Guest Posting by Yisroel - Voices of the Admurim and Ben-Zion Halberstam of Bobov

B"H

I have always been very anxious to know how it is to visit a chassidic Tish in New York and, as I am not there myself, I am very grateful that Yisroel is willing to write some guest postings on the subject.

This is his first guest posting and I hope that the readers of SHEARIM enjoy it !
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Voices of the Admurim and Ben-Zion Halberstam of Bobov:

It would be hard to argue that there is a sweeter voice among the Rebbes of today than that of Ben-Zion Halberstam. Just to introduce myself, my name is Yisroel, and I'm a ba'al teshuvah living in New York. I'm an avid reader of shearim. I work as a chazzan, and over the past three years or so I have taken to a love to chassidus.

It began in a shtiebel in Lakewood, New Jersey, where I had been visiting for shabbos. As soon as Lechu Neranena began I was transported. Never before had I heard people daven out loud. I knew of modern orthodox shuls, the very litvishe shuls of Lakewood where chas veshalom one would even sing lecha dodi too loud, and the conservative shuls. Here for the first time people were not only saying the words out loud, but exclaiming the words! Singing them out from lechu neranena until es menuchasi. Every word was said with passion and intensity. When we got to lecha dodi, and I heard my first chassidishe niggun I felt like I had come home. Everyone sang, the little kids sang.

It was this experience that finally led me to examine the words I had been saying for a few years working as a chazzan, and davening occasionally during the week. Finally, I delved deeper into the davening, and found new meaning. Ever since this first experience of davening with chassidim I have used virtually every one of my weeks off as a chazzan to visit chassidic communities for shabbos. I have never found greater religious inspiration than in the chassidic niggunim I continue to discover and in the time I spend in such communities as Satmar, Skver, Bobov, Belz, and Stolin.

For chol hamoed Sukkos I attended the tisch at Bobov, 48th st. Waiting and waiting in the sukkah for some time I decided to wander into the shul only to discover that there was a pre-tisch taking place inside. The shul was pakced to capacity (perhaps almost 1,000 people), and the women's galleries were full, as well. The interesting thing about Bobov is that if one looks up to the second and third floors, one can see the women in full view if they are standing, and they usually are. There is no glass window, no peephole to look through, no hole in the floor (and I spotted a very dangerous one in one shul, which a crowd of women were to gather around, and try to get a gaze of what was going on with the men). Bobov seems to be a bit more liberal with these things. The singing and dancing on the forenches (bleachers) was intense and very moving. I managed to push my was to the front to get on line to shake the Rebbe's hand. He gave me a gut yontif, a warm smile, and even followed my gaze as I walked away.

Soon the tisch in the beautiful Bobov Sukkah began, and there was lots of food to go around. In fact I was very full from the kugel and salads by the time the Rebbe arrived. The Rebbe began by singing shir hamaalos three times, and as is the Bobov custom, the chassidim interject a melody after every few lines that the Rebbe sings. Everyone sings right on cue. That's the one thing that I realized about Bobov after going to a couple of tischen. There's no real degree of spontenaity. Everything seems to be set in stone, every niggun, every note at its proper time. But the set up is wonderful, and listening the the Rebbe's voice as he sang shir hamaalos I was completely transported. For the first time I heard him with a microphone (he has a very small voice without it), and the sweetness rang out. I imagined bright colors coming from his lips accompanying these sweet sounds. Of all the admurim I have not heard sweeter. The other Rebbe, Mordechai Dovid Unger is not too far behind. He seems to put a little more stress on the words as he enunciates them. Some might call it more kavanah, but whatever it is, it is a sweet voice in itself.

Another unusually beautiful voice is that of the Kaliver Rebbe. Yes, it's a bit frail, but it is very unique. He seems to be greatly respected, and was even asked to sing some songs at the big Belzer Bar-Mitzvah last year. Another favorite is Rav Gerstner, a chassidishe Rabbi, but I don't seem to have any more information on him. If anyone could tell me more about him it would be greatly appreciated. On the DVD bechatzrot kadsheinu he seems to be treated like a gadol. He too has an unusually sweet voice. I've heard him sing the famous song Ilan, and make a few brachos.

But back to the tisch at Bobov. The sukkah was packed beyond capacity, and finally the violinists took the stage behind the Rebbe as is the Bobov custom every year. About a dozen violinists played some famous songs such as kol rinah (in which the crowd tried to join in, but were shushed), and some other songs, not known to me. Again people tried to join in, but were shushed immediately. The playing was nice. In classical standards they really could have used some work, but for the occasion it was a delight. Certainly about ten grades better than the Kretchnifer Rebbe's playing or the Zutchka Rebbe's (I believe) playing at Chanukah, as is their custom. I believe that the Rebbe of Premishalem plays as well, and seems to have taken a few extra lessons than the other admurim.

Bobov has an interesting custom when they have people from out of town (perhaps it's done in other places, but I haven't seen it). They pass out large bottles of beer, coors light, and each bottle is designated for a particular person from out of town. The gabbai will scream out "Yossele Green aus London," and the bottle will go all around the room until it gets to Yossele Green from London." He then shares it with the people around him. The same is done with some of the sheerayim. "Yosef Baum aus Bnei Brak," and it will go around until it finds him. Somehow I ended up with a good deal of beer that ended up in front of me, and I drank my share until I was almost buzzed. The singing continued, the Rebbe spoke for about twenty five minutes, and all in all it was a wonderful tonight. The Bobover tisch is an experience, but for me personally never seems to reach the intensity of a Skverer or Stoliner tisch, my two most memorable experiences. In the coming weeks I will be going to Satmar and Skver, and look forward to writing again.