Who Needs Hotels?

I was staying with my friends, Mendel and Sarah Shemtov. They had given me a nice room with two beds; the second was for Shmuel. It was very sweet and hospitable of Sarah, especially now being only a few days before Pesach!

When I looked around 770 on Sunday and saw so many thousands of visitors, I wondered where all those people were staying - there are no hotels near 770 at all!

Well, at least Sarah Shemtov did her share. Shmuel did not take advantage of this other bed. He stayed up for two whole nights farbrenging, talking and socializing at headquarters; 770. The other two nights he stayed with a friend of his. I cannot vouch that he even slept in a bed during his stay.

However, there were no shortages of clients for that spare bed. “Customers” were arriving at all hours of the day and night. In addition to the Shemtovs – including their three boys and two girls – there were Rabbis: Bentzion Shemtov, Nachman Sudak, Avrohom Shemtov (with his two sons), Berel Shemtov, with a guest from Detroit who slept next door because all the beds were taken up, but he also ate his meals at Sarah’s. Well, eight guests in one medium-sized apartment is not bad at all!

It certainly did not make it any easier for Sarah to prepare her home for Pesach.

No wonder they do not need hotels in Crown Heights!

Before Shabbos, Shmuel and I went to Rabbi Korf’s Matzah Bakery to buy our matzah for Pesach.

About twenty-five women and ten men were all busy, rolling and mixing, mixing and rolling. Every few moments, groups of schoolchildren arrived with their leader, who explained the whole process to them. Rabbi Korf seemed absolutely dazed and flustered by all the commotion. He wanted to sell me only the “broken” matzah. This would cost me $3.75 per pound, which was 35 cents less per pound than for the perfect whole matzos. I assured him that I was fully capable of breaking my own matzah.

Mrs. Korf, a small petite lady, was the only calm and steadying influence in this flurry and frenzy of excitement.