Longing for Chassidut

B"H

I can hardly explain how much I have missed my active participation in Chassidut within the past two weeks. This might sound as if I had no Chassidut at all but, of course, this is not the case. The only thing I did was taking everything rather easy instead of jumping into everything available. It is always good having a little break but, on the other hand, I cannot wait to go back again.

However, this Shabbat I was back.
The first thing I did was going for a Shabbat meal in Mea Shearim.
And again my host asked me not to publish any details about her on the Internet, and I again told her that I will not and respect her request.

The only thing I want to mention is that she had a full house and I enjoyed myself very much.

Nevertheless, I want to mention another incident taking place at this particular Shabbat meal.

I was placed next to a approx. 60 year old chassidic woman and, after a while, she started a conversation with me. At first glance I thought that she might be a Toldot Aharon member but I noticed quickly that this was not the case. Otherwise she would have eaten with her family and not with us. But I still asked her because she wore the same clothes as the Toldot Aharon women do.
Her answer was not too surprising but still a little unusual. She is not a member but likes to dress like this. With an apron and a white head cover. "But, she continued, I only belong to HaShem and I am a member of His group".

And right away she started quoting me verses from the Prophets. I couldn't really follow her too much, as everything sounded somehow mixed up. But never mind !

And then she asked me if this was true, the story about the mother of the two Rebbe brothers, Rabbi David Kahn (Toldot Aharon) and Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Kahn (Avraham Yitzchak):
When the mother of those two was still a young girl, she was standing on a certain public balcony to enjoy the landscape. Suddenly a group of teenagers came and stood beside her.
"The teenagers were obviously from a Kibbutz and dressed immodestly. Well, what can you expect from a Kibbutz", the woman said to me.

Somehow the mother of the two Rebbes had this vision. She saw her grandfather who pulled her off the balcony. A few minutes later, the balcony collapsed and all the Kibbutz kids fell and were injured. And some even killed, according to my neighbour at the table.

"Well, well, she continued, this all happened because they Kibbutznikim were dressed immodestly. Because of the missing modesty (Zniut), HaShem took away His Shechinah (presence) and people were judged immediately".

I told her that I don't know if the balcony story is true but that I definitely do not agree with her at all. I don't think that any human being can say for sure why certain things happen in this world. There are many tragic events we don't understand and, of course, we ask ourselves why it happened. This is very human.
Nevertheless, we are unable of claiming that this and that happened because G – d punished so and so because of this and that. The only thing we can do is guess. The moment I claim that G – d did this and that, I would be G – d. We humans have to understand that there are endless things in this world only G – d know, and we should be careful with judging situations and giving interpretations.

"You don't believe in the Prophets and our Mefarshim (commentators)", the woman asked me in a kind of shock.

"It is not that I don't believe in the Prophets. But everyone can take sentences out of a context and quote", I responded.

After some further discussions the women stopped talking to me. But at the same moment, the other people at the table started with her and told her exactly what I had told her before. However, the woman didn't give up and insisted on the G – dly punishment theory.

Later on, I went to the Machlises in order to pick up a friend and we then went to the chassidic Tishes in Mea Shearim. Already on my way to the Machlis home I saw many Toldot Aharon Chassidim and knew that there must be some Tishes around. And our first destination were the Toldot Aharon where another incident was waiting for us.

The moment we entered the staircase from Shivtei Israel Street, we saw him. A young Litvak walked right in front of us into the women's section (Ezrat Nashim). While climbing up the stairs I told him that he should go around the building and then he will find the men's entrance. But the Litvak wasn't interested at all.

Still in the staircase, some Toldot Aharon women told him that he is in the wrong section.

The Litvak wasn't interested but looked confused.

All of us arrived upstairs at the Ezrat Nashim where at least a hundred women were placed on the metal benches. As soon as they saw the Litvak entering, they told him to leave. He didn't but just stood and stared. Again I explained him the right way but he stared at me and said: "I don't know".

A woman finally got up and ran downstairs in order to get a male Chassid and throw out the Litvak. In the meantime, another woman approached me and asked who this guy was. I told her that he is rather confused and not too much in this world. "Okay", she said.
A minute later, the Litvak was taken out by a Toldot Aharon Chassid.

After the incident, we found some great seats. Rebbe David Kahn was eating his chicken soup and my Toldot Aharon neighbour kept on a conversation with an American chassidic woman. Satmar, I guess.
Suddenly the American turned to me and asked if I speak English. "English, Hebrew, whatever you want", I replied. Unfortunately, we all seemed to be busy or somewhere else in our minds. I talked to my friend and felt tired. The Samarer ? talked to a Toldot Aharon woman. A missed opportunity but we will repeat it.

Due to our "falling asleep condition", we didn't stay for too long and left. But there is no Mea Shearim without a walk through the local market. And, what did we see there ? The Toldot Avraham Yitzchak had a Tish going on. We went and left after Rebbe Shmuel Yaakov's Derasha. I have to admit that I fell asleep but not because of his speech. Somewhere in my sleep I still heard his voice. However, I was gone.

And this was it on Friday night. I enjoyed myself very much but should start overcoming my desire of going to sleep.

Link:

The Urge to Communicate