be writing this while sitting in front of a television inside, not outside making the most of something and having fun. Well, first it’s cold and second…..I just felt like writing.

In the world of Blackberry, Terrorism and changing world economies, just be mindful of time, what tomorrow may or may not bring. Give it a whirl; what do you have to lose? The message is still the same, since age of 13: push it, drive it, know what you want, fight for what you want, understand why you need something - ask constantly, question constantly and at the end of the day, find reality. It also just happened to take 15 years to determine HOW to do that….the answers are slowly becoming clear, the ideas are slowly taking shape and in the end my application for Emperor of the world will be submitted, though I am not sure who works in Human Resources.

Cheers,
Michael

This is the second part of a three part series……

I was overjoyed to hear the man I consider my rabbi, Rabbi Mark Wildes, will return to Warsaw with me. Last year provided a chance to bond as Jews, friends, and I was able to look at him almost with mentor eyes, understanding the full realm of the aspects of which history will circulate. So the question you have to ask yourself is this worth the investment? Can I guarantee you inner peace and the meaning of life, well, no – nothing is certain, but I can provide an outlet for the experience. If you live in New York and do not consider your life to be “busy,” then you are doing something wrong. There should never be a dull moment in the Big Apple. Nobody asked me to write to you today, but I do believe in returning the darkest place on earth to show you that while Club Med is great, I can offer you a lesson in humanity and the ability to meet incredible people that share same passion. Ten or twenty years from now you will be driven to share this experience with your children and grandchildren. Going to these locations on your own is only one portion of the experience, to go as a group is exponentially beneficial.

I want to conclude this letter with a short story. On May 5, 2005 I found myself standing alone in the largest death factory man has ever created. As a group we had left Birkenau after the March of the Living Ceremony and I was radioed we had a straggler and to go back inside. Walking past the dark and intimidating Polish guards and attack dogs I could not help but feel a sense of direct connection to these grounds. Entering into the ruins of the barracks that once stood and housed the Jewish nations I found no straggler, but found myself, alone, standing on a field, the sun setting over the once potent crematoriums. Then and there, in the three days I was in Poland I had not shed on tear, it is the consequence you have as a leader of a group trip. But the moment was not lost, in all sincerity I could hear the screams, and feel the voice of my grandfather crying out for help. I all but fell to my knees and overcome with anger. The rabbis of our generation will teach us tolerance; I find it comforting that I was in Atlanta, Georgia during Martin Luther King weekend in 2006. When Dr. King walked through Birmingham, he has many rabbis by his side to fight the good fight, in our way, in way of peace and truth. It was then and there on the fields of Birkenau that life took a great new shape. I can not change the past, I can see, feel, smell and hear it, but I can not change – I can get busy livin or get busy dyin. Your life as a member of the Jewish community of New York will continue to go on in a social and religious capacity, I hope. The only question is what will fulfill that possible void that need for reflection and completeness. There are options and choice, I do not know if Poland is the absolute, but it is an incredible start.

There is an existential proof that as a young Jew I can not escape, in the end why does an American Jew have a desire for self sustaining preservation? The need for nostalgia and emotional responses is not great. I am no appealing to your inner historical and development nerve. When I came back from Poland in 2005 I was a different person. There is a new sense of Judaism, friendship and understanding of humanity. If I had the ability I would be a financier and take every Jew and person regardless of religion, heritage, culture orientation – the example that the Nazi regime left behind has just as much to do with Israel, the Jewish state as does Darfour, and the current threat that Iran poses to the world. To think that the state of Iran does not pose a threat is pure stupidity. It is not far from my mind that in an Austrian prison sometime in the mid 20’s men laughed at an artist that wrote what at the time her considered an exposition on life, he titled it Mein Kampf.

Having the ability to be in Atlanta, Georgia on this one weekend is a license to admit I have a dream, as do you. It would seem that most city folk have this desire to live out their lives in just a few scenarios. There is the ability to have family and home. The craving of family and career, as well as the summer home in the Hamptons. The balance that we long for, work-life; life-work may truly never be fulfilled without a sense of country and home? Possibly, what will create a fulfilling life? Giving back to the community? My pain is my passion.

Martin Luther King knew what his pain was from the first day he was ordered not to do something. That became his passion. One day that the Jewish people, the nations of Africa, stand up against one another with open arms. There is a therapeutic quality, redeeming quality in going to Poland. I look at the journal I wrote when I was there over the 3 days in 2005 and realize that there was so much to explore about each other, the past, the future – what can one man do to change history, the world, the very fabric of time. That is what the Nazis did, that was their goal, to change the landscape of the human plane.

The “What If” scenarios are endless. The fact is that they succeeded in some realm. There is talk of getting to the “numbers” of the 6 million lost. I do not think this is about numbers anymore. We have to plan, think ahead about how we are going to direct those that are left and work on what we have, not push the numbers. There is an essence of life to be determined – how do you balance quantity if we can not produce the right environment for sustainable growth. This is a new time for our people, never before in the land that is rightly ours and at the same time has the ability and world stage to produce an entire new realm and dimension of the culture that has yet to exist.

Jews must return to the scene of the crime – humanity must not be of a constant deliberation with itself but understand how not to make the same mistakes again. Each of the players, America, Europe, Asia – even South America played a role in what took place during the war. The ability to move past this was will be crucial. Where was g-d, where was his presence felt on the towers fell, I saw him, her, it – in the smoke. In the blackness that was Wall Street that day. Humans are such interesting creatures in that are in the process of destroying everything that was given to us. From the beginning, from the outset of the ability to reason, this lead to jealousy, this led to competitive nature that we see today on a consistent manner turn into hate and the ability and desire to conquer what does not belong to one another.

This is the first part in a three part series….

How do I accurately address your fears, concerns or answer your questions you may or may not think of? One year ago I started to operationally and mentally prepare to go to Poland – and I am doing it again. This past weekend I found myself in a land just as foreign to New York City, Atlanta, Georgia. There is no place like Manhattan, for better or worse. As I spent the weekend with my niece, who is full of life, giggles and charm, I started to realize she has yet to fathom her past, her culture and her traditions.

The survivors of the Nazi extermination campaign dwindle each year, more and more. First hand accounts will turn to second and third, via educated tools and other media including my own photography. This is what my niece will have to learn from the Holocaust. Affiliated or not, observant or not, if you find your self curious, what exactly brought your grandparents to America, South America or even Israel, I want you to come to Poland with me this year.
There is the investment of time and money. You need to take time away from work, away from salary away from home. I am here to give you two reason to go beyond what my personal testimony. March of the Living 2005 participants, strangers to each other on day one, by the end there was an emotional bond and friendships created that we at Dor Chadash never anticipated. You maybe in your early 20’s, mid 30’s, regardless of your position in life I am to take a gamble and assume which is against my better operational instinct you are in a place in your life, like most of your peers, that life hold many options and possible directions.

There is a soul searchin, a need for self reflection and a times a life coach may not seem like such a bad idea. Come to Poland. I give you word, that marching from Auschwitz to Birkenau with 100 friends with the same consistent pressures will cry and scream and let you know that they are just as vulnerable, doubts of life will help guide you with the emotions that will open up, a plethora of tears, joy and mind altering experience. Man, woman or child, you will leaving knowing and having a whole new sense of redemption and direction. Each of us that went in 2005 had gone for a reason and came home a renewed sense of life, of purpose and with passion for what may lie next in our futures. To look for something, an emotion, to learn about the past and about who are as a Jewish nation, as a nation of humanity, Jewish, Buddhist, Catholic – no matter, humanity served a benchmark for an ultimate low in Eastern Europe during those years. What I am left with is 60 years in nothing more than a spec of time in history, there is nothing to say that I could not have been born to the Warsaw community only to be wiped from existence only because I am a Jew – having a Jewish identify was not a privilege in Europe then, it was a death sentence.
This letter is not meant to invoke fear or guilt into coming to Poland. It is meant to show you that as a Young Professional Jew, a member of the most vibrant Jewish community since the days of Warsaw, your life, soul and absolute direction could be altered by joining this trip. Even as Director of Operations to Dor Chadash, I have a financial and time commitment to the group. Each of us that are working to plan and execute the trip is nothing more than a volunteer. I hope to participate, photography, organize and inspire during my trip this year. That desire to teach and motivate young Jews is not about vacation, it is a lifetime experience that for more is a rush. The satisfaction to the soul, finding the ghetto of Warsaw, Mila 18, the bunkers of Auschwitz and the death chambers of Birkenau. Until part 2, if you want to know more, go here: http://www.dorchadashusa.org/event048.asp

The new year has come and gone. Those resolutions should be in full swing by now right? You’re off to the gym 3-4 times a week, sweating, driving at that almighty goal. The one thing I have learned about goals, is realistic. I can easily look back at a year ago and see what goals I had - well actually I can’t. But I can look at what has changed in the past year.

Simple things, I gained back part of the 46lbs I did lose in 2004-2005. I went to Poland, met Havalight, met the Mayor again, my niece was voted one of the cutest babies in the world by CNN and my mother moved to my new house in Mexico with her 2 dogs Jack and Jill. Oh and um: THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS WON THE SUPER BOWL.

If knew then what I know now, would I have done things differently? No. I live in New York, my sister in Atlanta, my mother goes between Maryland and Mexico and lastly my father the hold out in the ‘burgh among the ruins of steel mills in Pittsburgh. We didn’t want the Super Bowl for the fame and glory. We wanted to win the Super Bowl because the players on that team are an extension of those that live in Pittsburgh. It is after all a game, if the Steelers lost my life would go on just the same, but it adds a small piece of joy to know that the people I love the most, that city has a smile on their face for the next year. And that the men who throw a funny shaped ball around are driven by their happiness.

I’ve watched my niece. She has gone from this mold of nothing to a walking and babbling brook of creativity. So much so she was recently featured on the Anderson Cooper show as the representation of cuteness for a baby. When I have the chance to visit Atlanta and see her I have these constant thoughts of her future. As I wonder what people thought when I was that size - what will he be? What will Eliie be? What will the next year or ten bring to this child, the world - only one way to find out. I think of taking her to Poland someday, to show her the pain and lesson humanity has learned. People constantly ask me, why you spend so much time doing “stuff” for the Jewish world. My pain is my passion. There is a need to ensure not just Jewish continuity, but push that golden rule of humanity: do on to other as you would have done on to you. What else do you need to know?

I found it almost poetic that the MVP of the Super Bowl was Hines Ward. This is a man that can be SLAMMED to ground by someone twice his size, get up, smile and go right back for the next play. When I say that the Pittsburgh Steelers are an extension of those that live, work and play there, it’s true. So how can this constant half glass full person be a PITTSBURGH STEELER? Well, the city has risen from the steel mill grind. It is a ton full of hope, clean air, medical companies and a growing young community. It is a city that is smiling again.

Never turn a cheek, never think the impossible is not possible, always wonder what if and go for that alternative method. You’ll know it is right, because you’ll be scared. You will be so afraid to take that leap because you’ll know that the only consequence is the ultimate failure - and you would have no where to go from there but up. My mother saw this in moving to Mexico with her dog Jack. I see this when my niece tries to get up and walk. And I damn well saw it in a group of football players who were the complete long shot to win the BIG game - they were scared and knew the only thing to lose was the sensation of not pushing it to the next level.

I’ve started to put this “blog” together because I want to continue to go into these concepts for myself as I build a new regime, a new company and a new way of thinking among my peers, my friends and colleagues. Give me thoughts, give me ideas, add to the mess, put in the mix - nothing can stop progress.

Me and my Ellie bellie

I wanted to tell you that there is an event I am pouring my heart and energy into. On March 12th there is an event personally meaningful to me, the One Family Fund Masquerade ball. I got home late tonight because I was at Manhatta, the venue for the One Family Fund Event. I love this place, GREAT space, you’ll love it - we are going to have great food, chocolate fondue, wine, games - it’s awesome. Go here, and I hope you’ll consider buying a VIP ticket, but just to be there would mean a lot to me: http://www.onefamilyfund.org/Default.aspx?tabid=698
Only 2 days left to get in at the early bird rate!

For years I have organized events for the Jewish community of New York. Rarely an event comes along so meaningful and personal to me, come, enjoy, you will have a blast, guaranteed.

Purim has arrived in style!

Open Premium Bar, Sushi, Full Meat Buffet, Dessert,

All this with an evening of entertainment, mystery, intrigue and lots

of fun…not to mention a great cause!

There is something for everyone!

Think about your VIP ticket (Kings Court VIP):

If you have any issues with the site, you can also call here: 1-866-9-1FAMILY, I know online is easier, but just in case (and they are really nice there