Hasidopedia: Culture and Institutions, Vol. 1

by Jacob Gluck

A music truck arrives on the scene, and as the crowd swells outside the patron’s house, police officers arrive to close off the street. Such a street closure is one of the few among street closure categories ever requested by the Haredi community, and it is readily granted by the police. While the music band in the pick-up-truck-hitched trailer blasts away, children wave fans that read “be glad and rejoice in the rejoicing of the Toroh”. A canopy is brought in and stationed in front of the house so that the Toroh scroll could be honorably escorted —while protected from the elements. In bygone years not too long ago, four people would be required to hold each of the canopy’s four poles, whereas poles of modern canopies roll on coasters.