Archive for March, 2007

The Poem I wrote:

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

 

 

When everyone walked in, they found a little matchbox by their place with the chosson and kallahs pictures on one side and the words: Leba and Mordehai – What a Match! on the other. This is the poem that accompanied it.

Match poem
For Leba and Mordechai Katz’s Sheva Brachos: March 25, 2007

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match
Find me a find, catch me a catch –
But these souvenirs that you’ll take home and let burn,
Are not just for shtick, there’s a message to learn.

Matches and fires can ignite and inspire
The spark that’s within us as we watch the flames go higher.
And there are so many uses we Jews have for fire.

Although matches are made up in Heaven, that’s true;
Down on earth, there are also mitzvos that we need matches to do
Let’s try to use our minds and think up a few. 

There’s the menorah on Chanukah that we light for eight nights
And the havdalah candle after shabbos, when three stars are in sight.

We’ll be striking two matches when next week rolls around,
- As we search for, and than burn the chometz that we’ve found.

And of course, one of the three special mitzvos, given to us bnos.
This past Friday night, Leba lit her very first Shabbos neiros.
So we’re seeing how fire and matches are used for mitzvos.

But then – there’s the other type of match that’s a mitzvah as well.
And that’s making matches in klal yisrael.

Boruch Hashem, our families have had many matches made recently.
And have share many simchas together so happily –
And while I’d like to believe that I started this trend
The important thing to make certain is that the trend has no end.

It’s no fun to be matchless, I can attest,
So let’s think of shidduchim, and try our very best.
To help the singles we know in their marriage quests.

And just as this shidduch resulted from another –
Let’s keep an eye out for our single sisters and brothers.
Not to mention all of their worried Jewish mothers!

I almost forgot – a shalom bayis tip I know,
My father used to give us this advice, years ago. 

Leba – if you ever find your house to be in disarray
You have no time to clean, its late in the day,
And Mordechai will be home soon to see it – oy vey!
Take a deep breath, tell yourself it’s OK,
And than strike up a match – it’ll all go away!To our chosson and kallah, the match of the night
May the flame of torah keep forever burning bright,
May your passion for mitzvos keep burning inside
May your faces keep glowing with nachas and pride.

 May you never have ‘aish’, in the home you’ll create
As the schenia will rest between you and your mate.

May you continue to inspire us, your family and friends.
With a warmth and a simcha that never will end.

May you keep giving all of us ‘much’ nachas and ha’naah
And keep that match-ik going – ad meah v’esrim shana.

Mazel Tov!!! 

(BTW, Adiel brought the house down too. I think together we make a good team)

Posted in Stam | 6 Comments »

Sheva Brachos for Leba Katz (Price)

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

I was asked to speak at the sheva brachos for Leba and Mordechai Katz this last sunday night. Leba (Price) is a cousin of Esthers. So here is what i said – which turned out better than i thought:

Being that tonight is the 9th month anniversary of my wedding, i would qualify myself as a marraige veteran and an expert in shalom bayis.

so i would like to the give the chosson and kallah a few tips as a stepping stone into their marraige.

There is a difference of opinion how to place the mezuzah on the door post. One person holds that it should be placed vertically and the other holds that it be placed horizontally. To resolve this difference we do something that is never done in halacha. We split the difference between these two positions, and place the mezuzah on a slant.

The reason for this is that the mezuzah is the first thing that one sees when he comes into the house, and should teach us all an important lesson.

If you think about the solution that was given to the machlokes in halachah, we don’t find that either party got what they wanted – they both had to settle for a new solution in which both parties we’re ok with. sometimes people misunderstand ‘compromise’ and they think they have to give up something they want so that the other party will be happy. thats not true. compromise is being open to new solutions in which both parties win. shalom bayis is win-win solutions.

an example of this:
when esther and i married, the summer went very quickly into the winter. and shabbosim get early and people make an effort to have chulent later in the evening. so one time, esther and i had a ‘discussion’ about having chulent friday night. i felt that there are many halachos of taking chulent friday night – and would put our chulent at risk. esther wanted chulent, and felt that i wasnt validating her feelings and that im a meanie for not letting er have it. so we came to a win-win shalom bayis solution – we got another mini-crockpot from which she can have her chulent without putting the other chulent at risk. and now we call it shalom bayis chulent.

so i put together the MANLY MACHO MAN’S LIST OF TRICKS for shalom bayis. It’s a list of of very very practical ideas to increase the shalom bayis – from one man to another.

IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

memorize the addresses and phone numbers of every florist in the area. flowers help immensely when your have shalom bayis issues.

there is nothing about flowers which say “im thinking of you”, “i love you” or “i’m sorry”. and it makes absolutely positively no sense – which is probably why it works for women.

IN THE KITCHEN

stay out of it.

if she makes you do the dishes, break one and you’ll never have to do it again. if you do, break another until she gets the hint.

IN THE BATHROOM

remember the machlokes with the mezuzah? unfortunately, that can’t be done with the seat.

we lift the seat as a courtesy, if they have a problem putting it down, just don’t make the effort to lift it up.

IN THE BEDROOM

buy a hamper. she’ll appreciate doing your laundry from one clothing source instead of running around the room picking your things up.

IN THE CAR

buy a GPS. you’ll be amazed at how valuable this is. it’s avoids the tension of getting lost or fumblings with maps. and on top of that, you’ll look like you’re technologically advanced and will never have to succumb to asking for directions.

besides, most GPS devices come with the voice of a woman who you won’t mind telling you what to do.

also – buy a blindfold – for when SHE is driving.

follow these tips and tricks from the MANLY MACHO MAN’S LIST OF TRICKS and i assure that you’ll be zoche to build a shalom bayis neeman biyisroel.

mazel tov!

BTW – Esther wrote up an amazing poem (which she read to everyone) on the theme of the evening – matches! Maybe i’ll bug her to post it here online.

woo hoo!

Posted in Shtark | 2 Comments »

Updates coming soon

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

Adiel here. I’ve been so busy trying to catch up with customers that I havent had the time to sit down and write any updates. Stay tuned…

Posted in Stam | 1 Comment »

Hi From Florida!!

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

Who:
Esther Lejbovitz, reporting live

When:

Sunday Morning, 9:45 AM….Check that – 10:45 AM (Why does daylight saving’s time have to come out during our trip?)

Where: Somewhere on the Florida Turnpike going North, just passed exit 93 to

Lake Worth if that helps anyone.

Destination: Orlando, Florida (or is it Kissimmee?)

Place of report: Our beautiful, brand new Dodge Avenger, surrounded by 2 bottles of water, an apple, sesame pretzels, and a plethora of electronic devices: Laptop and adapter, 2 cellphones and charger, GPS and charger and CVS disposable digital camera.

ANYWAY: Hi y’all, just wanted to catch you up on the last few wonderful days that we spent here in sunny Miami. We left Thursday morning, S was nice enough to drive us to JFK airport. It was freezing in NY, but we only took sweaters cuz we knew we would certainly not be needing winter coats in Florida. Our flight was to
Ft. Lauderdale, where I had a rental car ready (amazingly it costed $120 less for the week when I booked it an hour later than originally planned). There were a number of frum people on our flight, including a group of lubabs who looked like they were having a lot of fun. Interestingly,they seemed to be talking to total strangers and I thought ‘Hey, they’re starting Kiruv already.’ The flight was uneventful. Due to my brilliant planning, we had the whole row to ourselves with the middle seat available. We arrived and got our luggage and saw the lubabs again and one guy struck me cuz he was tall and wearing a non-typical jacket with Nike sneakers, not typical for chabad style. Plus he was talking to a bulky, tattooed guy who had met him at the airport. More kiruv? I mentioned, jokingly to Adiel that maybe it was Matisyahu. First he’s like no way, then he’s like maybe.

Anyway, we went to Dollar even though it was early. We stepped outside into the beautiful Florida weather and immediately got hit with the warmth and beauty of the Sunshine State. Palm trees everywhere, blue skies and gorgeous weather. At the rental car place, the guy convinced us to add the partial insurance (Adiel calls it vacation insurance cuz if anything would happen to the car, it would ruin our vacation), and he gave us a free additional driver and an upgrade to a very LEET Doge Avenger.So we got the car, Adiel plugged in the handy-dandy GPS system and we were at the S’s in Miami Beach in no time! They live on the 8th floor in an apartment building that has mainly frum people and has beautiful views. Their kids are adorable and they went out of their way to make us comfortable. Thursday, we went to the Gourmet Carrot to eat dinner, an interesting and weird vegetarian place. Then we drove around Indian Creek Road and Collins Avenue enjoying the water and beautiful homes and hotels.

Friday
On the advice of long time Floridian, R, we drove to Bill Baggs state park Friday morning. The place is STUNNING!!! It’s a park right by the ocean, in Florida’s uppermost Key, Key Biscayne. Just beautiful trees, pleasant ocean breezes, empty beaches, just gorgeous. We got there in time for the 10:00 showing of a lighthouse. Very cool and awesome. A little dizzying getting up there, cuz you have to go around and around, but once you reach the top it is well worth it.  We learned all about the history of the lighthouse and how important it was to our nation and saw the house the lighthouse guy lived in. Then, we got drinks on a cool and breezy deck and chilled for a little bit. We saw two dogs who each had three legs, they lost it in an accident, but still can run!! Good mussar haskel. Then, we rented a ‘junior limo’ bike where we both had to pedal. It had a canopy and a basket in the front, very romantic. It was a fun ride, but hard work too! It was an amazing morning, with the one downside – I fell on the beach and broke the camera L. I was very sad about it but Adiel convinced me  to just enjoy the moment and not to let it bother me. So I tried to do that and ended up having a wonderful time despite. And we’ll just have to use our imagination when we want to remember things.  We went out to eat in ‘Sara’s’ which was a shlep to get to in North Miami Beach, but well worth it. The menu was literally the size of a short story, and they offered every type of food, all different fake meats, and Mexican, Chinese, Italian, and good ol’ American cuisine. Once we sat down, we noticed the guy from our flight! And he was with the tattooed guy along with a bunch of other non-frum Jews. Really awesme kiruv buddy. This time, Adiel was convinced it was Matisyahu, and asked the owner, who confirmed what we thought. Pretty freakin’ cool! Too bad, we didn’t go over to him and shmooze. Maybe he’ll be on our flight back. J.Anyway, later, Adiel went swimming on the roof and I hung out there for a little. It’s cool, the building has it’s own pool and noone takes advantage. Actually, almost all houses there have their own big pools, I even noticed on the way down from the plane, almost all houses have a big square of blue in the back. So after, I went to CVS and bought the digital disposable camera till we get another real one. Then we got ready for shabbos.

Shabbos  It’s amazing that with yiddishkeit, you aren’t bound by location. You can be in one of the world’s most popular vacation spots, and can keep the same mitzvos and learn the same Torah and daven and be the same frum person you were in Far Rockaway, NY. We had a beautiful, spiritual, shabbosdik, inspiring Shabbos down in MB, just with beautiful weather and palm trees in the background. Friday night, we ate with the S’s and their neighbors, the N’s. Nice, chilled out, good food (though we were still somewhat full from lunch). Then, we got an early nights sleep, we were exhausted!!Shabbos morning, I actually made it to shul, Ohr Chaim which is a few feet away from the apartment. Nice, geshmak minyan, everyone is tanned, Adiel got hagbah, big Kiddush, lots of people coming over to say hi. Nice experience. We had lunch at R‘s family, the ‘G’s. The last time I had seen them was at R’s wedding when I flew down, 4 ½ years ago. Now, they have a few more daughters and sons-in laws and grandkids, but less kids at home. Still the meal was wonderful and full of Torah, zemiros and good food. After that, we walked back, admiring the homes and community of Miami Beach. Then, we shlepped back up to 8 (how do they do this every week?!) and took our Shabbos naps.  Before we knew it, shabbos was over and it was time for us to leave. We got some pizza and started our journey upwards (though not really) on Motzai Shabbos. All in all, a great and wonderful time was had in the city of Miami and Miami Beach. Thanks so much to the S’s for their kind hospitality, we hope to make it down there again soon!Sunday

We woke up at 7 which was really at 8, and started to get our act together for the journey upwards. And that is where we stand now. We are currently about 20 minutes from the city of ‘Yeehaw’ which is the only rest stop between Pt. St. Lucie and Kissimme/Orlando. We are running low on gas and hope to make it to the Indian territory OK.

J. We are not 100% of the itinerary for the rest of the week, but hope to do a few of the following; Disney (either MGM or Epcot), Universal Studios, Sea World. Today, we might just do a short thing cuz we are only going to arrive in the afternoon. I picked up a whole bunch of pamphlet and brouchers at a rest stop and may do a water thing that we see on their. We also want to buy some  food and a digital camera. If we find kosher meat, we might do a barbecue for one supper. Otherwise, we’ll have to be a little creative. I also brought some vacuum-packed, microwaveable meals for a back up. Stay tuned!!

Posted in Stam | 9 Comments »

We’ll be MIA

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Hm.

Missing In Action

 or

MIAmi?

Posted in Stam | 4 Comments »

Can you believe it’s been a year already?!

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

Happy Purim all!!

Here’s what our shalach manos poem said:

An Ode to Purim

‘Twas this ‘joy’ful day of Purim,

Only one year ago.

That the two of us celebrated with faces aglow.

We were newly engaged,  Full of simcha and pride,

And the phone lines were ‘ring’ing from Queens to the Lower East Side. 

So we take this ‘super’-special day

And ask our family and friends

To join us in our simcha as we celebrate again.  

May we share in only good times And make lots more ‘l’chaim’s!

And celebrate Purim (and our engagement anniversary),next year, in Yerushalayim!    us.jpg 

Adiel and Esther (Price) Lejbovitz

 We put in joyva bar, happy face cookie, lchaim grape juice, candy ring and super snacks. The meal for 7 will be in our house plus another family of 6 stopping in at the end!! Aaahh!! Let’s get started!! Happy Purim everyone!!

Posted in Stam | 2 Comments »