An Orthodox synagogue sits across the street from an abandoned lot on Poplar and North American streets, and on a cool May night, the members of that synagogue use it to throw what is undoubtedly the biggest party in Northern Liberties. The occasion is Lag B'Omer, one of the more obscure Jewish holidays, and the Philadelphia leaders of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Judaism had decided to celebrate by lighting an enormous bonfire, serving Miller High Life and cooking kosher barbecue. Next to the bonfire, a bongo line forms, the drums beat by casually dressed youth while Hasidic Jews, dressed in traditional black suits and fedoras with long scraggly beards, drink and chat around them while children throw detritus into the fire.
Too Cool for Shul
Rabbi/band leader Menachem Schmidt has seen Philly’s Lubavitch community grow to new heights. But is its progressive orthodoxy too good to be true?
An Orthodox synagogue sits across the street from an abandoned lot on Poplar and North American streets, and on a cool May night, the members of that synagogue use it to throw what is undoubtedly the biggest party in Northern Liberties. The occasion is Lag B’Omer, one of the more obscure Jewish holidays, and the Philadelphia leaders of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Judaism had decided to celebrate by lighting an enormous bonfire, serving Miller High Life and cooking kosher barbecue. Next to the bonfire, a bongo line forms, the drums beat by casually dressed youth while Hasidic Jews, dressed in traditional black suits and fedoras with long scraggly beards, drink and chat around them while children throw detritus into the fire.
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