....ר' ישראל זופניק'ס יערליכע בוירטדעי פארדי

The narrative by the Hungarian chareidim is that celebrating a birthday is almost prohibited, since it's obviously "Chukas Hagoi." Then we have the chazal of Mutav Sheloi Nivreh. But the more you delve in to it, the more you realize the list of Gedolim that did participate or celebrate the Yom Holedes is quite long. From the great Hungarian Ish Mesorah the Ksav Sofer to the Lithuanian Chofetz Chaim, and then put the Ruzhiner/Viznitzer Rebbes into the mix. What you have is a list that spans the spectrum. Of all the gedolim I was shocked to see that the Satmar Ruv participated in an annual celebration from one of his philanthropists, Reb Yisroel Zupnick, and received a nice sum at the Melava Malka/party. $72,000, to be exact. We see here how the protagonist Jacobowitz liked these kind of fundraisers, since he didn't need to bring his own checkbook, Zupnick was taking care of the bill... It seems that the Baal Divrei Yoel didn't see the party and his participation as a contradiction to his old shtetel mentality, that which he worked tirelessly to refurbish on US soil...