So, I look up at the calendar, and I see that Tuesday is dated 10-23.
For those of few old-timers left at Alter Communications, this number is, well let’s just say personal.
We’d push the buttons 1-0-2-3 on the exterior door computer pad of our former office at 2104 North Charles Street, and the door would click and open. That was the “secret” code that all us knew.
Fact is, if there was ever an association for current and past members of the Jewish Times/Style family, it could be called the 10-23 club.
10-23 was the birthday of our late publisher Charles A. “Chuck” Buerger. He was 57 years old when he died in 1996. He’d be 68 years old Tuesday if he were still with us.
But every time I look up at his photograph in our conference room, his eyes meet mine and I feel like we’re communicating.
It’s fitting that Chuck’s birthday was the combination we used, because in so many figurative ways, he opened the doors for so many of us to grow in our respective fields of journalism.
And I just want to write to Chuck that if they have blogs up there in Shemiam (heaven), then you should know that a lot of your former employed “sons and daughters” do stop on this day and take a moment to remember you.
You changed the face of Jewish journalism, and you continue to inspire.
And you should know that I still lean on you Chuck, especially when the reporting is difficult and the issues are challenging.
I remember in the mid-80s when I was working on a very difficult story on an area cult leader, that involved threats to the well being of my family, you approached me in our newsroom and told me that you were behind me and not to worry.
Your son Andrew has made me feel that way today.
And I know where he got that from.
So happy 10-23.
May it be a number we will always cherish here at Alter for the communities we serve.

I don’t know about you, but I really felt sad this year when it came time to disassemble our family sukkah.
More than ever, I found it to be a safe harbor, and a direct connection to HaShem and to the Jewish people. Whether we were having a meal in the sukkah or just sitting and talking, it was just a great experience.
Granted, I do love those Sukkah evenings when I it’s just cold enough to require a light coat and that steamy butternut squash soup just tastes better in the Sukkah.
I’m hoping that I can take the connections I felt with HaShem away with me this Sukkot and use that energy to help shelter me throughout the year.
My wife Lisa and I have always had this unofficial minhag (custom) of adding at least one new component to our Sukkah. This year it was a little red decorative cardinal bird. “He” brightened up the interior rooftop.
It was difficult taking him down and putting him in our plastic Sukkoth storage box.
I can’t wait to see him again next fall.
Have a good Shabbos and a good week.

So I had the most amazing beginning of Simchat Torah, that I just wanted to share it.
First, my daughter and son and law and I were walking along Cross Country Blvd. towards Clarks Lane Thursday night when a Baltimore City Police office pulled his car over to us. A sergeant leaned out of the window to tell me that he had was at the Shalom USA program two weeks prior and that he was happy with the positive energy he felt in the room towards the issue of approaching and doing something about child molestation.
I was so impressed that he even remembered me especially on a busy night in our community.
But even more impressive was the man we ran into at Chabad on Clarks Lane. There, standing alone in the parking lot was Yitz Jordan, better known as Y-Love, the African-American Chassidic rap singer.
My daughter recognized him immediately, approached him and a wonderful, lively conversation mostly about love for the Jewish people happened. He then gave us the added pleasure of a personal performance of one of his rap songs.
I’m too old fashioned for rap, but I felt so good this Simchat Torah night just meeting Y-Love and hearing his words.
We then did a little shul hopping, but along the way stopped at friends’ homes for warm greetings and just an overall sense of that this was Baltimore’s Jewish community in a good place.
We were in need of some yeast and flour for challah baking that night, and a knock on the door here or there, provided us with more than what we needed.
Anyway, in a community where there is a little bit of a concern over racial tension, my Simachat Torah was actually set on a path of righteousness by two African-American men, one Jewish, one not. But both the sergeant and the singer gave me a sense of warmth and security.
It was a good night.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, wrote before Simchat Torah in a letter to parents, rabbis and teachers, an extremely important message.
He was writing to bring our attention to the growing problem of underage drinking. His letter, which can be found on http://www.ou.org, is extremely important.
No one, he writes, should over indulge in alcohol on Simchat Torah. We’ve seen it in our community where packs of teens walk from one shul the next to find yet another open bottle.
Where is it written that we are supposed to drink on Simchat Torah?
To me, it is just so ironic that we wouldn’t think of drinking and then driving a car. Yet, it’s okay to be drunk, be handed a Torah, God’s very word, and walk around during a hakafah or circuit in our shul.
Is the value of a car higher than a Torah?
The answer is, we would do everything in our power to keep an inebriated person from operating an automobile. Yet, we don’t do anything in our power to keep them from carrying a Torah, while drunk, on Simchat Torah.
It’s no joke.
Parents, watch your children, but at the same time be an example to your children.
You don’t have to do shots to enjoy this holiday.
The honor of carrying that Torah, holding that Torah for your congregation and your family, there’s nothing more joyous this holiday.
If you need a drink to get you to that spiritual level, your joy could use a little professional counsel.
Don’t forget, not only is HaShem “watching” you, so are your children.

My husband & I have eaten at the Sunday brunch a few times with my husband’s large family. We were treated well, the food was good & plentyful. We are very satisfied with this restaurant.