Strongman Jon Pritikin Encourages Mercaz Students To Not Bully

PLAINVIEW, NY — As School Counselor Stephanie Bobroff gathered grades four, five and six to watch a video for the first assembly in the Mercaz Academy series on “Being an Upstander,” there was a steady hum of conversation. But then the video started, and the room went silent.

Produced by the Afikim Foundation, for which Mercaz parent Mor Keshet is director of special projects, the video told the story of a boy who had speech and reading difficulties. He was teased by other children, told he would never amount to anything, and always found himself eating alone at lunchtime. The bullying continued until he met a teacher in high school who believed in him, freeing him to believe in himself.

Mercaz students were shocked by the story. But they were even more shocked when they joined a Zoom call immediately afterwards with Jon Pritikin, a motivational speaker who had set two world records for his feats of strength. At first, they didn’t see the connection between the video they had just watched and the confident, successful, strong man they saw on the screen in front of them. Pritikin revealed that the story of the child in the video was true in every detail. It was his story.

Students could hardly believe that this man who could break a baseball bat with his bare hands (Mercaz principal Rabbi Kalman Fogel displayed the bat Pritikin had broken during an in-person visit a few years ago) could ever have been bullied. Did he really have no one willing to stick up for him? (No, but he had never told anyone about the trouble he was having and he encouraged everyone to let people know if they were being bullied.) What did he say to the bullies later, after he set his records? (They never contacted him, but he wishes they would so he could tell them that he has forgiven them.)

What inspired him to never give up? “I found something deep in my heart that told me that someday, it would get better,” Pritikin said. The world record-breaker shared how our words and actions affect others, and what each and every student can do to be an upstander in our school community.