BRUCE LICHT
FOUNDER OF MY ELEVATOR PITCH FOR GOD, ENTREPRENEUR, AND AUTHOR
Bruce grew up in Lafayette, California and received a BA in Political Science from UCLA as well as a Graduate Gemologist degree from the Gemological Institute of America. After graduating, Bruce operated his family’s 100 year-old retail fine jewelry business for twenty-two years. Bruce had a passion for computers and graphic arts, so he changed careers and joined his best friend at a national technical publishing company for seventeen-years as the company’s Publisher, where they invented the modern labor law poster industry, including the first “All- On-One Labor Law Poster” and “Labor Law Poster Compliance Plan.”
Aside from being the Founder of this website, My Elevator Pitch for God, Bruce was the co-editor of the book titled, Elevator Pitches For God: Volume 1, and author of the cookbook titled, Immediate Chef: No Previous Experience Required.
Bruce’s goals for this website are: To introduce more people all around the world to God and strengthen the faith of those who already believe in a non-political and non-religious way, to bring people together, find common ground between different faiths, create meaning in people's lives, and start to move the world in a better direction.
You can help by sending this website to friends and family and posting it on social media!
You can also connect with the website project’s LinkedIn page below:
Words From the Wise
BRUCE LICHT
What did the highly spiritual, respected people who formulated our prayers know about God? They did not perceive God's existence as a philosophical concept or tentative belief. Their careful choice of words reveals an incredibly strong conviction that permeated their lives and consciousness. The prayers express their reverence, dependence, devotion, and obvious understanding that God’s reality required no proof. Some paraphrased excerpts follow below. (1)
A man should forever be God-fearing in the innermost recesses of his heart, acknowledge the truth, and speak the truth in his heart...(2) It is not because of our own righteousness that we present our prayers before You, but because of Your abounding mercies! What are we? What is our life? What is our kindness? What is our righteousness? What is our strength? What is our might? (3)
Are not all the mighty people nothing before You, those of renown as though they had never been, the wise as if without knowledge, and those of understanding as if devoid of intelligence? For most of their deeds and the days of their lives are vanity before you… All the nations are as a drop from a bucket, considered no more than dust upon the scales... Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to praise, glorify, bless, sanctify, and offer thanks to You... You were the same before the world was created and You are the same now… Besides You, there is no God… You have made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all therein... (4)
The Lord is great, exceedingly exalted, and there is no limit to His greatness… The Lord is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and of great kindness... The Lord is good to all, and His mercies extend over all His works… The Lord supports all who fall, and makes erect all who are bent… You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing... The Lord is close to all who call upon Him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him, hears their cry and delivers them. (5)
He is our God… there is nothing besides Him… The Lord will reign forever and ever... (6) And it is said; The Lord will be King over the entire earth; On that day the Lord will be One and His Name One. (7)
Listen up! God is One. (8) You shall love God with all your heart, soul, and might. You shall teach your children thoroughly about God, and speak of Him when you sit in your house and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise.
These prayers reveal that God is singular, eternal, transcendent, and intricately involved in people’s lives. They emphasize humility, divine grace, and the imperative to love and fear Him. The compilers understood that wisdom lies not in human self-importance, but in the acknowledgment of God’s absolute autonomy. Ultimately, these daily affirmations serve to reorient the individual’s perspective to the prophetic vision that God's oneness and sovereignty will one day be universally recognized across the earth. (9, 10)
Footnotes:
1) Important Note: For the purposes of this essay, these words are combined, highly paraphrased, incomplete in some cases, and not in the exact form or sequence recited.
These prayers from the Jewish prayer book, referred to as a “Siddur,” were compiled by Moses, King Solomon, King David, members of the Great Assembly (a group of 120 sages and prophets who flourished during the time of the Second Temple—approximately 5th to 4th centuries BCE), and more, over the course of centuries.
Tehillim is the plural term of tehila, which in Hebrew means “words or glory or praise.” Tehillim is another word for the Book of Psalms. Half of the Siddur comes from the Tehillim that King David wrote.
2) Taken from the morning prayers. These words are attributed to the ancient sages of Jewish tradition. This statement is not a direct quote attributed to King Solomon however the sentiment expressed aligns strongly with the wisdom attributed to him throughout the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which emphasize the “fear of God” as the foundation of wisdom and the importance of integrity of the heart.
3) Taken from the Morning Prayers.
4) Taken from the Morning Prayers.
5) Taken from the frequently recited (at least three times daily) Ashrai prayer, primarily consisting of Psalm 145. The beloved prayer, which promises of a place in the “World-to-Come,” is praised for its joyful praise of God’s justice, provision, and support. It is structured as a Hebrew alphabetical acrostic, meaning that each line (except for the letter “Nun”) starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, making it memorable.
6) Taken from the frequently recited (at least three times daily) Aleinu prayer (which means, “It is our duty”). The prayer emphasizes universal redemption, expressing the duty to praise God and the hope for a world united in recognizing God’s sovereignty, removing idols, and perfecting the world under His rule. It calls for all humanity to acknowledge the one God, as stated in the final verse from Zechariah.
7) The verse, “And it is said, On that day the Lord shall be one, and His Name One” is taken from the frequently recited (at least three times daily) Aleinu prayer (which means, “It is our duty”). Additionally, the verse can be found in Zechariah (in Psalms) / Chapter 14 / Verse 9: “And the Lord shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the Lord be one, and His Name one.”
8) Taken from the frequently recited Shema prayer. It is said at least twice a day, in the morning and evening services, as commanded in the Torah, “when you lie down and when you rise up,” however many Jews say it more often, including before bed and potentially other times if they are worried about missing the designated times. The Shema is Judaism’s cornerstone of Jewish identity and central declaration of faith, emphasizing absolute monotheism, love for God, total devotion (heart, soul, and might) and practical observance.
The Shema prayer is found in three distinct passages within the Torah:
A) Deuteronomy / Parshas Va’Eschanan / Chapter 6 / Verses 4-9,
B) Deuteronomy / Parshas Eikev / Chapter 11 / Verses 13-21, and
C) Numbers / Parshas Shelach / Chapter 15 / Verses 37-41.
(Note: The actual words are: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One,” however Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe with Torchweb.org prefers to say, “Listen up!” as if to say, “Hey, pay attention!”
9) From Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe’s, with Torchweb.org, Prayer Podcast: Introduction to Pesukei Dezimra (Verses of Song/Praise), December 6, 2025.
“One should prepare themselves for prayer, to welcome all their senses, to get themselves in the right frame of mind to open up new pathways. As if you are at the doorway before the entrance of the main hallway of prayer. What purpose does a hallway serve? It brings us from one place to another, from one level to the next. This “prayer hallway” is a place that can transforms us to a greater level of revelation. Every day when you pray, remember to recite the words with focus, intention, calmness, and at the very least, trying to understand each word that you are reciting so it becomes part of who you are. The more one invests in their prayers, the more their joy, connection, and love of God will grow. Our prayers should be a vehicle that carries us closer and closer, every single day, to the service of God.
10) The Rambam, in his Book of Mitzvot, listed the 613 Mitzvot in order of importance, the top three were:
A) Believe in God.
B) Believe God is One.
C) Love God.
The Four Things That God Wants From You:
Deuteronomy / Parshas Eikev / Chapter 10 / Verses 12-13
“Now, O Israel, what does God, your God, ask of you? Only to fear God, to go in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve Him, with all your heart and all your soul, to observe the commandments of God and his decrees, which I command you today, for your benefit.”
So the four are:
A) Only to fear God (This does not mean to be terrified of Him. It is to understand that God is the Master of the universe. The Creator of the Heavens and Earth. He is all being, all knowing, all caring).
B) To go in all His ways (To emulate God completely).
C) To love Him.
D) And to serve Him, with all your heart and all your soul, to observe the commandments of God, and His decrees, which I command you today, for your benefit.