His brother Mutty is still very sick as well. I cant stop thinking that they both got sick at the shiva for their other brother the week before Purim.
BD"E Reb Laibel and Refuah Shalayma to R' Mutty (he's the one from JEP, correct?).
I went to his elementary school Chasdei Torah. I was definitely the kind of kid who spent a lot of time in the principal's office. I remember that he'd make me sit there while he answered phone call after phone call of all kinds of Halacha shaylos - Nidda, End-of-life issues, parents who's kids needed help and thought his Yeshiva could help him. You could sit there for an hour, and he'd completely ignore you engrossed in providing teshuvos to those that would call.
I don't quite remember how I knew R' Mutty. But I do remember one particular story. I was at my brother's sheva brachos at a hotel in Somerset NJ at a shabbos nachamu he was catering. There were hundreds of people there - 95% were chasidim. As a modern orthodox guy who showed up in Jeans on Friday, I felt very out of place.
Over coffee Shabbos morning, R' Mutty comes over to me and tells me that his Bal Koreh got stuck and couldn't make it, and was wondering if I could lein an aliya or two. I agreed. With only a few minutes to prepare, I didn't do a good job. To this day, I never understood why he asked me to Lein.
