I'm really writing the epistle because I have a message to deliver about a make-believe machine I wish that I had right next to me called GRATITUDE. This wonderful contraption would be designed to thank everyone, starting with the Lord up on high, for my being to write this in the first place.

As I sit in the kitchen in my son Simon's home at Kibbutz El-Rom in the North Golan Heights of Israel, it is pouring (rain) out outside. Or, as my Dad, Ben Fischler, liked to say, "It's coming down in torrents!"

Or, when it just looked like rain, he'd opine, - "Giddyap, Napoleon, It Looks Like Rain."

Well, now that I got that out of the way, I can resume the original reason that I'm hitting the computer so early in the morning: 

1. I'm glad it's working.

2. It's raining so hard, I don't dare put the dogs out for the a.m. stroll. Besides, they're smart enough not to walk in the water. 

3. I feel a great deal of gratitude for all who've helped me in the hockey business. And, specifically the gang who inspired me to do and who produced the ESPN hockey feature about The Maven.

I'm here to continue writing my notes on being a hockey writer in Israel with a war on and very much surrounding us. By "surrounding," I mean the entire State of Israel in a broad sense since enemy rockets can reach almost everywhere, and in a personal sense how our family has been adjusting to the daily threats. I am grateful that we haven't heard a warning siren since Day One but know darn well one could blare in the next second.

Oh, yeah, I'm really writing the epistle because I have a message to deliver about a make-believe machine I wish that I had right next to me called GRATITUDE. 

This wonderful contraption would be designed to thank everyone, starting with the Lord up on high, for my being to write this in the first place.

You get the point. For starters, right now I'm grateful to be right where I am and grateful that my family is all intact despite the ups and downs that affect one's daily life. (I hear constant drops that sound like a leak from the rainstorm, so I shall take leave; and take a look... Seems like it's coming from the chimney pipe and not much I can do about it.)

What I can do now is get back to the point: gratitude. Since I last wrote the fourth chapter, a lot of good things have happened to our family alongside the war all around us. We're alive and never stop appreciating that fact. Or, as my late wife, Shirley, liked to say, "Enjoy the gravy."

A rather healthy dose was tasted when my pal, rep and otherwise steering-me-on-the-right-path, friend, David Kolb, told me that the folks at ESPN found my four stories interesting and wanted to send a crew up to the Golan here and make a bit of a tv feature out of it.

My first response to him -- in shortened form -- was "Nix to that!" But upon further review -- and getting the green light from son, Simon, who would be directly involved in this -- I hesitatingly agreed. This involved contacting an Israeli producer -- a real winner I might add -- Dror Lebendinger and most importantly, work with the ESPN guru who decided to do it in the first place -- Jeremy Schaap.

Turns out that I'm old enough at 91 to have known, interviewed and admired Jeremy's dad, Dick Schaap when our paths often crossed; even at the tennis courts in Forest Hills. Knowing that Dick's son, a highly-regarded tv guy at ESPN, would be the orchestrator on the project, was the clincher for me.

I might as well admit that I was darn nervous about the whole thing but so much else has been going on here that I didn't pay too much attention until the tv crew showed up just as promised at 9:30 a.m. and finished that evening at 7:30. These guys, pros' pros, didn't miss a trick.

It was a blast. They covered everything from the "Safe Room," where we have to go if and when the emergency sirens go off, to following me around while I rode my bike to the kibbutz post office. (I should have worn a helmet but, fool that i was, decided not to since I didn't know where it was in the first place.)

Watch: "The Hockey Maven"

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM9-aauaXb0[/embed]

We did "shoots" with our pet dogs and a backyard tour where I bragged about our trees -- apple, pear, miniature plum -- not to mention the Goji, huckleberry, currant and other berry bushes. As we used to say in dear old Brooklyn, "We did the woiks!" even to the kibbutz entrance where two IDF militia soldiers were kind enough to listen to three of my jokes. (I batted a thousand!)

Remarkably, the crew even found a place that would deliver take-out lunch so we knocked off deli platters that would have made even Zabar's proud. By nightfall the job was done and I was sad to see them go but anxious to discover what would come of all this.

What came of it was a remarkable feature "The Hockey Maven" in which I worked with ultra-pros starting with Jeremy Schaap, Max Brodsky, old pal Steve Levy (in the studio) and one of my favorite hockey players of all-time (and I once told him so after a game, walking down the ramp at The Garden) Ryan Callahan, whose battle level never knew about subsiding. Ryan also was in the studio.

But there were so many more key protagonists who made it work. Commissioner Gary Bettman, who has been a pal since Hector was a pup; and even before that, graced the feature with too-kind words, but I accent them gratefully, Mister Commish. Not to mention Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, who regularly bolsters my confidence in gag-telling. 

I couldn't have been more surprised, nor pleased, to hear from one of the all-time greats, Mark Messier.

I am more than grateful that their friendship has further inspired my love of the game and the fact that I can write a weekly column for NHL.com is one of the pistons that keeps The Maven's engine going. (Thank you, Bill Price, Jim Cerny, and Shawn Roarke among the rest of the grand editing crew.)

We recorded so much that a chunk had to be left on the cutting room floor. A lot of good stuff, too, but I knew about that since I've been in the business since they wee selling Oldsmobiles.

I could not forget the Islanders brass, led by Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky, who gave me the pleasure of writing "Maven's Memories" for the team's website; ditto for the Devils' Marc Ciampa and Sam Kasan for assigning Jersey features on my buddy from his Isles playing days, Tom Fitzgerald. And what can I say about Lou Lamoriello? Three little words: a real pal.

Believe it or not, I started writing for The Hockey News and still am knocking off stories for Graeme Roustan. It was The Hockey News which made this series possible by giving me the space to write the four war pieces as well as to cover the Isles for a major outlet. 

Whenever I need NHL insights, the "Smart Guys," Zach Weinstock, Vic Morren, fellow Isles writer, Stefen Rosner and Kolb and are there to advise The Maven, with or without coffee.

My sons, Ben in Portland, Oregon and Simon here in Israel, have been behind me all the way.

Simon's kids, Odel, 19, Ariel, 17, and Avigail, 14, all play hockey. Odel is on the Isles ice team, Ariel skates for the Hershey Cubs while Avigail has been a defense star for Culver Academy's girl's team. Their mom, Lilach, makes the best salads and sings the best Israeli songs of all time.

And that's a fact.

My Portland family has supported my efforts; Grandsons, Ezra, 22, and Niko, 16, write to Zede (me) regularly as does my daughter-in-law -- ace acupuncturist -- Kine. Nor dare I forget Ben who watches over me from afar and was the first to say, "Dad, next time, WEAR A HELMET!"

I love my Cousins, Joan (and Marvin) Anderman and Paul Friedman. Paul has kindly turned his Brooklyn home into a family "hotel," (A friend in-deed!)

I'm sure I've forgotten some, but never my MSG Networks pal, Matty Fineman, and the guy who taught me how to put on the tfillin, Eli Polatoff. Also, the Jersey buds, George Falkowski, Roland Dratch, Matty Loughlin, Leo Scaglione, Jr. Bob Drasheff, Pete Albeitz and the one and very only Chico Resch.

In one way or another, all have been associated with hockey in some form, and -- the fact of the matter is -- hockey is what has kept my heart pumping. That and former interns who've made it big such as Jessica Berman, Frank Brown, Michael Rappaport, Allan (Let's Take A Picture) Kreda, Adam Rogowin and Dan Marrazza. I miss my West Coast comrade, Joltin' Joe Dionisio and roller hockey teammates,

Fred (Woodside Whippets) Meier and Carl (Bed-Stuy Wizards) Carl Glickman. 

Of course I'd love to give each and everyone of the above what my Mom called the loving hat trick, "a hug, a kiss and a squeeze. And when I next visit the NY Met Area, I might actually deliver as much as possible. 

Backing me, helping me, steering me is David Kolb without whom the feature never would have happened because -- the truth is -- at first I never wanted any part of it. But he said the two little words that became big, "DO IT!"

I did -- and i'm glad.

Love,

Mave

Stan Fischler: Covering Hockey In A County At War (Part 1-4)