So I Dub Thee Unforgiven

There were two Mercaz spies in the fall of 1991. Boomer, who became the face of Mercaz, and was internationally known throughout the yeshiva world as the Mercaz spy. Interestingly, no one that year was caught by Boomer, or at least, if he caught people, he never turned them in. Not a single person was thrown out from Boomer's spying expeditions.

There was a second spy, though. Less well known, he was the man who has the only credited catch and kill from that year. His name, I believe, was Borlins.

Yochanon was one of the more colorful people in Yeshiva. A smoker from birth, he would tell us that on Seder night, when his family reached the Mah Nishtana, everyone around the table would light up a cigarette, and Maggid would begin.

It should be said that Yochanon hung out with a lot of girls. On Ben Yehudah. While drinking beer. (Hey, he's Canadian, it's part of his heritage.)

On this night, though, Yochanon wasn't on Ben Yehudah, or with girls, or doing anything wrong. His problem was geography.

The Chief outlined a perimeter surrounding Ben Yehudah. Anything within that perimeter was off limits. Zero tolerance was in effect.

Yochanon went to the arcade to hang out with Shmop. Borlins went to the arcade to catch Mercaz guys being a place where they shouldn't.

Borlins and Yochanon were actually somewhat close. They learned together, and spent quite some time talking over the two months that Yochanon was in Mercaz.

It didn't matter to Borlins. He agonized, lost some sleep. He claimed that he spent the entire night crying, but the next morning, he reported what he found. He was never forgiven.

The next morning, Yochanon was out, and on his way to Bais Yisroel.