Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Family Car

Yom sheni, 18 Tevet 5770.

People often ask us how we get around.  Jerusalem is thirty to forty minutes away, depending on traffic; and grocery shopping is easier with wheels.  So we brag a little about the family car.  It's big.  It's green.  And it can seat at least forty of our best friends, and their luggage.



Gratitude being a big part of being a Jew, let me share with you a few of the things I love about our car.

Since we have a competent driver, we can all sit in the back, shmoozing and grooving on the scenery.


AND I can make googly-eyes at the Dearly Beloved, without endangering our lives.


There is plenty of room in the "trunk" to store all of the groceries we could possibly want to load into it -- at least all that one monthly paycheck can cover.

And let's talk kedusha.  This morning, for instance, while our faithful driver navigated much scarier traffic than I ever want to deal with, we listened on the speakers to a "Kol Chai" radio broadcast of a commentary on this week's parasha from the holy Ohr HaChaim.  A public radio broadcast of the parasha hashavua is definitely not something I remember experiencing as I tooled along on the Beltway.


It is true that you can't set your clocks by when the family car will arrive to pick us up.  One of the things that we have come to love about Israel is that pretty much the entire country respects Chasidic time.  And let's face it:  the Germans made the trains run on time.  'Nuff said.

At the end of a long day of transporting many of my friends around -- and even people we don't know, as we are very generous -- someone else cleans and stores our family car.

This post is respectfully dedicated to all of the interesting, warm and hard-working Egged bus drivers with whom we've traveled, as well as their extended support staff back at the station.  Thanks, guys!  We wouldn't be anywhere without you.


Haveil Havalim, Issue #250, is up at Tzedek-Tzedek.  He does a nice, loving job with other people's work -- and with his own.  Give it a read.  Some of my best friends post there.

Glossary:
Shmoozing:  talking, chatting, shooting the breeze, chilling
Grooving:  Ask your parents.
Googly-eyes:  Ask your grandparents.
Kedusha:  holiness
Parasha hashavua:  weekly Torah reading
Chasidic time:  The best way to illustrate this concept is to share the following joke.  "What happens when a Chasid (an extremely spiritually-oriented Jew) marries a Yekke (a German Jew)?  Forever after, the couple arrives at every function exactly, precisely 45 minutes late."
Egged:  NOT pronounced like something rough boys do on Halloween night to other people's cars -- pronounced "EH-ged" -- the name of the most prominent bus company in Israel

14 comments:

Penina Tal Ohr said...

Funny how our cars are exactly alike! I guess great minds think alike. But I'll bet my driver is crazier than yours.

rutimizrachi said...

Penina: Do tell! Maybe we'll have to have a "crazy Egged bus drivers" follow-up post. Share with me off-post, and we'll see if we have something here...

rickismom said...

Nice to think of complimenting your drivers

rutimizrachi said...

Rickismom: They are amazing! They weave in and out of tiny little streets stuffed on both sides with cars... They put up with all of us -- and we are a diverse and motley crew... and many of them do these things with heroism and humor and holiness. There is a very cute joke that our IDF son shared with us. "Some guys get turned away from the regular IDF because they are too crazy. So they apply to the special forces of the IDF. Some of those guys are considered too crazy even for the special forces; so they apply for jobs with the Mosad. The guys who are considered too crazy and too daring -- even for the Mosad -- those guys become Egged bus drivers."

Chava Levin said...

I don't know about crazy... remember, every dalet amot in Eretz Yisrael is a separate mitzvah (even on wheels). They are doing how many each and every day, each and every trip? And taking people to do chessed (feeding the family, visiting the sick, going to simchas) and probably get a chelek in those mitzvot as well? Seems pretty sane and well thought out to me...

'Tis your bro who told me this one in the first place, so credit where credit is due!

rutimizrachi said...

Chava: Dang, I'm related to geniuses! Nice insight. Those Egged boys are racking up the points in Shemayim!

Unknown said...

Love the family car. I used to drive one myself but mine was only for people under the age of 18. And yellow, not the lovely green yours is.
LOVE the glossary at the end! For all of us who may not otherwise get the jest of some of the conversation, I thank you.

bataliyah said...

This post is classic Ruti - funny and appreciative little snippets about everyday life in Israel. What caught my attention was your calculation about the price of gas into terms I can understand. Jeez! Maybe we won't buy a family car after all. We'll just adopt yours.

Shalomis said...

Thanks for the laughs, Ruti! I love your gratitude-centric way of looking at everything. Makes me so happy! Lovin' looking through your beautiful window on the world.
:) Shalomis

Hillel Levin said...

Sis, Keep on truckin! I mean Bussin!

Bro

rutimizrachi said...

Judy, Judy, Judy: I keep learning fascinating things about what you've done since our high school days! School bus drivers deserve combat pay.

I'm glad the glossary is doing its job. :-)

BatAliyah: Thank you for your kind words! I can't take credit for the calculation: I took it straight from Arutz Sheva, which I should have credited. Looking forward to sharing the family car with you soon!

Shalomis: You know that making you laugh is one of my favorite pastimes. Thank you for your kind words.

Miriam said...

Our car is also big, green and usually leaves on time. Thanks for a great posting, I'm still smiling!

Ye'he Sh'mey Raba Mevorach said...

Ruti and BatAliyah, as you both know (I think) we ALSO love the Big Green Team (though my Dearly Beloved is quite the hitchhiker - go do THAT in the USA).

My special mitzvah is chatting up the drivers. It's a wonderful experience to see them smile.

Yesterday I got on an unfamiliar line. "Do you go to the Central Bus Station" "Yes". My question was followed by about 6 other questions that started with "Do you go to..." The driver answered each one patiently, but he and I looked at eachother and burst out laughing.

Love those guys.

the sabra said...

ahhh! love love love this post!
family car indeed!
gotta link