Yosef Finver: A Teen's Journey from Juvie and Back to Torah

Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer

Living Lchaim

Judaism, Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2026

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

He grew up in a frum home. But after his parents' divorce - things started going downhill. Yosef found himself abusing substances, drinking, and even robbery. He ended up in a juvenile detention center (prison for teens), a place he had to literally fight for his life. But while in prison, that's the exact place where he found Hashem at rock bottom. This is his story of teshuva.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Then there's this one night, I'm still in Ocean County.
0:02.0	I get a phone call from one of my brothers. He's struggling with something. And obviously I feel for him because he's my brother and I'm like, nothing I can do. I'm stuck in here. I feel so stuck, you know? I asked to lock down early, go back to my cell, and I just broke down. Like, I started crying. Like, I didn't know what to do I felt so stuck. And I was like, I shabin, please, like, just like, give me some sort of support. Like, if you could give his struggle to me instead, I'd prefer that. Like, please, like anything. I speak to my brother, I think two days later, I'm like, how you doing? I'm doing great, doing awesome.
0:39.3	Like, figured it out, everything's working out well.
0:41.3	And like, at that point in my mind, like something switched.
0:44.3	Something changed.
0:46.3	I'm like, this is the real deal.
0:48.3	This is where I belong.
0:49.3	What happens when a teenager leaves Judaism when he gets into the wrong gang
0:53.3	and finds himself having to
0:54.8	defend his life in prison. This episode with Yosef will show you how Chuvra returning is possible.
1:01.2	This episode is in loving memory of Miriam Sarabas Yaakov-Mosha and Shemindavid
1:04.9	Bhani Shlameh. Thank you to our wonderful sponsors, Bitbean, Will Salis, Keeping a Kosher
1:10.5	podcast, Deltheim, and Manzikin.
1:13.1	This is an episode for people who their teenagers or their kids are on their own journey or struggling themselves or just want to understand how someone can pick themselves up and reconnect with Hashem.
1:24.2	Here we go.
1:25.9	Yusuf Finver, thank you so much for doing this.
1:28.3	So let's take me back at the beginning. Where were you born and what was your family like originally? So I want to start off as saying, thank you so much for having me. Sure. It's a pleasure, it's an honor, really. Thank you. Took me a little bit to get here, but I'm glad that I did. Um, so honest, I grew up in Edison, New Jersey.
1:45.5	Sure.
1:46.3	And I did. So honest, I grew up in Edison, New Jersey.
1:45.5	Sure.
1:46.2	And I have four brothers.
1:49.7	My parents were like separated when I was about six.
	...

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