In Memory of Leibby Kletzky a"h

I have been walking around like a zombie today and unable to function like a normal person since waking up to the news of Leibby's brutal murder. As a parent, and more importantly a person with feelings, I am shaken to the core that this is the outcome of the past 2 days of searching. It is not our place to question Hashem, or to try to dissect the story to see how the outcome could have been different. If it was the will of Hashem that Leibby be found safe and sound, he would have been found safe and sound. As far as his family, I cannot even begin to imagine what they are going through right now.

As the day has progressed, I have been thinking what can we take out from this story and how can we learn from this horrific story. I came up with 2 things to take from it:

1. There was a tremendous display of achdus in the Jewish Community in NY and worldwide. This is something that is a total zechus to Leibby. Why does it have to stop? Why can we not continue to have achdus with all the other yidden we know. It doesn't make a difference what hat or yarmulka (and even those who don't) we wear, we are all the Chosen people and we are all brothers in all situations. I have seen unbelievable displays of achdus in Chicago in good times as well, and there is no reason why this cannot be done worldwide.

2. As parents, my wife and I try to be protective of our children, and teach them to be as safe as possible at all times. My kids know on the tip of their tongue "No, Go, Tell." I am not chas v'shalom trying to say that Leibby's parents did anything wrong, or that the murder could have been averted, but this is an eye opener for us and a reminder of what we need to do. Parents, safety is not a convenience, it's absolute. It's something you need to be aware and on top of, and to train your kids!

Bsuros tovos!

Shimmy

Great Book at a Greater Price!

So I work alongside a very talented cartoonist named David Sokoloff. He's had his works published in national newspapers, magazines, on the radio, etc. You name it, he's done it! He's even worked for Hallmark. Anyway, today he showed me a book he had just completed and boy is it a great one! Did I mention that David is a professional storyteller and clown? If anyone knows humor, David does.

Get a copy of cartoonist's David Sokoloff's new book, "The Tooth of the Monstersaurus" for only $12.00 + Shipping (or pick it up locally to defray the shipping cost).

Here is the book's sypnosis

Long ago, in a kingdom where one could still meet witches, giants, and dragons, the king lay desperately ill, struck down by the dreaded Six-Day Sickness. The only person who had any hope of king's recovery was his daughter, Princess Miri, who must enter the strange and dangerous Forest of Dreams to find a gigantic legendary monster whose teeth may have the secret power to save the king's life. With the help of Max the mouse and Barnaby the rabbit, Princess Miri sets out on an unforgettable adventure for the young and young-at-heart; where magic can be used for good or evil, and where courage, friendship and love are proven to be the greatest powers of all.

Send an email to achdus00@comcast.net if you're interested.

Check out more of David's work at davidsokoloff.com

Hello Everyone!

Hi Everyone!

Thanks to Daniel, I will be a guest blogger here from time to time. I have never blogged before, so I don't know where this will go, but I am willing to give it a try. If anyone has any topics they'd like me to cover, please feel free to comment below and let me know!

See Ya!

Shimmy

Conquering Stage Fright

Getting married to someone in the Midwest? Know someone who is? Well, I can sing at their's or your wedding.



Which leads me to my next topic.

Singing in public.

People tend to get scared when it comes to performing in front of a live audience, and understandably so. You're basically in front of a bunch of people listening and watching you, judging and crtiquing your every note and move.

That's Intense.

There are tricks of course.

Be prepared.

Close your eyes (but not too much)

Take a public speaking class.

Pretend everyone is naked (not usually the appropriate route and probably very distracting).

Pretend everyone is your parents (yikes! Great, now I have a ton of mothers telling me I'm doing something wrong).

The above options are great (for the most part), but what helped me was camp. Yes, I said it. Camp. As in day camp during the summer months. You see, we had something in camp called S&S (Skits & Songs), where we were forced to be actors in skits and dancers in choreographed songs.

The first song I ever danced on stage to was Hearts of Gold from the Solid Gold 3 album (linky for album). You can actually see me in this video (linky). At 2:50 into the video was my bunk's performance.

We've gotten better over the years at S&S and I went from camper and dancer to counselor and choreographer. Here, I continued to grow and helped campers overcome their fears of stage fright and learn teamwork. You can see the bunk I choreographed in this video at approx 13:30 minutes in (linky).

Now I no longer do either, for I had accomplished my fear of the spotlight and I act as the videographer and head counselor, helping other counselors assist their campers in overcoming their fears. This video was actually done by me (linky).

The name of the camp in the videos is Camp Achdus of Philadelphia (linky).

I'm actually in the process of redesigning the Camp's website, I just need to find someone affordable to develop and code it to make it work! Below you can see a preview of the new site.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment! Until next time.

Joke of the day: So I kept wondering why the object in the air was getting bigger and bigger... then it hit me.

Designing for Jews Worldwide

And now for my first non-music related post. I'm so excited! Can't you tell?

Okay, so a duck walks into a drug store and says "Gimme some ChapStick! And put in on my bill!"

Sorry about that.

Right, designing for Jews worldwide... I am one of the lucky few who has the opportunity to create designs on my computer at work for chinuch purposes. There's a lot more to it then you think. You might think that I can just create a cartoon of a boy and slap a kippah on him and BAM! He's Kosher. Not so fast my friend, we are dealing with some serious issues here. Your design is completely dependent on what sect of Judaism it's for.

Here's the list:

(C)Hassidim - Long Peyos for kids. Long Coats and Fur Hats for men. Also, you need to have Yiddish.

Sefardi (Israeli's) - Sefard verses for any "Brachot". That's right you need to use the tuf instead of the suf as well.

Ashkenaz - Ashkenaz verses for any "Brachos".

Modern Orthodox - Standard designs with colors

Charedi - Black and white, no mixing boys and girls

The list actually goes on further, but I don't want to bore you with the details. Designing for Jews of all affiliations requires patience and most importantly, it requires many many versions.

For those of you think that there should be no change in details, no matter who you give the design to, your insane!

Welcome to the world.

I'm not just talking about the Jewish world.

I'm talking about this crazy political society we live in.

Mainstream designers will design specifically for ethnicities or religions all the time. You will find in posters with Spanish text, that the majority of the people in it are, can you guess? Hispanic. Everyone has to gear to their target audience, I'm just lucky enough to do it for my own people :).

Believe it or not, I'm not complaining, I actually do enjoy what I do a lot. Here's a sample of my work. And no, I did not create many versions of this. (Click to Enlarge).

A Change of Pace

No longer will this blog be about music. It's going to be about everything and anything. Sure, there will be a lot of focus on music, because it's a major part of my life, but it will not be the only thing to write about. Frankly, Jewish music doesn't come out frequently enough, good Jewish music that is, for there to be enough to write about that everyone else hasn't covered yet. If you have some ideas for some topics to discuss, feel free to post it in the comments section.