Goodbye to Marven!

Good Morning!!! I had just walked out the front door of my apartment building at Green Achers in Baltimore when the manager of our building, Marven, who had spotted me from down the block, greeted me with a very loud and very friendly ‘Good Morning’ greeting. With an ebullient smile beaming from ear to ear, receiving Marven’s very loud and very friendly “Good Morning” greeting had almost become a part of my morning routine. Of course, I would always return greetings and was happy to start the day in a nice friendly way.

During this time, I remember that I was learning Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) with someone. In this profound work of ethics by our Sages, it talks about the importance of greeting everyone with a friendly countenance and the importance of being the first one to greet another person. Well, I mentioned, “I know that he is not Jewish, but I think that the manager of my apartment complex, Marven, really personifies this teaching and really brings it to life. Does it not also say in Pirkei Avot that “Who is wise? He who learns from all men.”

Well, the years passed on. We ended up living at Green Acres in Baltimore for 3 years before we made Aliyah in the summer of 2008. However, seven weeks before we made aliyah in June of 2008 we received a huge Mazal Tov! My oldest son, Chaim Dovid, was born. The Bris was held at Ner Yisrael, the yeshiva in Baltimore that I was learning at. And in honor of this special occasion many family members, from both sides of the family came in to participate. The baby was blessed to have 4 great grandparents in attendance!

However, after the bris-perhaps as a result of all of the excitement of the day-something was missing. The key to my apartment had disappeared. Neither my wife nor I knew where it was. So we were standing out in the hot Baltimore sun, on a late June day, with an 8 day old baby, who had just had surgery accompanied by two octogenarian great grandparents (the other two had already returned home) and we had no way of opening the door. My neighbor Roger, a single Jamaican man, suggested that we go to the apartment of Marven, the manager, and ask him for a spare key. He showed me where he lived and I knocked on the door.

After some knocking, Marven opened the door. He did not have any shirt on and was in the middle of watching TV. He had a very angry look on his face and he started screaming, “How dare you bother me during my private time! You are never allowed to interrupt my private time!” I apologized and tried to explain to him the dire circumstances that we were in with an 8 day old baby and elderly grandparents waiting outside in the heat. Well, begrudgingly he came to open the door and told me to be careful never to interrupt him again!

Seven weeks later we moved to Eretz Yisrael. After 25 years of living in the United States, I was ready to come home. The flight was not easy as I spent the whole flight trying to comfort my crying two month old baby. However, it was time for my family to say goodbye to the United States. It was time to come home. It was time to say goodbye to Marven!