{"id":28070,"date":"2009-03-31T20:35:01","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/holidays\/passover\/redemption_and_a_new_york_taxi_ride\/"},"modified":"2016-08-21T18:30:18","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T18:30:18","slug":"redemption_and_a_new_york_taxi_ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/redemption_and_a_new_york_taxi_ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Redemption and a New York Taxi Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NewWhen you get into a taxi in New York City you never know what\u2019s going to happen. Every urban traveler knows that within each of the myriad of cabs crisscrossing the city, resides a whole world–usually a world much different than your own. The driver\u2019s country of origin, accent, personal hygiene, speed preferences; they\u2019re all variables and the passenger is at their mercy. When I caught the cab on Sixth Avenue and Sixteenth Street I was expecting to come away with an emptier wallet, not a fuller heart. But that\u2019s New York and that\u2019s G-d.
\nWhen I slid into the seat of the yellow cab the driver immediately informed me that his machine wasn\u2019t running any credit cards. No problem this time, I happened to be in the money. So I assured him I had the cash and we were good to go. I commiserated with him, \u201cMust be tough if you can\u2019t take cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

This guy was a talker and, having been given the opening, now he<\/i> was good to go. I heard about the sassy girl, laden with bags from Bed, Bath and Beyond who swiped her card and it was declined. She didn\u2019t have money, friends or any options. While he argued with her, two little, old lady bystanders called the cops.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe she just got caught short,\u201d I offered, surreptitiously checking my bag to make sure I really had the twenty that I thought I had put in earlier that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah! She was stealing. She was fresh I tell you. The cops saw it too. Told me they would arrest her if I wanted. The old ladies, they were yelling \u2018Arrest her! Arrest her!\u2019 She was fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d I had never imagined that the life of a cab driver could be so gripping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI let her go. She was no good.\u201d<\/p>\n

I agreed with him. \u201cYea. I would have too. Just because she was rotten, no reason you should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t seem to need my philosophical read on the matter. He continued with a story about a man and his wife and two little girls that stiffed him for a fare and a young businessman who just jumped out of the car at a red light.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I picked up three people from La Guardia. Took them deep into Brooklyn, not a nice neighborhood, very tough. Two of them got off first and then I went a few more blocks and dropped of the last guy. He tells me he got no money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big fare. What did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSixty-five, seventy bucks. I\u2019m not stupid. I told him \u2018Okay. You got no money, its okay. What am I goin\u2019 to do to you? I\u2019m on your street; I can\u2019t fight you for the money. You got friends; I\u2019m not goin\u2019 to get beat up.\u2019 But I told him\u2026\u201d and here the driver peered at me from the rear view mirror and slowed the car down for emphasis. I checked my watch furtively and he continued, \u201c\u2026I told him, \u2018Don\u2019t you ever come into Manhattan\u2026 I\u2019ll get you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on,\u201d I protested. \u201cYou never saw him again, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me one year,\u201d he nodded decisively. \u201cI saw him walking down Third. I never forget a face. I parked the car and crossed the street and came down from the other side. I punched him right over the side of his head. He was down, man. Never saw it coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?!\u201d I squawked. \u201cYou just slugged him? Right in the street? You weren\u2019t scared the police were going to come down on you or anything?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe?! Scared?!\u201d The driver reared in his seat. \u201cI\u2019m a NAVAJO! I ain\u2019t scared of NOTHING! NOTHING! Navajo\u2019s are strong people. You don\u2019t mess with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

After this exciting statement there was not much I could add, but I had noticed his accent and after a few minutes I told him, \u201cI heard you pronounce \u2018Navajo\u2019 with a \u2018Chh\u2019 sound on the \u2018H\u2019. You know, we Jews also have that sound in our language.\u201d And here\u2019s where a standard trip through Lower Manhattan took a surreal turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cYea. My wife says it too. She\u2019s Jewish. Her family came way back from Spain. Five hundred years ago, they came to Mexico. Been in Mexico for hundreds of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Way back from Spain, five hundred years ago!<\/i> I gawked mentally. I imagined Jews running from Spain, ending up in Mexico, saving their lives and effectively putting an end to their heritage. My mind dredged up long ignored facts. The banishment of Spanish Jewry by Ferdinand and Isabella. The terrible days of the Spanish Inquisition. How many times have I heard the history lessons and done the homework with my kids? But I never thought of it as real.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the kicker. As an Orthodox Jew I pray for redemption every day. I pray for an end to the Diaspora. But when I envision a redemption, my mind can only wrap itself around our<\/i> generation\u2019s travails and our<\/i> need to be redeemed. If I stretch a little, l think of hardships of recent history; of Jews trapped in Middle Eastern countries or held in religious captivity in old Russia. And then, of course, thoughts of the Holocaust are always close to the surface. That\u2019s as far back as I can go.<\/p>\n

But Spain<\/i>? I stared at the back of the driver\u2019s head. This Navaho Indian cab driver whizzing down the F.D.R. Drive has Jewish children. How many generations have been lost here? How many souls unaccounted for? Just think of the numbers! Could it be that the Jewish nation is still bleeding from terror that always seemed to me to be a distant chapter in history?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, your kids are Jewish,\u201d I offered him. \u201cYou should tell them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The driver smiled and softened visibly with the mention of his family. \u201cFor me, they can be what they want, you know. As long as they\u2019re good people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ride ended with an overview of his grandkids and other assorted relatives. He was taking his wife to Israel for the first time. He had been there five times already but she had never wanted to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rates are good now,\u201d I told him. \u201cYou should book now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYea,\u201d he assured me, \u201cit\u2019s not so expensive. You go, you stay with family, not much money. My wife\u2019s got cousins there.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wished him well, paid my fare and as I slammed the car door behind me I hoped that there was a kid with dark skin and Navaho blood sitting somewhere in Israel with a Gemara in front of him. Just to reclaim some souls from those rotten Spaniards.<\/p>\n

Nissan, the month of redemption, is here and I think I might just go into it with a new slant. May we merit experiencing the Redemption. A Final Redemption that relieves the trials not only of this generation, but one that resolves the sufferings of history.<\/p>\n

Chag Kasher V\u2019Sameach.<\/p>\n

\n

Baila Rosenbaum is a freelance writer and editor living in Manhattan. Her work has been published by Targum Press, Judaica Press, in Mishpacha Magazine and Horizons.<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you get into a taxi in New York City you never know what\u2019s going to happen. Every urban traveler knows that within each of the myriad of cabs crisscrossing the city, resides a whole world–usually a world much different than your own. 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