It Was an All-Star Weekend for the Bride and Groom
Sir Charles Needs "All Jews On Deck" To Lift Him Up On The Chair...
Basketball brought Christiana Barkley and Ilya Hoffman together in the first place, but he was far more impressed with her than he was with “the guy from ‘Space Jam.’”
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Though Ilya Hoffman met Christiana Barkley during a basketball game, he wasn’t knocked sideways when he learned the identity of her father.
“I’m not a sports fan,” said Mr. Hoffman, 34, the founder of DemandByte, a marketing technology company in New York. “’I don’t watch sports. I don’t play sports.”
In May 2016, though, his friend Eric Magleby invited him to watch a replay of Villanova’s national championship game that season. A group of Villanova alumni had gathered at Mason Jar, a sports bar in Manhattan, and Mr. Hoffman was on the fence about joining them.
“Villanova grads are crazy, crazy basketball fans,” he said. “I didn’t go to Villanova.” He went to SUNY Albany for two years, then Baruch College, where he received a bachelor’s in finance and economics in 2009. “I thought, ‘I’m not sure this is the place for me.’”
But he went, and when someone pointed to one of the fans in the room and identified her as the daughter of Charles Barkley, the 11-time N.B.A. All Star, Hall of Famer and now television analyst for TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” his reaction was atypical. “I said, ‘Oh, you mean the guy from ‘Space Jam’? That’s where I knew him from. Some people might have been like, ‘Oh my god, Charles Barkley.’ To me it was like, ‘Look at this amazing girl.'”
Later that night, he invited nine Wildcats fans back to his apartment, six blocks away, for an after party. Ms. Barkley, a 2011 Villanova graduate who earned a master’s in journalism from Columbia in 2017, was among them. She thwarted his plan to be a generous host.
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“I was like, ‘Guys, I have six slices of leftover pizza in the fridge,’” Mr. Hoffman said. “We’re going to throw them in the oven and split them up so everybody gets some. Christy pulled me aside and said, ‘I’m going to need two of those slices.’ We had just met two hours ago. It really showed her personality.”
For Ms. Barkley, 31, the director of writing and senior account manager at the Koppelman Group, a college consulting company, a healthy appetite is something of a calling card. “People love having me to dinner because I never stop eating,” she said. After she and Mr. Hoffman started dating that spring, she endeared herself to his family while at the dinner table. On a first visit to his family’s home in Port Washington, N.Y., she asked Mr. Hoffman’s grandmother, Tamara Koliskor, for more matzo ball soup. That sparked an intergenerational love affair. “She’s a very grateful girl, and she does love matzo ball soup,” Ms. Koliskor said. “It’s impossible not to love her.”
Her affection for Ms. Barkley has since been well established among the family: “My grandmother is an old-school Russian Jew who’s hard to win over, but now I think she loves Christy more than my brother and me,” Mr. Hoffman said.
Mr. Hoffman was born in Moscow and immigrated to the United States in the late 1980s with his parents, Alex and Katia Hoffman, and brother, Ash. He grew up in Queens and later the family moved to Long Island.
Ms. Barkley is an only child. Mr. Hoffman’s first time meeting her parents, Charles and Maureen, in 2017 at their home in Scottsdale, Ariz., reinforced the expected when meeting a star of Mr. Barkley’s stature.
“I walked into their house and I was like, ‘That is a huge guy,’” Mr. Hoffman said of Mr. Barkley. But he left Arizona with a more complete picture. “When you go out to dinner with Charles, people can be pretty rude, like, ‘Hey, Charles, can I take a picture with you?’ But every single time he puts a smile on his face. He’s the most generous person. He never gets annoyed.”
He wasn’t even annoyed when he suspected Mr. Hoffman of dragging his feet about proposing to his daughter. In 2019, the couple moved to Killington, Vt. Both worked from home even prepandemic and loved the access to mountains, Ms. Barkley for hiking and Mr. Hoffman for skiing. “The biggest mountain on the East Coast is 10 minutes away,” Mr. Hoffman said. “I can ski on my lunch hour.”
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| Credit...Katina Patriquin Photography |
“I had this vision in my mind of how it was going to go,” he said. “I had saved it for the last night we were there, when we were going to go out to dinner.” When Mr. Barkley announced he had to leave early for a trip and wouldn’t be able to make the dinner, Mr. Hoffman acted fast. “I approached Maureen and said, ‘Hey I want to talk to you. Can you ask Christiana to go to the store so we can have some privacy?’” Instead, Mrs. Barkley yanked him into her bedroom, where Mr. Barkley was preparing for his trip, for a 30-second chat.
Both approved. “I remember being really emotional about it,” Mr. Barkley said. “That’s not something that happens all the time.”
Back in Vermont, Mr. Hoffman gave himself a couple months to figure out the perfect proposal. “And then lo and behold there’s Covid and everything shuts down,” he said. When he still hadn’t proposed at the start of spring, Mr. Barkley started worrying.
“I was like, ‘Uh-oh, maybe he changed his mind,’” Mr. Barkley said.
Instead, Mr. Hoffman was trying to figure out how getting engaged during lockdown might look.
Ms. Barkley provided a hint. “She had mentioned to me that she saw someone on TV propose with a Ring Pop,” Mr. Hoffman said. “She was subtly saying that if I want to propose and I don’t have a ring, she would accept a Ring Pop.” By spring, though, Mr. Hoffman had a better plan in place. Through a family friend, he had found a jeweler in Manhattan to design a diamond engagement ring. On May 14, 2020, the day before Ms. Barkley’s birthday, he drove to New York to pick it up; along the way, he bought a Butterfinger and a Ring Pop.
Butterfinger is Ms. Barkley’s favorite candy bar. So she wasn’t surprised when, after a morning walk on May 15, he presented one to her as part of an at-home birthday celebration. “I was excited,” she said. While she tore into it with the usual gusto, Mr. Hoffman got down on one knee and presented the Ring Pop. That she found annoying.
“I thought he was making fun of me for even suggesting the Ring Pop, and that he was going to say something along the lines of, ‘It’s not going to happen today, but it will be soon,’” she said. Instead, he pulled the diamond ring box from its hiding place under the couch. “I said, ‘I love you, I want to marry you, I don’t feel right about proposing with a Ring Pop,’” he said. “She had chocolate all over her face.” She said yes, with enthusiasm.
On March 6, 120 friends and family members gathered for their wedding at the Andaz Scottsdale Resort and Bungalows. All had been coronavirus-tested just before, either on their own or through the help of Mr. Hoffman’s friend Marcus Howard, who had procured tests and set up a testing site at the resort, where out-of-town guests were staying.
Ms. Barkley, in a floor-length, sleeveless Reem Acra wedding gown, held a bouquet of white and pale peach ranunculus as she was escorted down an outdoor aisle by her father, who skipped his commentating stint during the N.B.A.’s All Star Weekend to be with his daughter instead.
Mr. Hoffman wore a dark suit and white shirt with an open neck and no tie. Beyond the huppah, woven with more ranunculus and greens, was a sweeping desert vista.
After a ceremony, led by Rabbi John Linder, that included the Jewish traditions of signing the ketubah and the bestowing of seven blessings, Mr. Linder pronounced them married. Cheers of “mazel tov!” erupted as Mr. Hoffman stomped a glass to mark the beginning of their new union.
Despite the Covid precautions, weeks before the wedding, Mr. Barkley offered to have medical professionals on site. But, as he explained to Ms. Barkley, and on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” days before the wedding, it wasn’t Covid he was so worried about. It was the hora, the traditional Jewish celebratory dance in which some guests are lifted in a chair.
He felt he needed to slim down before participating; Mr. Barkley is about 6 foot, 5 inches and weighs more than 250 pounds. Ms. Barkley said her father lost “a good amount” of weight before the wedding.
“But he was still very concerned,” she said. “He said, ‘I think it’s possible someone’s going to try and lift me up and they’ll get hurt, or I’ll get hurt.’” Though, while on “Jimmy Kimmel,” Mr. Barkley had called for “all Jewish people on deck” during the hora, it turned out they weren’t needed.
“He really was scared, but he got in the chair, and next thing you know he and my mom were up there,” Ms. Barkley said. “They had a blast.”
“It was the best weekend of my life,” her father said.
Charles talks about his name, his daughter getting married this weekend, trying to lose weight for the wedding, picking a father/daughter dance, his daughter’s fiancé asking him for her hand in marriage, paying for the wedding...Worried about doing the Hora....
WATCH: https://youtu.be/9Jn_4bNyIG4
TO SEND A GIFT TO THE CHOSSON & KALLAH:
https://www.bloomingdales.com/registry/wedding/guest?registryId=7239146&sortBy=PRICE_HIGHEST_FIRST
23 comments:
One of the local heimishe supermarkets has been purposely clearing out their chometz garbage that due to expiration dates is not even viable as chometz - to sneak on to Pesach orders for home delivery - hoping that enough customers won't notice to make it worth their while! These are items that are difficult for busy consumers to see the chiluk tzevishen the chometz & Pesachdik packagings.
For those who do notice, they give you absurd, insulting excuses how it happened. The metzius however is there is no "accident" even al ydei the Mexicans because the store did not implement safeguards to prevent it. It's also with way too many items for the bogus excuse to hold any water.
Then for the nisht farshloffena customers they give you the run around when you demand they fix it. They basically slap you in the face in mumbling they are too busy to take care of the problem. They also cause other problems until they finally pick it up. Grada interressant how they insist on picking up even expired, spoiling perishables that are illegal to restock even when unexpired! It's part shtick to deny you a refund if you already threw it out, and part shtick to find a new paying sucker. They might be making double profit because they don't seem interested in refunding the first round of victims either.
This supermarket which has otherwise been the biggest culprit of genayvishe kuntzen during the pandemic will be identified here after Yomtov whether or not they end up issuing refunds for this spoiled chometz scam.
The old man Itzkowitz from Williamsburg used to round up the kids from the neighborhood to pour Domino Sugar bags into Itzkowitz kasher l'pesach sugar bags.
Itzkowitz's son in Boro Park went to prison in the 1980s, at which point the company ceased to exist.
The grubba Gerrorist goniv Wasserman of his name sake supermarket on Main St in Kew Gardens Hills was stuck with Itzkowitz Pesach items. The conniving, kargeh Poilisher continued to restock them every year on his Pesach shelves. When the dreck was already more than 20 years old & a possible source of food poisoning, it was brought to the attention of the Queens Vaad who of course did nothing about it because Wasserman at least pays their bill, if no one else's.
Only after a public campaign exposing the Queens Vaad's inaction did they lean on Wasserman to get rid of the fossils.
Her husband is the Beit Shemesh Nadvorner Rebbe
MALKA Leifer has spent weeks behind bars in Australia after touching down at Melbourne Airport & appearing via video link at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Appearing on camera from North Melbourne police station for the initial 25-minute filing hearing, Leifer, 54, wearing a white head covering & a patterned jacket, spent most of the time motionless, eyes averted, cradling her head in her arms, failing to reply to Magistrate Johanna Metcalf when twice asked if she could hear & see the court.
Among those following her 1st Australian court appearance were victim sisters Elly Sapper, Dassi Erlich & Nicole Meyer.
The magistrate asked Tony Hargreaves, representing Leifer, to confirm charges against her. He confirmed the former Adass Israel principal faces 74 charges. They consist of 11 counts rape, 47 indecent assault, 3 sexual penetration of a child & 13 committing an indecent act on a child.
Hargreaves notified the court that Leifer made no application for bail. He also said she requires certain medications for “significant mental health issues”. Noting Victoria Police provided Leifer with medications on her flight, Metcalf requested a list of her medications be transferred to prison authorities.
Hargreaves also said, “prison authorities should be aware Ms Leifer has very strict religious beliefs & special arrangements need to be made for her to comply,” & he understood Victoria Police was in contact with relevant authorities about that. He further asked Leifer be transferred to a prison as quick as possible. “She's now in custody of Victoria Police & there simply aren’t facilities available.”
Appearing for the Office of Public Prosecutions, Phillip Raimondo told the magistrate he concurs with the arrangements.
Leifer was scheduled for transfer to a segregation unit in Mellbourne’s main women’s prison, Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Deer Park, where she'll be isolated on remand to continue quarantine & for her safety.
She's remanded for a committal mention by video before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Apr 9, her next scheduled court appearance.
Welcoming Leifer back to Australia, Attorney General Christian Porter said it “marks the end of a very long, complicated extradition” & “brings relief to victims who waited many years for this moment”.
Stating those who campaigned for Leifer’s return “show enormous patience & resolve”, Foreign Minister Marise Payne added, “My thoughts are with them as we reach a critical step in this legal process.”
A peasant Chassidishe grocer in Flatbush who thinks Litvisher are shkotzim for eating from non-heimishe shgooches, was approached by rabbonim to stop selling baby food with no hashgocho at all that contained actual treif meat, explaining to him it's a michshol as some veiber bought without realizing to feed to the kinder.
The FERD refused to comply, raising his voice az: Nein! Tze nisht shayach, veil der Yidden koifen Itzkovitz!
Before the mass murdering terrorist at the Boulder CO supermarket today was revealed as an Arab "refugee" from Syria who hates Trump & blogs that Islam is "perfect", he was trashed by Obama & the niece of Kamala Harris as a White supremacist.
Gov. Cuomo’s office is using “in-house attorneys” to meddle with the 'independent' investigation into mounting allegations of sexual misconduct against him, a lawyer for a victim announced yesterday.
Ex-Cuomo aide Charlotte Bennett’s lawyer cited a recent report “that the Executive Chamber is providing staffers with in-house attorneys to meet with them in advance of their investigatory interviews ... & to attend those interviews with them.”
“It's my understanding these attorneys are also ‘debriefing’ staff after their interviews with investigators,” lawyer Debra Katz wrote to Attorney General Letitia James.
“This is highly improper & we object in the strongest possible terms to this obvious interference with what you've stated would be a ‘thorough & independent’ investigation.”
The probe, launched earlier this month, is being conducted by outside lawyers led by former Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim & veteran employment lawyer Anne Clark.
In her 3 page letter, Katz said Cuomo’s move “has a chilling effect on witnesses or other accusers,” adding: “We urge you direct the Gov cease this highly improper practice.”
Katz also called on AG James to “issue a public statement” rebutting a report that her office directed the Executive Chamber to conduct a “parallel” probe into allegations he groped an unidentified female in the executive mansion late last year.
Last week, a current Cuomo aide, Alyssa McGrath, publicly accused Cuomo of trying to cover up the incident by asking that accuser “specifically not to tell me” about it.
@ Debrrra Katz vus rrredt tzee feel:
Yederrr einerrr's a crrritic!
The humungous Evergreen Court complex nursing home that burned to the ground overnight in Spring Valley is owned by the Schoenbergers. I think Chesky ("Phillip") runs it. Not sure if he is son or nephew of the big gvir in Kew Gardens.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/destructive-fire-forces-evacuations-at-spring-valley-assisted-living-home/2958690/
There are deaths & one firefighter, plus at least one resident are unaccounted for.
It's such a massive complex because it was formerly the kosher resort known as Bader's Hotel. When the rooms became too run down to rent to paying guests, the Bader's converted to rehab to milk the government & eventually sold it to the Schoenbergers who incorporated as "New Bader".
Whadddya know --- The place has a $50 Million dollar insurance policy
Allstate, any idea if Shulem Weiss has picked up consulting clients since his recent pardon by Trump?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholam_Weiss
In 1994, Weiss was indicted on mail fraud charges and found guilty, for which he served eight months in prison. Weiss had falsely claimed that more than $1 million worth of bathtubs had been damaged in a 1986 warehouse fire
Mir zenen poyer ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tajKXiSWS0g
(Mit chazzuness!)
Rabbi Avraham Moyal
Holy Roller? Or a con like Pinto + Hershel Schechter rolled into one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9CrFNXOmsc
he's one of these YU guys who puts on a costume
A bunch of billionaires daven in his shul like Michael Shvo, Jeff Sutton & Ben Ashkenazy.
Moyal may be a billionaire himself, either altz mooch and/or through his company The Cingulate Group.
https://matzav.com/photo-trumps-daughter-tiffany-seen-at-reserve-cut-with-rav-moyal/
Pinny Lipschutz on Matzav outed Moyal fressing steaks with Tiffany Trump at Reserve Cut. Tiffany had been in a forbidden relationship that year with an ausvarf named Ross Mechanic, who is aynekel of gvir Meyer Mechanic, who was President of the Yavneh day school in Paterson, before it moved to Paramus. Mayer was aynekel of an old time famous Paterson chazan, Yankel Landman.
https://jhsnj.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/mayeryavneh.jpg
Meyer Mechanic speaking at the dedication of the then-new Yavneh building in 1954 Paterson
FRAUD!!!
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/featured/1959791/pesach-disaster-hundreds-of-homes-double-booked-in-orlando-many-left-without-place-for-yom-tov.html
What a disaster!
Acapulco Putz,
https://nypost.com/2021/03/22/us-mexico-border-traffickers-earned-as-much-as-14m-a-day-last-month/
Not this year. Biden has the cartels making $ millions every day on head tax for every covid infected migrant he invited to overrun the United States, so they're all up at the Texas border. Heck, even the heroin isn't as lucrative.
https://matzav.com/shaimos-fraud-again-man-with-truck-in-brooklyn-caught-dumping-bags-of-shaimos/
Shaimos division
"lucrative"
Margo just called me out of breath, asking how he can get a piece of the action.
Any leads how to not get shot up for infringing on Sinloa Cartel turf?
Suchard made a last minute change to move Gateways from Florida to Lake Conroe, Texas.
Is he out of his mind?
He claims there was a sudden unavailability of the Florida hotel.
What's the real story, Suchard?
Ticking people off again with your ultra-nudnik nickling & diming?
Give it 2 weeks or so after Pesach, the new virus strain will be identified as the Fresser variant! No kidding!
Suchard, you little chram!
The way to do it is PRETEND you are switching hotels to provide cover when you fleece all the guests out of their payments.
Everything I have to teach you?
Fresser variant
It will mostly be from local neighborhood shuls because only 25% of 2019 hotels restarted the programs for 2021, and now even some of those have closed in the last week due to the 4th covid wave emerging.
The farshluffen NY Times missed a yuuuge angle in their hit piece on the Trump-Dershowitz pardons.
Dershbag co-conspirator Nick Muzin is a Philly yeshiva boy from Toronto who had a falling out with ol' Shmuel Kaminetzky, so he jumped to YU. He married the BT daughter of billionaire Anita Zucker, owner of The Hudson Bay Company (founded circa 1650) which is the parent co of Saks 5th Ave.
Muzin got hooked up with that thieving scumbag Allaham to make millions off Qatar. But that may be on hold now, among other reasons, because the DOJ found out Allaham didn't register as a foreign lobbyist as required.
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