Knitted with One thread

Photos: Shuki Lehrer, Flash90, Refoel Schwartz
Rachel Ginsberg contributed to this report.

They’re easy to spot at Friday night tishen in chassidic courts, with their white shirts, ear-to-ear huge knitted kippot, long peyos and untrimmed beards. Yet for some of these national-religious bochurim, a chassidic tish is not just another cool Shabbos activity, but a sign of retaking stock and making profound, meaningful life changes. And surprisingly, some of them are ideologically not so far away from their chassidic hosts either

You can see them at almost every tish of Jerusalem’s many chassidic courts. They’re usually off in their own corner, but easy to spot amid the beketshes and shtreimels: white shirts sashed with a gartel, long peyos, untrimmed beards, heads topped with large knitted yarmulkes that go from ear to ear.

Welcome to the phenomenon of young “srugim” (as they are called because of their kippot serugot) who have become regulars among the chassidim — bochurim and avreichim affiliated with “kippah serugah” yeshivos, well-versed in chassidic seforim and filled with lofty aspirations, who’ve forged personal bonds with rebbes and chassidic mashpi’im, and merit a special status even within the most insular chassidic groups.