I am a religious Jew and we just finished almost a full month of Jewish Holidays. Since that is what I have been busy with the past few weeks, I wanted to share some of the excitement. I don't want to tell you about the Holidays, I really want to describe some of the crazy scenes that happen in our neighborhood- the Hassidic community of Crown Heights. Before the Holiday of Rosh Hashana, people come from all over the world to Crown Heights for the High Holidays. Thousands of people are put up by different organizations or community homes. And as crazy as it may sound, many other hundreds come without a clue as to where they will stay.The streets are literally packed with people and their suitcases. This year we had 3 Israeli girls ring our bell and ask to take showers in our house!
 

Probably the weirdest custom one will observe is the ritual called kaparot. Before the day of Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, we take a chicken and say a prayer that we should be sealed for a sweet year. These chickens are then slaughtered and given to the poor to eat. 
Here are some pictures of our my 2 year old son doing kaporot and enjoying the chicken!


The last of the High Holidays is called Sukkot, we build little huts that we eat in and them for the week. We also shake a lulav and etrog every day of this Holiday. Every night, there is dancing and music in the streets the whole night. There are many police over the whole neighborhood making sure everything is safe. They must think we are more crazy every day of that month.