An excerpt from my speech: Some of you might be wondering how a regular person and an amateur blogger like me was able to convince a United States Senator to sit for an interview and participate in our All Stars video. To tell you the truth – I STILL wonder it myself at times! I had had in mind that I wanted to do a video with Senator Lieberman, but how exactly do you get a U.S. senator’s attention? I didn’t actually know, but, as it turned out, in February 2012, the Senator was being honored at a dinner where I was receiving a social media influencer award and my big plan was to arrive to the party early, wow the senator during the cocktail hour and get him to agree to participate. But as fate would have it, I got incredibly lost while using GPS! And by the time I got there, Senator Lieberman was going up on stage, giving a speech and he noted that he was leaving immediately afterwards. I turned to my husband and asked “does he mean IMMEDIATELY after this speech?” My husband said “let’s see if he sits down or walks towards the door.” The speech ended and sure enough Senator Lieberman headed towards the closest door, so I picked myself up and headed towards the door closest to me, trying to intercept him in the hall. But another woman got there first and intercepted my interception and I was like “lady, hurry up, there are YOUTUBE videos to talk about.” And then, there I was, giving Senator Lieberman an elevator pitch, literally, in front of an elevator as the doors were closing, “Hi Senator Lieberman, my name is Allison Josephs and I run a website called JITC which breaks down stereotypes about Orthodox Jews, we’d love for you to be in our upcoming video.” I handed him my card and he smiled and responded, “Sure, any time, call my office.” as the doors closed. Enthralled, I ran back to my husband and screamed “we got Lieberman!” He told me “any time, call my office.” My husband, ever the more in touch with reality side of our relationship informed me, “He says that to everyone – he was just being polite,” But sure enough, I called his office the next day, submitted a proposal and was told a few weeks later we had made it into the “yes pile!” There is a recipe for success that I’ve discovered, with some trial and error along the way: It’s equal parts audacity (some might say, ignoring the limits of what’s considered possible!), perseverance, and Hashem putting the pieces together that made this plan to land Senator Lieberman work and that explains how all of Jew in the City’s successes have come about. The Maccabees employed this formula, too. No sane individuals would ever believe that a small band of fighters could vanquish the collosal Greek army. But because they didn’t let reason stop them from fighting for what they believed in, never gave up hope, and, most importantly, had Hashem’s help – they did. Jew in the City’s mission is to re-brand Orthodox Jews and Judaism to the world, but no one in their right mind with no funding, no experience, and no connections would even attempt something so grandiose. And they certainly wouldn’t quite two jobs while their husband was still in law school to do it. And yet…somehow, here we are. We — our team of volunteers, our advisors, our sponsors, and our loyal followers — actually ARE reshaping society. Read more: jewinthecity/2013/12/orthodox-jewish-all-stars-party-recap/
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:44:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015