Thursday, February 22, 2018

Musical chairs at the red light

Here in Israel (can't speak for how it is elsewhere), in pretty much any given city, at almost any given time, one might be stopped at a red light when suddenly a van pulls up alongside. It's covered in colorful stickers, has large speakers blasting upbeat music strapped or bolted to the roof, and suddenly, the side door will slide open, a couple guys with peyot (the longer sidelocks of hair many Orthodox Jewish men have)swinging past their shoulders and large kippot (yarulka) covering their heads will jump out and run around the van and dance to the music.

My husband likes to joke that when the light turns green and the guys are scrambling back into the car, it's a tossup as to whether or not the same guy who drove the van up to the intersection is the same guy driving away.

It's fun, it's weird, it's pretty uplifting at times.

The guys are Breslov Hassidim, often called Na-Nach-Nachmans - or as I like to call them sha-na-nachmans or hey-nonny-nachmans - turning their Rebbe's name, Nachman, into some form of Kabbalistic formula.


So what weirdness have you seen while waiting at a local red light?

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