Psachya, is my musical hero. He is a man whose star can not burn bright enough, to light our musical world. I have had the fortune to share the stage with Psachya many times over the years. He always keeps me on my toes, and is always right in the pocket when I take off. To see him out front doing his own thing has made my year. His CD should out sell anything out there. Bottom line. He's da man!!!I think a lot of musicians are interested to hear Psachya's album.
Avi Jaman. Killer guitar player....what more needs to be said. (He is family)
Heshy Maryles writes in response to "Valentine's Day Bar Mitzvah Massacred":
I think you weren't fair to my cousin (and sort-of-name-sake) Harry Maryles. He admits that he doesn't know whether or not the girl is Jewish, and his main point is totally unrelated to whether or not she was Jewish. His point is that Chabad was obviously and shamelessly capitalizing on the situation to get some tear-jerker PR, whether or not it was meaningful or important for the "recipient."My impression reading Maryles' post was that he was quite worked up about it being an intermarriage. I can't imagine why I'd have gotten that impression from this:
If you want to disagree with that point, then do so. But don't pretend that Mr. Maryles was all worked up about giving a Bar Mitzvah to an intermarried Jew.
First of all there is the question of how this young girl was able to feed this little boy apples from across the fence. The only way this could have happened is she wasn’t Jewish. That means he intermarried. (Unless she was Jewish and passed for being not Jewish during the holocaust... or that she converted before she married him. But these factors are too significant not to be mentioned.) So Chabad celebrates this man’s life of intermarriage by throwing him a Party?The next part of his argument/rant was that even if one grants the benefit of the doubt re: intermarriage, it was still a dishonest event because "Bar Mitzvah" happens automatically at thirteen, whether or not it is celebrated. It felt to me (still does, actually) that absent the intermarriage angle, there wouldn't be a whole lot of there, there.
The bottom line is, Chabad (of Mineola, LI not North Miami Beach), gave Mr. Rosenblat his first talis and tefillin and aliyah.These are things that one typically receives at the time of their Bar Mitzvah. Is it a marketing stretch to call the event a Bar Mitzvah? Perhaps. But, having been there, and having heard Rosenblat speak, I can say it was meaningful and important to him. And, that's the point that Maryles seems to be missing. Even if this all happened because a media savvy Chabad rabbi saw an opportunity to get some good press, the fact is that Chabad created a meaningful Jewish experience for a man who, until then, hadn't had had one.
