Tish at Chassidut Toldot Avraham Yitzchak

B"H

Again, last Friday night, a friend of mine and me went to another chassidut in Mea Shearim. As at the moment I am writing about chassidut Toldot Aharon, I do have lots of work. Toldot Aharon has two split - offs and one of them is Toldot Avraham Yitzchak.

During Chanukkah 1996, the Toldot Aharon Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kahn, passed away and each of his two sons wanted to be the new Rebbe. As the followers chose the younger brother, Rabbi David Kahn, his older brother Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Kahn started his own chassidic group named after his father Avraham Yitzchak.
Despite the separation, both groups and brothers are extremely friendly with each other and most of their customs and clothes are still the same. Someone even told me that I should attach myself more to Avraham Yitzchak in order to get more information. They are a little more open and basically the same as Toldot Avraham. However, I found that also members of Toldot Aharon are very helpful and answer all kinds of questions.

In order to find out more about Toldot Avraham Yitzchak, a friend of mine and me went to their synagogue last Friday night. First we went for Maariv. Their great synagoge is located in the middle of the Mea Shearim neighbourhood, not far from the huge Breslov synagogue.
The women of Toldot Aharon have the custom not to go to Maariv on Leil Shabbat, but at Avraham Yitzchak they do. As we entered, we only found four women praying in the women's section. The women's section at the Avraham Yitzchak synagogue looks nicer than the one at Toldot Aharon. It is much bigger and there are two rooms. When you come in first, you might be disappointed by the Mechitza. It is almost impossible to look through the metal bars. However, just go around the corner to your left and you will find another womens' room with three huge windows as Mechitza. The disadvantage is the hearing. The windows are tight and you will not hear too much. Nevertheless, one has a great view over the men's section.
At the end of Maariv, sweets and potatoe chips were handed out to the children. The men were storming to a certain location in the synagogue where the Rebbe stood and wished everyone a Shabbat Shalom - Git Shabbes. A women told us to come back later for the Tish where the Rebbe is handing out orange slices to his Chassidim. A custom of Avraham Yitzchak.

We did come back later and Rebbe Shmuel Yaakov Kahn had already made Kiddush. Actually he was in the middle of his Shabbat meal, starting with Gefilte Fisch. He had a giant silver tray in front of him. A chassid acting as a kind of waiter served him the meal and drinks, soda or wine. While the Rebbe obviously enjoyed his meal, the Chassidim were singing. Toldot Aharon also have a great Tish but Avraham Yitzchak is more entertaining. I really liked their great Zemirot and Niggunim. They sang very enthusiastically and the Rebbe was conducting. Later on he led the singing.

After the Gefilte Fisch, he ate chicken soup and then meat with Kugel and cooked sweet carrots. The leftovers were given out to the Chassidim.
The women's section was full with at least over 100 women. Downstairs were about 200 men including some litvishe Haredim and a group of national religious yeshiva students. Some Chassidim, especially those sitting at the Tish for the elderly or more distinguished members, fell asleep. Sometimes there was a certain point when they woke up. Especially when the singing started again and when the Rebbe conducted.
Unfortunately, we did not hear too much from his Drasha. All the women around us were talking, as they rather see it as a social event. Bringing their kids and chatting with the other women.

At about 1:00am, another chair was carried in and another Rebbe sat down right next to Rebbe Kahn. First we thaught that this might be a relative but a woman told us that this is the Rebbe of Kalov. The Kalover Rebbe Moshe Taub from New York. He was a special guest that night.

Well, we did not stay until the Rebbe gave out the orange slices but at least we made it until 2:00am. We enjoyed the Toldot Avraham Yitzchak Tish very very much. The women were very nice and open to questions.
Next Friday night we will go again and on Shabbat morning we are going to the morning service of the third split - off called Shomrei Emunim (Guardians of Faith). They are also located in Mea Shearim.

If you have the chance of being in Jerusalem on Shabbat, you should definitely visit Mea Shearim. It is such a great atmosphere there and we enjoyed walking through the narrow streets full of Chassidim and their families.

Some people had told us to go to the great Breslov Synagogue, as they had a great celebration. A Sium of "Likutei Moharan". However, we did not regret going to Toldot Avraham Yitzchak.