For those of you with ADD I warn you that this post is over 5 pages long- but I love it because this type of writing is my favorite to do- enjoy!
To describe the Dallas frum community would simply be impossible based on my one shabbos spent within it so far, however I would like to get my first impressions down on paper for all to understand the amazing and welcoming community I have found myself living in.
It took only one phone call to one of the Rabbis who work for DATA the Dallas Area Torah Association to get me a place for shabbos. You may want to call DATA a kiruv kollel, that may make the most sense, but it is unlike any Kiruv I have ever experienced. It is more like a fully functioning Kiruv Community, with classes schooling, shiurim, shabbos meals, and a whole lot more molded into one big conglomerate. I am sure people will fill me in on all the details but as mentioned above this is my first impressions, what I saw, someone else may have a different experience though I highly doubt it would be any less wonderful, it will just be different.
I had the honor of staying at Rabbi Epstein’s house, Rabbi E is a large fellow with a bone crusher of a handshake, I commented on this and his response was that in Texas you had to give a real handshake. He may have been implying that when he grew up in Monsey and subsequently learned in Lakewood he was a fan of the classic yeshivish handshake known as the dead fish or that he preferred the fist bump in the more ghetto environs of the east cost, but his dead fish days were over and he was onto the bone crushing element of handshaking with a real smile, not one of those “hey where did you come from I meant to shake that guys hand over there” smiles.
I met my roommate for shabbos and we headed off in a Borough Park like minivan. I had heard that Ohr Hatorah, the main shul of the frum community was fancy but I had no idea what to expect. At first glance it is shocking, mainly because it’s a black hat shul that is really fancy. I guess I am used to fancy shuls being the low mechitza, white knit yarmulke modern orthodox types, but this shul was different. Upon walking into the sanctuary I was initially excited to see a balcony with a glass mechitza, I later discovered the mechitza situation to be somewhat disconcerting to the prying eye because it was a one way mirror. Why do the girls get to see us? That’s just not fair- but I couldn’t complain because Texas is a red state after all- nothing about fairness here.
Luckily for me there was plenty to look at besides for the women. Firs there was the enormous ark and beautiful blue glass behind it, then the ceiling which was at least 40 feet above the floor and finally the countless baalei teshuva that were scattered about the room, mixed in with the bearded peyos behind the ears yeshivish folks which were mixed in with the few baal habatim that could only be weeded out due to their fancier shoes (yeshivish rabbis love wearing clunkers- those sneaker-dress shoe combos) and due to their hockerdicke glasses with the fancy thick sides and interesting colors.
The shul had an interesting flavor to it, you could sniff out the BT’s and then you could tel which ones had been in the game longer, usually based on telltale signs that brand new BT’s give off to signal trouble to their Kiruv attendants, things like up side down yarmulkes, feet apart during shmona esray and over extended bows that appear to be stressing the spinal cord too much.
The funny thing about the whole situation was that even the BT’s who you could tell were BT’s if you were a perceptive fellow like myself, still looked somewhat normal. They all had black velvet yarmulkes on for one thing, there was not one colorful satin yarmulke from Sidney Cohens bar mitzvah in 1964 and everyone was wearing dark suits and white shirts, as if we were in the matrix and they were cloning themselves or something. It was quite interesting to me because usually BT’s give off other signs besides for not knowing when to stand, bounce on their toes and take three giant steps back, they give off clues like weird outfits because non-religious Jews have no idea how to dress for shul and they also just look weird, it was as if these BT’s were hand picked by the staff at DATA for their regular old Joe –soon to be Yosef – qualities.
Then it hit me, I saw a kid no older then 14 with a black hat, but his hair was a little longer, hat towards the back of head, classic BT look, but he was 14, how did that happen, extreme NCSY???
I then watched the ill attempt to gather a vibrant circle around the bimah for the post lecha dodi wannabe carlebachian without trying to hard yeshiva guy shuffle. It was quite pathetic, I read the community news instead and looked forward to some learning opportunities, I couldn’t judge them by their horrible post lecha dodi dance, could I? I mean traditionally non-Chabad Kiruv guys just couldn’t get the dancing situation right, its always one of those half assed shuffles that always start off the first dance, but nothing quick and efficient ever appears out of it, there’s some oyoyoys and then everyone’s done.
I then had to go pee, well really I just wanted to skip the whole part of davening we call bimeh madliken. So I skipped out to check out the bathrooms, on the way I noticed some cuties, but then I immediately realized they were probably ten years younger then me based on the rumors I heard about the reverse shidduch crisis effect in the Dallas frum community, the guy girl ratio is 20-1 or something like that, 2 frum girls and 10 frum guys fighting over them. Who knows, I knew it would be a rough thing to come to Dallas and expect to find some girl for those long cold lonely nights.
So I get to the bathroom and am once again amazed, not only are the toilets very nice and perfectly shaped to prevent dripping, but they had soap. I don’t know if you folks remember my ranting about the lack of soap in frum shuls and schools, but here was the holy grail of soap finds. Neatly placed next to each washing cup in the separate yet still inside washing station was a fully loaded bottle of soap, it was like the anti-bacterial Gods were shining down on me and I am not one to talk I mean I have taken the ten second rule and made it into the it depends how much it costs to replace rule.
So I get back to shul and still cannot believe that such a fancy and frum shul exists, yet its not snobby, its not one of those places that you have to wear a suit or shoes or even underwear, I am plenty sure some of those folks were going commando in the summers, Texas would definitely be the place to find out if wearing a bekishe with nothing under it was comfortable or not.
So shul ends and that’s when I start my new experiment, I wait and see who says good shabbos to me. I tried it last week in Detroit and was shocked that at an “out of town” shul not one person besides for my friend I was eating by said good shabbos. Based on what I heard of Ohr Hatorah I wasn’t expecting the same scenario that plays out in east coast shuls, which is that the only people who voluntarily shake your hands are the ones that are put in that awkward handshaking position of trying to shake someone’s hand who is standing behind you. So they need to shake your hand to get to their friend.
It was as if I was the only one in the room, or maybe one of those lines to shake the rabbis hand had formed around me, I was having people come at me from all directions, sticking out their hands, heads sideways in listening mode and nodding slightly and genuinely delighted to meet me. It was shocking, the amount of friendliness, some of the more negative crowd may have seen it as too much, but I was basking in the glory of these people.
I stepped out into the foyer and was greeted by a barrage of meal invitations, I had to do some research into who had the hottest daughters and the best food. I had to turn them all down, everyone also asked how they could get in touch with me to invite me to their homes for shabbos or whatever. I don’t think I have been so happy in shul ever, big statement there, but I was pleasantly shocked at the friendliness. Actually it was amazing to see how happy everyone in shul was, I have never seen such happiness in shul on a regular old shabbos, this wasn’t a chabad shul after gimel tamuz, this was November 22 in the middle of a month with no holidays besides for Thanksgiving which everyone celebrates with Friday night turkey anyway.
So I walk back with my host a slew of other people, a slew meaning a whole bunch of folks random assortments of people including an Oncologist from Mexico City who has lived in Dallas for 7 years with his family, a property manager who was able to speak Spanish with them, some random ladies, and a whole bunch of other folks. I also noticed that pretty much every Rabbi is shul was taking loads of guests with them, to say that shabbos hospitality is good in Dallas would be an understatement, it was simply amazing- and I didn’t even try the food yet, though judging in a non-offensive way by the size of my hosts stomach I already knew the answer.
So we all get settled and have to sit through a lengthy kid gathering, shalom aleichim, and brachos session while my stomach grumbled and gnawed at my vital organs begging for some of the doughy challah that I witnessed being removed from tinfoil which signaled its homemade quality, any challah connoisseur could tell a homemade from a store bought challah despite that if its warm people always think its homemade- though we experts can tell a pre-bought blech warmed challah from the real thing.
We finally got some morsels of bread and like all non-New Yorkers no one besides for me wanted to take, everyone else offered everyone else first, I wanted to grab the challah basket and scream- “just take your damned piece” stop trying to be all nice and stuff, I didn’t I sat contently, for these Texans are so nice that they are the first people I have ever witnessed that slow down to the prescribed speed limit while within the confines of the school zone.
Then the fish came and then the mayonnaise came for some homemade chrayonaise concocting and then the soup and then for the real test. Rabbi Epstein warned me not to fill up on the bread and like I said I trusted his opinion, but I just couldn’t help myself, you also never can really tell how good the food is from the soup and fish course, unless its those wealthy kosher by design junkies, who actually makes those crazy salad and fish courses.
But I was not disappointed, I was very happy with the buffet style service, no portion control no “please pass this for the umpteenth time” and none of that “oh I don’t want to take the last piece of chicken BS” and so we all rounded the buffet like hungry wolves, actually I think it was only me and my roommate who looked like hungry wolves about to tackle our prey and have a nice meal.
Tow types of chicken, shredded purple cabbage with shredded snow peas, brown rice with veggies, grilled red onion and zucchini, spaghetti squash, tossed salad, string beans and roasted red potatoes rounded out the extensive food offerings. I ate until I was stuffed to the bone and waited for desert and devar torah.
But of course that wasn’t enough so we had to go next door for some guys pre-game drunken pre-ufruf. So I happily hobbled over filled to the brim with food and enetered into a completely different world. I walked into a noisy “touch the wine glass with a fork to get attention” style party. It was secular in nature with the man of honor in all his BT glory with a black velvet yarmulke looking a little out of place on his blonde head- but boy was he happy- well he was getting married on Sunday so he should be and so was everyone else. It was shalom zachor like minus the smattering of sheitle clad women talking about breast pumps and ways to bake gefilte fish.
Actually I immediately noticed 3 gorgeous girls who were immediately shot down as one of my cohorts noticed my gaze and said those two dreaded words “not Jewish” I coul have told you that. So I sat down uncomfortably because I knew no one and unlike shul I wasn’t surrounded by Kiruv rabbis wanting to know what me “deal” was. But then I met a couple of the crew, the crew is a bunch of single twenty something’s that all sort of keep shabbos and kosher. I turned one of them onto a new term “flexidox” which is probably not the correct term and should we have to label them we should call them On their way to becoming Baal Teshuvas.
I opened a beer, mostly to look cool and casual and gazed about me, then I found myself gazing at a guy who looked as if he just dropped out of Flatbush, turns out he is from Flatbush and used to be a hatzolah guy but shunned the term hocker, he also informed me that he had read my yeshiva rebels of the 90s post and loved it. So we chatted and did the Jewish geography thing which I should mention was not so prevalent amongst the people who invited me out to their homes. In fact I missed having rude personal questions asked to me by people who thrust out their hands and demanded to know my yichus and what high school I went to before knowing my name. I kind of longed for some rude Monseyites to happen upon me but it never happened, I had to try and steer the conversation towards a round of Jewish geography and I felt like a hypocrite, I really did after all these years of bashing the sport I longed to play, to feel the rush of real life mutual friends not just the facebook kind.
I met a bunch of cool folks at the party and then went back and talked with the Rabbi until the wee hours of the morning, I really liked the guy. I am a sucker for big hearty happy guys anyway. Sometimes a guy just wants to be held.
Shul the next day was a similar affair, meeting all sorts of other people and watching with amazement at the size of the community. I talked with a bunch of people about it, DATA was started in 1992 by someone who wanted torah in Dallas, there were 30 frum families at the time and now there are 350- that is real growth. Not only are there 350 frum families in Dallas, the day school has 100 public school kids and 70 from frum families. There is a Bais Yaakov with 40 girls and Chofetz Chaim yeshiva high school with 40 boys as well- its pretty crazy when you think about it. 6 kosher restaurants and it all appeared within the last 15 years.
The demographics of the shul were as follows. Black hats were divided into two categories, there were the Rabbis, mostly Lakewood or Ner Yisroel guys, half peyos behind ears half not. Then you had the other black hatters that were the baal habatim which I have decided are all in real estate or involved in the slaughterhouse near Wichita Kansas. Then there was one Streimel, a Bresslover originally from New Orleans, who lived in Mea Shearim for many years, then I noticed one Frisbee hat guy who was apparently a mishulach. There were several Sephardim with white talesim and brown complexions, I didn’t notice many knit or suede yarmulkes, though blue shirts were plentiful. The one thing that is missing from Ohr Hatorah are regular old modern orthodox people, the BT’s you can tell are not modern orthodox and folks like me are hard to come by.
Kiddush had some really good cholent but the lack of regular non-diet soda was disappointing and there was no seltzer (the Jewish drink- how can you be Jewish without it?) They did have herring, though no real choice and although the Kiddush was mixed, it was one of those situations where the men and women were naturally on different sides making it easier for me to scope them out although I soon realized that everyone my age had a sheitle and three babies.
Once again I was invited by plenty of people and had to turn them all down. I met someone whom I was told has the best food, and he said “well we’ll have to have you” in a hearty voice. I then joined the Rabbi and his caravan of random people and walked back to eat some lunch.
Lunch was interesting because politics came up. Texans are nice but they are extremely right wing here, in fact its one of the first times I have met so many right wing irreligious Jews. I mentioned something in sarcastic tone about environment and these two women at the end of the table went nuts, oh who cares about the environment, we have better things to worry about- you know that whole jazz. I kind of want the sea levels to rise just so we environmentalists can laugh the faces of ignoramuses like these two. But everyone was very cordial, even the talk of Obama was so peaceful, not one person used the N-word or even mentioned that he worked for Hamas and was friends with Anti-Semites, it was so weird compared to what I was used to back east. I should mention that there was a super hottie at lunch and I guess one of the Rabbis noticed I was talking to her and warned me she wasn’t Jewish. She was wearing a plaid miniskirt and tall boots with a short sleeved shirt- oh she was hot- but she also mentioned that she was going to Texas Baptist university so that gave it away.
Shalosh suedos was also an impressive affair and I met even more people none of who’s names I remember, but they had a load of choice. It wasn’t just ice cream scooped tuna and egg salad, it was sesame noodles and nacho salad and gefilte fish and more salads it was big and good. I left the meal early so I could scope out the women’s section and see what they saw- which was of course a perfect view, no fair, but BT’s are way fun to look at and examine, and you people thought Dallas was going to dry up the wells of material. This is just a first impressions post, I haven’t even spent shabbos in my own community yet. Then there is Uptown which is really next to downtown but Texas is weird.
I hope to do a bunch of posts on my first real experience with non-chabad Kiruv done on such a large scale including the fundamental I notice.
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{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
I know that Bresslover!!! He just moved from Baltimore. Interesting to say the least…
this wasn’t a chabad shul after gimel tamuz, ?????????????????????????????
My brother in law (Ari Reubin) and sister in law’s brother (Ryan Pelsinger) daven at Ohr Hatorah / data shul. I’ve been there a few times myself, their kiddush on Shabbos is a full lunch. Basically the weekly sponsors feed their entire community Shabbos lunch.
Being a Tehillas Hashem guy, I usually daven at Chabad when I visit Dallas, but these Data guys have taken outreach to a new level. Where a Chabad shliach goes to a new area and has to build the community alone without much financial support, these guys show up with 10 families, all rabbis, all financial backing from the Kollel group head office. Eventually, they convert or mekarev anough rich donors to back their entire cummunal infastructure, they have been more successful than the Chabad guys in that area at building a frum community.
As to women, I don’t remember noticing many young single ones, then again I’m married so I don’t really look for or notice these things. Many of them are married too, but you wouldn’t know it as they don’t all cover their hair in a BT community. Last thing you want to do (especially in a new town) is start hitting on some dude’s wife.
As expected, people are going to be politically correct about Obama in a BT environment, I remember having it out with some of the locals over my views. One of the women at our Shabbos table was just about ready to strangle me after I had a few drinks and suggested Condoleeza should be lynched for endorsing / forcing Israel to abandon the Jews in Gush Katif and destroying their shuls/lives. Then you have the right wingers that couldn’t agree more.
Why are there all of these non-Jewish single women hanging around?
nice, dude. thanks for sharing.
A23,
Typical of kiruv shuls in the “bible belt”. Most non Jews are religious and tend to seek out other religions besides Southern baptist, a lot end up converting too. Others have Jewish relatives due to the high intermarriage rate, they tend to get curious too.
you cant live i Dallas. theres more then 20 jews there
Funny, because a couple months back I was looking into Southern Methodist University (it’s an easy law program to get into), it didn’t seem, from the internet at least, that Dallas had much going on Frum-wise.
I saw that there were a couple shuls scattered around, but I didn’t think it was that big of a place.
I didn’t either- until I realized they had so many kosher restaurants.
Phil- the kollel was brought into Dallas by one very wealthy person of chassidic descent who realized there were thousands of Jews and wanted to have some sort of frum community.
Can someone please explain to me what chrayonaise is?
Thanks you in advance.
A
you should check out the modern orthodox shul, great mix and wonderful people there, too. Just as friendly and gracious. And a few black hats daven there, too.
chrayonnaise: An 80′s word for mayoNNAISE and CHRAINE (horseradish). ridiculous word. Like Craisins, which are a brand name but have become what everybody calls dried cranberries (CRanberries dried like RAISINS + CRAISINS)
Brooklyn north- I have been to Ohev Shalom and Chabad in the north as well. But not for shabbos yet, next time I am south for shabbos I will check out some other shuls.
well, what was cool about the M.O. shul/ Y.U. Kollel was the few (very few) black hats present. Totally chilled and something you almost never see here in brooklyn north
Hesh,
I believe it is Mr. Rosenberg that funds a big part of the kollel, I ate over at his house one Friday night. Dude had cutlery made of gold and silver.
If you stop by Rabbi Block in Plano, send him my best regards. A lot less yeshivish, many of the people there still drive to shul.
Sharei tefillah is more of a modern orthodox place. Used to be the only show in town until the Kollel and Chabad showed up. Kollel “infiltrated” Sharei and took a chunk of their members when they decided to go solo. The split was a big deal about 8-10 years ago.
I guess you’ll learn the political scoop over time if you decide to hang out there long enough.
It doesn’t sound half bad for a frum community. It’s tough for me to imagine a frum community without the rudeness, it’s like an ice cream sundae without the cherry on top, but I hope you adjust and like it there. Congrats again on getting out of Monsey in time, this place is a soul killer.
south bend Indiana is like that minus the huge crowd and lots of jews. We dont have the kosher restaurants, but people here are friendly and invite you for meals. My wife makes challah every week too.
Your Texas adventure reminded me of a classic Jewish joke:
Three Texans are sitting together on an airplane. Two are hardy, tall men wearing cowboy boots and 10 gallon hats. The third is a little old Jewish man wearing a yalmuke, short pants, and high black sox with sandles.
The first Texan says: My name is Roger, I have 2000 acres and 3,000 head of cattle. I call my place “The Jolly Roger.”
The second Texan says: My name is Gene. I own 5.000 acres and 5,000 head. I call my place “Gene’s Ranch Estate.”
The little old Jewish man says: I own 200 acres and got no cattle.
And what do you call your place says Roger sarcastically.
Downtown Dallas says the old Jewish man.
Nemo thats a classic Jewish joke told in many ways. How about this one.
A Rabbi and a Priest are sitting at a wedding and they see a little boy bending over.
The Priest says to the Rabbi, hey lets go over and screw that kid.
The Rabbi says to the Priest – Out of what!
I really enjoyed reading this post! You reminded me of all the good things about my former home and I’m sure glad to hear that Texas hospitality is alive and well. I’m gonna bookmark this post for references for the next time I get back to Dallas.
Hesh, that joke is old and in bad taste!! You should check out Cong. Shaare Tefilla. The Rabbi, Ari Perl and his wife Meira are originally from NJ and wanted to get as far away from the NY metro craziness. They spent a few years in Overland Park, KS (KC suburb) before heading down to Dallas.
They are an awesome couple. Call them, and if they don’t put you up I am sure they will direct you to the right person in the shul.
http://www.shaaretefilla.org/?p=2
You captured the Ohr Hatorah/DATA vibe perfectly in this post. I’m glad you had a good time and that the community could provide so much material. Please come on up to Plano and daven with us sometime. Your BT radar will go crazy.
I guess Texas is a big place. My friend’s daughter is there (married, sorry) I’ll check where in Texas for you, bli neder.
What’s so unfair about a one-way mechitzah? Everything in an Orthodox synagogue is one-way in favor of the men. Women aren’t counted in a minyan, aren’t given aliyot, and don’t get to lead any part of the service. The least the guys can do is not kvetch/complain about us getting a good view of what we’re not allowed to participate in. Or haven’t you figured out yet that, in an Orthodox shul, women’s synagogue attendance is a spectator sport?
dude i live in dallas, greatest place in the world…but you didnt even go visit the other frum community thats just 7 miles down hillcrest where the other frum community is !! thats where the chofetz chaim yeshiva is and Rabbi Aryeh Rodin is as well. Many people actually consider him the founding father of dallas frumkite. I would be interested in speaking to you personally…This is the first time that I have read a post from you and I was curious what made you come to our city…Great rant though…
memo to shira: let’s try not to be so openly anti-male and pro-feminist here…just doesn’t seem like the proper forum for it…UT Austin has plenty of classes where you can shoot your mouth off about the evils of men
Lone Star,
Hesh is actually living in the North Eruv, he just went South for Shabbos. I’m sure he’ll go by Ohev and Rabbi Roden eventually.
I’m with Shira above. Give ‘em a taste of their own medicine
Shira I agree with you- it is definitely a spectator sport for women if you are orthodox and hold of the thousand year old tradition that women have nothing to do with the service.
If you want change that- I have no issues with it- its just not what I believe in. Although I also have no problems within the orthodox sector of women holding torahs, giving divrei torah and sitting within equal distance of the bimah.
Lone Star Yid, I’m sure my husband of 31 years would be very surprised by the notion that I’m anti-male. All I’m saying is that there’s nothing wrong with the female worshippers having a proper view of the service, even if the males don’t have an *im*proper view of the females.
Nu, Heshy, if you’d stop craning your neck at the women and keep your eyes in the siddur, where they belong, you wouldn’t be kvetching! 
Obviously an Orthodox synagogue is not going to be egalitarian, but I do appreciate the Partnership Minyan approach, in which the mechitzah is maintained and males lead those parts of the service that halachah requires be led by males, but women lead Kabbalat Shabbat and P’sukei D’Zimrah. For those who find that approach a bit too liberal, Heshy’s suggestions are cool: “women holding torahs, giving divrei torah and sitting within equal distance of the bimah.” Just because we have to sit separately shouldn’t mean that old women might as well stay home because they can’t climb the stairs to the balcony, and/or that the mechitzah has to be the height of the Great Wall of China. I haven’t forgotten watching a video of a Selichot service in an Orthodox synagogue in which I honestly couldn’t tell whether there where any women present or not–it wasn’t until I asked the chap who’d posted the video where the women were and he explained that of course I couldn’t see them because they were behind the mechitzah that I realized that what appeared to be another wall was actually the mechitzah! Seriously, Lone Star Yid, how would *you* like to davven behind a wall so tall and opaque that you couldn’t see the service at all and might not be able to hear it very well either? At least we women can *see* the service through a one-way mechitzah, even though we might not be able to *hear* it particularly well.
YaakovsLadder –
I got one better for you – —
I am that Breslover!!!!
– Avi Bloomenstiel
Dallas.
Hey Avi how did you come across my my blog?
Oh, man, this is actually making me miss Dallas. I didn’t think that was possible. (Not that I had much interaction with the Jewish community then (1994-1996) other than horrific collisions with the Jewish singles scene.)
Joe this was my first shabbos- you never know- it may go down from there
Hey There,
I used to live in Dallas. I am now married and live and a place you might call “in town.” Let me just give you one word of advice: Remain impartial and keep shul hopping. Don’t buy in to any of the politics. I am glad that you liked Ohr, and I am sure that you will enjoy Shaarie equally well. Its funny how some people would sooner be leave Judaism that be caught dead in a Shul that they view as too frum and thus close minded, or not frum enough and thus prust or whathaveyou. I believe that the Sharei/Ohr rift can be summed up in one word, Childish (by the way, this word can be used to describe all the currents rifts in the Jewish world in which there is anymosity, Ashkenaz/Sfardi, Modern/Yeshivish, Lubvitch/non-lubavitch., etc)Why is childish the correct description? B/c children lack the ability to see things from another’s perspective. MO people need to accept the fact that there is a slight possibility that maybe one person exists out there that is frummer than they are, and that that frummer person would rather daven at a shul with an existent mechitza. Yeshivish people need to realize that not everybody needs to be as frum as they are, and that just b/c someone does not where a black hat it does not mean that that person is going to burn in hell. I dare say it could actually be the opposite, maybe the Frummy is going to burn for being so judgmental?
That’s my Rant
Hey thanks for your rant and yes I was able to figure out the politics within two shabbosim and no I never buy into politics. EVERY community has politics and the smaller and more out of town it is- seems like it gets worse.
Every community thinks their politics is the worst- its just something that comes with Jews- if you don’t buy into it then it doesn’t effect you- until you have to put your kids in one of the few schools here then of course you have to deal a little bit.
I just met someone from Shaarey staying at my neighbor who is the old Rabbi of that shul so now I can go hit it up- I daven wherever I eat.
And, I am that Breslover’s father! Funny stuff, please keep it up.
Shalom,
Y.B.
i spent a year and a helf in the chafetz chaim there, and i just would like to say that rabbi rodin (who teaches in the yeshiva all morning in addition to his crazy schedule) is probably the nicest and sweetest man i have ever met, and he doesnt get nearly enough credit for what he does.
Rabbi Rodin is da man – he rocks!!!
Anonymous Jew, it was slightly more complicated, not-so-”childish”.
Previously, Rabbis, in Akiba, among other places, were Lakewood/NIRC/Telz. Now YU people are invited, etc., etc.
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