Saturday night, and the meal ends. The father and mother have talked with the children and instilled the educational messages they believe in for their children. This is a rare time and in many cases it only takes place in an observant community - if only because of the halakhic prohibition against looking at technological devices - or traveling by motorized transportation to another event.
But even this beautiful event is coming to an end, and the Haredi nuclear family is trying to find its way for the next few hours: Will they go visit the sister who lives on the next street, the parents from the nearby neighborhood, or simply 'pop in' to the neighbors for a bad conversation?
The question of whether Haredi couples visit other couples to have a light-hearted conversation raises the initial question: What makes this possible? Their community affiliation or their level of religiosity? Or perhaps both? The Hasidic and his modern Lithuanian neighbor are capable of talking for hours, as are their wives, but they have never sat two couples in the same room and talked about this and that. Not even about matters of religious or ideological thought.
The Hasid, as he once expressed to a dear Alexandrai, cannot imagine his neighbor addressing his wife on an inappropriate subject, nor does he see her in his mind's eye initiating a conversation with him. This situation, which is horrifying to him, will also not allow for a shared Shabbat meal, let alone the small talk that follows.
And what about the very devout Lithuanians? Do they behave differently, will they visit each other's homes 'after the meal' and not see anything wrong with the women intervening in the conversation, addressing the men and them responding to them - even while observing all the rules of modesty?
Saturday morning, and the Haredi mingling takes the form of huddles around herrings and truncated kugel triangles. In the communal synagogues, which are pale reflections of those in exile, worshippers gather around tables and chat as they sample the greasy noodle pastries and cheap crackers.
What is it about this social event that has become so beloved by its participants? This Jewish social event, it seems, has no parallel in the secular world.
Unlike the secular situation, it will always take place after the event [the prayer], not before it. Sometimes it seems that the participants, who sit down with aplomb around the table and its not very impressive products, feel that the fact that they succeeded in the prayer entitles them to enjoy this small piece of happiness.
This Haredi mingling benefits from an unwritten but rigid set of rules, such as the rabbi's smiling speech and the gabbai's not-so-brilliant jokes, which include equally impressive interludes from community members.
The only surprise that accompanies the institution known for some reason as 'Kiddush' is the miraculous ability of the homeowners to empty the table of delicacies into their own hearts and dine again in the house, as if they had just witnessed the appearance of a pot of stew after thirty hours of starvation.
Saturday night The religious person has moments of sweet happiness that will never be known or understood by his secular counterpart.
This is the moment when he opens WhatsApp (if he has it, of course, and many don't), news sites, radio, or any other media and expects to see what happened.
These seconds, in which the screen updates and we can know what happened, what was said in the "Shabbat" and especially who died during the Shabbat in short days and years, are moments of contentment.
In an era when news is reported minutes after it is created and in many cases even before it is conceived, Shabbat Hamalka arrives and [still] cuts off a significant segment of the population from the intravenous infusion of news for 25 hours. Something is bound to happen in those hours, and usually someone dies. Such news rarely shocks the deceased's acquaintances; it is usually interesting in its element of surprise.
This is no longer a single piece of news along the lines of, 'Guy Peleg said: The Prime Minister is in critical condition,' but a significant accumulation of information arriving in one 'boom.'.
This gift was given only to Sabbath keepers and is apparently part of what is known in halachic literature as 'Shabbat pleasure'.
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
