The Rebbe went wild

B"H

Last Erev Shabbat, I didn't hesitate too long and after the Shabbat meal at the Machlises, I went straight to the Tish of the Toldot Avraham Yitzchak.

As there was no Tish at the Toldot Aharon, everybody ran over to the Avraham Yitzchak were the Tish was completely packed with several hundred people. The Chassidim hardly had a place to stand on. However, the Ezrat Nashim was less crowded. There were even more female guests than members.

Rebbe Shmuel Yaakov Kahn started slowly but after a while, he got more and more energetic. He started singing and did so with an incredible emotion that he was swinging his arms wildly around him. He takes his task very seriously and tries to gain as much Devekut as he can. His way of singing is a great chassidic event.

A group of national religious girls was storming in and as soon as they arrived, they just jumped on the female group members in order to ask questions. As I have mentioned before, the Avraham Yitzchak are more open than the Toldot Aharon and answered all the questions very friendly and patiently. The Avraham Yitzchak women even seemed to enjoy very much talking to the other girls from the outside.
A young girl standing right in front of me asked an elderly group member how the Shidduchim are being handled.

Group member: "A couple is getting engaged and they marry after two months."

Girl: "What, so soon ? This is frightening because they don't know each other at all."

Group member: "We don't get married because of all these artificial reasons such as love and so on. We emphasize on building a family and a serious relationship with a common goal. And who says that an unmarried couple only living together knows each other better than our couples ?"

I have to admit that she has got a point with that. However, I would not agree getting married this way.

Yesterday, on my way home through the Ge'ulah neighbourhood, I met the grandchild of my Mea Shearim host from the week before. The grandchild asked me why I hadn't come again. Actually, I wasn't planning to show up every week but I will definitely call tomorrow. This means that I am going to spend this coming Shabbat in Mea Shearim with a chassidic family.

A very nice chassidic woman I met (Toldot Avraham Yitzchak) is moving out to Beit Shemesh this week and invited me over for Shabbat once they have settled. I would really like to do so but first I want to find out if this is fine with the group. I know that Toldot Aharon is much stricter concerning outsiders and inviting them. I don't know if the Avraham Yitzchak are more open inviting outsiders. We will see.