By: Yochanan Gordon
Occasionally, I’ll receive an email from someone seeking an article to promote their idea. Moreoften than not, I let it sit unanswered unless it’s an idea that I feel will genuinely resonate with readers. One such instance was an email from Brandon Lurie, a young, married family man from Katamon, with the subject line: “A small little startup based out of Jerusalem.” The email arrived at 3:58 a.m., or 10:58 a.m. Jerusalem time. For some reason, I was awake at that hour and felt compelled to schedule a call with Brandon later that day.
I’m glad I did. Vivs—a name inspired by Brandon’s mom, Vivian—is a website and soon-to-be mobile app designed to reduce the stress and mental overload that moms deal with daily. Moms juggle countless tasks, yet there’s no single place to manage it all. Vivs aims to be that central hub.
Brandon often marveled at his mother’s ability to manage the household, cook meals, schedule appointments, shuttle kids to and from school, and still be fully present as a mom. With a background in finance and tech, Brandon had an epiphany: in today’s fast-paced, tech-driven age, nearly every industry uses technology to improve efficiency—yet the most important job in the world, being a mom, is still managed the way it was in pre-technology days. That realization inspired him to develop Vivs, which I like to call a must-have life hack for moms.
Take dinner, for example. Planning meals can be a daily hassle—from figuring out who wants what, optimizing the ingredients at home, and dealing with missing essentials. Enter the Vivs Meal Wizard. With this tool, you can input your kids’ preferences, household allergies, and preferred proteins, starches, and vegetables. In seconds, the wizard generates dish ideas with recipes, plus an option to order any missing ingredients directly from Instacart to your door.
How often have you missed an important appointment, forgotten to pick up clothes from the cleaners, or let Amazon return deadlines creep up with a long to-do list still looming? Vivs acts as the AI assistant every mom needs. It organizes your daily responsibilities, sends alerts for tasks like Amazon returns, creates an optimized schedule, and even helps you save money on returns.
Parenting is about being there for our children—spending quality time, providing stability, and fostering encouragement and security. Yet, household responsibilities often gnaw at our patience and sanity. Brandon Lurie’s ingenious invention lets parents focus more on their kids and less on the minutiae that previously consumed their time.
Vivs is launching its mobile app soon for early users. To be included, visit vivs.co and sign up for the wait list. I encourage you to log on and see it for yourself.
My column, Inside Out, typically explores the inner workings of Torah and the world around us. While it didn’t come up in our conversation, I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between Mr. Lurie’s surname and that of the famed 16th-century Kabbalist from Safed, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal. The Arizal taught his primary disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital, a lifetime’s worth of wisdom in under two years—a process that would typically take decades. Talk about optimizing time and efficiency. Perhaps it’s all in the name.
