u/ZevSteinhardt

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One thing I've always liked about Succos is that the laining is the same for both days, so when I prep for one, I prep for both.

This paid off for me big time when my first son was born. My wife went into labor early in the second evening of Succos. We ended up going to the hospital where he was born shortly after seven in the morning. That gave me enough time to walk home from the hospital (about an hour's walk), grab my lulav and esrog, go to shul, and lain without any additional prep. :)

Zev

Wishing everyone a Good Yom Tov, a k'siva v'chasima tova, a year filled with happiness, joy, success, health, and bracha.

Zev

https://preview.redd.it/x1n0688j4boh1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fffa251478bb3d3d2460ccaa76a29a4e0d532ce7

I'm the person on the left in the photo.

At the time, I was working for J&R Music World on Park Row.

On the morning of Sep 11, 2001, I voted in the New York primaries that morning and went to work. I got out of the subway at the Fulton Street station. My train pulled into the platform just after the second plane hit. I had no idea any of this was occurring while I was on the train.

The Fulton Street platform at the time had three levels (it's since been redesigned and modernized): the subway level, a mezzanine level, and the street level.

My first indication that something was different about the day was when I got up to the mezzanine level. A bunch of people began running towards me. I assumed that there must have been a shooting further ahead or on the street level. I ran with the crowd for a bit (I didn't want to get trampled) until they passed, then headed back toward the street. I looked for a shooting victim or anything like that, but didn't see anything.

I made my way up to the street level, and that's when I realized that things were very wrong.

There was all sorts of litter in the streets (kind of like what you see in the pic, but not that bad yet). The air also smelled a bit funny. At that point, I still couldn't see the World Trade Center.

I made my way to Broadway and saw a huge crowd just standing around and staring up. I looked up too, and that's when I saw it. The Towers were on fire, with black smoke billowing out of the gaping wounds.

I asked someone what had happened and was told. I stared for a while, not quite believing what I was seeing.

After a few minutes, I headed towards Park Row to go to work. I didn't think that there would be any actual work done that day, but there was nothing to be gained by standing outside on Broadway staring.

A few of us were huddled in our offices up on the seventh floor of 15 Park Row. I tried contacting my wife and my sister to let them know that I was alright, but it was extremely difficult to get a landline connection.

We turned on the TV and watched some of the coverage (the only channel available was WCBS/Channel 2 - most other stations had their antennas on top of the WTC. WCBS, if I remember correctly, had a backup antenna on the Empire State Building).

Eventually, we all heard a deep rumble and felt the shaking as the South Tower fell. We all went to the windows. As it fell, we saw a huge cloud of black dust coming toward us down Vesey Street. We scrambled to close all the windows in the office and managed to get them all except one (we closed the door to that office). When the dust cloud got to us, the view from our seventh-floor window was dark as night.

We waited and watched as the dust dispersed and the view outside began to lighten. That was until the North Tower fell and, again, as the dust cloud enveloped us, the view outside the window became pitch-black.

We remained in the office until about noon, when NYPD came and evacuated us. We left the building and made our way home. (That's when the picture above was taken.) I live in Brooklyn, so I (and a few thousand other people) walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to go home. As we walked, we watched the sky for more airplanes (we had no way of knowing the attacks were over).

I kept walking home through Brooklyn, as the subways weren't running. As I walked through Prospect Park, I met a woman crying and asking about her brother, who was in the Towers. Of course, I had no answers for her. I spoke with her for a bit and told her that I hoped that he was okay.

I arrived home in Kensington later that afternoon, after walking for about four and a half hours. The sights and sounds of the day are still with me to this day, twenty-five years later.

AMA.

Zev Steinhardt

https://preview.redd.it/zow0ucmed4nh1.png?width=701&format=png&auto=webp&s=1155c9011fc4647647e9d5212cff0c50eb79b03d

This is my lowest A1c since my pancreatic cancer diagnosis 3.5 years ago. This is also with only half a pancreas (I had a partial pancreatectomy and splenectomy a year ago) and with having to deal with the occasional high numbers due to steroids I receive with my chemotherapy. I'm hoping I can get pushed down a bit more to the non-diabetic level (under 5.7) by the time of my next test.

Zev

Hi, everyone! I hope you're all doing well.

It's time for our monthly check-in for those who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer or their caregivers. You can describe how you're doing (hopefully well) and how things are going for you (feel free to include personal wins that aren't cancer-related, if you like).

My personal "check-in" will be in a comment below.

Zev

https://preview.redd.it/mmtqf56qkpmh1.png?width=711&format=png&auto=webp&s=faef00cf3f18bf497f06898488e38bb0e75424a3

So, I'm back from vacation and have begun writing again. Column 114, Vayikra 4.

Zev

I put this together for a comment on a Reddit post elsewhere, but I thought it might be useful here as well.

Someone complimented me on how nice my writing is, and they were surprised that I only do this part-time. I explained to them that I started out with terrible handwriting (like most beginners) and, over time, got better at it. To illustrate the point, I made a timeline of my writing samples (see below).

However, the point I'd like to stress here is not my own improvement, but the fact that anyone can go from literally terrible (as I was) to competent with consistent practice and time. In whatever goal you set for yourself, no one starts out excellent at something. You start out terrible. From there you work your way up to rotten and eventually hit bad. You put in more work and more effort and practice, and you go from bad to fair, to competent, and, hopefully, with continued work, you hit good and maybe even excellent. But if you get frustrated with your first efforts and don't put in the further work to improve it, you won't get anywhere. It's the constant accumulation of practice (even small amounts) over time that makes success.

Zev

https://preview.redd.it/9ge65hg4alhh1.jpg?width=2400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee6d216c1cddc999a1c8e51457807a0c308c9cf9

https://preview.redd.it/9aylvzlkn5hh1.png?width=683&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a3cde2e13dc076a389d3cc958cf3f1cd3884f0b

I finished column 112 yesterday, the first full column of Vayikra.

Zev

Hi, everyone! I hope you're all doing well.

It's time for our monthly check-in for those who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer or their caregivers. You can describe how you're doing (hopefully well) and how things are going for you (feel free to include personal wins that aren't cancer-related, if you like).

I'm putting this up a day early since tomorrow is Shabbos, and I won't be able to post it then. :)

My personal "check-in" will be in a comment below.

Zev