Chabad of East Lakeview

Gabriella and Matt’s Engagement

Almoog

Walked to Chabad of East Lakeview.  I found out that Matt proposed to Gabriella.  I joined with Paul to sponsor the Kiddush in honor of the engagement.  They are set to get married on or around Lag B’omer.  I did the Haftorah and Musaf.  I am always self-conscious because I have a flat voice. At the Kiddush the Rabbi said that I should start speaking.  I wished the new couple a joyful marriage.  I told Gabriella that I just want to let you know, in case you did not realize, that Matt is stubborn.  Everyone laughed.  I then opened the floor.  Peggy spoke about the actual engagement proposal.  Matt could not get it out completely, and Gabrialla had to put words in his mouth.  The first time in Matt’s life that he was at a loss for words.  The engagement happened on March 21st, which is the spring equinox.  There is a Chicagohenge effect looking down Madison Avenue at the Bean: https://secretchicago.com/chicagohenge/ ..  People nearby clapped.  Marcel was not at the Koddush, so I asked if anyone could channel him, and our incomparable Ray stepped up.  He said that we are having  an “uplifted” celebration.  The Kiddush was “uplifted” because it was moved upstairs to the second floor  from the basement because of Pesach.  Perfect, something that Marcel would say.  Matt said a few words thanking everyone. The Rabbi ended off with very nice words of Mazel Tov.  The food was excellent.  Wraps from Sandwich Club and their homemade potato chips and, as always, a great Pesach-style Cholent.

The Shiur was okay. I really did not have good Torah.  I spoke about when the 7-day dedication of the Mishkan started. I quoted Rashi who said that it started on the 23rd of Adar which is the 8th day on the first of the new month of Nissan.  Rashi says that there is no chronological order in the Torah.  The Mizrachi brings down the Sifrei, who says the 7-day training period known as the 7 days of dedication started on the first of Nissan and the eighth day was the 8th day of Nisan and this Parsha is in chronological order.  This is dependent on who the impure people were who could not bring the Korban Pesach on the 14th of Nissan.  Either the people who carried the bones of Yoseph or they were Eliezer and Itamar, Aaron’s youngest two sons who carried out the dead bodies of Nadav and Avihu. The Mizrachi said the 8 days of dedication depend on the Taniam’s disagreement over who was impure.   I was unclear.  I lost the Shiur.  We had a nice hour-long discussion after that, but I don’t remember what it was about.

Almoog:

I put in sliding glass doors in my lanai in Florida.  I asked the owner of the firm, Gil, if they did window treatments and he said no but referred me to Almoog. I called Almoog and we decided that he will come when we get back to Florida on April 16th.  I asked him what Almoog is all about and he said that it is a modern Israeli name and means “coral” as in a coral reef.  The name is from Tanach.  I told him that I heard of names like Moshe and Aaron, Mah Zeh Almoog?  He told me, Mitch, you are old school.  His name is modern.

From AI:

Almog (אַלְמוֹג) is a Hebrew unisex given name and surname meaning “coral”.  Primarily used in Israel, it evokes natural beauty, the sea, and is considered a modern nature-inspired name. It is also used to represent strength and resilience, sometimes associated with precious wood mentioned in the Bible, though the common modern meaning is the marine organism.

He told me that he recently had a baby.  I asked him how his business was doing, and he said it was slow.  In the meantime he had walked into a pizza store and asked for the special consisting of two slices of pizza and pop.   He was told that there is no special.  He started to say, “Okay, give me one slice.” I interjected and said, “Almoog, lunch is on me.”   I am sure that money was tight for him and although he had the extra $5 to spend on a second slice, he just couldn’t.  Better in his pocket than the store owner and he would forego the extra food.  It is a mindset of keeping your wallet closed.  I have somewhat lost that mindset and am paying the price for it, as I am living on my retirement money, which is running out quickly.