Yossi Farro | How He Convinced Jewish Billionaires to Put On Tefillin

Meaningful People - Meaningful Minute

Yossi Farro shares his journey of persistently inviting Jews to put on tefillin, starting in Crown Heights and expanding to include celebrities and billionaires. His mission blends faith, outreach, and bold action.

Key takeaways

• Persistence and confidence drive meaningful Jewish outreach.
• Tefillin wrapping is a powerful mitzvah that can transform lives.
• Every Jew, regardless of background, deserves the chance to connect.

Transcript preview

My name is Yasi Faro. I grew up in Crown Heights. I'm Kabbad. After my bar mitzow, every Friday I would go to Manhattan and we would go wrap to fill in with people. We'd ask a couple hundred people every couple of people. We'd ask a couple hundred people. A couple hundred people. Yeah, you hear a lot of no. If we asked three people to wrap, that was a good week. Lately, you're doing Jewish? To fill in them, and I'm, and I'm going to go in the film and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, very famous actor I'm like oh no way so I go wow this guy's pretty big so I shared it on my newly opened Instagram it went a little viral and within the Jewish community this became your thing when people think of yesy Faro they think that's filling every day I have the honor meeting like some of the coolest investors entrepreneurs influencers and celebrities like in the world do you think that there's ever a scenario that someone shouldn't have filling map on them? episode of ours. The algorithm will bring you the best episodes from us. You don't have to go searching for them. You don't say, oh I didn't see it, where is it? So go ahead, do yourself a favor, do us a favor, do us a favor. Helps us, helps our show as well. Hit that subscribe button, hit that follow button wherever you're watching or listening. Please do so. It is free. It helps us a ton. And it will bring the best episodes to your feed us a ton. And it will bring the best episodes, and it will not stop now. And it will bring the your phone, PZ deals, never ever pay full price again. If you are not bought in yet, it's time now that you do so. Down the PZ deals right now at your App Store, Google Play Store, that is the PZ deals, and any time you're about to make a purchase, search something on Amazon, go on the PZ deals app first and you'll save so much money, never ever pay full price again. This episode. Ah, Yussie Farrow, ah, Yussie Farrow. Okay, is someone is someone who, this is a long time coming from this is a long time coming in this is well overdue. wrap some of the most famous Jews in the world with Philen. And it doesn't matter what their political background is, does matter if they agree with him, disagree with him, like him, don't like him. Diocese, a Jew is a Jew and he's gonna wrap Philen on on them. And we get into so many different conversations in this episode. Should a Jew be rapings fill in anytime? What if they're not good? What if they're bad? What if I don't agree with them? What if they're doing something that? What if they're doing something that? What if they're doing Should I wrap with them then? Well, Yasi chimes in on all of that. You'll listen closely. Comment down below. I wonder what you think about this episode. This episode has made a possible, my friends at Kalahabad, the Pushka app, yes. A hundred and eleven days going strong, donating every single day. It would be a dollar or two guys. It would be five dollars. It's not about the Pushka. It's not about the amount. It's about the frequency app on your phone. It's not. It's about the Pusha. making giving stuff so easy so meaningful and of course think you should be Jay for sponsoring another episode of meaningful people making this possible for the masses thank you so much all you do for quality's role especially our meaningful minute family now enjoy this episode yes see Farrell what's up I don't know I don't even know where to start with you like who could we start from like the beginning your upbringing who are you where are you from yeah sure like just the origin story yeah I'll give it to you I grew up in Crown Heights, Chabad, when T Shiva there, went to Ali Taira. You want to start with like, there's a felon, right? How did that get started? Or even just like, I guess your family, they're a Schluchlichlichs or they're just... No, my family's non-schlachis, we grew up regular in Crown Heights. My father grew up on Schlughs. My grandfather was the first Chabad to Manchester in England in England. Oh, yeah. Oh, up there. Yeah, my father grew up on a bunch of us there and moved to America, I guess for like yes Shiva and lived there since. My mom's from Michigan and West Bloomfield, yeah, I grew up like near Chabad House within a Chabad house and and yeah, but yeah I grew up going to Alitara and when I was about like eight or nine years old on Fridays we end school early we ended like 12 o'clock and Chavez comes in let's say five, six, 8 p.m. So we're kind of like bored on Fridays. So I had a tutor named Danny Lulian who would tutor me during the week and I can't remember if he offered or my mom asked him hey could you take Yasi to go rap to fell in with people? He said sure and for next two three years every Friday I would go sometimes being a friend we'd go with him to the garment district in Manhattan and we would go rap to fell in people. To be honest it was more like not me like not me actually rap in rap in the felon on people. give everybody a brocha and I was shared d'Virea and like we found like some old videos of me saying a d'Viretire with them when I'm seven, eight, nine years old and then when I was... That's young to be rapping like yeah. I know I would say it was more observing the rapping. I know why I thought that you have to be by our midst so in order to do with a mitza. I'm like we're just watching the guy rap all there people. Like we're like we're just watching the guy rap all there go like develop our own thing. So we started going, we got on the subway and I think we asked someone on the train like where would the most Jews be? They told us Wall Street. So we went to the financial district, you went to Wall Street and we literally went like store at the store, office like literally we didn't even go to any offices. She went store at the store at the store and like asked everybody on the street and we had these two, three shoe shiner, one that we'd go and wrap to fill in with every single week week. And one. And one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and a luxury watch repair shop and we saw him as this is on the door so we walked in we asked him excuse me start you Jewish he said no like you sure I saw him is this on the wall he's like no I'm not Jewish it came with a store I'm like okay so I decided the guy is definitely Jewish let's come back again hopefully doesn't remember us so we came back the next week he's like you were I'm like excuse me say you're Jewish you're here last week I told you I told you I'm not Jewish and he's like please never come back again maybe 13 years old at the time, so like it was a little startling, yeah. A little startling for someone to tell you like, please leave my store and never come back again. But like whatever, moved on, give or take another like two or three months later and most of our Medsaiin would be like just literally asking people on the street, are you Jewish? We'd ask a couple hundred people every Friday. How a couple hundred people? Yeah, between the three of us, yeah, a couple hundred people. Every hour we were there for three hours. You're asking at least, you're at least 80, you're at least, you're at least, you're at least, If we got three people to wrap, that was a good week. That's a crazy. So one day we're asking someone, we go over to this guy, we like, excuse me, sorry, Jewish. He says, yeah, he's like, actually I wrapped to fill in every day. But today, I was in a rush to work and I didn't have the chance to wrap. I said, let's do it. He said, I don't want to do it outside outside. So, let's go somewhere inside. So, I'm like, this place, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm before and we're wrapping Tefillan him and I see the store owner and he sees me and his face turns a little red. We're wrapping the fellow with the father, we said, Shimah, and we took a picture and we're about, and we're taking off the Tefillan and the guy's like, you should wrap my son. Like he's your son, so the guy's like, yeah, my guy's told me he's not Jewish. So the guy's like, come back here next week, he's gonna wrap with you, years every week we'd wrap with the guy. Really the guy who told you to never come back. The guy they told me there, but how crazy the father said he put on every he puts on every day but the one day he was in a rush to work I bumped him. He doesn't even work in the finance, he works in a different part of and I had to but he happened to be in that part. It's like really I've got how brought it to him and now he puts it on almost every day. and we became really good friends. That's crazy. Those are their persistence you have to have in order. This is eight, nine years ago. Yeah, still going. And to hear the, like from a young age you're doing this, like to hear so many knows. Oh, a tonne. It doesn't phase you because I don't, it doesn't seem like it. Definitely not now. And even then, I guess I was so naive, so like, just like, just like, going, I didn't grow up in the Chabad world. What is about a, and I didn't, and I didn't, and I didn't, and that give them such insane confidence to go out and do and ask and be and like without inhibition you don't really see that mirrored in other circles so much. So we're instilled with the mission that we are representing the rebel. When we're going out on Messiah we're going there to represent the rebel worry we are like a thousand percent confident what we're doing that when we're going to rap to fill in we are going to fill in we are giving them the opportunity of a lifetime to go put on the phone to go put on the phone, So we're giving them the greatest product we're not charging them anything so like and every and we have that we have that kayak we have that like that mandate from the rabbit to go do it so that that it's instilled in us from a young age and it lasts a lifetime you think it's possible it would be pretty cool if non-chabad kids started doing with time also a hundred percent and there's possible there are many really it's I would say it's I would say over the last few years there's many like um I had I had the He started to fill in an app. He goes around wrapping to fill in with people I actually brought him to one of my events to go help me wrap to fill in with people and he came with a friend and then there's another guy That guy that just did the pod Yeah, it's heavy client He wraps to fill in with other people I encourage them to go every new anywhere you go Kibod or not if you own a your own pair of the fill in and keep it in the car I encourage with you never know the opportunity to give someone to put on the felon sometimes for the first time in their life. Yeah I was by my brother's house or a perm suit years ago and I don't know how this works it was pretty late but there was his neighbor had come for the perm suit a guy was not religious and I asked him I guess I came up I said you put on his felon today and he said no and I ran to my car I had my tool in my car and I came and I came and I came and I wrapped it wrapped it I wrapped it on him and he wrapped it on him and he told me he told me he told me he must be like he must be like 65 years since he was 13. So the next week I was home and I had someone come to my house to check out like you know to see a ever painting is some guy it looked Israeli to me I'm oh this guy's Jewish for sure so I was like I'm a high you know like because you probably know more than anyone else once you get one like oh you're good so I run upstairs get my to fill in and he's like by the door ready to leave he's giving me an estimate and I start going down the steps I start going down the steps I slipped down every single step and I slipped to me like startled and I'm like, do you want to put on his fill in? And he's like, no, and he ran out of that house so quick. And that was the last time I asked anybody, so I have to get off. Okay, so I'm challenging you that. I gotta ask somebody else. You have to send a picture or tag me on Instagram one time in the next 30 days that you're gonna wrap to fill it with someone that wouldn't have wrapped that day. You can't. Right. Wow, okay. Okay. The next 30 days. I don't want to give you a one day deadline I'll give you 30 days 30 days that's that's fair so this became like your thing you know a lot has changed over last eight years yeah when do you think like this this really became like when people think of yes see Faro they think what's filling okay so fast forward when I was 15 years I went to Israel for two years I always tell the rest of Shiva. I actually just saw him last week. I was telling him I'm his Taman Mova, his favorite student. But he definitely gave me the most attention out of anyone. The point is I realized that... The point is I realized that... The point is he got kicked out. Did I ever get kicked out? I did not, by a miracle. But I realized that for my good, his good, the less time I spent inside the usiva, the bigger chance I will not get kicked out. So I decided I'm going to walk the streets of the streets of the streets of the streets, the time I decided I'm really good at Tefillen. I would go when I was in LA to bring it a little full circle. Rabbi Danny Lullian, my tutor who took me when I was 8, 9, 10 years old on Tefillen is a Schliach in LA for Beverly Hills Public High School, which is one of the most Jewish schools in America. How many people are religious there though? In the school, maybe one out of a thousand. It's a public school. Right. But everyone's a public school. But everyone's. I would say 50, 50, 60% percent. not be religious. So Rabbi Danny called me up the second I got to LA. Said every Friday you're going to come to our high school and I would get a bunch of friends to come with me and we'd go and we'd wrap to fill in with probably 40 or 50 students every week and that's not including the 50 to 100 students we got to go