Think of Ger and you think of a chassidic army, but behind the numbers, another kind of revolution is taking place
The chassidic court of Ger is often defined by its numerical strength, the first thing that comes to mind when people mention the largest and most influential chassidic group in the country. That’s why I was so surprised when I was invited to what turned out to be an intimate gathering in the huge, cavernous beis medrash that takes up an entire block on Rechov Yirmiyahu in Jerusalem.
I had been to small gatherings here before. I had recently attended a rebbishe sheva brachos here which, unlike the wedding when thousands arrive, is a more modest event, where each chassid has a chance to see the Rebbe without pushing, without binoculars, without standing on milk crates.
And now again, as I entered, the huge beis medrash, which often holds tens of thousands of tightly packed chassidim, was nearly deserted. I walked for several minutes through the vast space, hearing my footsteps echo, until I reached the far corner of the building. There were just a few hundred chassidim there, like a tish in a small chassidus or a modest shtibel somewhere away from the center.
While Ger is constantly mentioned in the media, with the press focused on politics — party moves, alliances, conflicts — that is merely the outer shell. The real story happens inside, in the internal gatherings that outsiders rarely see — and one of them is a longstanding campaign to raise legions of Torah scholars fluent in the pages of Shas.
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