From Boccaratown, Florida, this is Behind the Bima. On this episode, the rabbis are joined by Mitchell Silk,

former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for international markets, an expert in Chinese

will and finance, and the first class unit to hold such a position. Mitchell shares his journey

from years working in Asia to representing the United States on the global state, all while remaining

deeply committed to Torah life.

And he explains why some of his most meaningful diplomacy didn't happen across the conference table,

but around a dinner table. All this and more, Behind the Bima.

This season of Behind the Bima is sponsored by Julie Charleston and Darrell Benjamin,

in honor of their grandparents, Morton and Malvina Charleston,

and their children, Ruby and Macabi Benjamin.

Welcome back behind the Bima. Always a pleasure to be joined, my dear friend and colleague, my brother, Rabbi Philip Moskowitz, this is a great conversation today.

The Honorable Reb Meisha Mitchell Silk, I would say the most unusual person, the combination of the lives he leads.

I don't know that anyone has before.

Super excited to get to that. But before we do, Rabbi Moskowitz, I'm noticing you're wearing a very nice pair of shoes today. And it made me think... I was not expecting that.

No, you didn't see that coming. It made me think because it's been on the news recently how

President Trump, he got, I don't know, he always did this, but more recently,

he's very into giving out Flauchime dress shoes to people he likes. And then they feel

obligated or pressure to wear it, not always the right size for them. Media has been picking up

and zooming in and all that. But it made us both think about a good friend of ours, super generous, super kind. And he also has that similar hobby. He loves to get shoes for people he cares about. In fact, I remember the first time he did it, I think one of my children opened the door on a Sunday morning. They're like, Daddy, were you expecting a pair of shoes at the door? I said, oh, don't worry. I could guess who it's from,

but it's very generous to that person. And it's good for us because we're basically in the same shoes all week long. And you do need to upgrade. Shrine. All dress all the time. No question about it. You're a shoe shine person, right? You shine your shoes? I don't shine them that often. I do, occasionally.

Definitely after a trip to Israel. But I believe in it. I believe in a nice shine. I do. You know, there's no more, there used to be people at the airport. If you got there early enough, there was the shoe shine guy at the airport. That's a lost art. You don't find the shoe shine people anymore. You do not find the shoe shine people anymore. It was part of my child that my father had downstairs in the basement his desk drawer he had first the canister that you had to sure to get to like quick you get to pop it open exactly and then you had the brush that you would you know

now your father did it no i mean i must i must have seen him do it. And at some point I took over.

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