Hamodia Weekly Tribute to Reb Yeshaya Dovid Bayer z"l

Community Connections tributes

Hamodia Daily 09/05

Hamodia Daily, Tribute to Rabbi Bayer z"l

Gone but not forgotten......

And in earlier days:

 Who's cars can you identify?

When that window shot open................

The ancient sinks.

Very different from the old days. The faucets were changed, for starters. The old faucets were tall, goose-neck type, that were so old they barely turned. The knobs were on the side and creaked loudly as they were turned. Another change is the noticeable absence of the ancient bars of soap! Those once-white bars were streaked with black grime, probably used twice in their "life", were practically glued to the soap holders.
Not much more can be said of these sinks other than the twice daily paper-towel-induced clogging of the drain and the method of students approach to wash in these sinks. The method I refer to is the way we would come down the stairs and then weave in and out of the rows of tables to get to the sink.

לא תגנוב, מ'טאהר נישט....

Sorry for not posting in a while. Here is a typical Bais Dovid phenomenon. A "kid" found a "superball", probably on one of the "courts" during "lunch recess". After hearing the infamous "לא תגנוב-מ'טאהר נישט טרעפען" line from more than one rebbe, he decided to hang up a sign. Not having any paper handy he goes into the front office and asks the "office lady" for some paper. Without hesitation she hands him a check stub from the general account, probably the one that pays for the No. 2 pencils. He then proceeds to write the sign. I can't figure out how he wrote this because: 1) standard kids don't have pens, only 3 sharpened pencils for "English", and 2) rebbes only have Parker pens to lend.

The clincher, of course, is the "נישט אין די צייט פון לערנען". 

We sincerely hope that nobody came to claim this ball for 30 days, although he forgot the most important part "only with simanim", and that he is now enjoying the ball himself. At least until he plays with it during "chavrusos" and it gets confiscated and interred in the wide drawer in the rebbe's desk.....

Transportation

Day after Labor Day, all across Monsey (and Spring Valley, for those in the Dr. Frank/Francis area. And the Blochs…)

 

                So we got our bus passes in the mail sometime during the summer, while screaming ourselves hoarse in day camp. We excitedly tear it out on the perforated lines, hoping that it doesn’t rip right down the middle. Next, we try to get it into the plastic holder with that weird shaped pin on the back….. We try to pin it to our shirts just to see how it looks but all we actually do is prick ourselves with the aforementioned pin. “East Ramapo Central School District” it says across the top. Typed (!) on the card it says you name, address, school and place of your “stop”. The bus-stops are usually on a street corner, “we don’t make house stops” the drivers always said. But of course there we always those lucky kids who had their stop basically ON their driveway…. . On the back of the bus-pass there was a list of rules. 1) Obey the bus driver at all times. 2) “Never place head or hands out of bus window”, (BD boys always made the lomdisher conclusion that feet were totally permitted to hang out of the window. 3) Do not stand in front of white line while bus is in “motion” (took years to figure out what that meant…). 4) Do not eat or drink on the bus (yeah right, we have to eat up our “recess” SOMEWHERE, right??). Then there were the unspoken rules. Like “first one on the bus goes to the back seat etc.”. What were they thinking?! Or “Emergency windows and doors are for emergencies ONLY. Really?? What will the trouble-makers do otherwise?

First day on the bus.

                You wake up late and suddenly remind yourself that it is the first day of “buses”. You already had like three weeks of just “learning” and mishmor, but now you will start “English”, either regular or “late” “English”. You rush like a mad-man, grab your briefcase, some “recess” and head to the corner. Your shoes get mildly wet from the morning “tal” as you try to see who else shares your bus stop. Bais Mikro kids? YSV? Maybe even some goyisher Public School kids (gasp). Then you begin to wait…… The excitement turns to trepidation as you suddenly realize that you might end up with a “crazy” bus driver. Finally you hear a bus chugging towards you, the telltale screeching of the brakes. But of course it’s not your bus, the other kids get picked up first.

                At last your bus pulls up. You wonder what that bird logo is, what is that little fold-up, step-like thing near the door? The driver, usually a heavy set, beer bellied, middle aged person, holds a computer printout, the old kind with the holes all along the sides. The driver checks the bus pass and you settle in to a seat. The green seats have all sorts of caricatures and writing, unless, of course, the seat is ripped….  You try not to lift the emergency window handle, all the while wondering what purpose those little round white light on the ceiling do.

                I can go on and on but where will it end? Friday dismissal? Getting kicked off the bus? We can discuss those kids who always fall asleep on the bus. Or the various bus drivers, good and bad, throughout history. Or buses breaking down, pulling out the orange tri-angle from behind the driver’s seat. The little fan for the driver, the video cameras that were installed later on, the “mic” that can be used for talking in the bus or even out of the bus. The yellow stick that swings out when the door opens, the various different technology used to open the front door, the training of the new drivers, the X-mas presents that drivers would sometimes give, the drivers who would only turn on the wiper on THEIR side when it rained….. The list goes on.