From Commercial Director to StoryKeeper: The Journey That Inspired StoryMight

The J3M Report

30 Oct 2025 — 7 min read

Community Spotlight (new section)

🔦From Commercial Director to StoryKeeper: The Journey That Inspired StoryMight

The Nibble

📰 Tiny Patients, Big Care: Maimonides Levels Up!

📰Bus-tastrophe Ahead? NYC Parents Brace for a Bumpy Ride!

Civic Spotlight:

🗽 NYC Marathon Madness: Roads, Runners & Revelry!

🗽 Community Sounds Alarm Over Possible Maimonides Takeover

📌 What's up

🔦Community Spotlight🔦

Shining a light on the people and businesses that make our neighborhood special.

💜 From Commercial Director to StoryKeeper: The Journey That Inspired StoryMight

📖 Every Family Has a Story

Every family has a story. Some are told around the dinner table, others are hidden in fading photographs, and far too many are lost when the loved ones who lived them are gone. That loss; of voice, memory, and connection is what inspired StoryMight; a platform that helps anyone record, organize, preserve, and share the stories that define who they are.

“There has to be more to life than this.”

🎬 A Life Behind the Camera

Tovia Factor recently moved to Midwood Brooklyn from Eretz Yisroel. He directed television commercials for the National Football League, Budweiser beer, and Coca-Cola. He shot Kobe Bryant’s first commercial and worked with the original NBA Dream Team. He filmed in New York, Los Angeles, and Rome, spending years behind the camera as a director, creating projects that captured people’s emotions, struggles, and triumphs.

But all the while, he was missing the emotional moments of his own; a trip to Israel with his wife, his son’s first steps, and his grandfather’s 85th and final birthday party. He told himself, “There has to be more to life than this.”

✡️ Finding “More” Through Shabbos

That “more” was Shabbos — stepping back from the seven-day workweeks, the constant hustle of the commercial world, and the chaos that came with it. He went to Israel for three months to jump-start his learning. Those three months became a year. That year became twenty.

They were twenty years filled with Torah learning, giving, community, and building; years that transformed not just how he lived, but why he was living.

🎥 The Birth of StoryMight

After years of learning, he felt the pull to return to creativity but with a higher purpose. The idea for Legacy Films came from a painful truth. Growing up, he was very close with his grandfather. When he passed away, Tovia realized he didn’t know much about him; not his childhood, nor the choices that shaped who he was.

Tovia began interviewing people so they could share their stories with their loved ones. It was powerful; for them, for Tovia, and for the families who often learned things they’d never heard before. It was cathartic, healing, and deeply meaningful.

Tovia thought to himself, “How can I make it easy for anyone to record stories or document their life?”
And that’s how StoryMight was born.

💡 A Platform Built for Everyone

Tovia knew nothing about technology, but he knew how to tell stories. So, he built a platform that’s simple enough for anyone to use, yet powerful enough to hold, organize, and share a lifetime of memories.

StoryMight guides you step by step through recording your stories or those of your loved ones and then organizes them into a living, digital StoryBook — a photo album on steroids.

🏆 Join the StoryMight Challenge

Now, he is inviting everyone to join the StoryMight Challenge — for free!
It’s a nationwide movement to preserve family history, record stories, upload photos, and celebrate the memories that make your family who they are.

Every story and photo earns points. Top scorers and raffle winners will receive Lifetime StoryMight Memberships — unlimited storytelling, forever.

“Because their stories won’t wait forever.”

💜 Call to Action

👉 Explore the platform: storymight.com👉 Join the Challenge: storymight.com/challenge

🚫 No sponsorship here - just cool, pure info for you! 😎 I'll always give you a heads-up when something is sponsored!

🍿 The Nibble 📰

🏥🚑 “Tiny Patients, Big Care: Maimonides Levels Up!” 👶💫

Borough Park just got a major health-care glow-up! 🎉 Maimonides Health cut the ribbon ✂️ on its expanded Children’s Emergency Department — now the largest freestanding kids’ ER in Brooklyn and the borough’s only dedicated pediatric trauma center. Translation: if your little superhero 🦸‍♀️ takes a tumble, there’s a dream team of pediatric pros on call 24/7.

The new space boasts 32 treatment areas, speedy imaging (X-rays, ultrasounds, CTs — the works 🩻⚡), and a bright, soothing design that feels more “playroom chic” than “ER panic.” With board-certified pediatric emergency docs and specialists in over 30 fields, Maimonides just became the go-to spot for Brooklyn families seeking both care and comfort. 👶💖 #HealthyBrooklyn #TinyButMighty

🚌💥 “Bus-tastrophe Ahead? NYC Parents Brace for a Bumpy Ride!” 😱🎒

Hold onto your coffee cups, NYC parents — the yellow buses might be hitting the brakes! 🚦 A coalition of school bus companies says they could lay off workers and halt service for 150,000 students as soon as Nov. 1, blaming the city’s month-to-month emergency contracts. Their attorney called the setup “unfeasible,” warning drivers might get pink slips. 🍬🧾 City officials insist they’re working “diligently and proactively” to line up backup transportation, but parents fear another chaotic chapter in NYC’s long-running school bus saga — one filled with late pickups, endless routes, and finger-pointing galore.

Union reps are urging City Hall to “put politics aside and make a deal,” while others wonder if the layoff threats are just a pressure tactic before a new contract is inked. 🤔 Until then, families might want to keep those MetroCards handy and walking shoes laced — because if the wheels on the bus stop going round and round, it’s going to be a very interesting school morning in the Big Apple. 🍎🗽

🗽 Civic Spotlight: Keeping You Informed🗽

🏃‍♂️ NYC Marathon Madness: Roads, Runners & Revelry! 🗽🎉

The 2025 TCS New York City Marathon hits the streets on Sunday, November 2nd at 8:00 AM, and the city’s gearing up for a full day of running, cheering, and—yes—road closures galore! 🚧 From Staten Island to the Bronx, streets across all five boroughs will close early to make way for 50,000 runners pounding the pavement toward glory. So if you’re planning to drive, brunch, or just exist near a major avenue… plan ahead!

Even if you’re not lacing up those sneakers, join the fun! 🎺 Grab your coffee, stake out a curb, and cheer your lungs out for the marathoners. Check the full (and constantly updated) list of closures and spectator details here 👉 Central Park Marathon Road Closures

🚨 Community Sounds Alarm Over Possible Maimonides Takeover 🚨

In a rare and fiery move, Hatzolah coordinators from Boro Park, Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Mill Basin issued a joint letter slamming the potential NYC Health + Hospitals takeover of Maimonides Medical Center, calling it “not in the best interest of our community.” 💥 The group praised the current Maimonides leadership and assured residents that all hospital operations remain unchanged for now. They vowed to keep fighting any merger and to keep the community informed. 🏥✊

Meanwhile, Governor Kathy Hochul announced $2.6 billion in state investments to strengthen six safety-net hospitals—including Maimonides—under the Health Care Safety Net Transformation Program. The Maimonides-NYC Health + Hospitals partnership aims to preserve critical Brooklyn services and modernize the hospital with a new electronic health record system to improve patient care and coordination. 💉💻 While state leaders hail this as a lifeline, community members are watching closely—determined that Brooklyn’s beloved Maimonides remains by the community, for the community. ❤️🏙️

🤔What's up👀

🎬 Events 👋

Monday 11/3

Tuesday 11/4

Creating Stable and Enduring Marriages: Maximizing the Impact of Proven Approaches for the Frum Community | Live or virtual | Ohel Jaffa Family Campus
1268 E 14th street, 3rd Floor | 7:30 pm | for more info click here

🎤Lectures 🎤

Thursday 10/30

Kidney Donations in Halacha | Rav Daniel Osher Kleinman | Agudath Israel Bais Binyomin | 2913 Avenue L | 8:30 pm

Shabbos 11/1

👩For women only 👩 | Shandee Fuchs | Young Israel of Midwood | 1694 Ocean Ave | 4:30 pm

Sunday 11/2

Outdoors on Shabbos (Shoveling Snow, Moving Bicycles, Pushing a Stroller, etc.)| Rav Zev Smith | Agudath Israel Bais Binyomin | 2913 Avenue L | 8:30pm

Thursday 11/6

Guests Who Deliberately Impose | Rav Daniel Osher Kleinman | Agudath Israel Bais Binyomin | 2913 Avenue L | 8:30 pm

⌛Ongoing🗓️

Monday’s & Wednesday’s

HaRav Kahn Shlita | Shiur on Tehillim with Medrash and Meforshim | 10:40am | Kol Halashon 718-906-6400 press star (*) | Live stream click here.

Thursday’s

Parsha In-Depth with Meforshim | Rav Yerachmiel Frankel | Knesses Bais Avigdor | 1720 Avenue J (Btw E17 & E18) | 11:30 am

📖Learning and Cholent🍲😋 | Bet Shaul U'Miriam | 2208 Ave. S | 8:00-10:00pm🏆

📜 Mishmar | Agudah of Madison | 2122 Ave. S (Ave S & East 22) | 10:00 pm

📖Parsha Ha’Shavua | Rabbi Frand | Y.I. of Midwood | 1694 Ocean Ave | 9:00 pm

Motzei Shabbos

Navi Shiur - Sefer Daniel| Rabbi Yisroel Reisman | Ahi Ezer Cong | Corner Ocean Parkway & Ave S | 9:00 pm

🚫 No sponsorship here - just cool, pure info for you! 😎 I'll always give you a heads-up when something is sponsored!

🙌 THANK YOU!

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