On Donuts, Ties, Psychiatric Wards, and Ira

Today was the fourth day here in Litchfield, Connecticut and I've compiled a list of interesting tidbits and stories -at least interesting to me- that have transpired during my travels with Mendel, hence forth known as 'The Chief.'

1. The first morning as we were getting up, the Rabbi came running in.
   "What happened?" he demanded, a frantic look in his eyes. We were at a loss as to his sudden panic. "The Police are here!" he said, and dashed out. Later he found out why the Police were hanging around the Chabad -not due to anything we had done (or at least not directly) but rather because the Dunkin' Donuts next-door had been held up the night before.
   
2. For the purpose of Merkos Shlichus, I've been told to wear a tie -something that besides for a brief and somewhat bloody stint in Warsaw- I have not done since my Bar-Mitzvah. The Shliach gave us the option of using a box of ties donate to Chabad . . . but after seeing them it soon became apparent as to why they had been donated -so we opted to buy our own. I ended up with this one. On the way out I also grabbed a bathing suit . . . the lady must have thought it rather odd to see a rabbi buying a tie and bathing suit.
   
3. We were sitting in our room in the Chabad House, when the Rabbi buzzed us on the phone, "Rabbis, there's someone who wishes to speak to you on line one." The Chief picked up the phone, but upon my insistence he put it on speaker phone, "Hello," came a voice on the other side, "Am I speaking to the Rabbis?"
   "Yes," intoned the Chief, "My name is Rabbi Mendel, how can I help you?"
   "Well, my name is X, and I would like to set up a meeting with you guys with the residents of the Middleton Hospital."
   "It would be our pleasure to visit, should we come tomorrow?"
   There was a pause for a moment,
   "It might be a little difficult, because this is a maximum security Hospital, for Forensic Psychiatry patients."
   "I see . . . you mean people with Mental Illness."
   "Yes," X said, "but more accurately -Psychiatric patients who have committed crimes.
   The chief stated his understanding of the situation, then asked,
   "So you're a warden there?"
   "No," X said in a exuberant voice, "I'm an inmate here -I can't wait to see you!"
   There was a pregnant pause while the Chief and I looked at each other before the conversation continued.
4. We bought a GPS in Costco for our car with assistance of a worker named Ira. On the way out we asked him if he was Jewish, 'since with a name like Ira -you can't get more Jewish then that.' He was. (Ira along with Irving Leonard, and Hyman are strictly Jewish names)
   

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