Rosh Hashanah Eve and the Tzadik

The past few days have been very chill but filled with very memorable moments. Wednesday night started Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New year. It's a two day festival where Jews crown Hashem as king and recommit to the oneness and make goals to strive for the next year. On Wednesday night Zach and I joined a local family's Rosh Hashanah dinner. It was very nice of them to host us. During dinner the host commented how later that evening he was going to see a big rabbi, Reb Itche Meir Morgenstern. The host told us he is the biggest Tzadik of our generation, a very high and righteous being. Zach and I agreed to go check out this rabbi since we have encountered very spiritual people in the past and wanted to see how it compared. Zach, myself, the host and his two teenage sons walked about an hour deep into Mea Shearim. Mea Shearim is a neighborhood in Jerusalem known for being ultra ultra orthodox and fundamentalist. People do not use smart phones and the news is posted on the walls of the city. As we walked through the neighborhood late at night it was cool seeing no cars in the road and kids wandering the streets by themselves. They rode bicycles and scooters and eight year old children walked their 2 year old siblings around. It was like taking a portal back in time. Since it was Rosh Hashanah you cannot use your phone so we had to ask for directions the whole way. We got lost many times through many twists and turns but eventually found our way to the esteemed rabbi. We walked into the building where he was davening Maariv (praying the nightly prayer). There were probably 1,000 people all dressed in white with payot and large hats. I was wearing a red shirt and stuck out like crazy! The place where the 1,000 people gathered was pretty much a run down concrete structure. There were no walls or ceiling just concrete. **It was a mosh pit in there.** We had to push and shove our way to the front to try and catch a glimpse of the rabbi. People in the building were screaming and praying very emotionally, looking upwards waving their hands. It was like Dune on steroids. In the front was the fragile old Rabbi. He had a prayer book that was probably 5,000 pages thick. He wore a tallit over his head so you could not see him. We pushed all the way to the front and stood right beside him. Water was dripping from the ceiling while the thousand followers studied and prayed. Every few seconds the rabbi would grab a towel and wipe his eyes. He was crying from the prayer and emotional stimulation. People would gasp when he turned his head, just hoping to catch a glimpse of his mustache and/or face. He took 1.5 hours to do one prayer, the amidah. After the prayer he scurried off into a private room. When he scurried off behind a wall I caught a glimpse of his piercing blue eyes. He came back out five minutes later and his followed all pushed to great him. There was one part of the service where he said words out loud and the 1,000 Jews there did a call and repeat. The rabbi did hand signals for when the congregation to stop and to keep going. After the service everyone pushed to the front to get a blessing from the rabbi. It reminded me of the Travis Scott crowd crunch. It was a mad house. I got my blessing from him as he looked me in the eye and motioned his hand. We walked out of the prayers and enter red to reality. That place was a portal to an alternate universe. It was pretty weird how crazy all the congregation was about one man. It weirded me out but it was cool catching a glimpse into their community and lifestyle. I did not have any crazy spiritual experience while being in his presence. It was more just a show and a mad house in there.