Adina Chaya Gersten

We finally have a picture of Adina Chaya Gersten to share with the Gersten Family Blog faithful

A belated Mazal Tov to Uncle Eliezer, Aunt Basheva and the whole family

Chanukah in Mitzpeh Yericho

Here is a picture from the 8th night of Chanukah right outside the house in Mitzpeh Yericho.

One way to get the kids to smile for pictures is to bribe them with chocolate coins...

Abba's Trip (Part 2)

Monday morning began with Shacharis at the Frankel Shul. Only after breakfast when I walked to Avenue J did I begin to notice the effects of the Hurricane Sandy. Trees were down blocking certain streets turning one way streets into dead ends. It was the luck of the draw. On average one or two cars per block had a tree crushing it. There was one home on I and 19th with a tree that split right through it. But Baruch Hashem Flatbush was mostly spared. Never lost electricity and relatively no damage. Only one report of 2 people who were killed walking their dog the night before by a fallen tree. The dozen or so banks on Ave J were all closed, but the half dozen bakeries were open. You could also see they sealed off the subway. It seemed there was slightly less people and cars on the street, but overall a pretty normal day. I did a little shopping on J. My usual wish list: socks, undershirts, etc. But there were some other subtle signs that something was wrong, for example 1010 WINS had no radio signal and the stock markets were closed

When I got back to the house I started checking the internet for reports. Things seemed pretty chaotic from the internet. Kind of reminds me about how people think all of Israel is a war zone from CNN. Baruch Hashem the scenes I was seeing on the web were nothing like what I saw in Flatbush. Was a little worried about Gail & David and Zeidi. Weren't sure if they were in NJ or Manhattan Beach. Couldn't get through to them on house or cell phone. Thought about driving down to Manhattan Beach but I wasn't sure if that was such a good idea. Sent them an e-mail. Baruch Hashem by Wednesday we heard they were OK. Their basement got flooded, but of the house was OK, and they were able to share Tzippi's apartment in Flatbush for a couple of days while they recovered.

All of the schools the Rebbe and I were supposed to visit ended up being closed and cancelled on Monday and Tuesday. Since we couldn't follow our schedule, the Rebbe and I just rested, caught up on learning and did some errands. Tuesday the banks were open. By Tuesday afternoon we got word that some of the bridges and tunnels had reopened including the Verrazano and Goethals, so we could theoretically keep our appointment in Elizabeth, NJ, that evening. We called Grandpa to confirm that evening. The only problem was that most of NJ had no electricity, but the at least the home we scheduled appointments at had a generator, so we decided to go for it. Based on the best intelligence from the internet and radio, we avoided the Belt and took Bay Blvd to the Verrazano. Traffic was super light. It was the best time to travel and the worst time to travel. I don't think I've ever seen the Staten Island Expressway so empty. Was making record time to Elizabeth, but as soon as we got off the Goethals we got our first taste of NJ post-Sandy. All of the traffic lights were out, but after a while you get the hang of it. Everyone was going slow and treating every intersection as a stop sign, taking turns letting people go. It was pretty orderly. The problem was we couldn't cross 1 & 9. The police had constructed a metal gate barrier. So I had no choice but to head north on 1 & 9 and try to improvise my way to the Blashkas. I knew I could take 1 & 9 around to North Avenue by the Airport, but the question was could I make that left or would it be blocked by the barrier. As we were driving we got our first glimpse 'out of control gas lines'. I couldn't understand why all of these cars were lined up in the right lane, when there was very little traffic on the other lanes of the highway. And then we passed the actual gas station. It was filled with cops and you could see the line of cars going into the gas station, and people on foot with their jerry cans mobbing the place. B"H we had plenty of gas for now, but I guess we weren't going to try to fill up in Jersey to save some money on gas. I saw a car up ahead make a U-turn through a small gap in the barriers. There was a road sign that said no U-turn, but I decided doing the same thing would be the best and maybe only way to get to Elizabeth. I figured the cops had enough on their hands to worry about me making an illegal U-turn. Looking around it did seem a little like 'martial law' or at least that regular law was suspended for the time being. So with the Rebbe's permission we made the U-turn on 1 & 9 and were able to get back to Elmora Avenue. When we pulled up to the Blashka's it was almost time for Mincha. We had davened back in Flatbush, so we only had to worry about Maariv. The minyan was at Elmora Hills since it somehow had electricity, whereas JEC didn't. Something about Elmora Hills being in Union, NJ and on a different power grid. It was hard to find parking and by the time we got there for Maariv it was just before Shemonah Esrei, and we figured out why parking was so hard, because the place was packed as the entire community was there. When we got back to the Blashka's we ate dinner by candlelight. Baruch Hashem they had a gas for cooking and there was plenty of food as usual although options were limited without electricity. If felt sort of like Friday Night dinner. The Rebbe sat at the head with two large Challahs, all the candles and the entire family ate with us. Grandpa, Bubby, Devorah, Binyamin, Shlomo, Yudi and Avi. After dinner we walked down the block at the Rakovsky's who had the generator. I was surprised more people didn't come to see the Rebbe since it was practically the only house in the area with electricity, but we had about ten appointments over the next two hours. Now it was really dangerous driving back to Flatbush, since there were no traffic lights or street lights until we got back to Brooklyn. You would think in all of this madness they would let people through without paying tolls, but it still cost us $20 in tolls round trip. B"H we made it back to Flatbush without any trouble (and in very good time I might add)

By Wednesday only one of three schools was open, and we did end up going to Yeshiva Ketana of Queens in the afternoon. On the way, to Queens we stopped off at a warehouse in Brooklyn on Ditmas Avenue to pick up the Rambam Chametz U'Matzah that were sitting there in storage for over a year. We switched from the Jeep to the van that Zevy had made available to us, mainly to conserve gas and it was also bigger to handle all the sefarim from the warehouse. At Yeshiva Ketana the principal took the Rebbe around to classroom after classroom as I got to spend some time with Yakir. After Mincha, we caught some lunch in the principal's office. The Rebbe claimed it was his first time eating a pizza bagel. He ate it with a fork and knife, but I ate mine the old fashion way. We caught Maariv in Great Neck and stored some of the Sefarim in Great Neck. We met people at the Young Israel of Holliswood that evening. We were going to have it at Yakir's house, but they had no power. His family was actually in Great Neck by his parents. The shul did have power, and one woman even came into the shul lobby to use a hair dryer. Then back to Flatbush for a late dinner. We were starting to run low on gas I the van, but gas stations in both Great Neck, Queens and Brooklyn were now either closed or mobbed.

Thursday morning we had a full day ahead of us. We switched back to the Jeep with about half a tank. We had an appointment in mid-town Manhattan at about 10:30. The good news is that they opened up the bridges and tunnels into Manhattan. The bad news was they were still only allowing in cars with three or more people. So where were the Rebbe and I going to find a third person. On Wednesday we thought about sleeping in Great Neck and taking the LIRR into midtown, but we came up with a better plan. We arranged for Uncle David to join us in the Jeep. He needed a ride into midtown anyway, and the subways were still not going into Manhattan from Brooklyn as the subway tunnels and stations were still underwater, so he would have to take the train to Downtown Brooklyn and then transfer to a shuttle bus. So it was a win-win for all of us. I went to pick up David in Manhattan Beach and as soon as I turned onto West End Avenue you could see the difference. The roads were all full of dirt, like an ocean bed, with tire tracks everywhere. Sort of like after a snow storm when the trucks plow, but brown instead of white. I parked pretty much on Gail's lawn which wasn't very green. I made a joke about how Uncle David used to get upset when I would walk on the grass instead of using the concrete walk, but now I guess he wouldn't mind if I parked on the barren spot now. They didn't think it was too funny. I spent a few minutes with Zeidi while David got ready and then we headed back up to Flatbush to pick up the Rebbe.

Uncle David advised us to take Flatbush Avenue all the way up into the Manhattan Bridge and boy was he right. Yes there was traffic, but it was moving nicely and we made it into Manhattan about 45 minutes earlier than we allotted for. On the way, we saw the madhouse by the shuttle buses on Flatbush Avenue, and the police were checking and turning away cars that did not have three passengers. It felt strange going through a checkpoint like that in the U.S. I'm used to Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint on the commute from Yerushalayim to Mitzpeh, but not into Manhattan. Lower Manhattan was even stranger. There were four police at every intersection directing traffic as there were no traffic lights. I have never seen the streets of lower Manhattan so empty. It was like being in a parade, but instead of walking we were driving our cars. When we got passed 23rd Street things looked more normal. We dropped Uncle David off, found a parking garage and headed to our appointment on the 35th floor. The city sure looked different from 35 flights up. The check the Rebbe got was certainly worth the trip as it ended up paying for just about the entire trip. We went back to Flatbush for lunch, packed up our stuff for the weekend and loaded the car. Our next stop was Newark Airport, we didn't have a flight, but we figured the easiest way to get gas was to just exchange our rental car – and we were right. They charged us a lot extra for the gas, but it was much better than the alternatives out there. We saw that the gas station in the airport was reserved for airport employees only. Saba also told me that he was able to fill up at a gas station set aside for doctors and emergency vehicles, but they had no gas stations designated for Rebbes so we did what we had to do. With our new green Subaru Forester and a full tank of gas, we were off to Teaneck to meet with the Rebbe's lawyer. I was hoping to visit Dina at her inlaws while I was there, but she was leaving Jersey as we were arriving. Teaneck and Englewood was as bad if not worse than Elizabeth. No street lights, no traffic lights, and a lot of blocked streets from downed trees, lots of flares and police directing traffic. As luck would have it the lawyer's house also had power, the only one on the block and his house was like the salvation army for the neighborhood. People were coming in to eat dinner, give their kids a bath, etc. Next we drove to Passaic, which mostly had electricity and some working traffic lights where after a quick dinner at the Grosses we headed to the shul where the Rebbe would give the Parsha shiur, followed by Maariv. The local Kosher supermarket had no power so much of the food was being sold out of the shul. We slept in Passaic, although I didn't do much sleeping as I had to work on Torah Insights.

Friday morning we took the Rebbe to the Mikvah on the far side of town, and then came back for Shacharis. After a quick breakfast, we hit the road for our long drive up to Boston. First we had to stop off at a random family in Passaic that had a bunch of boxes and luggage for the Jacobs family. Baruch Hashem the Forester had just enough room. I had driven up to Waterbury with the Rebbe before, but I have never been more northeast than that in my life. The drive was exactly 4 hours with nice scenery and very little traffic. Was going about 75 on cruise control with the speed of traffic on the Interstate most of the way, with a quick stop for potato chips and a soda for the Rebbe at a gas station. The Rebbe seemed nostalgic getting back into Brookline, ignoring the GPS and telling me the directions from memory, telling me how this changed and that changed. I thought I might catch a glimpse of some of the historical sites of Boston, but it wasn't meant to be. The only 'historical sites' on this trip were shuls. Our first stop was the Beth Pinchas shul. It was after Chatzos and the Rebbe went to Mikvah while I had a look around. Next stop was Monica's house. Initially, the Rebbe asked to stay in the car and rest, but when Monica found out the Rebbe was in the car she had her son go to the car and invite him up. We schmoozed over cake and coffee. We stayed for about 20 minutes or so, one of Monica's kids started videotaping the Rebbe and I think the Rebbe got the feeling it was time to go. We drove our hosts the Cheses family in Newton and got ready for Shabbos. We were dropped off at the Adams Street shul celebrating its 100th birthday, and was reportedly the longest running continuous Minyan in the U.S. in the same location. The building had a national landmark plaque, a quaint shul inside with dark wood crafting, it could fit about 120 people, but only about 20 people came that evening. The Rebbe and I found a nice spot in the top left corner near Rabbi Weinberg. After walking back in a light rain we had dinner with the Cheses family and the Rabbi and his wife. The Tish saw another dozen or so people. I was exhausted from staying up the night before and the long drive and the Rebbe excused me after benching.

Shabbos morning davening had maybe 30 people. Both the Rebbe and I got aliyahs. After the Rebbe spoke we skipped Kiddush and walked back to our host. Lunch was with two other local families back at the Cheseses. I leined at Mincha and after Seudah Shlisheet and Maariv we got a lift back home. Melaveh Malka was in Brighton about a 10 minute drive at the Krochmals, about 20 people, bagels and lox, and we slept back in Newton

Sunday morning we packed our things and said goodbye to the Cheses family and headed to Brookline for Shacharis at Beth Pinchas. After Shacharis I introduced the Rebbe to A.J. who was finishing his Daf Yomi shiur. We went to Zalman's house for a gala breakfast with him and his kids. Next we stopped off at Baruch Minakur who was recovering from an back injury. He showed us a really cool clock. Next we saw Joe Roberts at the nursing home in Roslindale and then to the Goldman's house in Newton Center for a while. We caught Mincha at the Kollel back in Brookline, and then went to IsraelBookshop to visit the owner. We caught a late lunch on Harvard Street. I got a Rebbe a soup at Café Eilat and got myself two bagels at Kupel's bakery, and finished up the day with a meeting with Shirley and Beverly before heading back to NY. They gave us some grapes for the trip, which the Rebbe and I finished before we got to the NY State Line. We filled up somewhere in Connecticut to make sure we would have enough gas for the rest of our trip. We stopped by in Boro Park to pay a Shiva call and arrived at the Frankel Shul for Maariv around 10 PM, followed by dinner at Jacobs. We unloaded all of their stuff from Passaic and packed the rest of the Rebbe's stuff in the car. The next morning, we went back to Boro Park so the Rebbetzin could make a Shiva call before we headed to Newark airport. We stopped back at the Blashkas (who still did not have power) to pick up two suitcases of stuff for Ima and the kids. I dropped the Rebbe and Rebbetzin off at departures and returned the rental.

It was really nice to come back to Eretz Yisroel. It was warm, no electricity or gasoline shortages or other chaos. When people asked me about my trip, I kept saying, "It's good to be back in Eretz Yisroel where its safe and quiet – New York was like a war zone".