Our first Shabbos in Little Rock...

Shabbos in Little Rock was very nice less the two mile walk home last night and to shul this morning. For lunch Shaya and I went to Rabbi Pape's, I think that was only one mile. The food was delicious. The Chabad House had a minyan for all the Teffilos B"H. Many of the old faces from last year were back, and there were a few new people. Was nice to get re-acquainted. All in all Shabbos was very nice.

Some pictures:

Rabbi Ciment Hard at Work

Chabad of Little Rock / Lubavitch of Arkansas

The Chabad Car we are Driving

Me Calling Jewish People in Mississippi

Little Rock at Last

Well, we have arrived in Little Rock at long last... After a long delay in Newark, NJ, an extra long plane ride, nearly missing our connection (at fault of the airline) and much turbulence later. We were greeted at the airport by Rabbi Ciment, and thankfully this year our luggage came with us instead of a day and a half later.

Shaya learning Rambam in Newark while we wait out the delay.

I am transferring phone numbers from an old phone to my new phone.

The Rabbi put us to work right away, making phone calls and scheduling visits. We start out next week, on Sunday afternoon, as we head to Meridian, MI, only a short 6 hour drive from Little Rock. We will visit an old Moroccan woman, talk to her and study with her a little bit, before we turn around and head straight back, making stops in Jackson, MI and Memphis, TN on the way. Unfortunately the car we have right now is the classical Chabad car and not very comfy. I am trying to convince the Rabbi that I need a car rental to make everything easier, I hope that works.

As for today, Shabbos is coming and hopefully Shaya and I can catch up on some much needed sleep. I am not looking forward to the walk to and from Shul as it is two miles each way. Anyways, wishing you all a good Shabbos.

Going out into the field...

Here I am, clock ticking past 1:00AM, the house filled with the silent hums of household appliances, my fingers tapping lightly on the keyboard. I am ready, or so I hope, to head out on my journey. I hope this journey will be exciting and successful, filled with good stories and moments. I've done this before, but now I feel like its all new again. I hope and pray that this trip will be what the Rebbe wants it to be. I'm going on Merkoz Shlichus to a southern state called Arkansas. There are Jews in Arkansas? I've heard this so many times. Yes, Yes there are, quite a few of them and scattered all over the state. The purpose of my journey to these Jews is to bring them the words of Judaism and help them in any way that I can. Bringing the mission of the Rebbe to their doorsteps. "Would you like to buy a mezuzzah?" "have you heard of teffillin?" and many more questions. with some we will sit for hours, talking about everything and anything, others may feel obligated to let us in only to quickly find a way to get us out, and yet others will not let us or let alone speak on the phone. we are prepared for this and we hope that more and more people fall into the first category and we hope that this trip will be a succesful for us in accomplishing all we set out to do.

Is it Really Kosher?

A KOSHER UPDATE

A friend of mine who recently started to keep Kosher called me the other night with a question; "Can we call somebody in NoVa and ask them about Wegman's? My grandfather told me they have kosher rotisserie chicken, and if they do I will have him bring me one". Why yes of course, lets call. First I call the supermarket itself: "Who is the supervising Rabbi at your supermarket, and what exactly is under supervision?". "Yes, uh, the Rabbi that does the certification is Rabbi Don - and she starts to spell it - D-O-N, Yoel, Y-O-E-L, Levy, L-E-V-Y, Rabbi Don Yoel Levy. Our kosher deli is under certification, we have ..." I didn't care for more, usually the hashgacha is good enough to know, and if it is the OK that that sounds good. I inquired as to how often a rabbi comes in to make an inspection, and I was told that he never comes in, and that go me very curious and piqued my interest in finding out more. I called a Rabbi there, and I was told that they do supposedly use kosher meats, Empire, Meal Mart and the such, and they decided that once they have kosher certified meat with an OK on it than that means that the deli can also be considered kosher under the OK. Very Interesting!

Does the OK know that their name is being used as a proof of hashgacha at these two stores in NoVa. I'm sure they have been told, but seemingly nothing has been done about it. I'm not sure what can be done, legally or otherwise because apparently they aren't posting that they are supervised by the OK, they are only telling people that when asked. When and if they are pressed any further they may, or may not tell u that it is in fact just a symbol on one of the foods they have rather than a certification of the deli.

People in NoVa need to be informed of this issue and take correct measures to let all the people that have been misinformed about the kashrus know the truth about these two stores. Yes they do carry kosher products, including meats and cheeses, however the delis are in no way certified kosher. Anyone that goes into a place like Wegman's and are told that a certain organization is there supervising agency, however they have no rabbi on premises, is urged to call that agency and inform them as soon as possible, because there is a better than good chance that it is not true.

Wayne Franklin; Buddy Groom; Welcome to the Yankees "Secondary Bullpen"

Well, the excitement over the "First Place Yankees" was short lived, thanks in part to the Yankees very unreliable "secondary bullpen". The Yankees, as does every team (not including Tampa Bay and Colorado, because I'm referring to Major League teams) has their 'go-to' guys in the bullpen. The Yankees have been able to rely on Tanyon Sturtze (3-1, 3.76 ERA), Tom Gordon (3-3, 2.78), and especially Mariano Rivera (4-2, 0.91, 24 consecutive saves). After the 'go-to' guys there are specialists and other setup men.

When the reliable setup men and closers are unavailable that forces a team to use what I like to call "The Secondary Bullpen", the pitchers you only use on second thought without other options. Now some teams manage to have it that both bullpens are reliable and they alternate and mix-and-match based on the game and situation, however, others only manage to have one reliable set of pitchers then the unreliable set. The Yankees for the past number of seasons have had a secondary bullpen that no fan felt comfortable with. Manager Joe Torre did not feel comfortable with them either, however he was and is forced to use them far to often because the starting pitching has not been able to go far enough into games.

The reliable bullpen last season of Gordon, Rivera and Paul Quantrill finished 1, 2, and 3 in the league in games played by a relief pitcher. This season all three pitchers in the "First Bullpen" have pitched in far more games than most of the relief pitchers in the league. Whether Torre wants to or not, he must rest these V-I-Pitchers. When they do rest, the starting pitching still does not go long enough and Torre is forced to use the secondary guys.

The real question at this point in the season for Yankees fans is; Why? Why do the Yankees even have guys like Groom, Franklin, and Proctor. Why with a 200 million plus payroll, does the team not have the necessary components to take a close ballgame? It has been this way for a number of seasons now. Throw Felix Heredia, C.J. Nitkowski, Gabe White, Jason Anderson, Antonio Osuna and Dan Miceli, and you have one of the worst "Secondary Bullpens" in the American league the past two and a half seasons.

One can sit and speculate as to what to do, write commentaries and articles (which is what I am doing) but all that we can really do is sit back and watch as these no-good pitchers roll their way in one door and out the other, passing through the Yankee experience Pitcher experimentation Lab (the mound at Yankee Stadium) on the way. One after the other, failure after failure, hit after hit, walk after walk, blown saves and losses.

What will this team do with this sort of bullpen when and if they make it to the playoffs? Only good teams are in the playoffs and usually a good team will have hitters that can hit off of bad pitchers. What the Yankees must do is get out there in the next 10 days and vigorously pursue trades with teams that have the players to help out the Yankees bullpen. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Seattle, Minnesota, and San Francisco are all teams that have bullpen and can afford to give some up for the right trade. I fully expect the Yankees to add at least one bullpen pitcher before the trade deadline.

Coming Tomorrow...

A brand new article written by me... "Wayne Franklin, Buddy Groom, Welcome to the Yankees Secondary Bullpen"

Who is Judge John G. Roberts?

This is my first political posting. In a political posting I will be including opinions, fast facts, predictions and commentary. I like to think I know about politics and this is my way of trying to show that off. With that, here we go...

With the sudden retirement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor President Bush was forced to nominate a replacement. As expected by many, Bush chose a relatively conservative person, Judge John G Roberts of Washington, DC. Roberts, 50 currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and has held that position since June 2003. Roberts had previously been in line to join the appeals court in 1992, but nomination during the first Bush administration died in a Democratic-controlled Senate. More recently though, after O'Connor's announcement, 146 members of the D.C. Bar signed a letter urging his confirmation, including officials from the Clinton administration. Speaking of the Clinton administration, that era was good times for Roberts as he was a highly sough after lawyer in the DC area, representing clients such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association in a discrimination case, and carmaker Toyota in winning limits on a disabled workers claims.

Although Roberts is thought to be one of the President's less contentious nominees, many expect that there will still be a political fight while the process of the nomination moves forward. Some Democrats including Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) have already stated their so-to-speak approval of Roberts. However, being that nothing can get done on Capital Hill without the nitty gritty of a steaming political war, expect that to take shape in the near future. As early as tomorrow you can expect to see articles and comments by members of all parties regarding this pick of the President's.

Complications will start when Republican senators thinking they are making a step toward crossing the partisan line of separation, will start to question the nominee themselves. The democrats would love to see nothing more than the republicans fighting this over between themselves. Congressional wars between Arlen specter and Bill Frist; John McCain and George Allen, are fights that would be a spectacle as good as Star Wars III. When the republicans show that there isn't all around support within the party it will invigorate the Democrats with new wind and fire, which will almost definitely propel them into a wicked process of filibuster after filibuster.

What Republicans and Democrats should be doing on Capital Hill rather than wasting our hard earned money-turned to taxes, is start forming a stream of trust for the President and his judgments and nominees, send ALL reasonable nominees to an up or down vote, and, no, being against abortion doesn't make a nominee unreasonable, nice try Mr. Kerry!

Merkoz Shlichus to Arkansas.

Next week on Thursday I will be flying out of Newark Intl. Airport on my way to Little Rock, Arkansas. I will be based out of Little Rock for the most part of the three following weeks. We will be traveling around Little Rock, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Fort Smith, and other cities in Arkansas, as well as different cities in the states of Tennessee and Mississippi. Packed up with our portable burner, boxes and boxes of pasta, and a suitcase full of Jewish books in the trunk we will head out to a new destination everyday in the hopes of finding Jewish people to help with their observance of the Jewish Religion. I will be posting about daily findings and accomplishments.

Rafael Palmeiro in the HOF?

Now that Raffy has gotten 3,000+ career hits and he already has 500+ career homers and may very well finish his career with 600+ homers and almost 2000 RBI, the question being posed; "Is Rafael Palmeiro a Hall of Famer?", has some people shocked. Some wholeheardetly believe he should be in on first ballot while others agree he should be in, however not on first ballot.

Then there are those that do not believe Raffy should be in the hall altogether. I just say simply - Yes. first ballot, second ballot, makes no difference, this is a man that is worthy of the hall as much as anyone in baseball. Yes, I know that Palmeiro has never won an MVP award. I know he's only been an all-star four times in his 20 years of MLB service. I know he's never led the league in batting average. I know he's never led the league in home runs. i know he's never led the league in RBI. I know he's never been mentioned along with the games greatest of his era. And to go with that, Palmeiro has managed to put up numbers that even some of the greatest players in baseball didn't, aren't, and won't.

Along with never leading the league in homers he has 567 of them. Along with never leading the league in batting average, he has batted .289 for his career. Along with never leading the league in RBI he managed to scratch out 1827 to date. He has put up 10 seasons with 37 or more homers with four of them being 40+. He has ten 100 RBI seasons to his name, along with six seasons of a .300 or higher average.

All this mentioned translates into one thing - Consistency. There has never been a player as consistent as Raffy Palmeiro to step foot in a major league diamond. To have never led the league in homers, rbi, or average, and still have this great a career stat line, in my opinion should open the door to the hall in great fashion.

Rafael Palmeiro deserves a plaque in the shrine of baseballs best for his consistency from day one of his great career. The sport has seen many superstars with great seasons and awesome career numbers, but never has it seen one that put up the numbers as consistently and as quietly as "Future Hall of Famer" Rafael Palmeiro.

Welcome

Hello All,

Welcome to my blog - "The bLoG"! Before I say anything i must start out with something I've been itching to say since April 9th, 2005... "FIRST PLACE YANKEES!!". Thanks, now I feel much better. The Yankees are where they are supposed to be, batting like they should be, and dare i say this, maybe even pitching like they should be (except of course for last night - besides Sturtze and Rivera of course).

Now on other topics; the purpose of this blog - well thats a great Q. To be truthful, im not so sure myself. What i will be doing with it is posting things covering many different topics ranging from updates on my Yankees (of course), my own sports commentary and predictions as well as those of others, kosher updates (my field of work), political opinions (my own, as well as articles and editorials by others that i like, or dislike), jokes, stories, and then a variety of other things depending on my mood.

First Ever

My first ever blog posting... I dont know what the hell I'm doing!!