Results tagged “barmitzvah”

Three prison officials called it quits yesterday, months after they allowed several prisoners to hold religious parties and even let rapper Foxy Brown conduct an interview and photo shoot while still locked up. Chief of Department Carolyn Thomas, Assistant Chief of Special Operations Frank Squillante and warden of the Manhattan detention complex (aka the Tombs) George Okada all turned in their resignations yesterday. The President of the Correction Captains' Association, Patrick Ferraiuolo, expressed his enthusiasm for the resignations, "He allowed his deputy wardens to run his jails."

The NY Post is clinging to Rabbi Leib Glanz like a tenacious dybbuk. After exposing the perks he arranged for Jewish inmates at the Manhattan Detention Complex—from allowing one to throw his son's bar mitzvah at the Tombs to allegedly allowing sex with female prisoners—Rabbi Glanz resigned. But the Post is still all over him, and on Friday they caught him using an official Uniformed Firefighters Association placard.

Oy vey: The Post reports that Rabbi Leib Glanz has resigned as a city jail chaplain, as tales of his generous ways towards Orthodox Jewish inmates—from allowing one to throw his son's bar mitzvah at the Tombs to entertaining some with clowns and allowing them to have sex with female prisoners—grew. Glanz, who was suspended after the unorthodox bar mitzvah (held at the Manhattan Detention Complex's gym, complete with knives), said, "Yes, I resigned. I decided it was best for everybody."

Up until this week, Catholics seemed to have a monopoly on calling The Tombs their party spot, the name of a famous sports bar near Georgetown University. But as more details emerge about the Manhattan detention center of the same name, it seems that Orthodox Jews were truly able to take the morbid moniker and turn it into a hotspot. Today an ex-inmate tells the Post, "It was like a party every day. It was great."

The Post follows up its awesome story about how the Tombs—you know, the Manhattan Detention Complex—hosted one inmate's son's bar mitzvah party—complete with knives!— by saying the correction facility "was like a 'private club' for a group of Orthodox Jewish jailbirds, whose politically connected prison-chaplain rabbi regularly treated them to feasts of roast beef, salmon and chicken with all the trimmings." The Post also got hold of a corrections memo which read, "The inmates are untouchable. When it comes to the Jewish inmates, all rules are put aside."

Actually, the Tombs—aka the Manhattan Detention Complex— doesn't really allow bar (or bat) mitzvahs to be thrown there, which is why Corrections Department officials, including a rabbi and imam, were disciplined for allowing one inmate to throw his son's bash there. The Post reports that Tuvia Stern, a "financial scam artist," got the okay to "use his own caterer, who supplied kosher food, china, forks -- and knives -- for about 60 guests who partied and danced the hora for six hours in the jailhouse gym. Stern's family and friends were allowed to keep their cellphones -- normally a huge security no-no. And Stern was given the OK to dress in clothing appropriate for the occasion." Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn was reportedly "livid"—guess finding out that the department paid for the overtime of guards who were staffed at the event wasn't fun.

We received the following note from the lucite desk of Enrique Goldfarb (Northern New Jersey's #3 bar mitzvah entertainer):

Gothamist hit the transportation trifecta while stepping onto the platform from the 7 Train at the 61st Street –Woodside stop. While the subway left the station, a train passed below and a plane passed above. Given that the Subway platform is smack under a LaGuardia arrival flight path, and high above the LIRR tracks, this timing dependant sensation is rivaled only by the horizontal superfecta in Elizabeth New Jersey where the seaport, train tracks, I-95 Interstate and Newark runways run parallel. Actually the low flying planes were a recurring theme as we wound our way around the area north of the 7 line. Around each corner was a new angle and perspective, as planes landed every minute or so with the backdrop changing from residential blocks to light industrial and manufacturing.

So far we've found nothing funny about the month of January, hopefully things will change starting this week. Check out our comedy picks:

It’s a new year, which means resolutions. Gothamist aimed low with our resolutions this year, seeing as we always break them by oh, today. (Nails bitten? Check. Too much beer imbibed? Yes. Zero regard for finances? You betcha.) We do have one more resolution which is to see more live shows and we think that’s something everyone should do. Even though we love DVR. We think going out is important. Resolve to see shows you haven’t seen before and realize that some of the people performing in New York right now might be famous soon! A few suggestions for this week….

- Thank you, Politicker, for posting Anthony Weiner's campaign flyer to show how he's probably the "only candidate for mayor who will mail out a copy of his Bar Mitzvah photograph." The flyer also says Weiner "will be New York City's Middle-Class Mayor" because middle-class is no longer a twelve letter word. WNBC 4 says that the latest WNBC/Marist poll has Bloomberg soundly beating all possible Democratic mayoral candidates, leading Fernando Ferrer 16 points, C. Virginia Fields and Weiner by 18, and Gifford Miller by 20 points! This is the first time Gothamist has seen Weiner not be at the bottom; it must be the picture!

Gothamist had a great time rubbing shoulders with the stars at opening night of The Downtown Plays, the centerpiece production of the innaugural Tribeca Theater Festival. Along with the evening's co-hosts Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, we also spotted such luminaries on the red carpet and at the Capitale after party as Carol Kane, Michael C. Hall from Six Feet Under, Sam Rockwell, Chad Lowe, and Rachel Weisz.

- Concierge Service (assistance with story development, scouting assistance, budget analysis, and discounts on participating vendors)More details from the city. Mel Brooks yukked it up with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki, saying, "It was breaking my heart to think that we had to go to Bucharest or Toronto or Vancouver to somehow mimic this incredible city," he said. "Without the tax benefits, the truth is, the horrible truth is that this movie would probably be made in Kabul, wherever the cheapest place in the world to shoot is." Newsday covered the event, and the Mayor's and Mel's salty attitudes were on display:

When Bloomberg suggested he be cast as Max Bialystock, the swindler who seduces old ladies to finance his Broadway schemes, Brooks quipped, "We wanted somebody a little taller."
But Bloomberg -- slightly taller than Brooks but shorter on comedic stature -- got the biggest laugh of the day.
When Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver suggested Brooks get a second Bar Mitzvah during filming, Bloomberg shot back, "Or a second bris."

More Borscht Belt humor from the press conference from the Daily News, which reports that Brooks used to sneak into the Brooklyn Navy Yard to watch warships being built. Yes, he's that old. And so far, the cast of The Producers is starry: Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick reprising their Broadway roles, with Nicole Kidman as Ulla and Will Ferrel as Franz Liebkind, and could it be, Roger Bart and Gary Beach be signing on as well?