Readers’ Scoop: To All The Anonymous Bloggers

j2 jpeg(After reading some comments about J2, the following letter was sent to the Editor). Surely none of you who want to shut down j2 has his child hanging out there. If it was your child, you’d be happy he/she is there, & not in a place where they could get harmed or do harm – spiritually & physically. Ask any parent whose child you recognize, & they’d tell you: “thank Hashem, a malach came down from shomayim in the form of Louie, who watches & cares over our children. Kumohoo Yarboo B’yisroel”. For those of you naysayers, may i ask you: “what have you done lately for any ONE of these (Hashem’s) children? did you say a kind word to them? (they might not have heard a kind word in weeks, months, or YEARS!!) did you invite them to your place for a meal, a bbq, or offer to treat them out? did you listen too them, hear their story? maybe they have some justification in being angry at a system that allows perfection only? (are we all of perfect?!)

There is a problem – & it’s not going away. Most parents will not send their child to vocational school until he’s hanging out & he is a “certified loser” in their eyes. Who will care for him/her until then? Evidently the parents are at a loss. The community must admit to the problem & open a place for them to hang out – every night! The place must be staffed with Bnei Torah who are “cool” & understand kids, who are looking to help them & not condemn them.

Until then, Louie is the Shlucha D’rachmonoh. May HKB”H give him gezunt, wisdom & patience to deal with all those who don’t have a clue how to solve this problem.

Feel free to be in touch with me.
Rabbi Yitzchok Mitnick

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96 COMMENTS

  1. Think for yourself. Don’t let others think for you. And definitely don’t let the world turn wrongly do your thing to make a difference. And definitely do not let others go off the derech just so you can protect your kids.

    Thinker.

  2. Lou controls the crowd and knows the love these kids need to be shown. GROW UP LAKEWOOD. We need to recognize that the extreme level of education as being the norm with no middle ground being considered the norm because of our own kovod is causing ealry burnout of our kids and its our fault. G-d forbid mention english in HS. Many Rosh Yeshivas such as Harav Elya Svei Ztl held of english in HS so the bochrim would not burn out. The problem today is that people do not consult with their Rosh Yeshivas and they feel they need to have their kids enclosed all day in the gemara. they are making a new mesora by the day. Its back firing on many. I remember seing a bachur learn with ciggarete to just before shabbos every friday. At the end he went deep off and B”h today he is back to be shomer shabbos.

    Rabbi Abraham J Twerski says its like a rubber band. if its pulled to far to the right its going to swing far left or worse- snap!!!!!

  3. I frequent j2 on occasion its really beautiful to see this true kiddush hashem and achdus of the lakewood community if they close down how many nefoshos will be lost! This is like a seminar every motzei shabbos and mr. Follman doesn’t even charge rent for the use of his premises

  4. Don’t close J2, just watch your 9 and 10 year olds from going there Motzei Shabbos in case they are struggling they shouldn’t think when they get a little older they have a place to fit in. Get them the HELP now so they shouldn’t suffer , spend quality time with them (no cell phones, don’t go on errands with them) talk to them about topics that interest them NOT hashkofa. Look in their eyes and SHOW them (not tell them) their number one, and your love for them is unconditional. Don’t talk or act against the ‘System’ of LKWD. It will destroy everyone. 99% of children that develop problems with Yiddishkeit are the fault of the parents. Eisav & Yishmael were from the 1%. And the Guarantee for success is shalom Bayis (ask your wife how the Shalom Bayis is)

  5. Yes, R’ Louie (or “Mr. J2 as rav Simcha Bunim Cohen so affectionately calls him during the shiur) is a real Tzadik and a mentch too! He provides lunches free of charge twice a week at the popular Lunch & Learn program as well as countless other acts of Chesed that nobody knows about!

    and always with a smile! Keep it up Louie.

  6. with making them feel comfortable that they have a place to hang it also justifies whatever they did or do and that’s not productive by bringing the issue out in public all the kids at risk now have no shame and feel accepted in their situation without any thought of looking for change or betterment don’t get me wrong we must deal with these kids love them and take care of them but we are far worse off with the problem of KAR since it has become mainstreamed and kids don’t even try to stay afloat.

  7. Mr. Follman may be a very nice man that allows these boys to frequent his establishment and purchase food and eat there but the “main man” who controls the crowd and watches over these boys is one of the lamed vav!!Rabbi Chaim Abadi watches over many of these boys every motzai shabbos and every day too.He makes sure many of them come to shacharis and put on teffilin and have a place to go every night not just motsai shabbos.Thank You Mr. Loui Follman for having a motsai shabbos place but thank you R’ Chaim Abadi for having an every night MINYAN SHELANU place!!!!

  8. Well said, Ernest.
    J2 is no place for our children to be going to on motzei shabbos because it definitely has a tremendous detrimental effect on them. Maybe a better idea would be to find a good place for these youth to hang out in a fun, kosher enviornment out of other boys eyesight. I believe R. Chaim Abadi is working on just such a project.

  9. TO #16
    I hope you dont have kids. Nor should you ever be in Chinuch. Your very aproach is one of the roots of the problem. Read #7 and youll stand a chance of not having KAR

  10. Ernest made an appalling statement: “99% of the children that develop problems with their yiddishkeit is the fault of the parents”
    WOW. Such a strong statement with no facts backing it up. Look around Lakewood and you will see how untrue and hurtful your statement is. I ask you this question: why is it that someone has b”lah six children and one is struggling with yiddishkeit and the other five children are metzuyanim does that mean that the terrible parents goofed with the five but was matzliach with the one that is going off loi aleinu. Chas veshalom and shame on you. While granted SOME are the fault of parents, certainly not all. And not 99% as you say
    The only thing a person can do is DAVEN. And daven some more.
    And BTW Ernest don’t tell me that those parents didn’t daven. Since you Unfortuntely seem to see everything as black and white. Chinuch is not black and white. I have a posuk to prove it. Chanoch l’nar al pi darkoi. His derech. Not black. Not white. In conclusion: if a parent misses the shade of gray that a particular child needed it is NOT necessarily the parents “fault”.

  11. for some reason it seems that everything in lakewood must be either black or white. its like that in perception n likewise in judgement. its either ur a frumack or ur off the derech, n either hes a tzadik or a rusha for what hes doing. perhaps this is goofa 1 of lakewoods biggest pitfall.
    not always is kanois the answer n neither is turning a blind eye or painting a false picture right.
    YES we have a problem and very big1.
    BUT we should remember its 1.Nachpisah deruchainu then 2. Vnachkora n then we can acheive 3.Vnushuva
    we must learn how to identify a problem this includes the root of the problem then we must admit to it n STOP blaming outside sources for a problem that has manifested from within.
    happy n healthy kids are less likely to be attracted to nonsense hapiness, but IM HU RAIK MIKEM HU RAIK. and of course not all kids are the same but thats why chanoch lnaar lfi darko. but how can that be done if its only BLACK or WHITE???

  12. hope to never be in there boots but this is only the first stop of the night it goes downhill from here so why bother and give other kids the chance to see it

  13. This is the craziest post. Nobody can force anyone in this town to close anything anymore. Those days are over. Lakewood is now like evey other city. And growing. There will be new hashgachos new yeshivos. Nobody will tell anyone what to do. There are places in lakewood that provide drugs to our own kids. Is anyone closing them down? Just be happy we have louie who runs his place resposibly. We could get a guy that doesn’t give a hoot and there could be all sorts of crazy things going on soon. Louie is a big tzadik. He deserves an award.as for u control freaks. The old lakewood is long gone. Get used to it. Kcl can’t use their threats any more because another hashgochah can open tomorrow and they would drop the whole issue

  14. Louie shame on you! I am gaining so much weight. Your food is the best!oh and about the hanging out,who cares. The kids are safe is all that matters. Louie keep up the great work .

  15. Minyan Shelanu is “THE only place in Lakewood” where EVERYONE can, and does, come for ANY sort of help or support!! Be it a yeshiva-man, parent, in-law, teen, layman, yeshivish, not yeshivish, litvish, chasidish, sefardish, etc.

    Minyan Shelanu has made numerous Melava Malkas on sporadic Motzoei shabbosim. There were large turnouts. They have a shabbaton with numerous inspiring rabbonim and askonim in attendance. They even have a full functioning evening program replete with chavrusas/shiurim and fun activities.

    They have shiurim given by prominent (yeshivish, litvish, chasidish, sefardish) Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbonim.There are daily – TWO minyanim for shachris, a minyan for mincha, night seder with chavrusos and maariv.

    THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO ELABORATE ON THE MANY ZECHUSIM AND HATZOLAS NEFOSHOS that The Minyan has done and continues to do.

    The minyan is a place where you may see a boy with long hair saying yehei shmay rabbah ‘bekol koichoy’! Yes THOSE boys are OUR boys, OUR children, OUR klal Yisroel,OUR MINYAN– where every yochid feels that he CAN belong, and that belonging can keep THEM all afloat in order to keep THEM as part of US!!

    Remember: These are OUR children! YES, OUR children! Not from NY or elswhere.No parent should have to ever experience these trying situations.

    So, please, open your hearts and support OUR (yours & mine) Minyan Shelanu!

    Please show your support, and help them help you.
    To donate or to sponsor an event or shiur-PLEASE:
    -Call their office at 732-276-7361
    -Email to [email protected]
    -Mail to 145 Ocean Avenue/Lakewood, NJ 08701
    Thank you & Tizkeh LiMitzvos!!

    PS To view some of their wonderful work all led by HaRav Chaim Abadi Shlit”a You can visit them online at http://www.minyanshelanu.com/

  16. post 33 should read chavrei hakollel
    be at the dinner or be nowhere!

    together with the roshei hayeshiva and rabbonim show up en masse to support chavrei hakollels lifesaving work

    the life you save may be your own childs

  17. Response to ‘correction’:
    I don’t know what Chavrei Hakollel is. I don’t know what you don’t understand in my comment. All that I know of is the selflessness of MINYAN SHELANU and its countless VOLUNTEERS (yes, volunteers!)

    In post # 33, I am talking about the ONE AND ONLY MINYAN SHELANU LED BY THE ONE AND ONLY HARAV CHAIM ABADI SHLIT”A!!!

    How dare you have the Chutzpah to take away credit from the selflessness of HaRav Chaim Abadi Shlit”a

  18. to #23

    such hate in your voice!!! perhaps you should look in the mirror and be more giving and accepting to others opinions instead of thinking that your a know it all …look the issue of KAR has only gotten worse so let’s look at it from a diffrnt angle.

  19. to louie fan, are you arup fun zinen? what do you think this is? Woodburne? this is Lakewood. No, we are NOT like every other city. YES, Lakewood is different and better. It is people with your farkrumpte hashkofos who are killing Lakewood. We hate to see you, GO

  20. Response to 26. Your point of ‘Chanoch L’nar al pi darko’ is a chiyuv on the parents, Hashem gives every parent a source to draw from to nourish his child in their proper, customized way. Hashem does not give parents children and than starve them of the tools to guide them properly. If they need a specific shade of grey its got to be out there some where for them. Tefila will definitely make the process of Chinuch easier with less trial & error. Some times a family with 5 functioning kids and one struggling kid is a result of the test of chinuch given by Hashem is for that one struggling child only. He perhaps wasn’t tested with the other five. Its time we take responsibility for our actions and look honestly at ourselves and know that we have the ability to raise every one of our children as if they have the capability to be Moshiach. (Talmud Bavli)

  21. So sad to see two obviously choshuveh mosdos, that both have the same goals,are not able to work together.we need Kulanu agudah achas to do hashems ratzon. Once we have separate groups we lose our focus on what we need to do.why can’t you both work together?is there a difference in your mehalech?can you compromise?please explain if you can. And louie. I know you are very responsible with what goes on in front of your store. You care more about these kids than any money in the world.

  22. the person who wrote the letter is obviously not from lakewood
    there are people and places in lakewood that deal with these kind of kids… is mr mitnick implying that if we say hello to these kids they would all be frum?how about the fringe kids who are exposed to these kids by having a so called kosher place to hang out?

  23. I wasn’t saying I was happy about the facts. This town grew out of control. And this is what comes with it. If you can’t accept the truth. You should go. I actually fondly remember no pizza shops or restaurants no hangouts. Lakewood was quiet no traffic we knew everyone. I was just stating the truth. The next guy that opens a hangout might not care as much as louie and be responsible. And he will get a hashgochah no problem. If you have a problem with what your, or our ,ihr hatorah has become. Call the head of your yeshiva. He helped get us to this point.

  24. MY hashkafas are krum? Again I was just saying we no longer live in the sheltered lakewood it once was. You obviously did not hear harav weinbergers speech at bais faiga last night. And I was just pointing out not to blame louie who is a tzaddik and responsibly running his store. The person to blame for lakewood becoming woodburne is the people that insist lakewood should be the next flatbush. I didn’t want to live in flatbush. Did you?well now you do. And I’m krum.you might be lucky but you are definitely a big dip. Excuse the french but you’re a shtick merde

  25. For all the medium lakewooders complaining about wgat lake wood has become. I am a REAL old lakewooder and there has always been such places and caring people here anyone remember the. “old bagel nosh boyz” well they are all married living torahdik lives thanks to another tzadik who showed some boys some love and care.the bottom line is its the right place for the right kids and the parents have to know if its not for your kid keep them away. If it is then thank mr. L of today or mr. G of 15 years ago or any others for helping your kid

  26. Wow!! I was apalled at what “Louiefan” was saying.
    Rabbi Mitnick, As someone who hung out in our place in its early days, I can tell you that for most of these boys the best thing would be a little loving discipline. Giving them a place to hang out in public & inspire another generation to be like them isn’t the answer. I’m there every motzei shabbos, it only gets worse.
    If we didn’t give approval to their lifestyle, many of them would strive to join regular society, but if we just “accept” them, why should they change??? I’m speaking as someone who’s been there and has friends who have and the ONLY ones who come back are the ones whos parents and rebbeim were rodeif them to change. AND THEY DID!

  27. to old lakewooder, You are wrong. I know those guys, and they are not all married, norare they “torahdik” jews. Popping pills, movies, pritzus is not “torahdik”

  28. Which part is disgusting? The part that I tell you that louie is not to blame for this town not caring about their own children ? Or the part where I blame our out of control growth on the same moisad thàt has people complaining about j2?or just the part where I curse you out in a foreign language?your choice. Stop kvetching about something you can’t control. Watch your kids. know where they are explain to them that you do not like them going to j2 on motzoi shabbos. Make them a fun melave malka. Don’t run out to shop or even learn or hock by some tea. They will be fine.there are much worse things they can do on saturday night around here than be in j2.did you shmooze with them about the dangers of smoking or pritzus at the right age?that usually does the trick. A little openness and communication. Not screaming that something is treif because I or the torah says so. Listen to your kids. What they know may shock you. My son told me his best friend was going off the derech. He was molested by a teacher. Listen and learn and don’t passul a valid opinion because of a biting retort.

  29. I am very bothered by rabbi mitnicks letter for a number of reasons

    A.he seems to glorify hangout and calling the person who enables kids to hang out a malach maybe a hang out is necesary to some degree but lets not get caaried away there is an argument of lives saved vs lives lost

    B.he is implying that lakewood people are not warm or caring and have not said hello to these kids in days months…etc so is that all these kids need is some one to say hello and problem solved?i know for a fact that these kids get more attention from volunteers who give these kids more attention than there own kids get

    C.there are places intown they can go to hang out and get all the attention, free food and drinks..free therapy.. and those places cover every type of kid from the “loser”(to quote ) to the total crack head and they both do a good job with the kids that go
    thank you minyan shelanu and the kollel and the working guys that go to minyan and kollel are all good guys who know how to party and also know whats rite

  30. Whichever knuckle head wants to close this down, needs help! JII rocks, and we stand with JII for ever and ever!!! We will protest and do everything needed to keep JII open!

  31. I’m not as smart as every one else that is posting so maybe some one can help me.

    What I need to know is that we have become so smart and enlightened and we understand every type of problem out there yet the problem is only getting worse. Why do we keep listening to the same people that keep giving us advice that isn’t working? Let’s judge by results and what we have been doing IS NOT WORKING so please let’s stop listening to the same failures, or we will watch all our kids fallow each other down the drains.

    LET’S JUDGE BY RESULTS NOT BY FUZZY SOUNDING THINGS THAT MAKE US FEEL SMART AND SOPHISTICATED!!!!!!!!!

  32. Whenever people come from outside of lakewood and they see this they go crazy and think the whole town is fake. the whole place is one big chillul heshem. whith cops having to come all the time. I donk walk in there any more.

  33. Marty g. Fan you are right not ALL are leading torah lives but most are.I’m not saying these stores are going to turn people around but it keeps them happy in a somewhat decent enviorment and if I remember correctly when m.g. Sold out and the new owner said no more everyone found new places and they were not better off in anyway

  34. I don’t mean to mix in. But I see this is a hot debate,and my good friend Louie Folman is being discussed. All I can say is that words cannot express how much the many people that know him ,admire him for all he does.He is always looking to do chesed. It is no wonder that all these kids are drawn to his establishment all the time.He works closely with Rabbi Abadi and never considers if getting rid of the kids hanging out will hurt or help his business.He truly cares about the welfare of all people.I find it funny though that members of our community would even utter a word about closing down an establishment owned by a highly regarded yid.While at the same time ignore all the stores owned by drug dealers responsible for supplying our children with poison.Louie I am so sorry if you are reading this. I know how much you like to do good deeds quietly. If these people only knew how special you are,they would have only praise for you and your pizza shop even on saturday nights.

  35. R’ Y. Mitnick is from Flatbush. He was part of “the pool hall” or “our place” on ave M, now he is with the wallerstein clan……

  36. Maybe if lakewood wasn’t so closeminded . And the rabbonim would address the problom and start taking action like they take action if a family has a tv we throw them out of school in a second . Instead of putting all ure efforts on cracking down on t v maybe start hellping these train wrecks

  37. Louie –
    Your heart is too big for Lakewood. Those fanatic animals just don’t appreciate you and what you continue to do, to serve the community with a clean establishment where one can sit down, to support your family and others and to support the community as a whole.. They should keep their kids locked up in closets and then send them to Minyan Shelanu for rehab. The whole world isn’t crazy, just some of those Fakewooders who wear blinders. Hey guys, wake up, there’s a real world out there.

  38. because there are kids droping out doesnt mean the the drop out rate(percent) is getting worse no society can be 100 percent there will always be that 2% drop out rate in yeshivas… some years will be more some years less
    an anology…. i dont here people saying schi is out of control even though they have doubled in size in last couple of years point is a percentage of population will be handicapped phisically or mentally and schi will grow (its not the water) same with these kids for what ever reasons there will allways be a % off drop outs from school or society question is how many can we rehab and reintegrate as a functioning member of society…….that said in the world of rehab there is a concept of… ENABLING(look it up or ask)…. public hang outs are not good for kids they dammage much more than they fix private hang outs would be the ideal way to go where these kids can go be toghether with boys and girls with simmilar problems

  39. from the comments i read it seems people concerns are the influence these boys and girls might have on their young ten or eleven year old children visiting j2 motzai shabbos not the adults if that is the case families with children who the parents are concerned about being exposed to unruly behaviour should stay away from j2 motzai shabbos there are plenty of other pizza shops in town open motzai shabbos at least 4 or 5 that i am aware of if theissue is that you only like j2 pizza mom or dad can go pick up the pies and bring it home or the family can go to j2 any other of the six days of the week for lunch or dinner

  40. the fact of the matter is lakewood has grown and keeps growing alot and with that comes diversity which means change it is a basic fact of life the bigger a community gets the less control there is for those people who appreciate a more smaller controlled environment one suggestion i have is south fallsburg if anyone knows other places please list them

  41. i am personally involved with both chavrei hakollel and minyan shelanu and theyre both moirad’ig operations and the oilam should support both

  42. everyone missed the boat completely! the real issue at hand is that when its busy on motzai shabbos the wait 4 sushi is way 2 long and must! be improved

  43. There was a very nice post earlier regarding the Minyan Shelanu and Horav Chaim Abadi, who has been moser nafsho on behalf of the tzibur for the past dozen years without ever receiving a penny for anything. I am not sure why after someone was mishabaiach him and the Minyan, someone else saw it fit to post a “correction” for the Chavrei Hakollel, which is also a very worthy organization in town.
    Granted the Kollel started a few years after the Minyan and was in fact using the Minyans facilities its first year in operation. However, if I would post a nice comment about Chai Lifeline for example, would someone correct me by saying that it was meant to be for Bikur Cholim???

    Each of the aforementioned groups are doing whatever they can to assist the “teen issue” in our city, albeit with different approaches and PR tactics.

    The bottom line is that our dear friend Louie is indeed a tzadik and has done his share many times over to assist this issue by allowing his store to be a safe haven and outlet for our teens while at the same time keeping the situation under control. As a parent, you have to be pretty foolish to allow you children to go there during certain times unsupervised. There are plenty of other pizza shops in town from which to choose from.

  44. to – unknown commnt.31
    November 15, 2009 at 4:58 pm
    I Used to think that Monyanshelanu & the kollel place were one and the same.
    Now dew 2 ur post –
    I UNDERSTAND THAT MINYANSHLANU & KOLLEL PLACE ARE 2 SEPORATE ENTITIES!
    thanks for clarifying a very confusing point.

  45. I used 2 b frum untill someone threw me out of a pizza shop. Then I said the heck with it all. Sounds funny? Well it’s not. I’m dying to be let back into the pizza shop, but the mashgiach wont let me in till I come on time!

  46. Honestly, I think that the problem at J2 is not the teenagers who might need a safe place to be. It is more the MARRIED people acting like teenagers who need the help. Married women should know better and dress more appropriately at all times. Especially when you might be setting an example too.

  47. There should be an organization that invites these kids out for shabbos. What they really need is LOVE. But individuals don’t necessarily need to wait till such an organization will be established. They should consider doing it on their own. TLS should be a great venue to publicize these ideas. TLS can then be gaining ruchnias, publicity & legitimacy.

  48. There are pluses and minuses to everything . I know people that dodnt know about this and sent their kids just to get pizza on SaturdaY NIGHT TO j2 ,and after a couple of times ,their kids got corrupted through being influenced by what they saw and met up with . Not every parent knows what goes on there . The parent innocently sent his kids to buy pizza nd they got a ride with somebody .

  49. To the owner of j2 i dont know you but II would like to give you a big yasherkoach that these kids are at least eating a kosher melave malka on motzei shaboss.

  50. 4get about the kids… I went there once on motzei shabbos and felt fartumpt myself after all the pritzus I saw. Sorry… Find a different way to HELP the problem. Which DESPERATELY needs help… Mixed crowds of kids should not be given ‘a place’. The kids themselves need a place. But not the mix of boys and girls at once. Does anyone here see what goes on in the parking lot? HELLO? Can we say issurei kareis?

  51. For all those individuals who fear for their children’s “Neshamos,” how about sending them to ANOTHER pizza establishment? If you are a resident of Lakewood, I’m sure you are well aware of the fact the that there are MANY other options for Motzei Shabbos pizza. No one is “forcing” you or your family members to eat at J2. Stop “looking” for excuses to complain about your fellow Jews.

    p.s. The Handicapped parking spots are just that, for the “handicap.” Please do not be so selfish and lazy and park there when you’re just “running” in to pick up your pizza. – If you are in fact handicapped, you must have the proper decal in place on you vehicle to utilize these parking spaces. You can still get a ticket if you don’t do this, even if you have the credentials elsewhere.

  52. as a life long lakewwod resident all of these posts are bogus. they are not coming from lakewood residents. they all have no access to the internet sonce the gedolim assered it…

  53. Firstly i would like to say Lou is doing a fine job all people young or old need a place to go. Is it not better that kids who are going to hang out anyway at least do it in a place where there is some sort of supervision over them? Are we as a town so naive as to believe that “HANGING OUT” in lakewood is imposable? Its going to happen anyway whether we like it or not, at least there are people looking over it.

    I am an old lakewooder who has seen this town go from a warm caring place where everyone was excepted, to a place where we judge every one based on what we consider the standard. Its truly sad that we have come to this, in fact I am embarrassed to say I am a part of this system to, we all contribute to it whether we relies it or not. Our kids are pressured in school to know everything and be perfect, there is no average anymore “You are either perfect or under-par”. Us as parents are as much to blame as the system itself, they come to us begging for our attention and do we help them or push them off?

    Here we have a store in town that accepts them all whether they are ‘yeshivish’ or not, and its supervised by someone. if a parent has a problem let that parent be with there child and not push there short comings as a parent on to the town.

    yours truely
    Yaakov Shanik

  54. I just stumbled across this post, and I happen to know Loiue personally. He is indeed a stand-up guy who for many of the boys that hang out in his place is the only person they look to with any degree of resepct. Why is this? Beaucse Louie treats them with dignity. Louie told me he tells the kids that hang out in his place all day (and night) without buying anything, “My name is Louie, and I own this store. If you come into my store, you must say hello to me”. Not, “if you’re not buying, get out” or “hang out somewhere else”, he welcomes them, and in time, they will (may?) turn their lives around.

    I’m not from Lakewood, but the scene described is the same in every frum community. Don’t criticize the Louies of the world; they did not make the problem.. they are cleaning up the mess that WE (the kehilla) made.

    Keep up the good work, Louie!

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