Published: 27 May 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Kugel with shots of vodka, earsplitting Hasidic dance music, ecstatic revellers; all part of a night out with ex-ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking a new identity
“CELEBRATING THE ADVENT of spring with kishke and mofletta,” the invitation read, referring to distinctively Ashkenazi and Mizrahi dishes. “Want to fly and exhaust your soul? Come to the parting-of-the-sea party.”
The event in question was held on the evening of the last day of Passover at Hatahana, the old train station between Tel Aviv and Jaffa that has been renovated as an entertainment complex – or, as the announcement hinted, “next to the Tel Aviv seashore.”
It wasn’t exactly a beach party, and neither the sea nor the museum honouring the pre-state Irgun militia across the way were visible. Still, “Tel Aviv seashore” connotes a more sensual promise than a plain geographic location. When you grow up in an ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, neighbourhood like Mea She’arim in Jerusalem, any place outside its walls is tantamount to the Tel Aviv beach.
Passersby probably thought the sounds augured the onset of the traditional Moroccan Mimouna festivities that mark the end of Passover, where mofletta stars. Only at the party itself, inside the dimly lit space of the Tash & Tasha restaurant, near the deejay and loudspeakers, were the revellers’ utterances audible: “Oy, oy, oy, oy,” and “Kadesh, kadesh, kadesh, kadesh” (sanctify, sanctify ...).
Transportation from Jerusalem was available for a token sum. In general, the revellers weren’t dressed in religious garb, but their gestures and expressions belied their former existence.
Outside was a large pot of kugel; portions served in disposable trays were going for 10 shekels ($3) each. Kishke was also on sale for the celebrants, along with the moffleta. And shots of alcohol, a whole lot of them.
The event was organised by the nonprofit group Barratta (literally, “You have created”), which aims to provide a spiritual, cultural and social home for ex-Haredim. The organisation sponsors parties, concerts and social events, and operates a café in Jerusalem. The idea is to restore to those who are no longer religious the feeling of community they lost along with their faith.
