Tigers and work

 

This was an incredibly successful week in the holy country of the United States. Aliza picked me up from the airport, we made a quick stop at Dunkin, and went back for some quick hellos before Semichas Chaver with Rabbi G about order of Brachot. From there Moshe and I got a bagel and then I drove Tifarah’s car down to Highland Park. I met Baruch there for pizza which was delicious and fun. From there, we went to Top Golf in Edison. It was a really fun activity – I have never been golfing before and it was a challenge to hit it tfar at the beginning. A lady in the bay next to us looked like she knew what she was doing, so I asked her for help. She gave great tips like where to stand, to hold your arms straight, etc. I was able to hit it 140 yards in the air which felt cool. Definitely do top golf again in the future. While we were playing, football Sunday was happening which was cool to watch and once we finished we stayed at the sports bar a little but to watch and drink (4! Dollar cup of Dr. Pepper). Then I drove home, with redzone on my laptop and hotspot in the seat next to me to listen to. I got back for the beginning of Lions Packers, which was a terrible game. At the two minute warning we left fir a delicious dinner at roadhouse, I had poppers which came with fries and rings. I left my phone at home so I wouldn’t see scores, and once we got home I got a VPN so I could watch the rest of the game. After the game, I went to sleep.

I woke up early and walked to get a bus to the city, I walked to our familiar office (this is my 4^th trip of the year here). I do love walking into the office and watching whatever they are talking about on the giant screens, this time of course about the Bills Raven game. I got into the office with no problem, gave the high fives and hugs, and was chilling with the guys. For lunch I walked to Mr. Broadway for a pastrami sandwich and kishke. Work ended, and I walked to the train. We had a nice and delicious dinner with the blumenthals (can you believe they have homemade food in america??). After dinner,  I walked to Barnes and noble (so expensive), target, stop n shop, and staples. Aliza picked me up after, and brought me home. Before I went up, Aliza asked me if I noticed anything wrong with the shower handle. I said yes but it was fine, you just need to play with it a little to find the right temparature. Little did I know. The handle came off while I was naked and getting into the shower, and the water was set for boiling hot and coming out strong. Its 1230 at night, and the handle came off. After battling through foggy glasses for about 15 minutes, I gave up and decided to take the rest of the appliance off. It took a few minutes but I was able to get it. Once I was looking at inside the wall, I realized I needed a tool to turn the dial. I tried scissors, a spatula, because I didnt know where David's toolbox was, and I wasn't going to wake him up for it. One side moved with scissors and lowered the water stream, but not the other. I spent some time looking through the house for David's screwdriver, which I ended up finding, and using to easily turn the rest of the water off. Then I still needed to shower of course, so I went upstairs to shower in there. Then I went to sleep, excited for the next day.

The next day I was going to wake up super early for biking through Central Park, but decided that since I had unexpectedly gone to sleep way too late the night before, I wouldn’t. Once I got to the city, I walked a far walk to 3^rd and 36^th to grab a cream cheeses bagel. I walked through Times Square which was nice too. I then had another great work day, went with Daniel N to Mr. Broadway (Pastrami Burger and Cajun Fries), and then continued working. I finished my sign for the game, and left at 3 to walk to meet Ernie at 7^th Av. We rode the subway to the stadium, and walked around to the Yankees corporate office. We told them we had BP tickets, gave our ID, got our swag etc, and someone came to bring us down to the field level. We walked past the umpire room, where the players walk, to get to the field, climbed up the steps, and were suddenly on the beautiful dirt of Yankee Stadium, literally next to the visiting dugout. We were both besides ourselves with excitement. We immediately saw Gleyber getting interviewed, and took a selfie with him. Some relievers I didn’t recognize came by which I fist bumped. And then, a very familiar face, Tarik Skubal came walking by. I told him not to be tempted by New York, that we want him to stay in Detroit, and that pitching with this porch here is not friendly to pitchers. We took a pic, then another one with Ernie, he signed my jersey, and then walked away, telling Ernie that he likes Canadian fans. We got to see Judge take BP, which was a different sound. Just to paint the picture, we were basically at the on deck circle/stairs to go into dugout, and for a while we were the only ones on the Tigers side. Then Jason Benetti came out, and I told him we watch him all the time. He thought it was really cool that we were in Israel listening to him. We even facetimed my dad in who had a short convo with Benetti, and took a screenshot of them. Then the rest of the players started coming out for warmups and BP. Riley Greene took a picture with us, was impressed how far we flew, and then gave hassle to Ernie about being a blue jays fan. Before the assistant went out, I asked him for a ball which he tossed me. My first ever. It was fun to look at the batting helmets, gloves, bats, areas where a manager calls to the bullpen/instant replay. Jake Rogers came to take a pic with us and was very friendly. What I found was when you are that close, and you politely call someone by their first name, they are very likely to come say hi and take a pic with you. That’s how we got pictures with Tork, Kerry, Colt, Javy Baez, Ibanez, Holton etc. I told Kerry the porch is waiting for him today (which he didn’t use but did the next night). Next we saw Rajai Davis, which was very cool – I told him I remember his walk off grand slam against the A’s, that I was babysitting, and we spoke for a good few minutes – he wanted to hear about how its going in Israel. I told Parker Meadows it was great to have him back, and that we needed him badly. I told Javy that I was so impressed with his position change. We watched BP. I said hi to AJ Hinch and Dan Dickerson, who remembered me from our phone call. We watched Charlie Morton get interviewed (he gave a lot of time to lots of people), and we chatted with him for a bit – Ernie told him about one of his starts that he was at, and he said “I hope I didn’t embarrass myself”. I told him we were happy to get him at the deadline and he said that everyone has been so welcoming and great. We also took a pic with the NYPD cop that told us it was time to get off the field.

The seats we sat in were ridiculous seats, never sat so close, but Ernie wanted to thank me for the cool experience that I had invited him to. Game itself was fun. There was a home run rob which was cool. It was a close game until there was an absolute bullpen implosion, with the Tigers scoring 9 runs in a seventh inning. Was glorious. Only problem was the stadium emptied out, including my ride home (obviously wasn’t leaving early!). So we got a train back to the city and I continued on to Penn Station and then took a NJ Transit back (met Moshe at Rutherford).

The next day, I woke up early, and walked to the bus to the city. I walked from Port Authority to Central Park, which as beautiful. Then I rented a bike (still have the citibike app saved), and biked around the entire thing. It was drizzling during my walk, but it was pouring during the bike ride. I then walked from there to Milk N Honey to get a bagel and cream cheese and a black and white cookie, and walked from there to the office. I had some productive meetings in the morning, and walked with Justin to Mr. Broadway for lunch. I got a Pastrami Sandwich (but accidentally pressed no bread) and DELICIOUS onion rings. We brought it back, found the no bread, and ate quickly. I then had a few more meetings, followed along with everyone on the Charlie Kirk shooting news, said good bye to the boys, and got back on a subway to the stadium. I met Moshe in the parking lot, put my bag etc. there, and then we walked into the Stadium. At least, we tried to, but the tickets someone gave Moshe were for the following day. So outside the stadium, waiting after security, Moshe bought tickets for the same suite/section. We got in, got our winter hat I was giving to Yonatan, and found our seats. Was an awesome section, one section up behind home plate, beautiful view, free fountain drinks, and a separate bathroom. They did a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. Right before the game started, Moshe told me it was the last few minutes for Mincha. I went to a spot on the porch, davened quickly, didn’t say Aleinu, and rushed to my seat. Within 20 seconds, a foul ball hit the spot I was davening in, and someone got there first. Always say Aleinu. Another foul ball came to that same spot in the inning, but I was second in line there too. At least I got the ball the day before. The game was close to start, and then yet again, another bullpen implosion by the yankees, leading to an 11-1 win. Was the first time ever a team has won by 10+ at Yankee Stadium on consecutive nights. We saw a bunch of homers, a bunch of runs, a balk, and even a position player pitching which was a first for me. All in all, an incredible game to go to. Before the game, Daniella Bruce from Bally Sports Detroit asked me which seats we were in so they could do a feature. I didn’t go pee or get any more food the whle game (once Moshe got for both of us). I thought she was coming to interview me, so I was disappointed she didn’t end up showing. But then I found out she did the feature based on our conversation the day before, which was really cool to see after. We drove back to Aliza, said good byes, and I packed and went to sleep (first I showered upstairs).

The next morning I said good byes to the girls, walked to Aisle One for some last minute snacks, a bagel and a donut, and then we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa to say hello. Haven’t been there ever, was shocking how small their tombstone was. Then I finished packing, grabbed my stuff, got into the Uber, and had a great chat with the driver on the way to Newark Airport. I realized once going through security and check in that I had left my donut and bagel at Aliza and that made me incredibly sad. I thought I had one more bagel and donut on this trip, and I messed it up. No other Kosher food, except in the lounge, which I do not yet have access to (next trip!). So I waited outside the lounge, saw someone who was Jewish looking, asked them to bring me in, and then was able to find a kosher salad and apple juice in there. From there, we got on the plane, I only slept an hour which was a bummer. I got the wifi, worked a little, watched the Lion King and another movie, and the Tigers game (they needed me – they got killed). I landed, Ayala came to pick me up, and thus concludes my awesome, incredible trip that I was so lucky to do.

 

A fire filled shabbat

 

Well, this was a Shabbat I will never forget. Last night was a great Shabbat Sheva Brachot, full of friends, family, and love. My parents came by last night, all was great.

Then this morning, around 7 am, we get a knock at the door at the Newmarks from Charlie. He is wearing tzitzit and orange shorts, leading me immediately to understand that something wasn’t right. I ran out with him without telling anyone, and got to Shivtei in seconds, seeing two fire trucks, 3 ambulances, police, security. I found Nava and gave her hugs, found my parents already in the ambulance on the way to check for smoke inhalation.

(What had happened was my mom woke up at around 7 am and saw smoke in her room. She woke up my dad who then woke up the people all over the house (9 people), and they all battled through the crazy dark smoke to go downstairs. It was so dark and smoky that the guests who didn't recognize the house, had a tough time figuring out how to get downstairs. Once out of the house, my dad called the fire department, and then they came.)

I asked all the questions to my parents, and my dad asked me to try and lock the door if possible. Nava asked me to tell the Engelharts what happened too. I told them they were in good hands and then they left. Once they left, my Saba rode up the street and had seen it – he asked me what happened. I vaguely said upstairs there was a fire, so for most of the morning he actually didn’t know that it was my parents.  

Once I got into the courtyard, I saw a bunch of neighbors congregating, and went inside quickly to see what was what. The entire house was flooded, upstairs and down, with black water from soot. The laundry room seemed to be the source of the fire, since it was the worst hit.

I ran to shul to ask the Rabbi what was allowed to be done on shabbat to limit the damage. He said if I really need to I can find a goy to move the water and if I can’t and I REALLY need to, I can do it with a shinui. I told a couple people at shul I couldn’t do teen minyan this week, ran to Shifra to tell her what was going on, and ran to my parents house to start working.

By the time I got there, the neighbors had already mopped out all the water on the first floor (definitely not with a shinui but so nicely and it really meant a lot to me that they did it). They offered to drive food etc. to my parents but I knew they would not want that.

The firefighter investigator came and thought that a vacuum lit on fire (which didn’t make sense to me as it wasn’t plugged in). He also told me that it was an absolute miracle that it happened in the morning and not in the middle of the night, because the smoke was so thick that they wouldn’t have woken up – scariest moment of the day to hear that. I then started to work on upstairs which was a massive job. While I was there, Limor (in her Sheva Brachot week!) came and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She brought cold water to drink, masks, and got to work with moving water. A few minutes later, my other amazing sister in law came. Together, we worked for almost 2 hours, and were able to get the upstairs to some level of normal. We had to make decisions like what to put on the beds, what to throw away etc, but I thought we did a good job. Orin Green and Yehuda Block came by to check on us, and neighbors kept coming in too. Was very meaningful to feel that hug from the community. The whole time while cleaning up I wanted to go to the Engelharts (I was sure they were hearing rumors) and let them know Nava and Charlie were ok, but I couldn’t leave.

As we were wrapping up, my Saba wheeled in to check on everyone. It was then that I think he found out that it was our family. But then, out of nowhere, my parents walked in, which was a huge surprise. They had apparently been fasttracked because we know a doctor there, and luckily, the doctor who was driving home anyway was able to give them a ride. They looked much calmer than they had in the morning, and they told us that all 9 people were medically fine, but the others were too frum to drive back home.

I walked them through the house, and gave them a detailed explanation of everything. Then the electricity inspector came by and told me that the cause of fire was fraying cables in the air conditioning engine, which made much more sense.

My parents went to wash up at my Saba and Savta, and Eliana and I went back to the Newmarks to each shower. We were both dressed in sports clothes, and one of the religious neighbors told us she didn’t know we were so sportivi. It took me a bunch of rounds of shampoo and soap until I felt like I got most of it off.

From there, I went to the Engelharts, who it turned out, did not hear anything but were so grateful that I had come to tell them. From there I walked to Sheva Brachot at the Greens, saw my parents on the way, and we walked in to a standing ovation. My dad even spoke his dvar torah at the sheva brachot which was an awesome one. After Challah at the meal I realized I hadn’t heard kiddush yet (oops) so I made sure to.

The rest of the day was good, we played with the kids, I told them at an age appropriate level what happened, and they thought it was pretty cool.

Now I am flying to America for work (and getting in some Tigers BP and games in the middle), and as my dad said today, “Batting practice is a better way to spend your week than sitting Shiva”.

Baruch Hashem. I hope we have a Seudat Hodaya next shabbat, we definitely should.