Abba's Trip (Part 1)

Arrived in JFK on Thursday morning about 7 AM,  ran into Rabbi Riskin, helped him with his luggage, he let me use his iPhone to call Bentzy Mossberg since my TalknSave phone didn't work, (claimed there was no credit on phone - guess TalknSave forgot to pay T-Mobile), customs went through my box of Sefarim, waited with Rebbetzin Sima until Mossberg family came for her, headed to Hertz on Airtrain, found name on the board and went straight to the car, Volkswagen Jetta, thanks a lot Tzvi, davened in Flatbush at Landau's, 9:30 AM Shacharis downstairs (last minyan was at 11:00 AM), all three aliyahs of the Torah were fathers naming a daughter, I benched gomel and got galilah. Stopped by Anchie's to chat and picked up a raincoat. I asked Anchie where a good place was to buy a raincoat, and he told me he had a raincoat gmach in his office closet, leftover hefker from Landau's, found one in my size. Checked my email from Anchie's, contacted TalknSave to get my cell phone working and called Grandma Rhoda, but it was too short notice. Headed up to Riverdale to meet Dad and Grandma for lunch. Traffic was horrendous, took me over 1.25 hours even though I paid for the Battery Tunnel and Henry Hudson bridge to save time. Lunch was nice, Dad had to head back to Great Neck, I was going to head to GN later, but stayed and chatted with Grandma some more, before I knew it Dad called and said where are you, left with an hour to get to Mincha in Great Neck, bad decision, traffic on Cross Bronx eastbound was as close to a parking lot as you can imagine, major construction on Throgs Neck and Whitestone was also backed up, meanwhile the Rebbe and Tzvi called that they got in early from Chicago and were waiting at LaGuardia, I wasn't going to make Great Neck anyway, so I ended up davening Mincha in my car on the shoulder of the Grand Central Parkway westbound on route to LGA. Picked up Rebbe and drove to Flatbush. BQE westbound was empty (I think everyone on the planet was on the Cross Bronx) and we got to Flatbush in record time. Zev had dropped off his van and left the keys with Jacobs so we could have two cars while Tzvi was in town, Dinner at Jacobs, Maariv at Frankel Shul, redone since the last time I was there with Julius Kahn, moved into basement of Frankel house with Tzvi. Spent the night finished Torah Insights Parshas Breishis.

Friday morning davened at Frankel, after breakfast at Jacobs headed to Avenue J, Citibank wouldn't take RMER deposit because name on check did not match name on account, but they had a Kosher party in the bank to celebrate something or other, food was from caterer on Avenue J, found manager who was sister of student I used to teach at YMB, she said to come back on Monday with Photo IDs of RMER matching names, headed to TD Bank on corner of J and Coney for my own deposit, got a call from Gail who said she would meet me on J, made another deposit across the street at Chase for DEC, then found Gail parked on J and 13th, we drove first to Frankel so I could pick up the van, then I followed her to Tzippy's Apartment on 19th between M and L, met Azi who didn't seemed more interested in shadows on the wall then me

Aunt Gail and Azi

then followed Gail to MB to visit Grandpa, then headed up to Grandma Rhoda for lunch, spoke on phone with cousin Heshy Fass and made plans to meet on Shabbos in Flatbush, Grandma Rhoda wouldn't let me leave until I tasted her applesauce, back to Frankel to change and get ready for Shabbos

Friday night davening in Frankel shul, dinner and Tish at Jacobs, could barely keep my eyes open, Shabbos morning had plenty of time to learn Torah Temimah unil Shacharis started at 9:00 AM, didn't stay at Shul Kiddush, rather went to Frankel kiddush, I helped the Rebbetzin serve, lunch was small and quiet, too much Yiddish was being spoken, so I brought up what I though was a good question on the Parsha, why was Michael necessary to give news of child, Hashem already told Avraham exactly when Yitzchak would be born at end of Lech Lecha, not impressed with the Rabbinical attempts, I think Tzvi was going in the right direction (that I also caught myself) that Rashi/Midrash says specifically "to tell the news to Sarah", still needs work why Avraham or Hashem didn't tell Sarah and we needed Michael. No time to rest before Mincha. Seudah Shlishit downstairs in Frankel shul, actually heard to men discussing Torah Insights on Lech Lecha that I had finished up the day before. Caught Havdallah at Frankel home and headed in van for South Shore reunion while Tzvi took Rebbe in Jetta to Melaveh Malka in Boro Park

Stopped first in Great Neck, since I never made it on Thursday, to pick up Rebbe's Rambam Sefarim that were in storage there since February, met Joy, headed to Motti's on Longacre, everyone else was already there and ate pizza already, nice to see everyone: Yakir, Elisha, Brian, Judah (from NJ), Motti (and Shani); Kobi was the mystery guest from YG of the Five Towns, Yakir and I stayed until very late with Motti and Shani, (glad we got together before the storm), slept back at Frankel

Sunday morning at Frankel shul, winds already picking up Sunday morning, Rebbe claims a wind gust almost knocked him over, breakfast at Jacobs, had to drop Tzvi at Airport so he could fly to Boca Raton, went to Avis and Tzvi got free upgrade from Jetta to a Jeep (and a fresh tank of gas), since I was already at LGA, went to Kew Garden Hills to visit Lisa and the kids, windy but not raining.

Racheli Sigal

Sara Sigal

Yosef Sigal

took them out for Frozen Yogurt on corner of Main and Jewel, and then went to Amazing Savings and let the kids buy any one item in the store that they wanted from Uncle Betzalel, when I got back to Flatbush spent afternoon tracking the storm and trying to figure out plans, thinking about sleeping in NJ so in case they close the Hudson River crossings we could still spend Monday in NJ, scheduled to be in Noam Academy Monday morning and Passaic Monday afternoon and evening, by the time we davened mincha/maariv and had dinner all crossings were closed, smart decision not to go to NJ, shuls in Flatbush were closed up by 7 PM, actually had one Flatbush couple come to Jacobs for appointment that night, no rain just strong winds in Flatbush. Walked back to Frankel house to sleep about 10 PM, traffic light on I and Ocean Ave already out of commission, took advantage of early night and went to bed, slept very soundly, basement well insulated from cold and noise.

stay tuned for Part 2 - Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy starting Monday October 29th