Author: mitchellsthoughtsphotosetc

A baby shower

It was a perfect fall day at Central Park’s Great Lawn. Alana arrived very early. She staked out her ground. She put blue and pink blankets six feet apart. Tzipora didn’t find out the sex of her baby.  She wanted to be surprised. Didn’t make a difference for gifts. These days most people just gave Amazon gift cards for everything.  Therefore, she could buy whatever she wanted when the kid came. She and Eran already chose names.  He was all for the surprise, too. No arguments from him.

Stacey was helping Alana.  Stacey was still seeing the guy she met a few months ago. She was happy.  The ladies assembled on the lawn. Eran and Tzipora walked by the Great Lawn as she walked by she heard the ladies call her name. She stopped so fast she almost tripped over her own two feet. She started blushing. Eran kissed her and said he’d be back later. Trizpora marched over to the center pink and blue blanket and sat down.

Alana brought out the picnic baskets. Hummus and falafel were served with fresh-squeezed juices. There were fruit platters. They even included dates, apricots and raisins.  Alana asked Anat about those.  The Bumpboxx was playing a mix of Israeli music, Joy Division, Television, the Ramones and Ultravox. All were smiling. 

Marc was perched up in a tree.  Alana is the only one who knew he was there. He was ready to be a sniper or jump down and attack Jay if the occasion arose.

The ladies told old stories about Tzipora and were so excited she was about to enter motherhood. As usual, Alana was depressed. But she smiled. She knew she’d never have a kid. She was even hoping that Anat got Jerry.  Things were looking good in that direction.

Alana knew her mission was to provide protection and be with Marc. The two of them haven’t fought each other for so long. We know how close they are. We‘ve witnessed several of their fights. But those seem to be done.  The two couldn’t be closer.

Alana went to the cooler in her car and brought out the baby-shaped ice cream cake.  She cut it up and put it on top of brownies.  She served coffee and tea. She had plenty of milk for those who took their beverages with it. 

All was still quiet. 

Jay was lurking around the Central Park Boathouse.  He was wounded from his fight with Anat, Marc and Alana. But was getting ready for an attack.

Jerry’s been living in the child services shelter for months. He’s been treated well. But it is like solitary confinement. He does play with the other kids in the center’s playroom. But he rarely gets out of the building.  Once he played in the garden area. He likes gardens.

As part of her evaluation, Anat had to take him to the park. Ann was with them.  No one was allowed to take a child out on their own.  Too much of a risk. Things were going well. Jerry ran right to the slidin’ pond. He slid up and down for what seemed like hours.

Alas, it was only 15 minutes. Anat pushed him on the swings. Ann stayed in the background.  He heard the jingling of the ice cream truck. His eyes lit up and he had the widest smile.  Anat wasn’t sure if she should buy him a cone. Of course, she did. Jerry got it all over his face and clothes. Like a good mom, Anat pulled some paper towels out of her Fendi bag and cleaned him up.

Then he screamed he had to go potty. Anat took him to the lady’s room.  She made sure he wiped and washed his hands.  While this was going on, Ann a few park benches away reading a book on her Fire. As they exited the bathroom,  all seemed well.

Jerry ran back to the swings.  As they approached he was hit with pieces of glass.  He screamed.  Anat shielded him. Ann was so nose deep into her reading she heard nothing.  Anat was scared. She was doing so well. She finally had her life in order. She was dating and people liked her.  She would stop at nothing to lose this.  But she didn’t want anyone to know of her powers.

But she had no choice. She saw Jay sprinting towards her and Jerry. She unleashed an onslaught of dates.  She followed with apricots. She held back on her mightiest weapon, the raisin.  But she knew she’d have to unleash those. 

Jay was knocked down. But he got right up. Jerry was clinging to Anat. He started screaming. He said he can’t go back to Jay. He kept yelling how daddy hits him and punched his mom. Then he said his mom wasn’t much better to him.  He started to shake. He fell down.

Anat unleashed the raisins.  People were fleeing the park.  Normally the nut jobs would be standing there with their phones snapping photos. But the fighting was so intense.  People were getting caught in the crossfire of glass and dried fruit. Blood was everywhere.

Ann was jolted out of her reading when a piece of glass hit her Fire.  She pushed it off and looked around. She saw a once full park now empty. She saw pieces of glass and dried fruit flying through the air. She saw Jerry standing by the bathroom grabbing Anat’s leg. She saw Anat waving her arms. She prayed they were okay.

She saw Jay charging at them. She jumped up.

Dust got into her eyes.  She started scratching them.  She shut momentarily shut them. 

Anat unleashed the raisins. She nailed Jay in the head.  She fired again at his shoulders.  He went down.

She prayed her texts were answered. Out of nowhere came Marc and Alana.  They were standing over Jay firing away with their weapons.

Anat saw Ann. She and Jerry ran toward them.

Alana called the police. She kicked Jay several times. Marc got down on top of Jay and started punching him.

Jerry smiled at Ann and told her how much he loved Anat. He said she was more of a mommy than his own.

Anat was ready. Nervous she was. She spent all night tossing and turning. But she wanted Jerry. She got up early and went running. Her runs always calmed her. She likes to run as early in the morning as she could.
She took a shower, fixed her hair and decided to go without makeup. She wasn’t much of a makeup girl anyway.
She logged into Skype and waited to be let in. Three people were waiting for her. She always hated this situation. She was a strong believer that a one on one interview via video or in person was all that was needed. Schedule others if need be.
They asked her several basic questions about her work and schooling. They already had her tax returns. So they need she was more than capable of taking care of Jerry financially. Heck, she could easily take care of three-four children.
They asked her about her social life.
She was honest and said she didn’t have one. She mentioned she’s dating a member of the NYPD. But mostly works, runs and keeps to herself.
The interview wrapped up. They gave her no indication of where she stood. Ann told Anat not to expect them to say anything. She put Joy Division onto iTunes and started to stretch.
Meanwhile, Alana was preparing Tzipora’s shower.
She hoped the weather would hold up. She decided she would do it on Central Park’s Great Lawn. She bought 10 beach blankets and would space them out. She would sneak some homemade wine into thermoses for the ladies.
She ordered some food and prayed that next Sunday the weather would be warm.
Alana made a few calls to the attendees. Then she went out. She noticed broken glass was all over the concrete near her residence. She kept her eyes wide open and text Marc. She even texted Anat to inquire about her interview.

The holidays ended. Marc was taking down his sukkah. He and Alana decided to live in it during Sukkot. He has a friend who lives in his year round. Things went fine. The weather was great and there were no attacks from Jay. All’s been quiet.
Anat just got an email from child’s services. They want her to do a Zoom interview to talk about her getting Jerry. She was so excited. She spoke to Ann, who briefed her on how to handle it. Anat did some Googling and felt she’d be ready. She was counting the days. She had 8 to go. She hoped things stayed quiet.

Jerry was doing as well as he could be doing in the children’s shelter. His mom was still in prison. His dad should be. But he escaped twice.

Anat figured she’d have her hair done the night before. It is amazing what the last few months have done to her. She went from being a total loner, who never bathed and started fights with people and hacked into various events to cause disruption. All of a sudden she cleaned herself up. Imagine if Jerry was never left behind in the park and she never rescued him?

Who knows what havoc she’d yield. Of course, she is still capable of total darkness. But for the time being, chose only to use it when needed and to help.
Tzipora was almost due. Alana was planning the baby shower. As usual, Alana was depressed she wasn’t married or having a baby. But she knew it wasn’t in the plan. Strange enough Alana would even plan Anat’s shower if she got Jerry. She hoped she did. She watched an amazing change.

Tzipora still liked Alana. But was faithful to soon to be dad, Eran. Jen’s baby was getting bigger. She also knew what was going on with Anat. She felt good. She knew she was mean to her in camp. But Anat was a strange bird before she got there and left even stranger.

Anat’s needed recommendations to get Jerry. Ann wrote an amazing letter. That helped seal the deal for the interview. Anat did get one from her boss. She is an amazing worker. Her office does think she’s bizarre. But she was the one you could count on. She was there Mariano. But Anat would likely enter to Bauhaus and not Metallica. Funny, Alana would, too. For all the fighting those two did they are very similar people.

Meanwhile, Jay was in Macombs Damn park training on the outdoor gym. He liked to train on the grounds of the old Yankee Stadium.

He was all alone. He was getting ready for something.

Everyone sat at Anat’s table for the holiday meal.  Marc led a great dinner service.

Naturally, pomegranates, wine and dates were served.  Dan was enjoying himself. Alana poured a lot of wine. She shared with everyone. Marc smiled as he passed around the pomegranates. Anat enjoyed her dates.

Dan knew these items were part of the High Holiday meals. But something clicked in his head when he saw the fervor in which his dinner companions were eating these delicacies.  He remembered the reports about Jay.  He knew there was a mention of these items being near him when he went down. Dan put on his detective’s cap. Then wrote it off as him being silly. Thousands of people around the globe were excited to eat and drink the same stuff.

Dinner ended.  Alana and Marc walked to Alana’s aunt. Dan hung around a little longer and went home.  The two lovebirds were waiting.  Anat was getting ready to repent and hope she’s granted Jerry after the holidays conclude.

Jay was moping around the city.  He was in pain from his earlier fight. It was three against one. Not fair. He had to get Jerry and test him. He knew Anat would try to do the same. So would her crazy friends. 

The fast day arrived. Marc and Alana sat apart from each other in their Forest Hills shul. They had no desire to be there. They ate a lot of special food to get through the fast. The recipes came from two of Marc’s camp friends. One is gone. But he always put special attention to all of his holiday meals. The other adds his own special touches to his delicacies.

The services went on. Neither of the two was hungry. They were not paying attention. But knew they had to be there. They still believed. And they wanted to. But they were moving away.  They’ve done this before.

Anat spent the day in her shul. It has been years since she attended.  Dan joined her.  She looked at him with happy eyes from the ladies’ section.

Jay was plotting.

Holiday time

Rosh Hashanah starts tonight.  For the first time in years, Anat wasn’t going to spend it alone. In fact, she was a planning a meal to be held on the roof of her building. She asked Dan to come.  She invited Alana and Marc. They were going to come and stay at Anat’s aunt’s after dinner. The two of them are still on their on and off again belief system. They questioned everything. And demanded proof for it all. 

Dan was discharged from the hospital a few days ago. He was on the mend and doing well.  He was not observant and never really did much for the holidays. So he was excited to see it done the real way.

Marc and Alana arrived. They supplied the wine, apples, pomegranates and honey.  Anat supplied the dates. She got the fish head. 

Anat was hoping for a sweet new year. After the holidays were over she’d check on her application to get Jerry. Dan arrived to the roof early. He sat down and relaxed.

Marc and Alana were heading over to Anat’s. Their eyes were wide open.  They got closer to Anat’s. As they approached her building, they were pelted with glass. Alana fired back wine. She’s been practicing. She now fired faster and with more force than water coming out of a fire hose. Marc nailed Jay with honey. Anat heard screams while she was taking the challah out of the oven. This was the first time she baked one.  She figured the only screams would be hers when she burned it. She looked out the window and saw what was going on.  She opened it and started firing apricots and raisins. She was too scared that Dan would come down from the roof to help her with the meal.  She told him just to sit there and rest.

Jay went down when he was hit in the head with a raisin.  Alana walked over and kicked him in the head several times. Marc dialed 911 and the two entered the building.

Marc was busy at work. 

Alana was roaming the streets. Why? We don’t know. Lou Reed was cranking out Marc’s Macbook. Anat went to visit Dan. He was still in the hospital. But doing much better. He expected to be discharged tomorrow.

The two chatted. She brought him a dish of dried fruit. She probably shouldn’t have. Dan heard the story of how after Jay attacked him, other officers found him knocked out. The officers didn’t see how he went down. But saw lots of raisins and pomegranates around his body. 

Jay remembers reading the report from the Narrowsburg police that mentioned similar items. But also mentioned puddles of wine. No wine this time. Dan noshed on the apricots and raisins. He was happy to see Anat. She promised him dinner when he was up to it. They blew kisses and she left.  

Anat was a little nervous about the police reports. She texted her concerns to Alana. When Alana received the text she was buying milk. 

Alana read the text. That’s the first thing she told Marc when she got to his residence.

While the three were fretting, Jay was being transferred from the local prison to a state facility. 

As the officers were escorting him to the prison bus he started firing glass at the tires. Three were blown out. The officers raised their weapons. Jay shot glass at their hands. Several of the officers dropped their guns. Jay while still chained up began to run. He was shooting glass as he moved forward.  

The officers chased him. He was firing glass. An officer opened fire. The bullet ricocheted off the glass and hit a tree. 

Jay used sharp glass to break cut through his shackles. He picked up the speed he had when was a star high school football player. Bullets and glass flew.

Anat woke up, had some Frosted Flakes. She jumped in the shower, got dressed and logged onto her office’s network. She handled a few things. She had enough. She decided to jog down to the children’s center and visit Jerry. It has been too long since she’s visited. She did receive a request to fill out more paperwork so the center could begin their background check to see if she could adopt Jerry.

She had a good run. As she approached the center she was frightened. There were police cars all over. Several officers were patrolling. She tried to get in. But was blocked by the NYPD. She texted Ann, who wrote back, “stay away.” Jay came and tried to get Jerry. He cried and refused to go. Our security guards tried to get Jay out of here. While this was happening, I grabbed Jerry and brought him into the laundry room.

Jay was screaming Jerry’s name. He ran through the center knocking things down, he shot glass at several people. He ran out of the center. Dan was running in. Jay fired glass at him. He hit him several times. He tried to duck. But was hit more. Dan had a gash on his shooting hand. He tried to grab his gun with his other hand. Jay shot glass between his fingers. Dan dropped the gun and fell to the pavement. Another officer started doing first aid and dialed 911. Jay ran out of the shelter. Anat witnessed the whole thing. Tears fell from her eyes. She ran over to Dan. He told her to get away, as he was being carried onto an ambulance.

Anat kicked herself into high speed. She ran after Jay. He was several feet ahead of her. Several officers were trailing him. But couldn’t keep up as they sustained some injuries in the glass fight. Anat fired raisins at Jay’s head. It slowed him down. But not enough to stop him. He turned around and started firing glass at Anat.

She continued her onslaught of dried fruit. She got a free second and sent an emergency text to Alana. She kept firing.

All of a sudden out nowhere came Marc. Pomegranates were flying. One clocked Jay in the nose. He aimed Honey at Jay’s eyes. As the honey temporarily blinded him., Basketball sized apricots and dates took out Jay’s knees. Jay was grounded.

Anat and Marc knew they needed the police. Anat was hysterical crying. She texted Dan, while Marc dialed 911.

The two smiled at each other. They both wondered how much longer their powers would remain unknown to the world?

I’ve written tribute pieces before. All have been for people I’ve known my entire life. But they say some people you meet for a reason and they come into your life for a short period and make an impact. That person was Rabbi Manfred Gans of Congregation Machane Chodosh. He was called home to Hashem 8/9/20. If you’re interested in learning about the great work he did in the Brooklyn and Forest Hills communities, I suggest you read Sergey Kadinsky’s piece on the Queens Jewish Link’s website.

I became active in the shul just as he retired. During the early stages of his retirement, he was still working hard. I remember coming early for weekday services which started at 6:45 a.m. I would sit and wait for someone to come in to lead the prayer service. Rabbi Gans would walk in a few minutes early with a big smile on his face. He would come right over to me and greet me with a firm handshake. He’d ask how I was feeling. He would greet everyone seated in the sanctuary.

Gingerly he walked up to his seat adjacent to the aron kodesh, the holy ark. The clock would tick.  Starting time arrived. He looked at me and said go up and start. Nervously, I walked up and began the services. At times he and I were the only two in the building. As I read from the siddur people started to come in and take their seats. I read several pages and handed it off to another person.

At the end of the services, Rabbi Gans thanked me and said when the clock shows it is prayer time you begin, whether we have a full house or it is just you. He went on to explain how I am praying to Hashem. And the mitzvah of dedicating this time to his honor. Rabbi Gans’ intelligence and leadership made you want to get up early and honor Hashem.

Eventually, I became the gabai. That’s the person who helps run the services and works to decide who will get various honors such as an aliyah. That’s being called up to the Torah. This job comes with great honor. Like any role that comes with great honors, it comes with high responsibilities. Of course, it comes with stress. Everyone wants an aliyah. Some only want a specific reading from the day’s Parsha. Some only want a specific aliyah number no matter what the portion. Some folks consider getting the fourth Torah reading an insult. Another great rabbi who left us once said, I will take this one. It is an honor being called to the Torah for any portion. Rabbi Gans lived that way.

I had many people try to teach me the gabai role. All week my iPhone would vibrate from people asking for an aliyah or other honor.  And to give advice.

In his retirement, Rabbi Gans was not physically able to come to shul each Saturday morning. Thankfully once he recognized the stress people were bringing upon me. He took me over to the side and explained the importance of this role and how to make the determinations of who to give what reading too. He explained how we can best honor the Sabbath and Hashem. I tried my best to use his teachings.

In 2014 when my dad passed away he sent me a beautifully written letter. I could tell it came straight from his beautiful, kind and warm heart. A few days later he saw and talked to me about the loss and how to properly honor my dad. He made me smile and brought some tears to my eyes.

When it comes to leadership, I spoke to many people who knew him when he was healthy enough to run the shop. It was not uncommon to see him moving chairs, tables, helping to serve food at breakfasts and dinners. He would call people the night before a Yom Tov (holy day) to make sure they had what they needed and were ready. He worked to create a Hebrew School. I have been involved with that program for many years. He made everyone feel welcome. More importantly, he made everyone feel they were helping to build the organization.

After the Torah reading, many rabbis speak. In some venues, they don’t. The services conclude. In the shuls where they speak, sadly that’s the time that most congregants step outside and converse amongst themselves. When Rabbi Gans spoke you stayed, you listened and more importantly, you learned. He was always prepared. He was able to talk about the current Parsha and tie it to today’s world. He made ancient teachings relevant to today’s world. He never spoke about how if heaven forbid you turned a light on or adjusted the A/C during Shabbos what a grave sin you committed. He understood that people are people. We all are at our levels with an eagerness to improve.

He helped us improve. We miss you.

After the Woodsman left, Marc started putting out the fire. Once it was out, Marc and Alana went to one cabin and fell asleep. Anat stayed outside for another hour or so. She retreated into the cabin next to her new “friends” cabin.

The sun rose. Marc and Alana jumped into the lake. Anat watched. She was still afraid to swim. But put it on her list of things to tackle. Everyone jumped into their cars and they drove home.

Jay was running around the city wreaking havoc. No one was able to stop him. He seemed to escape the NYPD each time they made chase. Dan texted Anat and told her to be careful. He still had no idea of her powers. And he certainly had no clue about the other two.

Research shows Jay was very upset about a job rejection nearly two plus decades ago. He did like camp. He was teased a little. But got along okay. He wasn’t in Marc’s group. He wouldn’t have done well there. Jay so much wanted to work for the poorly run organization that ran the camp. It was said that those who took full-time jobs had an IQ of less than 10. Jay wasn’t the sharpest tack in the box. But he wasn’t totally stupid. He had some skills.

He planned on stealing Jerry again from the children’s center. He was considering busting Diane out of jail. But had second thoughts. She could rot there. He never really loved her. He too wanted to test Jerry. That poor kid.

Marc and Alana were strolling around Queens Boulevard. It was not the cleanest. But they didn’t see a lot of broken glass. Anat had a similar experience in Central Park. She was on a date with Dan. She brought a picnic lunch. Of course, she loaded the salad with raisins and had some other dried fruit. They were getting closer. Anat felt happy for the first time. She was even pleased she was able to get along with Marc and Alana. She wondered if they would still talk to her after they reeled in Jay and he was taken away for life? Or longer?