Bored Chassidim in Mea Shearim

B"H

Friday nights in July and August seem to be rather boring in Mea Shearim. Many rebbes are on holiday and gone for the summer months. Their chassidim don't know much to do with themselves after Shabbat dinner and start looking for other chassidic Tishes.

The same with me and my friend. We were really hoping that our favourite groups Toldot Aharon as well as Toldot Avraham Yitzchak would be back but as soon as we came closer to the Toldot Aharon synagogue in Shivtei Israel Street, our hope was gone. There were hardly any people in the Toldot Aharon backyard which is always a bad sign. No Tish.

Very disappointed, we decided to go to chassidut Dushinsky which is a quite small chassidut but with a great influence in the Edah HaCharedit. Right before the State of Israel came into existence in 1948, the first Dushinsky - Rebbe went to the UN and tried to convince them not to agree to such a Zionist state without the coming of the Meschiach. However, as we all know, the State of Israel came into existence.

When we arrived at the Dushinsky synagogue, we faced our usual problem; finding the women's entrance. We only saw men in the street and could not ask anyone for details. Suddenly an American litvishe family approached us and asked if they can be of any assistance. They even asked some chassidei Dushinsky for us and we had go walk around the whole building in order to get to the women's entrance. When we finally got there, the door was closed. No women's participation today.

Well, we decided to go back to Kretchnif, as we did last week.
The men's section at the Kretchnif synagogue was packed. We also saw many Toldot Aharon chassidim there as well as some Litvaks. Even in the women's section were women from Toldot Aharon.
The Krechtnif Rebbe of Jerusalem was in a good mood and it is very obvious that he really likes to sing. He does eat a meal which, to him, doesn’t seem to be of great significance. He enjoys the songs and puts lots of emphasize on participation. It is not unusual that he is telling the chassidim to sing instead of walking around or studying the Parasha. What is really really nice of him is that whoever comes in, is being offered a seat at his table. He doesn't make a difference between his chassidim and others. He is waving his arms and offers seats.

When we arrived, fruit was handed out downstairs in the men's section. Especially dark grapes and grapefruits slices. And then, about twenty bottles of cool beer were being put on the table. This was the moment my friend and I did regret very much that we were not men. It is summer time in Israel and it was quite hot despite the air - condition. No wonder we dreamt about a cool beer. At least half a cup.
But, as everybody can imagine, we got nothing.

I turned around and saw two Toldot Aharon women leaving. Because I really wanted to know what is going on with their group and the rebbe, I ran after them and asked when they do have their next Tish. One of the women was so shocked that she almost forgot to answer me. She just kept on starring at me. I suppose that the reason, or at least one of the reasons, must have been that members of such a closed society do not expect outsiders to know who they are. Maybe she just couldn't grasp that I know that she is Toldot Aharon. After a while she said that it is going to take another few weeks until they have their next Tish.

On our way out we met a young American litvishe guy in the staircase who was stuttering that he is looking for the women's entrance. It turned out that he wanted to help his sister finding the right section. The whole situation was rather funny, as usually it is always us running around in chassidic synagogues and taking wrong entrances. We were glad to see someone else struggling as well. Anyway, we helped the sister and another friend finding the women's section and walked home.

It was a nice warm summer night and many people were walking in the streets. There is nothing greater than walking in Mea Shearim on a Friday night and seeing all those different kinds of people. It is a completely different atmosphere which we enjoy very much. People were still looking for Tishes although it was already after 2am. Some guys just opened the door to the Shomrei Emunim synagogue and shouted inside if there is a Tish. "No", came a scream back and the guys immediately closed the door.

So far, we have not yet decided what we are going to do next Friday. Our original plan was to go to Biale last Friday. However, a friend who had promised to take us, never showed up. We might go to Belz whose Tish starts at 11pm and already ends after two hours. We might go somewhere else, who knows.

Maybe someone of you knows any details about how we get to the Tish of the Rebbe of Strokov or the Karliner Rebbe.