At Jerusalem bar, students pull all-nighter to ‘watch history’

At a Jerusalem election watch party in Jerusalem’s downtown Mike’s Place bar, a group of 18-year-old Aish HaTorah yeshiva students sits at one table, watching intently in the first election where they are able to vote.

“We’re here to watch history in the making,” said Yeshua Soskil, from Maryland. He said he thinks the rabbis will “probably be OK” even if they’re tired for tomorrow’s classes. “We can’t miss this, we can’t sleep through this,” says Ezra Epstein, a fellow Aish HaTorah student from New Jersey, who voted for Gary Johnson.

So many screens…. @TimesofIsrael #ElectionNight #Election2016 pic.twitter.com/ZC5x5HLNeE

— Melanie Lidman (@melanielidman) November 9, 2016

“I basically feel like the Republican party is dying, they are taken over by this crazy guy,” he says.

He believes that eventually Libertarians will gain more traction and eventually overtake the Republicans.

“I’d like to see Trump win because I think it will be so entertaining to watch,” says Epstein. “Though I’ll also feel safer with Trump, I feel like my survival chances are best with him.”

— Melanie Lidman