The Litvish Shmuess vs. the Chasidish Tish: A Visitor's Comparison א ליטווישער שמועס קעגן א חסידישן טיש: א גאסט'ס פארגלייך

A Yid from our neighborhood, a curious sort, decided to attend in one week both a Litvish shmuess in a yeshiva and a Chasidish tish. He brought a notebook, and here is his report. (He asks us to note: with the greatest respect for both.)

The Time

• The shmuess: announced for 9:30, started at 9:30, and he arrived at 9:31. He felt like he'd shown up late to a bechina.
• The tish: announced for "after the meal," started when it was time. He came too early and waited with four hundred other Yidden who had also come too early.

The Seating

• The shmuess: a bench, a shtender, and a silence you could hear. He didn't dare cough.
• The tish: the bleachers. He stood on the fourth row, between a bochur pushing from the right and a yungerman pushing from the left, and he didn't need to hold on to anything — he stood up all by himself.

The Sound

• The shmuess: one voice, clear and deep, and words that go straight to the heart. He heard every word.
• The tish: the niggun. A thousand voices as one, rising and falling like waves in the sea. He didn't know the niggun — by the third time around he was singing along.

The Food

• The shmuess: no food. After the shmuess, tea and a cookie in the yeshiva kitchen, and a conversation with a bochur about the shmuess.
• The tish: shirayim. He reached out for a piece of fish and came back with a piece of onion, a neighbor's finger, and great joy.

What You Take Home

From the shmuess he took home a kabbalah: from today on, he won't talk during davening. The kabbalah held until Wednesday — which, according to the experts, is quite an impressive record.

From the tish he took home a niggun, which he has been singing all week — making coffee, in the car, and even in his sleep.

The Verdict

When asked which was better, he thought a moment and said: "The shmuess taught me what to change; the tish gave me the desire to do it. I think a Yid needs both."

And whoever has been to both knows: you go home a little better than you came.