Pirsumei Nisa: Another "Only In Israel" Story!

Yesterday my wife went on a Very Special outing with my 10-year-old daughter (and 3-month-old baby) - where else, but to go clothes shopping at the Hamashbir 50% sale in Jerusalem. I won't tell you how much they spent; suffice it to say that they enjoyed themselves! My wife was completely thrilled to find a store that didn't feel like it was improvised out of somebody's basement, selling clothes that were actually made with the shape of the human body in mind, made from material that will not perish on its first trip through the washing machine.

Anyway, to save herself the stress of driving in central Jerusalem and the expense of using one of the licensed muggers they call parking garages, she parked at the Wolfson Towers and caught a taxi to and from Hamashbir. But on the way back, in all the ballagan of schlepping prams, babies and parcels, the bags from Hamashbir failed to make it back into our car... a fact which my wife realized, to her utter shock and dismay, only when she got back home.

So we started the chase, realizing that the bags had no identifying features that the finder could use to reach us. As far as halachic simanim go, the fact that there was a certain grouping of clothes, in two packets, left in the trunk of a taxi would be a siman muvhak - but that wasn't much help to us. We didn't know the driver's name, just his description (young, nearly-shaved head, no kippa), nor which taxi company he worked for. My daughter remembered that there was a sticker in the car saying "My home is in Maaleh Adumim". A lead!

OK, off to the yellow pages. I mean, how many taxi companies can there be operating in Jerusalem?

82. Plus 3 in Maaleh Adumim.

OK... so let's go for the big hitters first - the most likely ones to have been patrolling the center of town. Luckily the Yellow Pages provides a map of all the locations, so I could pick off the ones based in the area. Some were hasa'ot, some were shuttle services. I eliminated the Arab ones. Anything with a cellphone number probably belongs to a freelancer. So I started calling, developed my script as I went along, emphasizing the driver from Maaleh Adumim and the fact that the parcels were pretty valuable. No dice. While most were sympathetic, they couldn't help me, or told me to "call again tomorrow".

My alarm sounded for mincha, and I went across the road to join the Moroccan minyan. As is my habit, while they were doing korbanot and all the other stuff they do before Ashrei, I picked up a chumash and started reviewing the parsha. I was up to the second aliya. Hashovas Aveida. Hm. I learned it extra hard, with special kavana. Shnayim Mikra, echad targum - the real way. Oh yes, yesterday was Monday - Yom Sheini. Significant? I wonder...

I left mincha imbued with confidence - and gratitude to Hashem for the fact that we were going to get our parcels back. Don't know how or when, but we will.

Made a few more calls to taxi companies, Hamashbir themselves (in case the driver returned it to them). One veteran taxi driver was really helpful, and got into sleuthing: he asked pertinent questions about the driver, the car, a bunch of details we didn't realize we knew, and referred us to another taxi maven in Maaleh Adumim, who also did his part to help. Then we decided this was enough hishtadlus for now. By the end of the evening we were happy and joking about the whole experience. My wife told me animatedly about every garment she bought, with full enjoyment of how beautiful it was, and it kind of felt like we already had them back.

This morning I started phoning again. The first company I called said not to bother until after 10 o' clock - all the drivers were still asleep! So I did, and one by one, I called the companies on my list. Each one in turn sent a broadcast to all his drivers with the pertinent details; each one said no, and I crossed them off my list... until... one of them gave me a cellphone number, and said, "Here, call this number." So I did... and this was the driver of the taxi... who had found my wife's packages in his trunk not 10 minutes beforehand.

So as I write this, he's just brought the packages to my wife, who happens to be in Jerusalem right now. She asked him what would have happened if we hadn't tracked him down? He said, they don't have any formal system for lost items; they just keep the items for as long as they feel like it, and wait for someone to contact them.

Think about it: if I had called 10 minutes earlier, the driver wouldn't have found the parcels yet, I would have crossed that company off my list, and we would in all likelihood never have seen those clothes again.

Yes, it's not a breathtaking miracle, it all happened al derech hateva, but I'm still very grateful to Hashem for having orchestrated things the way He did. And it highlights again that even a young skin-headed "chiloni" taxi driver has the Jewish heart to do the mitzva of hashovas aveida.


Postscript: if you should ever lose an item in an unidentified taxi the way I did, here are some tips:

1. Resist the temptation to start phoning immediately. Give it a day or two, to give the driver the opportunity to discover the lost item.
2. The police have a lost-and-found desk. The number in Jerusalem is 02 539 1360/1.
3. Contrary to some reports, it is not necessary to make a donation to Kupat Ha'Ir in order to get your lost item back. :-D
   
4. Probably the most important segula you can have is gratitude. Gratitude for the fact that Hashem is looking out for you, and that He will give you the y'shua you need. This principle applies in all aspects of life, and merits not just a separate blog post, but an entire book in its own right. The more you improve and sharpen your midda of gratitude, the more things in your life will just keep going right, and getting better all the time. Don't worry - Be happy! Really!
   

Ayn Rand meets Rav Shimon Shkop

I just finished reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. As a piece of fiction, I found it very entertaining and compelling; as a work of philosophy, I found it intriguing. For those who haven't read it, she expounds her philosophy of objectivism through her characters, who are pretty weird at times, but she makes her point well enough.

One of the main points of objectivism is that your ethics are supposed to be governed by rational self-interest. She is explicitly against altruism, that is, the sacrifice of self for others, but she equally does not subscribe to the converse, sacrifice of others for self. People should aspire to their highest potential, irrespective of others, and neither live for others nor expect others to live for them.

Seems a bit selfish and heartless, doesn't it?

I'm not so sure she's so far off the truth. My friend MG told me a vort he heard in the name of Rav Shimon Shkop. (I can't verify the quote; if anyone can give a source for this, I'd be most grateful.) He was asked, if Hashem wants us to do chesed with others, why did He make us naturally so selfish?

Rav Shkop answered that the selfishness that G-d gave man is part of the gift of being able to do chesed. If you have a normal, single person, he looks out for his own interests. He gets married, and now he also looks out for his wife's interests. he has children, and he now looks out for his children's interests. All the time he is being selfish - but he views his wife and children as an extension of himself. If a person works on his ahavas Yisroel, he will grow his concept of self until he sees all of Klal Yisroel as extensions of himself, and he will look out for their interests as he looks out for his own.

In other words, Judaism does not preach negation or sacrifice of the self; rather a person must develop a healthy sense of ego that encompasses the well being of others.

Ayn Rand almost got there, but in her vehemence against collectivism/dependence, she stopped short at libertarianism/independence and missed the final step: interdependence. (Stephen Covey fans, that's for you.) Interestingly, none of her characters ever have children. Nor did she. I guess that's what happens when you can't grow your ego past yourself.

EDIT: Thanks to MG, who saw this post and sent me links to Rav Schwab's magnum opus, Shaarei Yosher. The part about developing your ego to encompass others is in the introduction, pages 1 and 2.

I am not tweeting for Gilad Schalit

Gilad Schalit is about to spend yet another birthday in captivity. In honor of this occasion, several Jewish/Israel activists have called for Twitterers to tweet messages about Gilad with a specific tag, in the hope of making his name a Top-10 trending topic.

Let me be clear: I hope and pray for Gilad's safe and speedy return to his family just as much as the next guy; I cannot even begin to imagine what kind of suffering he and his family must be going through.

But I will not support this or any other "Free Gilad" campaigns. Not on Twitter, not on Facebook, not even as a bumper sticker.

Think about it: who is supposed to feel the heat from these campaigns? Hamas? You gotta be kidding! If Gilad Schalit became the top trending topic on Twitter for an entire year, it would not make one whit of difference to those bloodthirsty savages. Rather, it would have exactly the opposite of the intended effect: once Hamas sees that so many people care about Gilad, they will know that they can up their price for him.

The only party who is going to feel the pressure is the Israeli government, who will feel themselves pushed to make yet another obscenely lopsided deal to release more and more murderers, terrorists and common criminals in order to get back one Israeli soldier - who may C"V not even be alive any more. And these deals always result in more terrorism and murder.

I want Gilad home - but not at any price. I will not be party to any pressure campaign on the Israeli government in this regard, because there are 6 million other Jews in Israel who should not be made to pay for Gilad Schalit with their own blood.

The Dilemma of the Cat Man

For those of you who have been quietly following my cat saga, it has finally been resolved.

Three of the kittens have been adopted (one by my children). And somebody put us in touch with a fellow who runs a cat shelter called Girgurim. We called him up, and he was willing to take in the mother and two remaining kittens. He wanted to push us off for a few days, but eventually we got him to agree to take them before shabbos.

So Friday afternoon, my family piled into the car with said felines, and drove off to Kibbutz Harel (between Tzomet Shimshon and TzometNachson), where Girgurim is located. Here our host accepted the cats and took us on a short tour of his premises.

They care for around 800 cats in 1 dunam of land that they have enclosed for their comfort. Yes, those figures are correct. We saw it. They never destroy any cats, no matter how sick or feeble; they just take them in and care for them. And I have to be honest, these cats look like somebody is taking the most amazing care of them. They look strong, robust, healthy - as if each one of them was being taken care of individually by a family with 2.4 kids and a white picket fence around their garden. Except that they're all living under one gigantic roof, with tens of discarded sofas, beds and other furniture and toys to sleep on and play with. If I were a cat in Israel, I would probably want to live there.

Anyway, I thanked they guy, and gave him a modest donation - maybe enough to feed the 3 cats I gave him for a month. I thought, I can't take this money out of maaser, and I would much rather donate money to a cause that benefits people rather than cats.

So now, this guy with the big heart is saddled with 3 extra feline mouths to feed. I'm sure it's a big maala what he's doing, looking after Hashem's creatures - but would I encourage my children to follow his path? No way. Frankly, I think he's lost the plot. I think he's wasting his obviously considerable koach of chesed on a bunch of dumb cats, when he could be using it to care for any number of different kinds of people who need it.

Yet I am grateful to him, and I took advantage of him. I think what he's doing is silly and wasteful; I think he is wasting his life on a non-cause - and I went ahead and fed him more of the same drug.

Was that a good thing to do? Should I maybe have looked at his situation and said to myself, "This man says he wants my cats, but I know better what he needs, and that is for me simply to dump the cats on some kibbutz somewhere and let them fend for themselves, rather than be an additional burden to this misguided fellow Yid here, who doesn't know his right hand from his left."

What do you think?