The Other Old Broadway

It is with mixed emotions that we say zay gezunt (be well!) to Itay Zutra. After spending his years as a graduate student with us, and also a year after graduation, we share his joy in his landing an exciting position as a professor of Yiddish in Winipeg, Canada. At Old Broadway, Itay brought his warmth, his calm spirit, his generous spirit, lots of candy for the children and other treats. Of course, we would like to think that we at Old Broadway influenced Itay as well. Indeed, we would like to think that the warmth of our community, the seriousness of our Yiddishkeyt and our sense of history all had their impact. So much so, in fact, that we see in Itay as a shliach, if you will, for the way of Old Broadway. As you can you imagine, these hopes received a confirmation when we saw that Itay posted the photo below on his Facebook page.

Yes, there it is, another Old Broadway, in Fargo, North Dakota, of all places. We were. of course, thrilled that there is another orthodox shul with the same name is Fargo! I was so surprised and delighted by this find that I decided to learn more about this special shul. Alas, my joy was not to be for long. "Old Broadway" in Fargo, ND is not a shul, but a bar!!! Itay must not have realized since he was only on the outside (at least that's what we see from his photo) and besides, who would ever confuse a shul with a bar - gevalt! I don't think it even has a hekhsher!

In any event, New York's loss is Winipeg's gain. We know Itay will do great things in his new position and we wish him hatzlakhah rabba be-khol ma'aseh yadekha ("much success in all that you do").