Balloons and Farbrengens

Late last week, we arrived in Bristol, England. Upon arrival, we heard that Bristol hosts an annual hot air balloon festival. The event attracts people from all over England and beyond.

This was enough to get two Chabad boys on wheels. We picked ourselves up and parked ourselves by the entrance, intending to find some Jews. "Out of the thousands of people, there must be a ton of Jews", we reasoned.

But as the day progressed, we began to wonder if Jews like hot air balloons after all...

In all those hours we had only met a few Jews.

However we didn't have much time to keep our spirits low, for that very night we had planned a Torah class with a few Israelis. We were expecting three or maybe four attendees.

When we arrived, we had a pleasant surprise waiting for us: there were eleven people there!

Before we started, most of them laid Tefillin with us.

After a class filled with meaningful discussion and insights, they stuck around for a Farbrengen (informal Chassidic gathering) which lasted into the wee hours of the morning!

Mendy Gurkov and Sender Gordon
Bristol, England