Anyway, March 5th started early for us both, despite the previous evening's late Purim revelry. David went to Brooklyn for the Rappaport brit mila and I went to the East Village shul to await a delivery of chairs for the potential masses that could arrive to hear David talk.
That was the beginning of a very long and demanding day. Arriving at the shul I was pleased to discover the paper had been delivered, but was startled to see that there was a lot of furniture in the room we were using and I had no one to help me move it. The woman in the office was lovely and encouraging, but when I approached the caretaker about paying him for his assistance with moving the furniture he had a hissy fit extraordinaire. I was exhausted (and a bit hysterical myself) and so did not have time for this. Eventually he played ball. I don't know if it was because he had vented his fury at me as the nearest object and now felt better or if I had shamed him into some sort of compliance, but he started to move the tables and agreed to help with a couple of other things (naturally I would pay for his time!).
Of course, the weather had snapped cold and it was starting to snow...again.
I returned to meet David at the Penn Hotel. David, in his brilliance, had extended the room until six and so we both had a chance to have a nap for an hour or so. After some last minute shopping and David's final preparation and consolidation (as well as taking some moments to centre himself after a frantic 24 hours), I was back at the synagogue to prepare the event.
Time flew by. I had so many tables and chairs to move, but wonderful, wonderful Aviva arrived to help and six and she was so amazing in the way that she schlepped all that heavy furniture with me.
David came at around 6.30, but I didn't want him to do anything too physical because he needed to save all his energy for the talk, which was going to be demanding because the space in large.
Shortly after Jonathan Ross turned up and he and wonderful Aviva helped put up the paper, together with others as they arrived...one of whom was this guy Arnon ...if you want to know the story, best ask us directly...very strange... Mark Pearlman and Toshi (who works with Mark) arrived early and helped also.
Anyway, as time approach, people began arriving. Wonderful Aviva (as she will now be known) sat at the desk and put all her people skills to work as she took payment at the door. David wanted to start on time, but I was a bit freaked out because the crowd was thin. Regardless, he started and naturally, people kept arriving late and the room soon looked better and fuller...
David gave a great talk. The crowd responded well and were engaged and enthusiastic. When he was finished, it was wonderful to see many people hanging back to talk to him.
Unfortunately, the furniture all had to be returned that evening. So WA (wonderful Aviva) and Toshi (I think I kept telling him that I loved him by the end of the evening...) were amazing and they tirelessly helped take all the furniture back and pack up all the chairs. There really was a lot to do and I would not have been able to manage without their help and the help of others who lent a hand.
We had a very informal dinner with Mark, Toshi, WA and Deborah at Kosher Delight...our restaurant of choice during our time in Manhattan. We were both absolutely exhausted, but we had resolved to brave the two and a half hour drive back to Vineland so that we could rest comfortably in Kirk's fantastic bed and so that David could have a full day to prepare for his talk on Wednesday in Vineland, The Whole of the Seder in One Hour.
Naturally, the drive was not without its dramas. We were pulled over by the State police - not a pleasant experience - who, fortunately, only cautioned us. And then we got lost, almost crossed the state border, adding an extra 40 minutes to our journey. We finally arrived at Kirk's at around 3am totally, totally exhausted and fell into bed in a grimy, somewhat tortured state.
I was ready to leave the States...these two months had taken a big toll...even though they had clearly been a tremendous success...
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