Kollel Brings Harary and Timely Inspiration

Traditionally, as a pre-High Holiday event started 23 years ago by CPA and community leader Adrian Grant, Atlanta Scholars Kollel (ASK) sponsored yet another inspiring high-profile speaker at The Sinclair on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

This year’s headliner was bestselling author and international speaker Charlie Harary who has previously spoken at various venues in Atlanta. Known for his emotional delivery, Harary barely paused for air for his time upon the stage as he unwound a tale with a beginning, middle, and evolving paced end, all of which he tied into positioning for the High Holidays.

In the pre-event hour, Grant said, “I’m so proud that this event brings together Jewish people from all walks of life and levels of observance. We cherish the tradition as a kickoff for the High Holidays.”

Elaine and Larry Benuck said that they had previously seen Harary and came specifically to hear him again.

After a Mexican-style buffet by A Kosher Touch Caterers (the Sinclair’s kosher option), Rabbi Doniel Pransky explained the uniqueness of Rosh Hashanah as the Days of Judgment for everyone, not just Jews.

“It’s an example of kindness that we are told in advance with time to prepare.”

Rabbi David Silverman, Kollel Dean, began with his appreciation for Adrian Grant and Ilene for her supporting role. Arlene Applerouth, who sponsored the event in memory of her late husband, Dr. Dan Applerouth, shared that he cared very deeply about Jewish causes and events, helping others through the practice of medicine, and his talented lighthearted parts about his singing voice and performing at an Atlanta Braves game.

Labor attorney Kenneth Winkler took the podium to introduce Harary, by saying, “Don’t let him convince you that he’s just a regular guy, he’s not.”

Harary prepared the audience to stick with his nontraditional presentation enveloped in a winding tale of a muti-generational business founded by humble and clever Ellis Island immigrants, who built a furniture empire from the ground up, turned it over to their son at 40, then all repeated for next gen. The dilemma comes when the third-generation grandson gets stuck in the 2007 financial crisis having to face bankruptcy, letting down employees, and thinking himself a failure.

Therein lays the charge, the emotion, the denouement, when he has an intervention, or at least an imaginary inspirational intervention, that turns everything around. Harary was so emotionally intense while describing this he almost fell off the stage and so noted it. The bottom line was that believing in someone is the “magic sauce,” and how our brains become negatively programmed “from mere life.”

He conjured up the image of a 3-year-old where “Sleep is his enemy. No one messes with him. He’s unstoppable: then as a teen, his mind tells him he’s ‘just not good enough.’ We become a fraction of ourselves with our brain’s schema filtering ‘relevant or dangerous.’”

Bringing this forward, Harary dissuades measuring material success to see “what’s inside … why we wrap straps (tefillin), G-d sees what’s inside (especially on Rosh Hashana). We don’t have a Judaism problem, we have a spirituality problem. The Torah is our code book. The Sabbath is a gift.”

Harary has a JD from Columbia Law School and is an investor and strategic adviser as the senior director of markets at RXR Realty, based in New York. His speeches focus on personal growth, business strategy and productivity. His weekly podcast is “The Charlie Harary Show” on the Blaze Radio Network. He also hosts “The Boardroom,” a weekly business-centered radio show and a podcast, “Unlocking Greatness,” where he interviews successful entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and change agents with perspectives on how they achieved success. He’s been featured in Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and TechRepublic. He is a professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University.