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Picture of the Night! Charlie in a Tuxedo!

Charlie is one figure always seen around Crown Heights in his overalls and Yarmulka covered in a wide assortment of Buttons, and seen sometimes in a tuxedo. This time he said it was for the 13th annual dinner of the NJOP in the Waldorf Astoria.

Pictures were taken at the Shabtai – Borenstien Lecahim last night where Charlie made a ‘special’ balloon for the Kallah!

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38 Comments

  • A CHARLIE FAN !!!!

    THIS MAN IS AMAZING ! FIRST OF ALL HE LOOKD GREAT IN A TOXEDO!!!
    He brings so much joy everywhere he goes !!!! i love it when hes around !
    A TRUE TZADIK !!!

  • Very Cool

    I dont remember whose wedding it was but the 1st time Charlie ever did this it was even more amazing. Rabbi Buchwald told charlie he can only come to his dinner dressed in a tux. To everyones suprise charlie took a haircut for the 1st time in many years and after the dinner came to a wedding in Oholie Torah. this was approx. 10 years ago.

    IT WOULD BE REALLY NICE IF THE CHOSSON AND KALLAH OF THAT WEDDING 10 YEARS AGO HAD A PIC OF CHARLIE TO BE ABLE TO POST.

  • talmid of oheli torah 73----76

    it`s all a act. if he wants he knows how to dress and be a mentch.
    CHARLIE lives in a beutyfull door man building on west end ave. in his mothers apt. in the uper westside of nyc.he is a very smart man that looks 4 att.and he gets it. one way or another.but he is a nice person.

  • Charlie is a V.I.P.

    A high Neshoma. Yes, indeed!
    The Waldorf Astoria is a fitting
    place for him – no sarcasm intended.

  • Montreal Seminare

    No way! That can’t be him…he never wears anything accept his jumper…this picture could be worth a lot!

  • lea schulman

    hey charlie-
    your an absolute pleasure to know & befriend. you looked great last night at NJOP annual dinner. looking forward to seeing you soon.
    the girls from njop :-)

  • Rochel

    Well Charlie if you read this, You looked reallllllllllyyyyyyyyy good!
    Yosher Koach to being able to go to all those simchos and making ppl happy.
    Eliahu Hanavi?????????????
    Rochel

  • A FAN CLUB MEMBER

    CHARLIE YOU’RE FABULOUS,K’AYH. ALWAYS MAKING PEOPLE HAPPY–IT DOESN’T GET BETTER THAN THAT. HASHEM SHOULD BENTCH YOU WITH AN OVERABUNDANCE OF REVEALED HEALTH, JOY, SUCCESS AND SO MUCH WEALTH
    (YOU WON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT ALL)
    FOR BEING SO KIND TO THE ABISHTERS’ BRIOS. WE IN CROWN HEIGHTS ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU. AND YES, YOU ARE A TRUE LAMED VUVNIK.

  • Canadian

    uh no offense but i dont live there in C.H. but i have seen charlie around at simchas and other but who says hes eliyahu havavi… i mean hes just a man who shows up at every wedding and simchas and eats? uh right?
    prove me wrong or what?

  • to talmid...

    i think it would b better if u think b4 u speak. it’s not really nice 2 talk about ppl that that.

    and i totally agree- charlie should wear a tux more often!

  • thanbo

    R’ Riskin once asked him publicly to wear a suit in shul. Charlie said “If I wear a suit, you have to wear my hat.” R’ Riskin accepted. Some time later, Charlie came to shul in a suit, and sure enough, R’ Riskin wore the buttons hat for a bit.

  • Shmuli

    Several years ago, I had the z’chus one evening to have a serious chat with ‘charlie’.

    He revealed to me that he had originally come to Crown Heights for a deeper meaning in life. It was the Rov of Crown Heights, Reb Zalman Shimon, who told him that his mission in life was to be mesame’ach chosanim and kalahs, and that’s what he did.

    He started with going to all the chassunos, which there weren’t many of back then, he would blow balloons and create a joyous atmosphere. A while later he started going to Bar Mitzvah and only years later did he start going to sholom zochors and l’chayim’s.

    For those who are unaware; his Hebrew name is Tzadik. And that’s the way he is called up to the Torah.

    A great man he is!
    And I think a lamed vov, is not far off.

  • hm

    charlie…..you da man!!!! making people happy for a living…. thats a job i would love to have

    hm

  • to canadian

    k fine, he doesn’t necessarily have 2 b eliyahu hanavi, but he could b a “lamed vovnik”. u never know. it’s not like they walk around and publicize the fact that they’re 1. if they would, then they wouldn’t really b hidden…
    a fellow canadian

  • chver

    chaim ata totach ain alich saia bmzal tov bnian adi ahd al isodi atore vantzvot lnch“r ch”k admo”r
    chvr maoshr basia archoke

  • meir

    charlie told me that he has/had a small storage room under the old westside highway where he stays[this was yrs ago]. the packages he shleps are food that he gives out to poor folks.
    he worked for the post office ,at one time, but was fired. he tried for yrs to get comp. but was denied. he has soriouses[a painful skin condition] which cover his body. that’s why he doesn’t wear more clothing in the winter. the clothes irritate his skin.

  • dr. wong

    who ever “charlie” is we in crown heights count him as one of our own. we are very fond of old charlie buttons. only in a community like crown heights could a character like charlie live and be revered.yechi charlie.

  • thanbo

    except that he lives in upper west side, and is generally liked, if regarded as a bit of a kook. he does stuff around lincoln square synagogue, and always seems to be hanging around there.

    my old officemate once speculated that we should station observers at LSS and at 770, and see if charlie is ever in both places at the same time.

  • SHMULY

    my shmuly thinks that charly is a real tzadick nister, & dos YES need a haircut.

    one of the sighns of a tzadik (a BIG one like charly) is when a yid is allways BISIMCHA

    GO CHATLIE GO

  • A Shliach

    DEFINITELY NOT A LAMED VOVNICK!

    As a 13 year old boy (I’m now 25) I was once waiting for someone in 770. I overheard Charlie Buttons having a loud and vulgar discussion with another person about a certain aveirah that is a nisayon for men, especially bachurim (vihameivin yovin).

    A person joking about something like that, especially in the proximity of young bachurim cannot possibly be a Lamed Vovnick.

    Yes, Charlie is misameach many people, and appears harmless, nevertheless I’d be very careful leaving children around him.

  • Charlie Fan

    The Rebbe always was very nice to the “interesting” people who inhabited seven seventy, such as Charlie. I remember the Rebbe giving Arye Leib a vigourous wave of the hand when Aryeh Leib went by for dollars.
    We should learn from the Rebbe how to treat such people and the ahavas yisroel that the Rebbe had for them, including the fact that the Rebbe insisted that there should be free food and coffee in 770 for the hungry.
    In addition, the fact that these people ended up in 770 is certainly of great cosmic significance, whether they are 36niks are not, which i personally doubt.
    I would also like to make a shout out for Mordechai Friedman’s song, Charlie Buttons.

  • LoYechiB770 in Yerushalayim

    I am a close friend of Charlies & his Hebrew name is Tzadok Ben Shaul Eliezer HaLevi.

    Yechi Charlie!!!!