Tis morning at last

I have never felt more tired, or more ALIVE!

It is so hard to describe the atmosphere. It is something you just have to experience. If you are there you get it.

The crowd moves with the music. When it's fast, they dance fast. When it slows down, so do they.

When the music stops- well, they keep dancing.

It is so fascinating, yet so natural. You hear music and you want to move. You need to move. You have this energy inside of you and you need to dispel it in some way. By dancing, by clapping, tapping your feet, singing. Someway, it has to come out.

I love how many different types of Jews come to the Simchas Bais Hashuava in Crown Heights. There is such unity. Jews from all backgrounds dance together, everyone is welcome, everyone is ACCEPTED, and we all celebrate together.

I wondered what a stranger would think if they came upon the scene by accident. A whole bunch of men clad mainly in black and white, dancing all night while the ladies stand and watch. It is like a Jewish block party. It's awesome.

Someone asked a police officer 'what do you make of all this?' He said, 'it's nice, it's really nice.'

We just want to have a good time. We want to express our simcha in the streets. It is Sukkos, and we dance in the streets. And it is so nice how the officers APPRECIATE us. We are not violent, we are not rioting, we are respectful and law-abiding and when it is time to go home we do.

It is so nice to stay until the end. The music keeps going on and on and on and you want it to end so you can go home and go to sleep, but at the same time you want it to last forever.

If anyone knows the song 'hup kusak', it was an amazing experience to watch. It starts off really slow, with everyone sitting on the street and just swaying to the music. They kept it slow for like two minutes, and then it slowly gets faster and faster until everyone is jumping. Awesome.

It is a bonding experience. I made friends with the stranger standing next to me. Maybe I will see her again.

I love Simchas Baid Hashuava, and I appreciate it so much more now that I am older.

And more so, it makes me so PROUD to be Lubavitch! When the crowd screamed together 'Ad Mosai!' and 'We want Moshiach now!' it was powerful. I'm sure it was heard on high.

I will try to post videos tomorrow, and for those of you in town, you should definitely try to make it, as experiencing Simchas Bais Hashuava in Crown Heights is a once in a lifetime experience. There's a reason people come from all over to enjoy it.

Now, it is 6:30 am and I will start my day with waffles. And then sleep.

Chag Sameach to all!