People Are Strange

This morning I was finishing davening at the Kotel when this 20-something-Breslovish-post-Carlebachian-refugefromthesixties-ish guy with long red payis passed by. He was about to start davening and was singing the Disney tune, "It's a Small World", but he substituted the word 'strange' for 'small'.

"It's a strange world after all, it's a strange world after all...."

Strange indeed.

Non-Shiny Black Shoe Music Alert

Yosef Karduner will be performing in the Metro area three times in the next few days.

On motsai Shabbos he will be playing at Congregation Beth Abraham in Teaneck, NJ at 9:00 p.m. Nochie Krohn will be opening.

On Sunday night, October 17th, at 7 p.m. he will be playing at Congregation Ahavas Yitzchak (Rabbi Rudinsky's shul), 73 Forshay Rd. in Monsey. (Adults $20; Students $15
For more information, please call (845)548-2357.)

On Monday evening at 7:30 p.m. he will be participating in the hilula commemorating the yahrtzeit of R. Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, HYD, the holy Rebbe of Piazcezna and the author of the seforim Chovas Hatalmidim and Aish Kodesh. The hilula, sponsored by Kehilas Aish Kodesh, will take place on Monday evening, October 18th at 7:30 at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, Spruce Street and Broadway in Lawrence.

The hilula will feature divrei Torah from Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlit'a, Morah D'asrah of Aish Kodesh and the music of Yosef Karduner. Suggested donation: $10 at the door.

If you've never had a chance to hear Yosef Karduner, you should make every effort to get to one of these gigs. He is the tikkun for all the shiny shoe music in the world.

Warning: All the gigs are separate seating. Don't let that stop you. You are going to want to listen to the music anyway, not talk to a date.

A Mother's Nightmare

I received the following email last night in connection with my Fosterboy blog:

Not all children in foster care need to be
there. Some are actually taken from loving, competent and
caring birth parents by overzelous and cold blooded
"child protective" agencies. I am one of these
parents.

Last December, my husband was falsely accused of
hitting my older son. As a result, a case worker,
along w/ my local police came to my home and forcibly
wrested my babies from us.

The rest of the email, and my comments, are here.

MoC's Pre-Ride...

...Self-Assessment

Foster Boy Gets Separated...

....From his brother

Foster Boy Wants to Come Back...

...For Shabbos

MoC Needs Your Help!!!!

My bike is dis-assembled and packed and I'm ready to go. I will be leaving for Israel in almost exactly one week and I'll be on the road starting in the Negev and ending in Jerusalem (300 miles altogether) for 5 days starting October 24th. I'm so excited I couldn't sleep last night.

Only one problem. I'm getting close but I still haven't reached my goal of raising $10,000 for Alyn Hospital, Israel's only pediatric rehab hospital and the organizer of the bike tour.

So, if anyone wants to help out the old MO'ster, click here and sponsor me. If you know who I am (which is just about the gantzer velt) use my name in the sponsor box. If you don't, just put in MoChassid and they will know where to allocate it.

Please note that the riders pay their own ways, many of the goods and services used during the bike tour are donated, and most of the work organizing the tour is done by unpaid volunteers. Consequently, a very high percentage of every dollar you give goes straight to the children of Alyn.

MoC and his creaky old bones thank you from the bottom of his heart.

Foster Boy To MoC:

"You don't have so much hair"

Shlomo Katz Hakohen...

...Is a Chasan. Mazel Tov to Shlomo and Naomi.

I Shall Return

I have decided to return to posting on this blog upon my return from Artzeinu Hakedosha in early November.

In the meantime, I will continue to write extensively about fosterboy and his relationship with our family. I will also post about the final stages of my training for my 5 day bike tour in Israel.

When I return, I will be posting much less frequently than in the past. I do not expect to write about Jewish music anymore since the whole business frustrates me too much and, in any event, it is already well covered by some of my blogging chaverim.

More importantly, I will no longer respond to comments that are not relevant to a particular post. I don't have the time nor the patience for that narishkeit.

I am grateful to those of you who have commented, blogged or emailed about my temporary shutdown of this site and to the people in my neighborhood who have encouraged me to continue.

Finally, I am very grateful to those of you who have visited my fosterboy blog and especially to those of you who have linked, emailed and commented with such kind words. It is a labor of love and, I hope, a peek into a world that many don't even know exists within the Jewish community.

Saying No...

To OHEL

MoC is Offically Ready

For the Bike Tour in Israel

Weekend Report

Fosterboy in the shadow of the son.

Fosterboy in The Hospital Part III

The second time.