Episode 35: Inflating and Delighting 🎈 | With Ya'eli Goldstein, balloon artist and owner of Punch Balloon

00:00 Speaker 1 How did Yaeli find the personal mission that was exactly right for her, despite the bumps along the way? Come hear about faith, giving, and dedication through colorful balloons in this podcast with Yaeli Goldstein, a balloon artist and owner of Punch Balloon. This episode was sponsored by Esti Wasserman, owner of Wasserman Media, which produces films and promotes businesses on social media. If you have a business that needs promoting, or you need a film that will help move you forward, they’re the people to call. Intro, and let’s begin. How can we turn our lives into lives of purpose and shlichus? I’m Chani Moskowitz, a shlucha in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In this podcast, we’ll meet different women who have brought their sense of mission into a variety of fields. Through their stories, they’ll help each of us find and refine our own mission in this world. Because living the life we were created to live is the best thing there is. Shlichus as a Way of Life. We’re starting now. Hello, Yaeli Goldstein.

01:05 Speaker 2 Hello.

01:06 Speaker 1 She’s so young. We should also say your former last name, so people will recognize you.

01:10 Speaker 2 So, Shnelzon, or Sheinelzon.

01:13 Speaker 1 Whichever works.

01:14 Speaker 2 Exactly. Oh, do we say our age here?

01:17 Speaker 1 Oh, yes, why not?

01:18 Speaker 2 Okay, almost twenty-two. Not bad, baruch Hashem.

01:22 Speaker 1 That’s important for your story, to understand the time frame.

01:26 Speaker 2 Yes.

01:26 Speaker 1 All right, so who are you, Yaeli?

01:28 Speaker 2 Who am I? Wow. Um, first of all, a shlucha of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. I try to do what He commands us to do, what He wants. That comes first. And part of our mission is to make an effort ourselves. I also have a job and a life story. Um, so who am I? Should we start right at the beginning?

01:49 Speaker 1 Yes, let’s do it. How did you get to where you are? Wait, you know what? Maybe first tell us briefly what you do today, so that...

01:53 Speaker 2 Oh, that’s important.

01:54 Speaker 1 So it all comes together. Yes.

01:55 Speaker 2 Yes. So I’m a balloon artist. So...

01:58 Speaker 1 There’s a word for that.

01:59 Speaker 2 Yes, “balloon artist” is a very important term to me.

02:03 Speaker 1 You know, it’s one of those words you learn in language class.

02:05 Speaker 2 Right?

02:06 Speaker 1 Like, yes.

02:06 Speaker 2 The kind you have to look up on Google to find out what it means.

02:09 Speaker 1 Exactly, yes.

02:10 Speaker 2 Um, so what does a balloon artist do? Basically, I decorate events with balloons, or do anything to do with balloons. For instance, I do activities with them, which I do a whole lot of, like...

02:19 Speaker 1 Yes. Oh, wait, Yaeli was at our Shlomo’s first haircut, his chalakah, and wow, it was beautiful. Listen, that machine that inflates the balloons alone...

02:28 Speaker 2 Yes.

02:29 Speaker 1 That’s an attraction in itself. And then each child comes up and gets a balloon. It was...

02:34 Speaker 2 Yes.

02:34 Speaker 1 Just beautiful. And such energy. That’s when I knew I had to hear the story behind it all.

02:39 Speaker 2 Right, so I’m a balloon artist, and broadly speaking, I do... event decor, anything involving balloons.

02:44 Speaker 1 Is it a profession you study?

02:45 Speaker 2 You absolutely study it. And I can tell you, my husband can see the difference between someone who’s sloppy, someone who isn’t good, and someone who is. Absolutely. When someone’s good, you can see it in their work. That’s just how it is. And you’re still learning all the time. Just as you grow in any job, you keep growing in this one too, and I’m still learning constantly.

03:06 Speaker 1 Taking courses to improve your skills.

03:06 Speaker 2 Yes.

03:07 Speaker 1 Wow.

03:08 Speaker 2 Um, okay, so should we start right from childhood?

03:11 Speaker 1 Let’s go.

03:12 Speaker 2 So, I was a child with very severe ADHD. And I’m not complaining; I’m grateful for it every day, because without it I wouldn’t be where I am today. Um, I was a child the staff at my elementary school didn’t believe in. There were two teachers who truly were my angels at that time. They encouraged me and pushed me forward. They said, “Don’t pay attention to that one; don’t pay attention to... that senior staff member.” And there were teachers who would say things like... they told my mother, for example, “Listen, she isn’t studying enough. She needs more private lessons.” So what happened was that, in a six-day school week, on five days I’d finish at seven instead of two-thirty because I had private lessons. In short, I hated studying. Oh, and one little thing besides that: I had an art class, an extracurricular art class, one day a week. Um, I really, really loved it, and I think it gave me a bit of a release.

04:07 Speaker 1 A little island of security.

04:09 Speaker 2 Hm?

04:09 Speaker 1 Like an island where you felt safe, amid all the...

04:11 Speaker 2 Absolutely, yes, exactly. Um, and there was something else that gave me a real sense of release during childhood. Besides that, I used to volunteer with children with special needs. I still do.

04:24 Speaker 1 Wow. From what age?

04:25 Speaker 2 Yes. Um, sixth grade. Sixth grade, yes. Oh, it’s important to mention that the children were older than I was.

04:32 Speaker 1 Wow.

04:32 Speaker 2 And I was tiny, tiny, tiny. People would say, “Wow, how do you carry him?” And I’d be like, “I have no idea.” Um, it gave me such a release, such a sense of fulfillment. I’d come home exhausted, but thinking, wow, I did it. Someone smiled at me. Really. I’d truly given someone attention, and he really loved me, and he still recognizes me on the street to this day. Wow. Anyway, these were generally children who didn’t speak, so when they see me on the street, they start shrieking. Oh, so that was back in elementary school. Um, then, because of what had happened in elementary school... part of it was that the staff hadn’t encouraged me. So, um, I’ll put it gently: the seminaries didn’t want me. In other words, three weeks before the school year began, I had no seminary to go to, and it wasn’t my fault.

05:25 Speaker 1 How does that work? Hold on, I have to understand. Sorry. Because in Kfar Chabad, it works a little differently. You’re sort of part of a particular community, and the high school continues on from the elementary school. And it isn’t called a seminary; seminary is after twelfth grade.

05:38 Speaker 2 Right. So there’s... it is high school, but...

05:40 Speaker 1 Almost everyone gets accepted, except...

05:42 Speaker 2 So let’s sort this out. With Chassidim it’s very straightforward, because each group has its own schools, though they do have difficulties with that, which is very understandable. Chabad, Litvish, and Sephardic communities are each a little different. Um, I’m talking about the Litvish system right now. I won’t get into the Sephardic one, because that’s a whole subject of its own. In the Litvish system, you’re at one school, and you apply to... wherever you want, okay? And the school recommends two or three places.

06:05 Speaker 1 Okay, so there are certain specific options that everyone goes on to.

06:09 Speaker 2 More or less... what’s the word? According to their style. I mean, in Jerusalem there are lots and lots of different styles. In Modi’in Illit the options are more limited, yes, but every now and then there really are girls who go to Jerusalem.

06:20 Speaker 1 But do friends more or less go to the same place, or...?

06:22 Speaker 2 Yes, absolutely. So what happened with me was, um, there was a whole ordeal, the Ministry of Education got involved... It was really difficult. Um, in the end, my parents and I said very clearly: if they don’t want us, we don’t want them. And then, through hashgachah pratis, my mother’s boss heard about a seminary in Jerusalem. I won’t say its name, um, because of what happened later on. But the staff there are amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing. Um, she happened to hear about it and told me, “It’s worth looking into. Check it out.” So we went to look, and they accepted me after four hours. Um, it was very, very good for me. Very, very good. That place is amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing.

07:10 Speaker 1 I think that, honestly, apart from the practical issue of not being accepted to a school, it’s an awful feeling.

07:16 Speaker 2 An awful feeling.

07:17 Speaker 1 You’re not good enough, you’re not wanted, you’re not worthy. Like, why?

07:21 Speaker 2 And why? Because of grades? If—sorry, with all due respect—I’m strong spiritually. I don’t... How does it make sense not to accept me because I’m this or that, because I’m not as good at s-s-schoolwork? Seriously. Um, with Hashem’s help, with Hashem’s help, with Hashem’s help, I really hope for all of us that this is something that will improve. So, I started high school, and wow, how exciting. I had lots of worries, because it was in Jerusalem. I’m from the Modi’in Illit area, from a moshav called Matityahu, right next to Modi’in Illit and Chashmonaim. And what happened was that, um, I was actually on a different spiritual level from everyone else. I mean, a lot of them had smartphones behind their parents’ backs, and I didn’t. Um, lots of them did things that would never happen in my home, things that just weren’t part of our culture, because my home was more sheltered in that respect than the homes they came from. And what happened was that I experienced a kind of social exclusion. Um, it’s important to stress: it wasn’t a boycott; it was exclusion, where I was off to the side. It wasn’t by choice; that was just the situation. They wouldn’t invite me over for Shabbos, because I wouldn’t understand half of what was going on there, half the conversation. They’d be talking about some singer, and I’d have no idea who that was. Um, and baruch Hashem, after about a year and a half, one of the teachers—to whom I owe my life, and I’ll say her name too, Ayala Zelig—I really owe her my life, because she picked up on what was happening. She deserves so much credit. What did she do? She simply gave me all the attention in the world. Private lessons, which I also needed, of course, if you haven’t gathered that, while I was working toward my matriculation exams. Um, private lessons. So there were private lessons, and there were lessons for the

09:28 Speaker 2 soul. Times to talk. She encouraged me all the time. Um, she even suggested to the principal that we do different things I could be responsible for—ways for me to cope. The social exclusion basically ended around the end of tenth grade or during eleventh grade. It’s important to say that it was Ayala, this amazing teacher, who noticed it. By the way, I call her Ayala, not “my teacher,” because she’s really like a mother to me.

09:54 Speaker 3 You’re close.

09:55 Speaker 2 Yes. Um...

09:57 Speaker 3 What does it mean that it ended? Like, did they...

09:59 Speaker 2 They picked up on it and did something. There was a serious mess at the school spiritually, so they came in to [unclear]...

10:07 Speaker 3 A real root-canal treatment.

10:08 Speaker 2 Yes, a very serious root-canal treatment. Let’s just say the school today is excellent. Excellent. It’s genuinely a school that, if it keeps improving at this rate, I would happily send my daughters there, with Hashem’s help. It’s a school that has come a very, very long way. It made a real turnaround. Um, the exclusion basically ended around the end of tenth grade, and then we started eleventh. So, you know, there was still... there’s no getting around it; things had been that way. I was still less involved socially. But I do want to say that the girls who stayed in the class really tried to make things as good and as smooth as possible. And now I needed a seminary, as it’s called, not a high school—a seminary. Um, the problem was that, as you’ve gathered, my school was very, very open. I wanted to go somewhere with a stronger religious environment. That wasn’t exactly...

11:00 Speaker 3 Because you were coming from a more open institution, so...

11:02 Speaker 2 Yes.

11:02 Speaker 3 So you weren’t—you weren’t a good fit.

11:03 Speaker 2 And understandably so. That’s perfectly fair; they don’t want to have a negative influence on the girls there, right?

11:08 Speaker 3 Right.

11:08 Speaker 2 So I went for career guidance to find out what suited me. And the woman there said something I really liked: “You’re very artistic. You need to do something connected to art. I think you should go,” she told me, “to Afik Seminary.” Um, because, basically, if it suits you and lets you use your talent—even if you want to put a printer on the wall, go ahead. Why not? That’s really what it’s like. Um, anyway, I went there, and I really, really, really wanted to get in, because I knew this was... I truly wanted...

11:41 Speaker 3 What is this Afik Seminary?

11:42 Speaker 2 Afik has a year of vocational studies, and it also has religious studies, which are the most important part, as well as the subjects you study to...

11:53 Speaker 3 So you’re also in a supportive, nurturing environment.

11:56 Speaker 2 A Torah environment, and at the same time...

11:57 Speaker 3 You come out with a skill.

11:59 Speaker 2 Exactly. So I went into the seminary, sat down, and I was shaking all over. I knew it was either this place or nothing. Really. And through hashgachah pratis—though I didn’t know it at the time—the principal... Um, for anyone who doesn’t know the Schnelson family, let’s pause for a second: it’s a family in Bnei Brak that everyone and their wife knows.

12:25 Speaker 3 Okay.

12:25 Speaker 2 You know, Schnelson. “Oh, yes, yes, your grandmother,” and so on, from the Chazon Ish community. Really. It’s a family where everyone’s related, everyone’s connected. It doesn’t matter whether they’re first cousins, second cousins or third cousins—we know them all. Anyway, she asked me, “What’s your family name?” I told her, “Schnelson.” We started talking, and somehow I even began to tear up a little. As soon as I did, she said, “Wait, wait. Is your family Shainelson or Schnelson?” I said, “Depends who you ask.”

12:53 Speaker 3 In your case.

12:53 Speaker 2 Yes. So she said, “Wait, Shainelson from the Chazon Ish community?” I said, um, “Yes, my grandfather, my father—yes.” She said, “Okay, good,” and we talked a little more. Then she asked me about my grandmother. Anyway, the interview ended. I felt very, very... I felt like she’d put me on the spot. So I waited a day, two days, and then they called and told me I’d been accepted. I couldn’t believe it. I said, “What did you say?” It was the vice principal calling. “What did you say?” I asked again. She said... I said, “Hashem.” The moment I heard, I hung up the phone, put on a song of psalms, you know, and started skipping all around the house.

13:32 Speaker 3 Wow.

13:32 Speaker 2 Really, really, really, really. I was walking around with those psalms playing, thinking, “No way! Wow, I got in!”

13:37 Speaker 3 Listen, I’m happy for you, but it’s a little hard to hear if it really came down to your family name.

13:42 Speaker 2 Right. So what happened was—

13:44 Speaker 3 Wow.

13:44 Speaker 2 So it was connected to my family name, but in practice, because of the place I’d come from, um, there were lots of comments at first. At some point I decided that I wanted to finish seminary on a good note: no comments, and without feeling like people were looking at me. Now I’ll tell you something that’s still a guiding principle for me. I have this saying—people know it; it’s even on my status, and it’s what my family is built on: giving compliments, giving compliments, giving compliments costs nothing. So why not? Why not give a compliment? I decided to make it my project to compliment the administration. I’d say, “Wow, the principal got involved in the program, and you got involved—wow, it’s beautiful how it turned out,” and so on. Good, baruch Hashem. But let’s go back a moment. As you know, there are tracks—there’s a track you choose, which is basically the profession you’ll study.

14:36 Speaker 3 Yes.

14:37 Speaker 2 My track—um, a week before classes started, there weren’t enough girls enrolled. I started getting anxious, really anxious. What were we going to do? The track wasn’t going to open. What?

14:48 Speaker 3 Which track was it?

14:49 Speaker 2 It was, um, directing and production. That meant stage work—more like acting and set design. So what were we going to do? I was getting... I was anxious. I prayed, “Hashem, please, I’m begging You. After finally getting accepted, at least let this...” Well, it didn’t open. We asked a rav, and he said to choose the closest thing—the thing I could most imagine myself doing. That was event design, which is more about events. In event design there are flowers, graphics, photography—everything connected with an event. And there were balloons too. That’s important. Um, we started studying, and it was fine. Flowers were nice; okay, that was nice. I really loved photography. I should mention that I also invested in a very good, professional camera. Um, then there was a balloon class, and I said to my mother, “Mom, come on. I’m not going to that.”

15:43 Speaker 3 How is that—it really does sound—

15:43 Speaker 2 Like, come on, it sounds childish. “Mom, give me some balloons and I’ll make you something. You know, I’ll eat my corn if you want.” As it turned out, I couldn’t stand balloons. Um, I went to the first class and met the teacher. I owe her so, so, so, so much too. She truly is a woman with an enormous heart, Tzeli Flauper[?], um, and she still helps me today. It’s important to say that even today—

16:12 Speaker 3 Oh, wow, she’s really continued to guide you—

16:13 Speaker 2 She has, she has, she has. But it’s important to say that I work very, very, very hard. Very hard. I put my whole heart and soul into it, and that’s why she helps me too—because she sees I’m serious.

16:26 Speaker 3 Yes.

16:26 Speaker 2 And I walked into the first class and, as they say, I was hooked. So it was a class in the program I was studying.

16:34 Speaker 3 That’s funny. I’m actually curious what the first balloon class looked like. Like—

16:38 Speaker 2 So let me—

16:38 Speaker 3 “Girls, first let’s learn what a balloon is.”

16:41 Speaker 2 Laugh, but yes.

16:42 Speaker 3 Yeah. No, I’m laughing because I really don’t know the field up close. There are lots of fields you don’t know up close—

16:50 Speaker 2 Right.

16:50 Speaker 3 And suddenly, when you start learning, you realize, wait a second, there’s so much more here than we imagined.

16:55 Speaker 2 Right.

16:55 Speaker 3 Because you really do need to know what a balloon is and understand its physical properties.

16:58 Speaker 2 Yes. Before I got married, I used to work more during Chol Hamoed. Then, after I got married, I suddenly thought, wait, there’s flour in balloons. We need to find out whether we’re allowed to—whether it’s chametz. So it turns out—

17:13 Speaker 3 All the details—

17:13 Speaker 2 It turns out it’s probably forbidden. So I simply decided not to work during Chol Hamoed at all.

17:17 Speaker 3 That’s wild. Is it actually flour?

17:19 Speaker 2 Yes.

17:19 Speaker 3 Wow, that’s important to know.

17:20 Speaker 2 Right, but it’s not ch— It’s flour that isn’t fit for a dog to eat. There’s a whole discussion there.

17:26 Speaker 3 Depends whom you ask, as they say.

17:26 Speaker 2 Exactly. So I decided not to work on holidays in general. I don’t work on any Yom Tov. Not Chol Hamoed, and not... I mean, Chanukah, yes, but not Chol Hamoed. There’s no one I can talk to about it. Anyway, let’s go back a bit. I had decided to do something nice for everyone—for the staff and the principal and all that. I still got comments here and there, but I said, “Thank you very much, I understand the issue. Next time I won’t come with this, okay.” So the year ends, and the principal calls me in for a talk. My principal, Adina Shalom, by the way, passed away, I think, a little over a year ago. That really hurt me. I went to the funeral and cried so much. She was a truly larger-than-life woman. So she calls me in for a talk, and I go. My heart is pounding, and I hadn’t really had time to tell my friends. Then she says, “Yael, listen, the vice principal and I were thinking: we’ve had balloons at school a few times.” I should point out that I wasn’t doing them as part of the balloon class. I did them myself.

18:44 Speaker 3 What, for different events and things?

18:45 Speaker 2 I did them for the school on my own. They asked me. “Yael, we have an event. We want something beautiful with balloons.” A minister was coming, things like that. I would sit and sketch out what the hall would look like, with balloon chandeliers hanging from above and actual designs on the tables. Anyway, they said, “We thought perhaps you could stay for one year of Jewish studies free of charge, and you’d do our events.”

19:13 Speaker 3 Wow, you weren’t expecting that.

19:14 Speaker 2 No, I wasn’t. And just to give you an idea of the price, a year costs about twenty-five thousand shekels.

19:23 Speaker 3 Wow.

19:23 Speaker 2 Yes, just for the Jewish studies.

19:25 Speaker 3 Wow.

19:26 Speaker 2 Yeah, just a little something, on top of everything else. I said, “I’ll think about it and, with Hashem’s help, let you know in the next day or two.” The next day: “So, Yaeli, have you thought about it yet?”

19:38 Speaker 3 Wait, does that include room and board?

19:39 Speaker 2 No, it doesn’t include a place to stay. But you’re still learning from top-tier rabbis. I’m telling you, I’d be ready to go back there today.

19:45 Speaker 3 That’s amazing. Where is it in Israel? Just curious.

19:47 Speaker 2 Jerusalem.

19:49 Speaker 3 Ah.

19:50 Speaker 2 On Jaffa Street, right across from Bikur Cholim. Across from Bikur Cholim there’s that round building—that’s where it is.

19:56 Speaker 3 Okay.

19:57 Speaker 2 So I said I’d think about it and look into it. We asked a rabbi, and I also consulted my father. The decision was no. If they wanted me, they’d hire me at my full rate. And that was that. I finished seminary then. I should mention that even while I was at seminary, there was a sort of double standard. “Yaeli Shnel[?], I’m going out to events”—I was allowed to. But when other girls wanted to go out, the principal would call them over: “Where are you going?” “Principal, I have an event. I need to leave.” “All right, all right. You’re staying.”

20:29 Speaker 4 An event? You mean to work?

20:31 Speaker 2 Yes, to work. Really to work.

20:32 Speaker 4 So you’d already started working while you were studying.

20:34 Speaker 2 Yes. I came out of high school—out of seminary—with a business.

20:38 Speaker 4 Within a year.

20:38 Speaker 2 Within a year.

20:39 Speaker 4 Wow.

20:40 Speaker 2 Now, you asked what that first balloon class looked like. It’s actually really funny. She showed us how to inflate a balloon like the ones they sell you in a store for seven shekels. Then she made one with ribbons and something like petals underneath. And I was like, “Wow, that’s so pretty!” “Do you understand why this one costs seven shekels and that one costs fifteen? Because this one has beauty to it.” She explained it so clearly—I could see it with my own eyes. There was no missing it. We also learned all kinds of theories and practical things. For example, with a helium balloon, if there’s both air and helium inside, the balloon will most likely burst. All kinds of things you absolutely have to know. Otherwise, what you make will just burst, and you don’t want that happening to a customer. Anyway, I finished seminary with a profession in hand. I’d actually already started working. And among the customers I had while I was at seminary was this fast-food place—

21:47 Speaker 4 Like a cafeteria.

21:48 Speaker 2 It’s a meat place. Not exactly a cafeteria.

21:51 Speaker 4 Right.

21:52 Speaker 2 It’s called Zalman’s. They wanted something really beautiful for their store, so I asked them to send me their logo. I saw that it had an old man on it, and I said, “Okay, I’m going all out with this.” I made their logo as a figure the size of a person.

22:09 Speaker 4 During the year you started learning, right?

22:10 Speaker 2 While I was at seminary. I remember—it was a week before Pesach. So I still had about half a year left at seminary, and I was already working. That was one customer. Matrix Global was another. I had several customers while I was at seminary. Anyway, it was really nice to feel that I was already in the field and would leave with a business. But I want to emphasize again: I invested a tremendous amount—so, so much—to succeed like that.

22:39 Speaker 4 What does that mean? You had to practice, say—

22:41 Speaker 2 So—

22:42 Speaker 4 Making all sorts of things that you—

22:43 Speaker 2 Yes.

22:44 Speaker 4 “Go on, challenge me. Give me something. What do you want me to make for you? An old man? Let’s do it.”

22:48 Speaker 2 So—

22:49 Speaker 4 Because you really have to practice making all different kinds of things.

22:51 Speaker 2 Exactly. There’s no way around it: to know how to do something, you have to practice. It’s like high-tech. You can’t work in high-tech if you haven’t done projects first.

23:02 Speaker 4 Right, it’s very hands-on.

23:03 Speaker 2 Very. And balloons are even more hands-on because you make everything with your hands. I’ll give you an example. I have an event, okay? I know I’ll need to make crowns. There’s no way I’m showing up without trying to make ten new crowns at home first. No way.

23:17 Speaker 4 Wow.

23:18 Speaker 2 And as a rule, I practice twice a week. This week, for example, I saw a video and thought, “Wow, let’s try that. It’s cool.” So I practiced. I made one attempt and failed, another attempt and failed. Another attempt—I kept trying and trying, and eventually I succeeded. And speaking of trying, my father has a beautiful saying. I even have it on a necklace.

23:38 Speaker 4 Let me see.

23:40 Speaker 2 It goes like this: “We’re responsible for making the effort, not for achieving success.” What does that mean? Hashem wants us to make the effort. Success belongs to Him alone. But if He sees you trying and trying and trying, making the effort you’re supposed to make—not just, “Oh, let’s move the table.” Really doing it the right way—then eventually He gives you success. But the effort—

24:02 Speaker 4 Right.

24:03 Speaker 2 The effort is something we have to make. We can’t just sit and wait for Hashem.

24:05 Speaker 4 I think the effort itself is the success.

24:08 Speaker 2 Right.

24:09 Speaker 4 Because results aren’t—we don’t live in a world where everything is about results. We live in a world where so much is hidden. If we see results, wonderful. But success—how do I know I’ve succeeded? If I faced the challenge, if I pushed through, if I did everything I could and made every effort. Exactly.

24:26 Speaker 2 Right. And one more thing: what do you actually need to do to become a balloon artist? Someone asked me just yesterday, after Shabbos.

24:37 Speaker 4 I think girls are listening to you and thinking, “Hey, that sounds interesting.”

24:40 Speaker 2 Yes, questions and answers. So someone asked me—and I’ll read it because it’s really, I’ll give you the exact wording, it’s really beautiful: “I took a balloon course. I want to be like you. What do you recommend I do?” I answer her, “You’re making me blush,” and I continue: “Pray, believe, and practice. And volunteer too. That way you get practice and also have the merit of doing mitzvos.” It’s important to say that to this day, I volunteer for all kinds of organizations. And by the way, this is the place to say that I’ve worked with all the established organizations in Israel, either as a volunteer or for pay. Most of the paid work came precisely because they saw me volunteering. They said, “We want to hire you too.”

25:29 Speaker 4 That’s it. It opens doors.

25:30 Speaker 2 Absolutely. So I think—I used to donate a balloon design once a week. And even today, if I feel like making a figure, for example, I reach out. There’s an organization called Refuah VeSimchah. I message the director: “I have a figure. Do you need it?” If I want to try making something new, that’s what I do.

25:46 Speaker 4 I was just going to ask you. You said you practice—what do you do with everything you make while practicing?

25:52 Speaker 2 Right. So let’s start with this: I have a sweet little sister, Rivi, who’s four.

25:58 Speaker 4 Oh, okay. You have a regular customer.

26:00 Speaker 2 A regular customer? Her birthday was about two weeks ago. “Yaeli,” she says to me like she’s twenty, “Yaeli, I want unicorn balloons with flowers on them, and I want it to say Rivi, and I want lots of colors.”

26:13 Speaker 4 That’s it. She knows she can wish for anything.

26:15 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

26:15 Speaker 4 She has a sister who’ll make her wishes come true.

26:17 Speaker 2 So I say that volunteering is absolutely the way to do it. It really is about giving and receiving. I give, but honestly, I get so much back. I have more examples. Sometimes I give things to clients. Let me give you an example: a client wants something—and this happens a lot with volunteer projects. The child wants Fireman Sam balloons. Now, an ordinary child in cheder doesn’t know who that is. But I get a chance to make him. I don’t know what Fireman Sam is, but here’s an opportunity to make Fireman Sam. And after I post it on my status, people say, “Wow, I want balloons too! I want some too!” You see? It gives me an opportunity.

26:51 Speaker 4 Yes, to expand what you offer.

26:56 Speaker 2 Exactly.

26:56 Speaker 4 It’s amazing that you went to learn one thing and came away with something else.

26:58 Speaker 2 Right. It’s truly hashgachah pratis. Really.

27:01 Speaker 4 Something you didn’t even know existed, in a way.

27:03 Speaker 2 This whole story is full of hashgachah pratis. I’m telling you, sometimes I look at parts of my life from the outside and think, wow, what incredible hashgachah pratis. [unclear] And what if it hadn’t opened? And if [unclear] had opened, where would I be today? Really, really. And speaking of volunteering, I have a beautiful story. There was a girl. Someone sent me a link to an organization that throws birthday parties for children. Now, I don’t generally donate to just anyone. It matters to me that it be a real donation, something meaningful. Not just for every child who has a fever, with all due respect.

27:46 Speaker 4 Right. We had a fever at our house last week, for example.

27:49 Speaker 2 Right.

27:50 Speaker 4 Wait, that’s it? What is it?

27:50 Speaker 2 Balloons. So it’s usually for children who are seriously ill. Children who...

27:53 Speaker 4 Of course. And in general, you have to remember that a person is working.

27:56 Speaker 2 Right.

27:56 Speaker 4 It’s their livelihood.

27:57 Speaker 2 Right, and you don’t want to take advantage of that.

27:58 Speaker 4 There are cases where you can ask someone to volunteer; at worst, they’ll say no. But not exactly like that.

28:04 Speaker 2 Right, so sometimes I find myself...

28:06 Speaker 4 Not to go around asking for handouts.

28:07 Speaker 2 Exactly. Well put. So, a really beautiful story.

28:10 Speaker 4 Wait, what is this organization? Which children does it throw birthday parties for?

28:12 Speaker 2 Sick children. Anyway, when I looked into this particular case, a friend happened to call me. She said, “Yael, listen, there’s a girl who’s sick.” I said, “Listen, what do you mean, sick?” “She has a tumor in her brainstem.” Oh. Okay. A nine-year-old girl. I thought, a nine-year-old girl, and she’s asking for balloons. I told them, “No problem. Just tell me what she means by balloons. What does she want?” She wanted a balloon figure of a girl. I said, “No problem. Thank you so much for the project.” I hadn’t made a figure in a while, either. I said, “Come on, let’s do it—”

28:39 Speaker 4 She gave you a challenge.

28:41 Speaker 2 Yes. Anyway, I made her something really beautiful. I also made nine helium balloons and all that. And I made sure to bring them to her. Usually I try to deliver them too, so they don’t have to deal with that.

28:49 Speaker 4 Wow, all the way.

28:50 Speaker 2 Yes, absolutely. I like it to be just as if they’d ordered it.

28:54 Speaker 4 Yes.

28:55 Speaker 2 Not so they feel like someone is doing them a favor. I want them to receive it just as they would if they’d placed an order. I brought the balloons, and that was that. I didn’t see her. I never saw her. Two weeks later, while I was volunteering on Shabbos with children with special needs, someone said to me, “Do you know that girl you made the balloons for passed away?” I was like, “What? Hashem...” I immediately said a psalm of thanks to Hashem. “Hashem, thank You so much for giving me that privilege.” Because I thought, thank goodness I did it. How awful it would have been if I hadn’t. I would have thought, “Wow, you had [unclear]. How long would it have taken you? How much would it have cost you?”

29:28 Speaker 4 Oh, how painful.

29:29 Speaker 2 Yes, but I thought, here’s a privilege I have, so much...

29:32 Speaker 4 To bring a little happiness.

29:33 Speaker 2 Yes, to really make someone happy. Something very beautiful happened. I have a ribbon that says “Yaeli Goldstein” on it—I put one on every design. It’s a kind of satin ribbon, part of my branding. A few weeks ago I made some balloons, and a woman called me. “Hello, is this Yaeli?” I said, “Who were you looking for?” “The balloon lady. I was at an event this week, and I just wanted to know: did you make the balloons for that boy?” I said, “Yes. Why?” “Listen, I’m the mother of the boy you donated them to, and I want you to know you made his week. He keeps saying that no other child in his class has ever had a life-size balloon figure on a stand like that. He felt like the king of the class. As far as they’re concerned, he has such cool parents—and none of the other children know it was a donation.” He’s an orphan, by the way. Sometimes you can really change how a child feels. I truly have such a shlichus to bring happiness. Really, really. I don’t know—it’s a fun profession because it’s a happy one.

30:33 Speaker 4 Yes. Is it hard?

30:35 Speaker 2 Um, what do you mean—

30:37 Speaker 4 When you go to an event, for example, are you on your feet for hours? Is it a specific kind of thing, or—

30:41 Speaker 2 So—

30:42 Speaker 4 It’s just hard to tell from the outside.

30:44 Speaker 2 Yes, that’s true. There are very, very big events. For example, I did an event for the councils at Chafetz Chaim. I worked all night. My husband helped me too, which is important to mention. Everything of mine is his too, really.

31:00 Speaker 4 So you do preparations, um—

31:01 Speaker 2 It depends. There’s printing, for example, of [unclear] and other things. But generally, it’s usually six hours of work on my feet, plus some preparation beforehand. I go to buy the supplies, because it’s important to me that they’re in exactly the colors the client wants and that, G-d forbid, there are no mishaps. Not on my watch.

31:18 Speaker 4 Wait, how does that work? Do you go to a balloon store, or where?

31:20 Speaker 2 Right. There are balloon suppliers, and there are balloon stores too. I get VIP service in some respects, because I don’t just buy one pack—I buy from them regularly. I can usually return things too, which they don’t let other customers do. And all kinds of other things. For example, when new products come out, they offer them only to their VIP customers. If there are new colors, they’ll say, “Yaeli, I got thirty bags. Do you want me to put some aside for you?” “Sure, put them aside.”

31:46 Speaker 4 Wow, it really is a world of its own.

31:48 Speaker 2 Yes. Actually, another lovely story happened to me. One of my suppliers is in Modi’in. A new product came in, something called platforms. She said to me, “Yael, listen, it comes in pink, [unclear], and in a sort of white color.” I said, “Okay.” Then she told me, “There aren’t any.” Fine. My husband and I started driving home. Halfway there, she called: “Yael, listen, I found one for you. I don’t know how this white one got in here, but there’s one white one. Come back and get it.” So there you go: Hashem takes care of you. What you want, what’s meant for you, you’ll get. Even if they don’t have it, it’ll be there. You just have to ask. Really.

32:21 Speaker 4 It just appeared like that.

32:22 Speaker 2 Yes, exactly.

32:23 Speaker 4 Wow.

32:24 Speaker 2 And something else that’s important to add: when you’re very, very successful, there will be people around you who are jealous. There’s nothing you can do about that.

32:38 Speaker 4 It’s part of the world.

32:38 Speaker 2 Right. And boruch Hashem for them, by the way, because you learn—you teach yourself to surround yourself with people who are supportive and giving. Really.

32:48 Speaker 4 Because when people suddenly say... Sorry, I’ll tell you why. Do you have the energy for something a little deep?

32:54 Speaker 2 Yes.

32:55 Speaker 4 There’s an outer sense of self-worth and an inner sense of self-worth. Everyone wants to feel their own value, but there are two ways to do that. With an outer sense of self-worth, I want to recognize my own value, but I’m constantly measuring myself against others.

33:10 Speaker 2 Comparing myself, basically.

33:11 Speaker 4 Yes. Which means that if someone else succeeds, I feel threatened.

33:17 Speaker 2 Exactly.

33:17 Speaker 4 So I’ll raise my own sense of worth by putting other people down. I’ll be cynical; I won’t be happy for other people who—

33:25 Speaker 2 Or colleagues.

33:25 Speaker 4 Someone will say, “Oh, what’s with her? Who does she think she is? She’s just Yaeli. What’s she suddenly doing, designing events?” And then there’s inner self-worth—now, everyone can be in either place. It’s not that there are two kinds of people. It’s also—basically—

33:42 Speaker 2 It can be, like—

33:43 Speaker 4 Exactly.

33:43 Speaker 2 Oh, a person can be both. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. It just depends on the person.

33:46 Speaker 4 Yes, and an inner sense of self-worth means being as honest and genuine as I can be. Looking inside myself and seeing the good things Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave me, and knowing I have a shlichus to carry out with them in this world. And if I want to carry out my shlichus, I need to—

34:02 Speaker 2 Put them on the shelf.

34:03 Speaker 4 Clear away all the background noise.

34:05 Speaker 2 And move forward.

34:06 Speaker 4 Yes, move forward and notice who the people are who support me and are happy for me, the people at my side. As for everyone else, forget it. I hope they do the work on themselves so they can reach that place too, where they see their own true worth.

34:18 Speaker 2 Right.

34:19 Speaker 4 And don’t need to put others down in order to succeed. It’s just so obvious and so painful.

34:26 Speaker 2 Right.

34:27 Speaker 4 And really, to succeed, you have to be aware of it.

34:31 Speaker 2 Aware of it—and more than that, I think. If there are things you can do that will make you feel good when they see them, do them. That’s fine.

34:39 Speaker 4 Exactly.

34:39 Speaker 2 Absolutely fine. It’s perfectly okay.

34:41 Speaker 4 Exactly.

34:41 Speaker 2 And more than that—I can say this for certain, and I’m probably not mature enough yet to get past it. There are people who see my status, and it feels good. It really does. It’s like, years ago you put me down, or you... Well, look. You said I’d turn out a certain way? Now you see? There you go. Not that—I might want to prove something to them, maybe. But I’m doing it my way. I’m not putting them down.

35:08 Speaker 4 Yes.

35:08 Speaker 2 I’m not putting them down.

35:09 Speaker 4 I think you’ll even reach a point where you won’t care what they think, and then you’ll be able to let go of it completely.

35:14 Speaker 2 Slowly, slowly, slowly, it’s—

35:16 Speaker 4 Yes.

35:16 Speaker 2 Happening. And there’s no getting around it; you have to do the work. We’re human.

35:19 Speaker 4 It’s an ongoing process.

35:20 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Yes. And I’ll tell you, part of becoming self-employed and working this way meant actually ending friendships. Yes. There’s no getting around it. And I won’t tell you it didn’t hurt. “What a snob.” Yeah.

35:36 Speaker 4 Yes.

35:37 Speaker 2 So yes, I’m a snob, right. I don’t want to take your hurtful comments. I don’t. I don’t want to, so I need to keep my distance. There’s no other way.

35:43 Speaker 4 Right.

35:43 Speaker 2 And would I tell you I enjoyed it? No. It hurt, but there’s no getting around it. It’s a painful break.

35:48 Speaker 4 There’s no choice if, if—

35:50 Speaker 2 Right.

35:51 Speaker 4 If we aren’t connected to ourselves and we’re busy trying to please people because of what they might say about us, then it’s a shame. No one will carry out their shlichus.

35:57 Speaker 2 Right. And once again, here’s the phrase: We have to make the effort. That’s our part.

36:01 Speaker 4 Exactly.

36:01 Speaker 2 And Hashem brings the success.

36:03 Speaker 4 I was just about to ask you for tips for someone who really has something she wants to break through with. And you’ve already given one tip: keep your supportive friends close and don’t pay attention to the background noise that weakens you.

36:18 Speaker 2 Right.

36:19 Speaker 4 So that’s one tip already. Give us a few more.

36:21 Speaker 2 So here’s a really good general tip I have: be happy for others. I said that already, but I’ll take it a step further. I have colleagues, okay, who are very successful. Really. Some are better than me, truly, and they deserve it. They worked hard to get where they are. Absolutely. I send them clients, and I don’t take a commission for it, and I won’t, because one day I’ll receive something back; one day she’ll send a client my way.

36:53 Speaker 4 Part of the—

36:54 Speaker 2 Right, but the reality is that there are people who say, “No, I’m not sending them anyone. I don’t want to. No. They’re my clients.” Sweetheart, no, no, no. What’s meant to come to you will come to you. It makes no difference whether you work in high-tech or with balloons or as a teacher. Whatever amount of money Hakadosh Boruch Hu allots you, that’s what you’ll get. Even if you work in high-tech and earn a million shekels a month, okay? Suddenly Hashem could send, I don’t know, some kind of tumor, and the money’s gone.

37:19 Speaker 4 Ultimately, it’s about emunah. If you believe that what’s meant to come to you will come to you, then—

37:21 Speaker 2 Be happy for others. Give, genuinely, with all your heart. There’s just no reason to be stingy. None.

37:28 Speaker 4 There’s enough for everyone.

37:29 Speaker 2 Right, there really is enough for everyone. And beyond that, I think, on the spiritual side, a person works and sometimes has a fixed salary and all that. I believe in “Aser te’aser”—give a tenth so that you’ll become wealthy. Why? Imagine someone gets a cake for their birthday. They take out a slice, and then suddenly someone knocks on the door and brings them another cake. That’s exactly how it works. Aser te’aser. I could tell you things, really unbelievable stories that happened to me. One day I was finding it really hard to daven. Honestly, I’m not a Rebbetzin or anything. It was hard for me to daven. I said to Hashem, “Listen, I’m davening now. This is hard for me; it’s hard for me to daven. I want to see it. I want You to give me a sign that I really did what I needed to do.” A few minutes later, a woman came up to me: “Yaeli, listen, could you make a wall of...” Now, a balloon wall is—

38:24 Speaker 4 A big job.

38:25 Speaker 2 A big job. Yes, it’s a substantial amount of money. She came up to me and said, “What would you like to do?” I told her, “Listen, there’s a wall I’ve really, really wanted to make. Would you want that one? I mean, I could do something standard—everyone does the classic designs—but why don’t we do something people haven’t seen in a long time?” Anyway, she loved the idea. She went along with me, and we worked it all out. She took it. I have never, in my life, received so many compliments on a wall. Never. And there was Hashem showing me: You did what you needed to do. Believe me, that’s really how it is. Those are the biggest tips I can give: believe and daven. And speaking of all kinds of amazing stories of really sweet hashgachah pratis: one day I did a job—I live in a moshav—and the coordinator came over to me. “Yaeli, could you do some balloons? We have an activity and we want little balloons.” I told her, “No problem, gladly.” My mother came to the activity with my brothers. Suddenly my brother says to my mother, “Mom, look at those beautiful balloons. Let’s take a picture for Yaeli so she can see how beautiful they are.”

39:29 Speaker 4 He didn’t realize that—he didn’t see—

39:30 Speaker 2 He hadn’t seen me, and I thought, what sweet hashgachah pratis. It was like getting a little message from Hashem: Yes, my sister is talented.

39:38 Speaker 4 Really. Wow.

39:39 Speaker 2 Yes, and I’ll tell you about another beautiful case of hashgachah pratis I had—really, when someone wants something, they can succeed. Zichron Menachem is a very, very large organization, one that deals with matters related to the illness. They hold events and so on, but when they choose someone, they’re extremely selective. Anyway, there was going to be a Chanukah event, and I really wanted to do it for them. But there was no one to talk to. No one. So I said—

40:14 Speaker 4 You mean you offered your services.

40:15 Speaker 2 Offered? It’s more that they know about you—you make sure people around the organization know about you. You don’t want to push yourself on them. Not at all. You want them to want you of their own accord—

40:27 Speaker 4 Yes.

40:27 Speaker 2 But there wasn’t much I could... Anyway, about two weeks before Rosh Chodesh, um—

40:36 Speaker 4 Kislev.

40:37 Speaker 2 Kislev. And then it was like, “Listen, we’re doing an event together with Zichron Menachem. Our balloon artist can’t make it. We’d love it if you could fill in for him.” I was like, okay. I wrote up a quote. Five minutes later: “No problem, it’s booked. When are you coming?” And on and on. I’d never had anything like it. I was like, “W-wait a second. What’s going on? Is this really booked? Are you sure you’re not suddenly going to change your mind?” And then I got there, and it turned out we’re very good friends with [unclear]. She told me, “If you’re getting in there, you should know it means you’re very, very good. They don’t take just anyone.”

41:17 Speaker 4 How nice.

41:18 Speaker 2 And what happened? A colleague recommended me.

41:20 Speaker 4 Wow.

41:21 Speaker 2 So there you go. And boruch Hashem, they’ll take me again next year. I did my part—I made the effort. Really, it pays to speak well of others and give clients the best you can. Really.

41:29 Speaker 4 I think part of what we really need to remember is that we don’t know what possibilities are out there. That’s why emunah is so important, because not everything is in your control. You don’t know everything. Make room for Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

41:41 Speaker 2 Right.

41:42 Speaker 4 Let Him surprise you.

41:43 Speaker 2 Exactly. I think life really is like a movie. You have to make it beautiful and interesting, and play your part well.

41:48 Speaker 4 Yes. That’s something. What other kinds of balloon orders do you get? What kinds of events?

41:54 Speaker 2 Well—

41:54 Speaker 4 Do you get orders for surprises and things like that?

41:57 Speaker 2 Yes. There are the more surp— First of all, I have to tell you a crazy story. A daughter and her father both ordered the same design for each other. Okay, so what was I supposed to do?

42:10 Speaker 4 As a surprise.

42:11 Speaker 2 As a surprise. What? Wait a second. Someone’s playing a trick here. What would you—just think for a second, what—

42:16 Speaker 4 How did you know? How did you know it was—

42:17 Speaker 2 I know both of them. Both of them! And I was like, “O-okay, what do I do?” So what would you have done?

42:24 Speaker 4 I think I would’ve just—

42:25 Speaker 2 Put two in.

42:26 Speaker 4 Yes, maybe just play dumb and let them laugh about it.

42:29 Speaker 2 But no. I thought, this costs money.

42:31 Speaker 4 Oh, okay.

42:32 Speaker 2 It’s a significant amount, and with all due respect, I’m not...

42:36 Speaker 4 I get it.

42:36 Speaker 2 Yes. So what did I do? I made them the design. I wrote what they’d asked me to write, more or less, just worded it a little more nicely. And then I wrote, “Love you.” That way, each of them got to say they loved the other one. It was really sweet. People were joking about it all the way in America.

42:57 Speaker 4 That’s wild. What are the chances?

42:58 Speaker 2 Yes. Another kind of design I get asked to do... I do a lot of surprise room decorations and things like that—

43:10 Speaker 4 Oh.

43:10 Speaker 2 And for births, too. Oh, I have a lovely birth story.

43:12 Speaker 4 Births. Wow, listen, I’m clearly not keeping up with the trends in Israel.

43:16 Speaker 2 You’re hopeless, Chani.

43:18 Speaker 4 Seriously. What is this? I gave birth six months ago and nobody got me a room full of balloons.

43:22 Speaker 2 A room full of balloons, too. What happened was—oh, this is a crazy story.

43:26 Speaker 4 Wait, what do you mean? The mother comes home and there’s a room full of—

43:28 Speaker 2 Balloons.

43:29 Speaker 4 Oh, and there are gender reveals, boy or girl.

43:31 Speaker 2 Yes, that’s—

43:32 Speaker 4 You’ve done those too?

43:33 Speaker 2 Of course.

43:33 Speaker 4 That isn’t really a thing in our community.

43:35 Speaker 2 Yes. To be honest, it’s starting to catch on a little. Actually—

43:38 Speaker 4 Really?

43:38 Speaker 2 A lot of times they bring me a note. Tell me, what do you—

43:40 Speaker 4 Right. And you’re the only one who knows. The doctor writes it down, right?

43:43 Speaker 2 The doctor writes it down, but sometimes the husband knows and the wife doesn’t. There are all different kinds. There’s one with a box that you open: you see both pink and light blue, and then the helium balloons rise out of it. And there’s one you pop, and then you see confetti in the color.

43:56 Speaker 4 Oh my goodness.

43:56 Speaker 2 There are so many different things.

43:58 Speaker 4 Variations.

43:59 Speaker 2 The box, for example, was something I’d never seen before. I just said, come on, let’s do something new. Don’t just take a balloon.

44:04 Speaker 4 Wait a second. You open it and—

44:06 Speaker 2 There’s a box.

44:07 Speaker 4 There are light-blue and pink balloons.

44:09 Speaker 2 Wait, wait, let me explain. First of all, the whole display looks amazing. There’s—

44:12 Speaker 4 Wait, maybe we should back up for a second and explain what we’re talking about.

44:15 Speaker 2 Yes.

44:15 Speaker 4 People, there’s this new thing going around. I feel like we’ve reached the point where people don’t know what else to come up with. So—

44:22 Speaker 2 Yes, in the wider world—

44:23 Speaker 4 Who has time to think of these things? It came from the United States.

44:27 Speaker 2 They throw a whole party, with huge backdrop walls and fireworks in the color for the baby’s gender.

44:34 Speaker 4 Yes, like, let’s tell everyone whether we’re expecting a boy or a girl.

44:38 Speaker 2 Exactly. So they do that. They want to surprise everyone, so they make an event out of it. But in our community, of course, they don’t make an event. They do something intimate at home, and there’s nothing like—

44:49 Speaker 4 There’s a wedding every other day. Who has time for more events?

44:52 Speaker 2 Exactly. And tell me about it—with twelve people on one side of my family and fourteen on the other.

44:59 Speaker 4 Wow.

45:00 Speaker 2 Yes. And I haven’t even mentioned my husband’s side yet.

45:03 Speaker 4 Right.

45:04 Speaker 2 Yes.

45:04 Speaker 4 That’s already—

45:05 Speaker 2 So how does this thing actually work? You have either a balloon or a box. In the case of the customer who was willing to go along with my idea, it was a gray box with a question mark on it. At the top there’s a clear lid, and you can see light blue and pink. There’s a ribbon there. His wife had to open it, and whichever balloons rose up with the helium—

45:25 Speaker 4 That’s it.

45:25 Speaker 2 That’s the gender.

45:26 Speaker 4 Okay.

45:28 Speaker 2 And of course, on the outside there are light-blue, pink and silver balloons tied to it, so there’s no chance she’ll try to guess—

45:38 Speaker 4 Yes.

45:38 Speaker 2 Or that there’ll be some kind of [unclear].

45:40 Speaker 4 Wow, wow, wow.

45:41 Speaker 2 Yes.

45:42 Speaker 4 It’s a whole world.

45:43 Speaker 2 Yes.

45:43 Speaker 4 Every trend creates a whole source of income, I’m telling you.

45:45 Speaker 2 It really does. Actually, I had something else that was very, very interesting. There was one style that everyone suddenly wanted to order. For a few weeks, everyone wanted it. I’d made this really beautiful design: a bottle with something like “Mazel tov to our dear father” written on it, with numbers and balloons. Everyone wanted to order it. I had a stretch when I was making at least two of them every week. And when you’re making that many of one design, you want a little variety.

46:15 Speaker 4 Yes, exactly.

46:16 Speaker 2 Someone... What happened was, one woman said she really loved that bottle and wanted to surprise her mother, but she couldn’t get online. She had a kosher phone and no email. She saw my statuses through her mother’s phone. So how could she choose a design?

46:32 Speaker 4 Oh! What did you do?

46:33 Speaker 2 What do you do in a situation like that?

46:34 Speaker 4 Hmm. She’d have to come to you in person.

46:36 Speaker 2 No, no, no. She lived in Beit Shemesh. I told her, “Listen, I’ll be in Beit Shemesh this week. Why not do it for Shabbos?” She wanted it for Monday. I said, “It’s a shame to pay for delivery unnecessarily. I’ll make you—”

46:44 Speaker 4 Wait, she doesn’t have email?

46:45 Speaker 2 No email. I said, “Listen, I have a really good idea. When will you be home?” She said, “In an hour and a half.” I said, “No problem. I’ll post the pictures as a status that only your mother can see. I’ll number them one, two, three. Tell me which one you like.”

47:01 Speaker 4 Oh, and she took her mother’s phone right at that—

47:03 Speaker 2 No. Listen, what I mean is that none of my other viewers saw it. The people who follow me didn’t see it, because I posted it just for her. So I put up one picture like this, another like that, another like that, and one with the numbers one, two, three on it. Then I posted a status saying, “Wow, this is what happens when you send customers too many pictures—they end up on your status,” or something like that. So I have solutions. Anyway, about that wine-bottle design: I told her, “Don’t worry, your mother has already seen it because everyone’s been ordering it.” In the end, she chose something else. Now, speaking of births, let’s go back to that. I had a customer whose wife—he ordered balloons for his wife. A few minutes later, she was talking to him and apparently realized he’d ordered balloons, or something like that. So she asked him, “Tell me, did you order from Yaeli Goldstein?” He said no. This is how I understood it later, when she told me what had happened. Anyway, he canceled with another balloon artist because his wife only likes my balloons. Now, if you know the Third Neighborhood, you know it gets incredibly congested. It’s near the gate, near where you get off at the Jerusalem Municipality stop. It’s really difficult to get into; it’s a nightmare. Anyway, he wanted balloons in an hour and a half. “I ordered from someone else, but I need to cancel because my wife only wants balloons from you.” I said, “Okay.” So first I had to get a delivery person there quickly and prepare the balloons quickly, because it’s a drive from my house. That meant I had about twenty-five minutes to make what I wanted, at lightning speed. I made

48:41 Speaker 2 Well, I wanted something beautiful, something she hadn’t seen before. So I made this thing: a baby sitting inside a balloon, like a hot-air balloon.

48:48 Speaker 5 I remember.

48:49 Speaker 2 Something really, really sweet. Anyway, she loved it. After she got it, she said to me, “Wow, thank you so much,” and all that. “By the way, two weeks ago we were at a restaurant. I saw balloons, and I hadn’t seen your status, so I just ordered them.” I’d left the restaurant.

49:01 Speaker 5 There you go.

49:03 Speaker 2 And I was like, “Ohhh.”

49:04 Speaker 5 People connect with it.

49:05 Speaker 2 Yes, they do. People connect with it. I think they always do. They like the—well, they have a style they like. There’s balloon decor that’s more bold and over-the-top, and there’s decor that feels softer. I think mine is more on the delicate side.

49:18 Speaker 5 That’s your style.

49:19 Speaker 2 Yes, kind of delicate. I also combine balloons with flowers a lot.

49:22 Speaker 5 So people order surprises for all sorts of occasions, like when a shidduch is finalized, or...

49:27 Speaker 2 Yes.

49:28 Speaker 5 What else might there be? I mean, you have to bear in mind that you know these people.

49:31 Speaker 2 Yes. Right, so that’s important to mention.

49:34 Speaker 5 Even if, say, someone orders desserts from a woman for the evening they’re going to finalize a shidduch.

49:38 Speaker 2 Right. So...

49:39 Speaker 5 Sometimes you find things out ahead of time.

49:41 Speaker 2 Yes. Honestly, there have also been brissim I knew were coming for people who had waited more than seven years to have children. I knew there was going to be a bris.

49:47 Speaker 5 Wow, so they booked you in advance.

49:48 Speaker 2 They booked me in advance. So absolutely, as in any profession, confidentiality is a must.

49:53 Speaker 5 Yes.

49:54 Speaker 2 There’s no question. I could tell you all sorts of things, crazy stories that have happened to me. Friends of my mother’s have ordered from me, and I’ve wanted so badly to tell her. So badly! Something really juicy. But I know there’s no way I can. I mean...

50:09 Speaker 5 That’s really important.

50:10 Speaker 2 It’s a profession. It’s a profession, and you can’t break that confidentiality. There’s no such thing. It isn’t even in your vocabulary.

50:16 Speaker 5 Even if it’s just something ordinary. I mean...

50:18 Speaker 2 Yes, exactly.

50:18 Speaker 5 Not some big secret.

50:20 Speaker 2 Yes. I remember another story, too. I have lots of little stories like this. A husband arranged a surprise for his wife for their anniversary, and I know his wife. Now, if I saw her ten minutes earlier, I could have said, “Mazal tov! Mazal tov! I heard...” And my work is balloons, so...

50:45 Speaker 5 Especially when the people ordering are from your own community.

50:48 Speaker 2 Right.

50:49 Speaker 5 People who live in the same community and want to treat each other to something special.

50:53 Speaker 2 Right.

50:53 Speaker 5 You can’t go up to someone in the community, because they might be the person it’s for. So it’s really important to keep it confidential.

50:57 Speaker 2 Right.

50:58 Speaker 5 So that people still have that option of...

50:59 Speaker 2 Right. And by the way, that’s also why there are people I know who don’t order certain surprises from me. Some cases are harder for me to understand, I won’t lie, but others make more sense to me. For example, there’s this thing called a surprise balloon, and you put all sorts of things inside. It’s so cool! Then you pop it and see what’s inside. So...

51:20 Speaker 5 Wow, for example? How do you get things inside a balloon?

51:22 Speaker 2 Well, there’s a machine that stretches the opening of the balloon really wide.

51:25 Speaker 5 Wow, wow, wow.

51:26 Speaker 2 With suction. In principle, you can put anything inside that’s about the size of a plate—almost, a bit smaller than a soup plate.

51:34 Speaker 5 Wow, I’m stunned. Yes, listen.

51:36 Speaker 2 People have asked me about this a few times in videos—how it works. Once, they put perfumes inside. Oh, actually, there’s a really lovely story: a woman asked me to put a new phone inside for her mother, so her mother could message them. They live out of town, in Harish, so it’s a bit of a drive, and she wanted photos and all that. They bought her a phone so she could stay up to date. What else? I think...

52:05 Speaker 5 But doesn’t that weigh the balloon down? Or does it?

52:07 Speaker 2 No, it doesn’t. It’s not a helium balloon; it stands upside down.

52:10 Speaker 5 Oh.

52:10 Speaker 2 It’s really cute. There’s just...

52:13 Speaker 5 We’ll have to include a picture to show what you mean.

52:15 Speaker 2 Yes, we’ll include one, no problem. And in general, they can come follow me and see everything I make.

52:22 Speaker 5 Right, we’ll put in a link to your page. Listen, this is interesting. I didn’t know about all these things you’re telling me.

52:26 Speaker 2 Yes.

52:26 Speaker 5 I knew about classic balloon decor and things like that, but it’s a whole world.

52:32 Speaker 2 Yes. Speaking of a whole world, I’ve done balloons for every celebration of my own: the vort, the engagement, the wedding. At the wedding—speaking of the wedding, I have to tell you what I did. We had a logo that I designed. Why did I design it? Because I knew what I wanted to do with it, and I didn’t tell my husband. I made the logo as tall as a person, the logo made of—

52:56 Speaker 5 Balloons.

52:56 Speaker 2 Balloons, yes. You have to understand, there’s this special frame called a mosaic. I put the logo into it, and it stood there. The groom didn’t really notice it at first, but afterward it dawned on him: “Wait, you made those balloons? I didn’t order them from anyone.”

53:17 Speaker 5 That’s funny.

53:18 Speaker 2 Yes. So I made balloons for the vort, the engagement, the wedding, and Shabbos Sheva Brachos. Every...

53:23 Speaker 5 Wow, wow. It really accompanies you through life.

53:26 Speaker 2 Yes, it’s really cool. But I said, there’s no way...

53:28 Speaker 5 And it carries over to the kids, at every celebration.

53:30 Speaker 2 Listen, what can I do? I have to represent myself.

53:32 Speaker 5 Right. No, listen, when it’s something you love...

53:35 Speaker 2 Right. My siblings...

53:36 Speaker 5 Something you connect with, then...

53:36 Speaker 2 Right. My siblings benefit from it a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. For example, my brother had a Chanukah party or something like that, and there’s a Sefer Torah made of balloons. And I made a Lag BaOmer bonfire for their cheder, with lights that lit up and everything. For his birthday, I came to do an activity at his school.

53:53 Speaker 5 Yes.

53:53 Speaker 2 Yes.

53:54 Speaker 5 Can I ask you one more question, just because I’m curious? Do you feel a difference when someone books you for an event like a graduation party—something a bit more sacred? Or, to you, is every booking a shlichus, every booking just a booking? Or do you feel a difference? Because, I don’t know, it is different. It’s incredibly moving to decorate an event that’s connected to a mitzvah or a Torah institution, as opposed to, you know, what we were talking about with whether it’s a boy or a girl—more lighthearted things like that. On the other hand, that’s also about making someone happy.

54:28 Speaker 2 Wow, that’s a really, really good question. Honestly, a few years ago I made a backdrop, and I had to get up and speak. I actually cried from how moved I was, because that same week I’d made balloons for an eighteen-year-old boy’s siyum haShas.

54:42 Speaker 5 Wow. What do you make? What kind of balloons do you make for a siyum haShas?

54:45 Speaker 2 Listen, I’m almost tearing up now, too. A siyum haShas. An eighteen-year-old boy, okay? How do you even take that in? Take in something like that?

54:58 Speaker 5 Wow, I have chills.

54:59 Speaker 2 That’s Mishnah Berurah, okay? I’ve already done balloons for two siyumim haShas: one for a man of about sixty and one for an eighteen-year-old. It’s Torah.

55:07 Speaker 5 At what age did he start?

55:08 Speaker 2 What? Fourteen, I think.

55:10 Speaker 5 Wow.

55:11 Speaker 2 But I can tell you, this young man learned every day. I know him really well. Every day. He’s a talmid chacham, truly a great talmid chacham. And you wouldn’t know it from looking at him. You’d never think he’d finished Shas. To me, that’s powerful. And of course, the fact that my husband sits and learns is absolutely... By the way, there are no balloons at his events, because I want to make them as beautiful as possible. I don’t know, I’m a perfectionist. So the tables are set very beautifully, but there are no balloons. But absolutely, Torah is so moving. It’s one of those things that makes me say, “Hashem, thank You for giving me the privilege of doing this.” Truly. I was privileged, truly privileged, to make a young man happy like that.

55:58 Speaker 5 Who ordered the balloons for him?

55:59 Speaker 2 His parents.

56:01 Speaker 5 Wow.

56:01 Speaker 2 Yes. From what I understood, they did it together: he finished both the entire Shas and the Mishnah Berurah. Okay? And several people in the family finished the Mishnah Berurah. Okay? So I was at the event, and “Siyum HaShas and Mishnah Berurah” was written on the stands—you know, those columns. They had arranged this whole surprise party for him. So many people were invited. In short, they hid people upstairs and downstairs; it was incredible. They kept telling me, “Yaeli, put something there so he won’t see that it says they finished something.” And I was like, okay, sure. I kept going over there to cover it up. Then, at some point, his rabbi from cheder came in—who, I understood, had a lot to do with his achievement—and that’s when he realized it was for him. It was a wow event. I felt as though there were angels there, and if I didn’t daven, the opportunity would just be wasted. Really.

56:58 Speaker 5 That’s amazing. I think your whole profession really illustrates that Mishnah: “Everything Hakadosh Boruch Hu created in His world, He created only for His glory.” Even balloons.

57:07 Speaker 2 Right.

57:08 Speaker 5 Because what are they, in the end? Plastic, nylon, or—I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you exactly what they’re made of, but...

57:15 Speaker 2 Rubber.

57:16 Speaker 5 Rubber. Yes. I mean, what’s rubber? You could look at it and say, “Ugh, what do I have to do with that? It’s nothing; it’s utterly meaningless.” But the whole purpose of this world is to take the physical and transform it into something spiritual.

57:29 Speaker 2 Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

57:30 Speaker 5 To take balloons and make people happy, and bring them to someone who finished the entire Shas.

57:35 Speaker 2 Yes, and it’s not just some unimportant thing. It matters. It matters. It gives the event that wow factor.

57:41 Speaker 5 Yes.

57:41 Speaker 2 Yes, it’s important.

57:42 Speaker 5 It has an impact. Yes, there’s—we live in a world...

57:44 Speaker 2 I’m sure that now—

57:45 Speaker 5 This world, where things like that are part of the setting. It’s moving to take that physical stuff and elevate it to kedushah. Really elevate it to kedushah.

57:57 Speaker 2 I think it goes even further. I’m sure he’ll want to finish the Yerushalmi now too, because look—they threw him a party. Wow, it was such a big deal. And yes, it’s motivating. It really motivates you. And I’ll tell you something else—

58:09 Speaker 5 And it motivates others, too. Other people see the event and...

58:12 Speaker 2 Right. Though I know they kept it a big secret. They really didn’t want the rabbi to find out, from what I understood[?]. Um...

58:18 Speaker 5 Wait, when you prepare things for surprise events, you have to be careful not to post them beforehand.

58:23 Speaker 2 Nothing gets posted.

58:24 Speaker 5 You’re constantly keeping track of that.

58:26 Speaker 2 I’m constantly keeping track of it. And more than that—last week I went to decorate someone’s living room. I was waiting downstairs in the car, watching them leave so they could leave the house open for me. Okay, one of them came back to open the house for me because she had “accidentally forgotten something”—you know, to enter the code. You get it? Sometimes it’s like, just as I’m leaving, I happen to run into her mother. “Oh, hi, how are you?” And she says, “Oh, I’m just going over to the neighbors. How are you?” And all that. Yes, sweetheart, I’m about to invade your house.

58:54 Speaker 5 Exactly. Wow, how lovely to be part of surprises, of happy things.

58:59 Speaker 2 It’s so much fun. It really is.

59:01 Speaker 5 You’re involved in that all the time. Though I imagine it can be a little hard when you get involved in certain situations...

59:06 Speaker 2 I just remembered—I’ve done three events for siyumim on the entire Shas, and more.

59:10 Speaker 5 Wow.

59:11 Speaker 2 Yes.

59:12 Speaker 5 So what does the design look like? Are there books or something, or is it more elegant?

59:18 Speaker 2 Usually “Siyum HaShas” is written in big letters, with a design around it. It’s called an organic arrangement. Not so many books. The colors are more elegant.

59:25 Speaker 5 Not too flashy.

59:26 Speaker 2 Not at all.

59:27 Speaker 5 What was I going to say about the—oh, there’s also the part where you volunteer, or work with organizations that help sick children and so on. That does tug at your heart. But you still have the privilege of making them happy.

59:39 Speaker 2 I’d say it tugs at my heart, but I know it from other angles too. When I volunteered with children with special needs, one boy’s mother would always say to me, “Yaeli, you should know—you used to bring me gifts every Purim and Pesach.” So one year she brought me mishloach manos with a blanket and cookies. I actually have them right here—those butter cookies, and an XL drink. Now, think about it: what’s the connection? She wrote such a beautiful letter: “Thank you for staying awake for us and letting us sleep. Thanks to you, we really get a whole week.” You see that there’s something here that I’m doing, and it really brings joy. It does tug at the heart, yes, and people might say, “Wow, that’s so heartbreaking,” and all that. But I look at the satisfaction of doing it. How wonderful that I get to make a child happy. I’m not kidding: it can really help a child get through it. Imagine a child covered in needle marks, in isolation in the hospital, and suddenly he gets a huge balloon figure.

1:00:33 Speaker 6 Of course. Absolutely.

1:00:34 Speaker 2 How cool is that? A four-year-old plays with it and pops it, and then, say, a day or two later they put catheters in there for him, and the next day they put in more toys for him. Everyone has their own shlichus. But really, how wonderful that I was given a profession like this. Honestly, I don’t think it tugs at my heart in that way.

1:00:51 Speaker 6 I don’t think it’s only that you were given this profession. I think the profession was blessed to have you, because you always see it as a shlichus. Someone else could do exactly the same thing.

1:00:59 Speaker 2 Right.

1:00:59 Speaker 6 But she might get upset about everything that goes wrong, or fail to see the— You know, it’s like a teacher who teaches because the vacations are convenient and so on.

1:01:10 Speaker 2 Right.

1:01:10 Speaker 6 And then there’s the teacher who teaches—

1:01:11 Speaker 2 Out of a sense of shlichus.

1:01:12 Speaker 6 Out of a sense of shlichus.

1:01:12 Speaker 2 Like the teachers here, who call me even during vacation. And you—really.

1:01:16 Speaker 6 Absolutely. We started with teachers, and we’re ending with teachers.

1:01:19 Speaker 2 Yes. Oh, and one more sweet thing. Sometimes I say to my husband, “Look how much Hashem loves us. Look at all these little things Hashem does—what hashgachah pratis there was here, and how He sent us such a nice, encouraging customer.” Really.

1:01:34 Speaker 6 To notice that.

1:01:35 Speaker 2 Absolutely.

1:01:36 Speaker 6 Yaeli, thank you. Yaeli Goldstein Schneerson, you were fascinating. Thank you.

1:01:40 Speaker 2 Thank you, thank you.

1:01:41 Speaker 6 Thank you.