TCUK IN BPARK - The Travelling Chassidim spent Shabbos Parashas Terumoh in Brondesbury Park Synagogue

TCUK IN BPARK

The Travelling Chassidim spent Shabbos Parashas Terumoh in Brondesbury Park Synagogue

By R. Deutsch

Brondesbury Park United Synagogue in Northwest London welcomed special

guests for Shabbos. ‘The Travelling Chassidim’ brought their trademark

Chassidic warmth and liveliness with them. The group of men and ladies (and a

baby!) came to share their love of Yiddishkeit with the BPark folk. It allowed

the Brondesbury Park community to learn about a different approach to

authentic, undiluted Judaism. Among the highlights were: Kabalat Shabbos a la

Carlebach, a Friday night dinner for over a hundred people with words of Torah,

a quizz, singing and dancing, followed in the morning by a beautiful

musical Musaf and a lively Havdalah. 

Rabbi Boruch Levin, the ‘BPark’ Rabbi said: "Feedback from the Shabbos was extremely positive and people were genuinely impressed and moved by the passion, liveliness, warmth and menschlichkeit that each member of the visiting group exhibited. We are looking forward to welcoming the Travelling Chassidim again in the near future".  

One of the TCUK men had this to say about the Shabbos in Brondesbury Park, which was so different from his own usual Shabbos in Stamford Hill (the original Yiddish follows the translated text below):

What shall I say about this SHabbos? וואס זאל איך זאגן?

“Was it nice? Much nicer than I ever imagined.  שיין? א סאך שענער וואו איך האב געמיינט

Was it awesome? Awesome is not the right description. מורא'דיג? מורא'דיג איז נישט דער ווארט

Inspiring? How wonderful to see how these Yiden want to come closer to Hashem.

דערהויבן? אזוי שיין צו זעהן וואו אזעלכע אידן ווערן נענטער צו השם!!!

The Shabbos woke up everyone’s hearts – including our own.

אידן קומען אין שוהל און זעהן וויאזוי ערליכע חסידישע אידן דאווענען וכו'... עס וועקט אויף אלע הערצער!

זיי אלע זענען געווען אין די ראמען

אונז האבן אנגעצונדען די פלאמען

זיי גלייבן שוין אינעם אני מאמין

א שבת וואס האט געהאט אלע טעם'ן"

One of the Chassidim had this to say about the Shabbos in Brondesbury Park: “How wonderful it was to see Yidden from all walks of life participating in our activities. The Shabbos was a real wake up call to everyone – including ourselves!”.

Here are the reflections of another TCUKE member, who travelled all the way from Westcliff in ESSEX: "This week שבת at Brondesbury Park was something really nice.  Firstly, the warm welcome by our hostess as she related to me that the whole community is looking forward for the Travelling Chasidim to lead the שבת.  We went to shul to Daven Mincha and then started קבלת שבת  singing and dancing together; it was so heart-warming that I did not want this to finish!  Right after the davening the one of our group spoke a few words as he introduced us what we will be doing this שבת how everything will work, reassuring the listeners that this Parasha Teruma will definitely not be a trauma…  We went to the beautiful Shul hall in the newly built shul, where each of us was placed at a different table with community members, who welcomed us so warmly, sharing stories with each other.  The highlight of this שבת סעודה  was when we were asked questions about the Chassidim; the place was completely quiet as the audience listened to a talk the origins of Chassidism.  During the rest of the Shabbos we kept hearing from the locals how nice and interesting this eye-opening lesson was to them.  Shabbos morning before the מוסף  prayer the singing was repeated, feeling the palpable Achdus in the air and in our bones.  During the beautiful kiddush that followed we once again had the opportunity to speak to the community members, dispelling myths and preconceived notions; the ice melted away and instead there was warmth, kinship and pure Simcha all around.  During סעודת שלישית  we made a Kumzits followed by a speech by one of the Chassidim, encouraging everyone to open their eyes and find the השגחה פרטית  in all aspects of our lives: “how the Creator is looking and caring about each and every one of us”.

The מעריב  prayer was followed by Havdalah, which was capped by joyful singing and dancing; no one wanted it to finish, relishing this moment of Simcha and togetherness.  When the Shul members grabbed our arms in dance, we felt as if they were saying: “let’s not allow this moment to end…".

My heart was overwhelmed when one of the community members told us that this Shabbos was so powerful that he will remember it forever.  Hearing these words filled us with an extreme feeling of responsibility: the Travelling Chasidim are bringing true joy and warmth to a שבת  and into a fellow Yid; we ought to ask ourselves: “Where are we Chassidim Travelling to next?".

About The Travelling Chassidim – Who We Are:

Unity, Joy & Classic Jewish Spirit - Yes, it’s that simple!

Ø  TCUKE / Travelling Chassidim UK & Europe is a branch of the Traveling Chassidim in America, the brainchild of Rabbi Aryeh Royde of Monsey, New York. Inspired by the teachings of the late Rabbi Noach Weinberg זצ"ל (ZTZ”L) of Aish HaTorah – more accurately by his innovative initiative Project Inspire, this young Manchester-born Avreich (young Rabbi) set out to create a new flavour on the outreach scene.  The UK branch was formed by volunteers in London and Manchester and to date has representation in Westcliff in England in Vienna, Austria and Antwerp, Belgium.