Modern Orthodoxy is in decline, even in Pico-Robertson.
I walked the length and breadth of Pico Bvd this afternoon and could not find an RCA version of the Artscroll Siddur (prayer book).
I had to order one.
I bought some holy books from 613 Mitzvah Store (I bought my tefillin there in 2001 after R. Muskin stripped me of the pair he gave me earlier that year) and when I went to sign for my credit card bill, I was handed a pen that was about two feet long.
Why was the store using such a pen? Because when they offered their customers a regular pen, too often the customers kept it instead of returning it.
I hate that.
I often carry a pen around because I’m a world-class journalist and my eagle-eye is always looking for scoops to record.
And most of the time when I lend someone a pen, I have to ask for it back.
I have to be the bad guy.
