a balloontwister’s aliya saga

Well, shabbos in a new neighborhood for me:

West Bloomfield, MI.

My sister in law’s Aunt and Uncle live there so I invited myself there. The shul that was in Semi Walking distance was the Chabad house. Semi walking distance because while the shul wasnt THAT far away (3/4 mile) with the 15-20 degree weather… it SEEMED around 50 miles away.

The only scary part was, besides the ba’al koreh, was determining how “mesheich” the shul was.

What do I mean?

I heard a psak from a well respected rav in Israel how if people actually believe the rebbe t”zl Was and IS moshiach its problematic to daven there.

SO I was in shul and the rav gets up and says” Tommorrow night is the yahrzeit of the most important Jew of all time”

For a second I thought he was going to say you know who …and I was going to have to walk 10 miles back to my place…

Thank G-d the rav said Moshe Rabeinu and I was safe.

After the seudah I pulled out a tikuun to prepare for next week’s megilla reading. Rav Wineberg noticed and asked if I was a ba’al Koreh.

I told him not really, but I happen to know a few sedrahs.

big mistake.

The next morning I was asked to layn as the ba’al koreh did not show up.

I learned a very important lesson: Just because you TAUGHT someone a sedrah, doesn’t make you an expert for that sedrah.

25 minutes and 96 pesukim later I walked off sweaty and thoroughly embaressed. If Joel Motechin would have been there for that performance he would have wringed my neck.

At the kiddush I was told yasher koach by several people and I remarked how horrible it was..The response I got gave me a wake up call.

I was told. “Most of us couldn;t have done that”

The shul is mostly made up of people that are barely religious or are not religious, so anything is better than nothing and the folks WERE appreciative.

I’m glad that I at least know how to layn somewhat and I’m hoping Yoni continues to enjoy his layning classes.

With that in mind I was happy to spend shabbos in a setting that I am not accustomed to. Growing up FFB and in a shul where everyone is frum didn’t give me the perspective that I got this shabbos. Living in the “sticks” and in smaller jewish communities, you are exposed to jews from the left and right… Its no big deal defriending jews that are to the left or right of you. I tip my cap to the Winebergs and to the chabad families of West Bloomfield that are working day and night to help jews come closer to H-shem.

This morning Yudie Ballooney had a local gig in the Young Israel of Oak Park. I was supposed to teach kids and then head to a nursing home. The nursing home cancelled on us as they deemed a tax seminar was more important that balloon animals.

I know I’m shocked as well.

I did teach the kids though and had a nice time doing it. I was also invited to a bat mitzva by someone who I just met here in Detroit.hmmm… I think he just wants free balloons…..

Have a good week,

J

I apologize to those who have been looking for my blogs…and to rabbi spolter as well. Rabbi Spolter, of Oak Park wanted to know why I don’t write about detroit….

Its NOT because there is nothing to write.
Its due to comments that several people made months ago. Something along the lines of…
“I don’t want to learn about (insert name of US city) I thought this was an blog about Life in Israel.”
A valid point.
The truth is this blog was started mainly to keep in touch with friends and family. With that said, I’m going to try and blog on a more regular basis. I once thought I’d only blog if I had something interesting to say. If I would have held to that, I think I would have 3 entries.
Detroit is actually a very friendly town. This past shabbos I was waiting on the sidewalk for my shabbos host to come home from shul… trying to ward off hyperthermia….. and I was invited in to wait by a family accross the street. I dont think I would have invited someone who has a face that is blue.
I spent shabbos at Michoel Eisemann, son of Rabbi Eisemann of Ner Israel. I emailed rav eisemann as I am a listener to his podcasts on the parsha. He emailed me back and got me in touch with his son who lives in Oak PArk, the jewish suburb of Detroit. Super friendly family. I also met many from shul and have gotten several invites for upcoming shabbosim. …I guess the smaller the town… the more a stranger is noticed. Or… perhaps… people are just friendlier…
I think the best part is…LEFTOVERS.
As I was leaving Mrs. Eisemann gave me leftovers from shabbos.. Chicken and some olives.
Looks like it will be chicken every night this week…
I’ve actually been cooking these days.
Rice.
LAst night I decided to REALLY go out on a limb and I put rice IN soup…. I know…. what you’re thinking … Yudie is a gourmet chef… but really.. it wasn’t that difficult…
I also went all out last week one night. I went to a deli place and had a burger with pastrami. I can’t recall the last time I had a burger and it was actually pretty good. Not as good as the homemade vegtable rice soup / stew that I hipped up… but it was pretty good. This week with the leftovers it will be different… alot different.
usually I have oatmeal 2 times a day and rice or turkey / Tuna wrap at night. This week… oatmeal every morning and lunch and chicken at night. I think thats healthy. I have my first balloon gig in a while next week in Detroit.
Im donating my time to teach some kids and then head over to a senior center. There is a learning program in the Young Israel of Oak Park that has a session for kids on sundays… so I figured… why not…as a small gesture of thanks to welcoming me I can give a bit of my time.
There are a few families from Kollel Metzion that run the program for adults and kids and I figured a pre purim chessed program was in order.
If I can’t do it in Israel, why not in Oak Park…

Lets give a family update…
I can’t give Penina updates… She doesn’t like to be on the blog.. so you’ll have to get the lowdown from her.
Yoni started bar mitzva lessons… I’m not giving him the lessons… so he will probably sound good. He was the tamud of the week a few weeks ago and has been doing well in school. Because he was doing so well, I bought him a bat. Unfortunately…. When a batted ball meets a car window….. crunch. I don’t think Mendy Newman was ever happy to have me as a neighbor but I think we hit a new low as far as neighbor foreign relations. good thing Insurance is paying for the glass. Yoni is also traveling to the US to be at my Nephew’s Bar Mitzvah, Yehuda. He’ll be in the US for a week and a half. For Purim and for the next shabbos. I hope he doesn’t run to the consultate and ask for asylum. That would be embrarressing.
Michal has been busy swimming with Penina and has been emailing me on a regular basis. If you want to email her, She’d be happy to respond… michalakselrud@yahoo.com. We’re not sure of where her Bat Mitzva will be… or when…as My niece Miri is having hers around the same time as well. We’re trying to co ordinate the 2 simchot to minimize the travel of the mishpacha.
Moshe has been doing fine as well. He goes to the same tutor Yoni goes to and now his hebrew has been showing major improvement . He is also doing quite well on the baseball field. He is not only the youngest kid on his team, he’s the youngest in the entire league and is doing well. Despite being nervous in the onset, his confidence level has improved and does his own thing.
Tamar broke another DVD player. So I have to shlep it back to best buy and get it fixed…. Some things never change. just bring her a Dora the explorer toy of some kind… and she’s your friend for life. I hate buying into these fads…
“Excuse me, where is the Dora The Explorer Floating Bathtub set”
I think you cross over to the Nerdy dad mode when you start asking for dolls and the like at Target and Toys r us.
Not a great moment.
Choosing a bat for your kid.
No problem.
Picking up marbles or stationary.
No problem.
Getting flowers.
No problem.
But having to ask for Dora the Explorer excessories…hmmm… something emasculating about that..
Well, I’m going to get back to work…. and then leave… SHHhh….
Jay

Hello. Been a few weeks… sorry about that.
New work in a new town..
no excuses though.
Ever been to Detroit? VERY.. VEry..cold..
Its also always cloudy…. This week we had 20 minutes of sun… I think it was monday at 4pm…. it was beautiful.
I finally have a office with a window…. unfortunately… all I see is Snow…and clouds… and construction.
I CAN tell you that the people are friendlier than other places I;ve been to recently.
First time in shul people came over to say hi… etc. I’m actually spending shabbos with someone I just met a week ago.
Detroit for those taking score, has 2 towns where the bulk of the jewish people live.
Oak Park and Southfield.
A Neighbor of mine from ISrael have parents in southfield so I was there for a shabbos already. that community has 1 shul, the young israel while Oak Park, where I’ll be this shabbos has around 12 shuls.
The communities are approx. 20 minutes or so from the city of Detroit.
I’m staying in Troy which is around 30 minutes out of detroit and 15 minutes from the jewish communities.
One interesting by bypoduct of being on the road is getting to meet people and relatives.
Last week I met for the first time cousins of mine that live in Oak Park. There is the instant connection even though we’ve never met and our ages are around 40 years apart. We do have similar eating tendencies.
Whole wheat challa.
Not big fans of chicken soup and
alot of mustard.
Although when I dipped a 1/2 sour pickle in the deli batampte mustard I DID get a weird look.
That night, last Sat. night I flew down to Miami to run in my first 1/2 marathon. If my company pays for travel… I’m going to.
I actually DID finish it… you can see my results on ingmiamimarathon.com just enter my last name or bib number 13470 I think…
I went to run but also to see my aunt who lives in Miami.
Besides seeing her I got to see my uncle Joe who I don’t think I met more than 1 time in my life. SO I got to accomplish alot in a day and a half.
The only problem I’m having is with my medal.
Do I still wear it? How do I wear it without getting soap and shampoo on it in the shower? Any ideas?
Actually, I did see several jewish people run… on behalf of chai lifeline.
Not a small zach… 13 miles for the half is a good 2 hours and change committment.
Its also not easy to run in a skirt… er…. um… someone told me that….
Well, I’m going to get back to work… and listen to dvar torahs on my ipod.

see ya
J