The 24-Hour באתי לגני Marathon & The Mikve Ghosts

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Bochurim took a Hachlata to do a 24-hour marathon of באתי לגני study on Motzoei Shabbos as a preparation to Yud Shvat. The marathon was due to start at 9pm therefore Schneur pulled to the dorm at 9:05pm to pick up the people, but to his utter dismay he found Boruch & Benny sleeping, and only four Bochurim in the dorm who were going to this program. Schneur left with some anger over the failed plot. Little did he know what was going to happen in the next few hours.

Schneur's Group at 1:30am

At around 9:30 Benny rolled out of bed all dizzy and tired, and decided to go to Zal. He woke up Boruch too, but Boruch slept for another three hours and then came to Zal. Not long afterwards, the van came back from the JCC and took two shifts of Bochurim to Zal. That’s when the action started.

Levi Adelman's Group

At 11:30pm the Zal was full, and Sholom Ber proceeded to send away any of those who didn’t want to learn, and promised Pizza for Lunch for those who learn until tomorrow. Two people left and the rest split up into groups. Schneur with the biggest group, Dovi with a group, Benny with a Chavrusa, Boruch with a Chavrusa, Levi Adelman with a group, Sholom Ber on his mattress, and Zaklikovsky was the only staff member not present. Not long thereafter, Mendy Boaron had to run fr his life, after he almost blew up the whole kitchen.

Sholom Ber's group

During the few minutes Wrubel was present, he went over to Schneur and hit him, saying “Havaye hit you”. So Schneur hit him back saying “Atzmus hit Havaye”...

Boruch's Chavrusa

After midnight, Avi Mogilevsky & Michael Weisz showed up. Gav was the last normal addition, he came all pale, right out of his bed where he slept off his alcohol, he proceeded to “get into” the learning. He was one of the only ones who stayed up without taking a nap.

Dovi Small's Group

At around 1am Dovi Chein showed up after he finished skating, not a very good way of starting a learning night. He obviously got sick the next day...

Benny's Group

At around 4:30am Dovi Chein decided to freak out some of the Bochurim and told them: “Neshi Rodan once went up to the Mikve attic to drop off some “Sheimos” and she saw a white figure, that means that there is a ghost up there, lets go check it out...”

All the Bochurim decided to go check it out, and they took candles in glass cups, and proceeded to the pitch-dark night. Benny Hershcovich stayed back with Simcha Bloom, so there shouldn’t be a moment in the Marathon without learning.

The Bochurim got to the Mikve and started going up the stairs. The moment the first person reached the door, he suddenly dropped his candle, and shattered the glass, he was followed by a bunch more who freaked out and dropped their candles too.

The residence of the "Mikve Ghost"

Avi & Meir then proceeded to go into the attic, where he suddenly let out a shriek “AAAHHH” and almost dropped to the floor. Further investigation revealed that there was a white carpet hanging from the wall, when Avi walked in, he walked towards the carpet and when he turned around he saw the carpet holding onto him... He thought the carpet was the white ghost...

Moments later Meir walked in and snapped pictures with Yankele Lefton’s Camera. The rest of the Bochurim followed. After a few minutes, every one left the room and went back to Zal.

Schneur enjoying some Taavos after the "Mikva Ghost"

Some time later, everyone went to Mikve to do the “Mickey Dip”. Yankele put his camera down and when he returned he saw his camera screen was cracked with a big fingerprint on it, the ghost’s fingerprint.

Through out this whole episode, Sholom Ber slept peacefully on the mattress he brought earlier to Zal.

The next day started with Rabbi Berger pretending he knows nothing about it and trying to figure out why Chaim Hertzl is so wired and hyper, and why there are so many people fully awake at Chassidus. Finally Yankele Lefton volunteered to notify Rabbi Berger. Rabbi Berger was very happy at “the original and innovative idea, the concept of Shtus Dekdusha”.

Morning Seder went through pretty good, with some of the Bochurim sleeping and some awake, some about to fall asleep, and some not being able to sleep.

During Morning Seder, some Bochurim told Rabbi Berger about the “Ghosts in the Mikve” and the Rabbi responded: “There was an old Rabbi here in Young Israel, who wasn’t buried in the cemetery, he was buried in the attic of the Mikve. There is a Kabbalah that people shouldn’t enter the attic, because he is buried there. It is also 100% Kosher for Kohanim to be there. By the way, the Rabbi’s name is Klonimus Sheptelevitch”. Simcha Bloom told Rabbi Berger: “I actually thought it was YOUR ghost there”... Rabbi Berger didn’t recall being there...

Some time later, Rabbi Berger disappeared and a fierce discussion erupted: Mendy Boaron & Itzik Eilenberg who believed there IS a ghost and those who didn’t. They both decided that they will go and check it up. In the meantime, Berel Hahn took a white sheet and ran to the attic, where he hid. When they entered Berel made some sounds of wailing, causing both Mendy & Itzik to freak out... at least until when they saw the shoes and recognized them as Berel’s shoes...

At around 1:30pm someone came over to Rabbi Berger and requested some more information about this “ghost” but Rabbi Berger answered him: “I don’t talk about ghosts after 1pm”.

After Seder, Pizza was ordered from Viva’s, sponsored by Sholom Ber, for those who participated in the Marathon.

At 5:00pm Rabbi Berger brought some videos of the Rebbe, and the Bochurim sat to watch them. Gav brought a video of the Rebbe giving a blessing for his daddy. While this was happening, Schneur was gone, nowhere to be found, most probably went to eat something and go to sleep.

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