Lessons from the African Jungle

Close to 150 attendees braved sub zero temperatures for an unprecedented evening of inspiration, Jewish pride and delicious kosher food at the beautiful new Jewish Learning Institute building under the auspices of Chabad of Winnipeg.

The evening, dubbed “Kosher Night Out ” was organized by Shliach Rabbi Shmuly Altein and his wife Adina, and was a huge success by all accounts. The warmth of the message shared compensated for the frigid weather outside.

The featured keynote speaker for the evening was internationally acclaimed business speaker and author Kivi Bernhard, who flew in from Atlanta to be with Chabad of Winnipeg. The beautiful room and the new JLI centre was exquisitely lit and decorated by Barry Kay, a regular at Chabad of Winnipeg and owner of Cherry Street Productions. The room was themed as an African jungle in honor of Kivi Bernhard, whose corporate speaking and work revolves around critical business lessons learned from the jungles of Africa, applied to the jungles of commerce.

By exclusive arrangement with Rabbi Mendel Popack and Rabbi Ephraim Mintz of JLI / Merkos, Chabad Shluchim the world over have begun brining in Kivi Bernhard to engage their audiences with his unique brand of Jewish pride and synthesis that has become his brand. Kivi who was a “ben bayis” in the home of Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe Kotlarsky during his years in 770 as a bochur, was first exposed to Shluchim as a speaker when he keynoted the “Gimmel Tamuz Shluchim’s JLI” conference this past year.

“Kivi was simply huge at the conference,” explains Rabbi Mendel Popack from JLI. “He was rated by Successful Meetings Magazine in 2010 as one of the top ten platform speakers in the world and just has an incredible ability to use words, language and stage presence to deeply impact people.”

Senior Shaliach to Winnipeg, Rabbi Avraham Altein began the fantastic evening with a dvar Torah, after which he invited people to enjoy the magnificent array of kosher cuisine that was prepared by gourmet chef Mike Oman.

After the evening, Rabbi Shmuly Altein added that many people approached him asking how he was able to get a speaker of Kivi’s caliber in Winnipeg. “In fact,” said Rabbi Altein, “not only was Kivi Bernhard’s office a pleasure to work with, he was one of the easiest speakers I have ever dealt with.”

Describing the response that he received to Kivi Bernhard’s visit, Rabbi Shmuly Altein shared: “We have had only incredibly positive feedback pouring in. Kivi was passionate, inspirational and very ‘tochendik’. People walked away uplifted and rethinking their attitude towards ‘yiddishkeit’ and Chabad. All in all he made a great impression on our community.”

Recently Kivi Bernhard was brought in for a Shabbaton by senior Shaliach of Coconut Grove, Florida, Rabbi Yanky Fellig, where similar sentiments were expressed.

Kivi Bernhard travels extensively working with corporate speaker bureaus all over the world and has keynoted the platforms of many Fortune 500 companies across the globe. When addressing Jewish audiences, which Kivi does for Chabad, Aish, Ohr Sameyach and many other kiruv organizations, he shares amazing stories of national and personal Jewish pride that he has experienced as he moves through the highest echelons of global corporations. Kivi is the son of the well known Shliach Rabbi Nachmun Bernhard, of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kivi Bernhard can be contacted through JLI / Merkos or directly at (091)404.832.8250