Week of June 21, 2026

Bracha and Isaac Perlstein Wedding – June 21st

Chavie and Heshie Hirth Wedding – June 23, 2026

Chanie and Mayer Chase Wedding – June 25, 2026

Sunday – June 21, 2026

Got up at 4:00 AM for our 6:00 AM flight to Newark.  Sholom drove us. We have three weddings this week.  Picked up our car.  Mayer got us a rental.  It was a Dodge Durango. Very comfortable.  Made it to Lakewood at about 12:30 PM.  Went to Yankie and Gittie Chase’s house.  Mayer Chase took me shopping to buy two 17.5 shirts, a pair of pants, Yarmulkas, and the book Cullin Illuminated by Lachs. The Yarmulkes I purchased are terylene and very comfortable.  I normally wear suede Yarmulkes.  Also took an impromptu tour of the South part of Lakewood and saw Mayer’s house in Toms River.

At 5:00 PM we drove to the Bracha and Isaac Perlstein wedding. It was at Bell Works. https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/  Beautiful wedding.  Great to see my brother Pesach.  They gave out Yarmulkas that are also terylene and have been wearing them ever since.

Monday – June 22, 2026

Got up at 7:00 AM to listen to Rabbi Ben Sugerman’s Daf Yomi Shiur.  Sat outside in the backyard,  very comfortable. Yankie took me somewhere for Schachris.  Afterwards, he took me to the Columbus Avenue Shul, where Ephreim Chase davens every Shabbos.  I met Aaron Levitansky’s son, Sroy Levitansky. They are a big Chicago family.  Aaron Levitansky was the Rabbi who married my daughter, Rivkie, to Mordy.  I did not realize when I went over to talk to him I did not know that he is a cousin to Mordy Siegal. As we talked, we put the relationship together.  He works for Lakewood Yeshiva, is an asken , and is a good friend with Aaron Kotler, former CEO of Lakewood Yeshiva.  He confirmed that Aaron Kotler is a good friend of Rabbi Efraim Godberg, senior rabbi of BRS.  Aaron Kotler is a big supporter of the Yeshiva of South Florida and advised on its opening.  I was instrumental in the founding of the Yeshiva.  I asked him if Aaron Kotler was the fourth $1M donation to the BRS expansion, but he did not think so.

Yankie was able to work from home so we spoke and ate lunch together.  For supper, Yankie barbecued hamburgers.  I also had the Chase leftovers from Shabbos. 

Dovie came over at 10:15 PM to give haircuts.

At the Columbus Shul, I saw this dedication from Michael Bauman.  I know Michael Bauman.  About 8 years ago, I made a customer call to LTC, his company, when Sholom Saltz got married.  I got the bank to pay for my flight and car rental because of this customer call.  Michael Bauman ran LTC, a company that ran the receivable and payable departments for nursing homes across the country.  The Shul is dedicated to Leah, the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Tzvi Strasser. She died in Auschwitz when, tragically, the Nazis killed close to 500,000 Hungarian Jews after Pesach 1944.  I called Michael Bauman, who is a great-grandson and told him the following story I heard from Chazzen Wilhelm Silber. His Hebrew name is Ephraim Fishel.  He grew up in Debrecen, Hungary.  As a kid Chazzen Silber would go right before Shabbos to take Rabbi Shlomo Strasser to Shul.  Rabbi Strasser smoked a long pipe. He put it out and they walked to Shul.  One Friday afternoon, Rabbi Strasser turns to Chazzen Silber and says, “Fishel, I heard that you ate Chazir -pig.”  Chazzen Silber had a puzzled look on his face.  Rabbi Shlomo Strasser continued and said, “I heard that you went to the Agudists (to a Shabbos youth group).” The Hungarian Chassidim, starting with the Munkatcher, hated the Zionists.  Surprisingly, they also hated Agudah whom they felt was too zionist.  I found out that Rabbi Shlomo Strasser left Hungary on Kastner’s train.  https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-kasztner-controversy/

Tuesday – June 23, 2026

Davened by Abadi down the street from Yankie.  Met Lax from LA.  He has a furniture business in Lakewood.  We talked about my brother, Arele, and about LA.  Serka walked with Lisa, and I followed them.  Sat and learned Daf Yomi.  Went to Bingo and I was not sure if I should make a “Sheciaynu”.  

Mayer took me to see Rabbi Mordechai Gifter’s son. We had a great conversation. Rabbi Gifter is working on publishing his father’s Torah.

Went to the Hirth – Shenker wedding at 6:30. Beautiful wedding. 

Kallah

Kalleh and her mother Chavie Hirth.

Lisa Glenner, Gittie Chase, Serka Morgenstern, and Aviva Weinschneider

Myself, Lisa Glenner, Altie Beer, my aunt, and Serka Morgenstern

From East Lakeview to Lakewood.  David Winner and I. At the dessert buffet, I went over to this  man and said that I know you and I think I have met you at all the Hirth weddings.  He said that he does not know the Hirth family but he knows me from Chabad of East Lakeview. He davens there and I did not recognize him.  He is David Winner.

 Rabbi Asher Brander read the Kesuba.  I met him in 1990.  He was Rabbi of Westwood Kehilla, a Baal Tshuva Shul.  He left the Shul and started the Link Kollel of LA.  His partner Eli Stern was there and I remember him from the 1990s.  I told Rabbi Brander that I loved the Shabbos when Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz (Schwartzie) was the scholar in residence.  Schwartzie died in 2021 and he made thousands of Baalie Tshuva.  He was a magnetic person.

 Left the wedding at 11:15 PM and because it was pitch black, went down the wrong street.  It was an $86 ticket.

Wednesday – June 24, 2026

Got up at 7:00 AM and listened to Rabbi Sugerman.  At 8:00 AM, went to Abadi’s Shul for Shachris.  

At noon drove to New York to pick up my daughter, Chani Morgenstern.  Long drive.  Walked in Central Park and had dinner at Noi Due Cafe on Columbus between 82nd and 83rd. I had eggplant parmesan and it was good.  Left for Lakewood at 8:10 PM. Traffic was impossible, and I arrived in Lakewood at 12:30 PM

Chani, I, and my wife.

Thursday – June 25, 2026

Got up at 7:00 AM and listened to Rabbi Sugerman.  Went to Shachris at Abadi’s shul.  I made the mistake of talking to Michael.  He hates Lubavitch with a deep-seated hatred.  The mouth he opened was horrific.  Luckily, I did not talk about YU.  Is this the underbelly of Lakewood, or is it just one person?  What are their newspapers teaching? Sinas Chinom – baseless hatred?.

Regular morning. Went to Rabbi Kahanow’s shul for mIncha.  His son Uri Kahanow built it for him. I had to tell Rabbi Kahanow how much I love his son and how much I appreciate the Yashrus in the way he runs his business.  Uri Kahanow is principal of TRYKO Partners.  They were my customers at MB Financial, and they ran a professional operation.  Financials and covenant compliance came in on time. I could trust them.  They were a Kiddush Hashem.  I told my boss and she agreed that they were my only customers that I would lend them non-recourse.

Went to Bingo and I was not sure if I should make a “Sheciaynu,” as it is a Kosher Costco.

I then drove to Mayer’s house and Serka toured his house.  Mayer then took me to see Rabbi Zalman Gifter, Rabbi Mordechai Gifter’s son. Rabbi Mordechai Gifter was the Rosh Yeshiva in Telz.  We had a wonderful conversation. Rabbi Zalman Gifter is working on publishing his father’s Torah.  His mother is still alive at over 100 years old and lives by Rabbi Zalman Gifter.  Rabbi Mordechai Gifter acknowledged that his knowledge of Torah came from Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik, the father of Reb Aaron Soloveichik and Rosh Yeshiva of YU.  Reb Moshe Soloveichik (1879 – 1041) is the son of Reb Chaim Soloveichik, known as Reb Chaim Brisker.  When Rabbi Mordechai Gifter was asked what did you get from Telz, Rabbi Mordechai Gifter responded, “Yiras Shamayim.”

Reb Moshe Soioveichik

Gifter was born in Portsmouth, Virginia to Yisrael and Matla (May) Gifter. He was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, where his father owned a grocery.^[2] He attended the Baltimore City Public Schools, at the time being known as Max, and received his religious education in after-school programs. He had a younger brother and sister, and both predeceased him.

As a young man, Gifter studied at the Rabbi Isaac Elchonon Theological Seminary in New York City, under the tutelage of Moshe Aharon Poleyeff and Moshe Soloveichik. His uncle, Samuel Saar (Yehudah Leib),^[6] was the dean of the seminary.^[3] At the time, Avigdor Miller, also a Baltimore native, was learning in RIETS. On Saar’s advice, Gifter traveled in 1932 to Lithuania on the same boat as Miller to study in the Telshe Yeshiva. Gifter was immediately accepted for admission and placed in advanced classes. He developed a strong bond with Zalman Bloch, the mashgiach ruchani (spiritual supervisor) at the yeshiva. He eventually became engaged to Bloch’s daughter. In 1939, prior to his wedding, Gifter returned home to the United States to visit his parents in Baltimore. He planned on returning to Lithuania for his wedding and to resume his studies.

When it became obvious that he would be unable to return due to the political climate of the late 1930s, Gifter arranged for his bride’s family to join him in the United States. Only his bride came; the family chose not to abandon their community in its time of greatest need.^[3] The Gifters married in Baltimore, with Mrs. Gifter’s family still in war-torn Lithuania. One of the witnesses at Gifter’s wedding was Bernard Lander, then a rabbi in Baltimore and later founder of Touro College.^[7]

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At 6:30 PM went to Mayer and Chani Chase’s kid’s wedding.

From left to right.  Mother of Chassen, Chani Chase, Kalleh Sarala Chase, Chasen, Eli Wieder, Moishe Weider, Mayer Chase

The three amigos: Moshe, Yakov, Cheskia and Binyomin.

Karen and yours truly.

Pesach and Sidney