By Adam Kaman

It all started with a cold plunge.

As two friends were enjoying the hot sun after a frigid 42-degree plunge, they began sharing ideas about the month of Tishrei. They discussed how, after the solemn and most spiritual days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Hashem gives the Jewish people a mitzvah that is contrastingly physical: the joy of Sukkos, to channel their fire and desire to serve Him.

Amir mentioned the beauty of a farbrengen of the Rebbe and how he would have loved to experience one. Adam shared that one of his main desires was to dance in the streets of Crown Heights during Simchas Beis Hashoeva. Adam pulled up aerial footage of the event, and that was it, a fire was ignited in Amir that he refused to let fizzle out.

Seemingly overnight, Amir had taken on the task of making it happen. He recruited the senior shliach and Rabbi of Austin, Texas, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Levertov, along with friends Michael, Aidan, and, of course, Adam. On October 9, 2025, the first day of Chol Hamoed Sukkos 5786, the five of them were on their way to New York.

The Journey Begins

It started with a lively drive to the airport; each man being pushed out the door by their respective loved ones with urgent reminders: “Don’t miss the flight!” At security, the TSA agent stopped the rabbi. Obviously, this mysterious long object going through the scanner was suspicious. The TSA agent to their surprise said, “It’s the holiday, right?” So, the Rabbi and Amir helped the agent shake the lulav and esrog. Of course, what’s airport travel without a hiccup? Adam’s name was spelled incorrectly on his ticket, making it a close call to the gate. While waiting to board, they met two more Yidden and shook lulav and esrog with them on the plane before takeoff.

They landed at Newark, New Jersey at 6:45 pm and loaded into a slightly-too-small car for the hour-and-a-half trip to the Ohel of the Rebbe.

At the Ohel

Arriving at the Ohel, they immersed themselves in the mikvah, wrote their letters, and at least three in the group had their first ever visit and audience with the Rebbe.

As Amir would recount afterward, “This could have ended the trip, it was so powerful and amazing.”

After their time at the Ohel, they enjoyed the famous Ohel cookies dipped in milk under the enormous Ohel sukkah. Of course, in true Jewish geography fashion, the Rabbi ran into a brother-in-law and his nephew who were celebrating his bar mitzvah. A farbrengen ensued. After a l’chaim to the bar mitzvah boy and a few more cookies, the group made their way to Crown Heights.

Crown Heights: The Heart of the Celebration

Once in Crown Heights, their first mission was to collect aravos for Hoshana Rabbah. This proved tricky, as the store had closed. Amir couldn’t sit on the sidelines waiting. (You may have noticed by now he is a man of action.) As if drawn by a rope, he was pulled into the dancing in the street.

Meanwhile, Adam, Michael, and Aidan walked to 770 to catch Maariv, where Michael recounted, “I was davening the Amidah at a very loud level and could barely hear myself.” By that time, the simcha had fully gripped them as they made their way into the dancing throng of 8,000+ men on the closed-off street around 770, with live music filling the air.

After a quick stop at the Rabbi’s childhood home and sukkah for a farbrengen, they were joined by Eli, a Crown Heights resident and Texas native, a close friend of the group. Here they had another highlight of the evening, the group got to spend time with the Rabbi’s sister, brother-in-law, and family who had flown in for Tishrei all the way from Australia. 

Dancing Until Dawn

Around 3 AM, they returned to the streets and reconnected with Amir, who had been dancing and farbrenging with some bochurim, Mendy Bar-Lev and Menny Lipskier, who had visited Austin early in Tishrei to lead Austin’s first Hebrew-speaking minyan for Rosh Hashanah. They found Kingston Avenue was completely flooded with happy singing Yidden dancing with abandon, as if the joy would break through the sky and usher in Moshiach. The 42-degree weather (somehow a different 42 than the cold plunge) wasn’t felt in the fervor as they danced, sang, screamed with simcha, and hoisted each other onto shoulders (Michael being the platform of choice). As the celebration continued, among the 8,000+, Adam found and danced with his previous JNet study partner. Monty, a student from Rabbi Levertov’s University of Texas years and a dedicated chassid, also joined in the merriment.

As the evening (or was it morning?) started to wind down for the group, Mendy Bar-Lev brought them on a quick tour of 770, and through Hashgacha Pratis, the Rabbi was able to pick up the elusive aravos for the Austin community. At 5 AM, it was time to head back to the airport for their return flight to Austin.

The Journey Home

The exhausted yet invigorated group davened Shacharis in the airport prior to takeoff, everyone having carefully packed aravos in their carry-on bags. Adam was genuinely perplexed when the flight attendants cheerfully said, “Good morning!” (What day was it, anyway?)

To round off the trip, upon walking out of the Austin International Airport, they ran into another community member and her children who had not yet shaken lulav and esrog that day. They joyfully fulfilled the mitzvah together right there. Finding their car, they discovered to their great delight that they had parked just 12 minutes shy of 24 hours earlier, perfect timing.

Singing and clapping on the drive back, when they arrived at the shul, they were greeted in the sukkah by friends and community members, including rabbis who will hopefully join the trip next year and the parents of a new baby boy on the day of his bris. With hugs, dancing, and overwhelming happiness, the five began to internalize how much chayus they could bring to Simchas Torah.

(And if we’re being honest, they were also thinking about how quickly they could get to their beds.)