Weather was perfect; only cold but no rain. It was nice to take a walk through the streets of Mea Shearim last Erev Shabbat.
First I ended up with the Machlis family and their hundred guests for the regular Shabbat dinner. It was so packed that three tables on the porch outside had to be set up. My friends and me were lucky, as we succeeded in occupying a table next to the entrance door. Next to us sat a guy from Chabad who had two yellow Meschiach - stickers on his clothes. I don't know if he was one of the Meshichistim or not. I didn't ask him although during the meal, him and me had a great discussion about Chabad chassidut.
According to the Chabadnik, the group does plan many more activities in Germany. I cannot say that Chabad is too successful in Germany, as especially there the Jews bring forward too many prejudices against Chabad. German Jews see all Chabadnikkim automatically as Meshichistim without realizing that there are different movements inside Chabad.
I told the Chabadnik that especially Satmar rejects them because Chabad is too much into missionizing Jews. The Chabadnik laughed and said that this is very true. However, he gave me the Chabad concept about the whole missionizing matter. As we all know, every Jew has a special spark (Nizotz) in his soul connecting him to G - d. By missionizing, this Nizotz is being reawakened and thus the secular Jew can suddenly connect to his Creator. One Torah concept might be enough to reawaken the spark. And this is the task of Chabad.
Actually I was planning to take this Chabad couple with me for a chassidic Tish but somehow the two of them just disappeared. With a friend I went to the Dushinsky Tish first. In the past we hadn't been too lucky with the Tish at Dushinsky's. Either no Tish took place, the women were not allowed in or we came too late.
Last Erev Shabbat then we couldn't believe our fortune. There was a Tish and we even found a good place in the Ezrat Nashim in order to look down to the Chassidim and the Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Zvi Dushinsky.
The Dushinsky Rebbe: Rabbi Yosef Zvi Dushinsky
I wasn't planning to stay for too long, as I had made up many plans for that night. However, I have to say that although Dushinsky does not have the best Niggunim (songs), they do have the greatest singers. It was more than listening to a professional choir. Next to the room where the Tish takes place, they built a new synagogue. We had a look into it from upstairs and if anyone wants to see a great synagogue should definitely go to Dushinsky. The Aron HaKodesh is huge and on its left side, two special wooden chairs are placed. The bigger one is obviously for the Rebbe and the smaller one seems to be for the second man in Chassidut Dushinsky: for Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Ullmann. Rabbi Ullmann is one of the most important figures in the Edah HaCharedit.
After about half an hour we left and walked through Yoel Street into Mea Shearim. Our first destination was the synagogue of the secret Edah group "Mishkenot HaRoim". Usually their two doors are wide open and I though I might be lucky. The door to the left was obviously the men's entrance. There is another door on the right which seemed to be the women;s entrance. We were standing in front of the building and thinking to go in or not.
At the same moment, some litvishe Yeshiva guys showed up and opened the men's door. A Chassid came out and didn't want to let them inside. They had to leave and walked away. Of course, we thought that the same might also apply to us. We walked away as well but couldn't stop thinking about the open women's entrance door.
After 100 meters we decided to go back. Actually my friend was more brave than me. We came back to the building and another Chassid walked out. I asked him if the other door is the women's entrance. He looked at me that replied that they do not have a Tish. He said it and disappeared.
Well, I do not recommend to anyone doing the same as we did after the Chassid walked away. We just walked into the second door. We climbed up some stairs but suddenly saw man'e clothes hanging there. We weren't so sure if this was really a women's entrance and decided to leave. Everything rather looked like a total men's society inside. I will definitely go back and ask some people. The thing I can say is that all kinds of male members of different Edah groups were going in and out. But Edah members only !!!
The chassidic groups of Toldot Aharon and Avraham Yitzchak did not have a Tish that night. We heard that the Rebbe of Avraham Yitzchak, Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Kahn, went on a vacation to Mexico and won't have a Tish for another few months. If this is right I am really asking myself why especially he is going away all the time. Doesn't he have to take care of his Chassidim ? And even if not, there are plenty of Chassidim who do not have much money and hardly make a living. Why then is a Rebbe allowed to travel and waste so much money for himself ? The Rebbes of Belz, Slonim Jerusalem, Kretchnif Jerusalem or Dushinsky are hardly traveling.
Rather spontaneously we decided to visit some synagogues instead. Usually everything is open in Mea Shearim on Friday night. However, last Erev Shabbat everything seemed to be abandoned and people apparently went to sleep early. The synagogues of Sadigora and Kaliv were closed. Tchernobyl was open and busy but, as usual, the women's entrance was locked. This forces us to come back during the daytime. Nevertheless, we had a great long walk and I was completely finished when I finally came home.
This Friday night we are going to the Maariv service. The doors won't be locked because thousands of Chassidim will be praying at this place. I am talking about the huge synagogue of Chassidut GUR.
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