He was a Punk Rockstar. She was a Monk. Now They Have an Orthodox Family.

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Living Lchaim’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

I was in a band which was actually pretty popular at the time. Band was called Revel 8 and um we got picked up by a manager John Greenberg had Nickelback and other platinum bands and so we were really in a hot spot playing the hottest clubs and again I just felt like what does it all mean if you can't find happiness? >> I spent an entire month with a monk in the jungle in Thailand not speaking. No speaking, no reading, no writing, no listening to music. It was 18 hours a listening to music. It was 18 hours a day of meditation. And >> what was interesting is that I was like I was carrying a keeper at this point. I would like put it on. I had long dreadlocks. [music] I like stick it on top of the dreads. Um but then I would see somebody I knew like put it in my pocket cuz I was embarrassed. And it amazed me cuz I was like so cool in California and then I felt like why am I so afraid of my identity? Like this is weird. >> They were each born Jewish. He didn't feel connected in his from home, so he went exploring elsewhere. She grew up secular but was desperate to find the telling my brother Ellie before uh as you guys walked in that I feel like this is seemingly maybe the most madeup story possible cuz it is so wild. So, I'm very excited. I am very excited. There's so much to cover here. Uh but let's start with you Rifan. you tell us about your childhood, where you grew up, what was your connection to Hashem at that point, if there was, and take it from there. >> Um, I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, went [clears throat] to the Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington.

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1. 0:00I was in a band which was actually pretty popular at the time. Band was called…
2. 6:12okay. I guess that is your life. That's Wow. and we're gonna get back to you…
3. 12:22looking to watch a movie but I just thought I would go in and see what…
4. 17:57>> he like wearing a talis and like had like a huge beard or >> he…
5. 24:09street and trails of um stray dogs would would be all around me. All I would…
6. 29:52stuff you can imagine the addictions and the and people punching each other and all this…
7. 36:00experience really depends on who you are dealing with. Some guys make it confusing. Numbers aren't…
8. 42:40the dance floor and this gentleman approached me. He had two bodyguards with him and uh…
9. 48:50very happy about that. Um, and uh, I just decided like, you know, I was really…
10. 54:32group of 10 Israelis. We would talk about spirituality and I would ask them questions and…

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