The Tree of life Synagogue was the scene of one of the worst disasters in the city of Pittsburgh’s history. When I heard the news the first thing I did was to call the family of Rabbi Arthur Schneier.

Rabbi Schneier is known as one of the most respected religious leaders in the world. The good Rabbi has been the head of the Park East Synagogue in New York for over thirty years and is the founder and President of The Appeal of Conscience foundation.

For over fifty years he has used this foundation to help promote peaceful coexistence through interfaith dialogue with organizations worldwide.

I know how blessed I am, and when situations like this happen I always feel like I have to try to extend a hand to thy fellow man.

Karen Dresbach who is the executive Vice President of the Appeal of Conscience foundation and the daughter of Rabbi Schneier answered the phone and immediately told me that her 87 year old dad had already sprung into action and was headed with other top officials in a private plane to Pittsburgh. I told Karen to let her father know that if he needed me to go to Pittsburgh that I would be there.

We need to help the people of our country and our world understand that our life is just to short to continue with this madness.

We are all people first. To waste time thinking about hate and jealousy is just maddening.

Our World is a beautiful world. The things that we can do with precious time is a blessing. To do evil crimes and then have to spend the rest of your life asking yourself ‘What did I do?’ is such a waste of life.

In the five years that I have gotten to know the good Rabbi Schneier I also got to meet some of the great world leaders and to a man they always say the same thing. Through Rabbi Schneier we promote love and peaceful coexistence within all races.

I thank God that Rabbi Schneier is in Pittsburgh with his army of people that understand that as John Lennon once said , We must GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!

Tuesday October 9th would of marked John Lennon’s 78th Birthday. The Iconic Beatle made such an impact in his 40 years on earth that to this day he is still so fondly remembered.

John Lennon once said give peace a chance, but like John f Kennedy Martin Luther king Jr and Muhatma Ghandi before him was shot down by those that just did not care for peace in this beautiful world.

In The fall of 1977 after Reggie Jackson became the king of New York because of one of the greatest performances in sports history , we went on a jog through Central Park and accidentally ran into John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. I actually saw him first and stopped Reggie. Even though he would tell us that he knew nothing about baseball he recognized Reggie right away.

Reggie had been on the cover of so many newspapers and magazines that Hellen Keller would of recognized him.

Lennon immediately congratulated Reggie and kidded with him that he was more famous than all the other Jackson’s put together ( he was referring to Michael and the Jackson 5 ). He told Reggie that maybe he would go and see him perform sometime. Reggie said that he would love to invite him. I actually dropped off Reggies contact info to Lennon’s residence at the Dakota on 72nd Street but unfortunately we would never hear from Lennon.

It was a very sweet moment with an incredible person. What I loved the most was that even Reggie Jackson, the king of The greatest sport in the world at that time truly did understand the incredible magnitude of John Lennon.

Reggie really wasn’t a Beatles fan but he loved the fact that Lennon understood the magnitude of what Mr October had accomplished . The coolest thing that I remember was that when we started to run again Reggie would say ‘ Can you believe that a Beatle actually knew what I did’.

BATBOY… The play is back on October 17th at the Argyle Theatre in Babylon.
October 19th at Hostos Community College in the Bronx.
October 23rd at the Tilles Center In C.W. Post College.