{"id":11820,"date":"2008-06-12T04:27:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-12T04:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/what_the_taxi_driver_told_me\/"},"modified":"2015-10-29T09:36:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T14:36:04","slug":"what_the_taxi_driver_told_me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/israel\/what_the_taxi_driver_told_me\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Taxi Driver Told Me\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image\"<\/div>\n

Not being accustomed to riding in taxis in the United States, I don\u2019t really know if the experience of driving with an Israeli taxi driver is so unique, but it certainly seems so to me. When one is in Israel, you become part of the greater community; the expression \u201ckol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh\u201d (all Jews are responsible one to the other) is perceived literally. Store keepers have no compunction about giving you unsolicited advice, and taxi drivers consider it their faithful duty to become involved in your life.<\/p>\n

This was not our first trip to Israel, nor the first time we went from place to place by cab. Perhaps it was that I was more open to listening beyond the superficial, but somehow I seemed to learn a lot from the taxi drivers this time.<\/p>\n

With 4 of us in the cab, my husband would sit up front with the driver. After negotiating our fare and destination, the driver would ask (in Hebrew of course) where we were from. \u201cUnited States \u2013 Chicago \u2013 have you heard of it?\u201d Most often, New York was the only city that they could name, so they went on to the next question. \u201cAre you chasidish? Chabad? Tzioni?\u201d My husband\u2019s standard answer was, \u201cAni Yehudi Ragil \u2013 just a regular Jew.\u201d It was when the cab driver, Gabi, turned to him and answered with vehemence that I started to pay close attention. \u201cThere is no such thing as a regular<\/b> Jew,\u201d he said. \u201cAll Jews are special \u2013 we are the children of Hashem.\u201d He went on to elaborate about the importance of family (telling us he is one of nine, has 4 children, and asking how many we have), the beauty of children around the Shabbat table, and the legacy we Jews leave to our children through our rituals and observances. He admonished us for not seeming to realize the seriousness of our tasks as parents and the important role we play in the future of the Jewish people.<\/p>\n

My husband and I chuckled afterwards about the friendliness of the driver (in fact we hired him subsequently for a longer trip and spent a great deal of time discussing the holiness of Eretz Yisroel with him), but were quickly absorbed in our Yerushalayim experience and didn\u2019t give it much further thought.<\/p>\n

While we were sitting with our children in a Yerushalayim restaurant, I asked my husband where he wanted to be buried when the time came, Israel or America. After almost choking on his food (my children found the whole conversation hysterical and were busy trying to figure out what \u2018yerusha\u2019 (inheritance) we would leave them!), he said he really couldn\u2019t say. Wouldn\u2019t it depend on where the children lived? I told him I thought if we couldn\u2019t get to Israel while we were still alive and able to enjoy it; shouldn\u2019t we at the very least be buried there? This prompted a long discussion, with no real solution, since thinking in the abstract is so difficult, and neither of us was ready to buy cemetery plots on that trip. (Although by my estimation, it has to be a whole lot cheaper than putting a deposit down on an apartment there!)<\/p>\n

And then along came the next loquacious cab driver. This time, after asking where we were from, and exchanging history (he came from Iran), he turned to my husband and said, \u201cWhy are you not living here in Israel?\u201d We gave the usual answers \u2013 we would love to of course, but practically speaking there are so many factors in the equation. He would not give up. \u201cDon\u2019t you know that your parnasa is from Hashem? Whatever you will have is decided on Rosh Hashana \u2013 your job is to come here \u2013 Hashem will provide.\u201d I was somewhat taken aback \u2013 the driver had no kippa on his head, and yet spoke with such authority and vehemence about the role of God in our lives.<\/p>\n

When we got out of the cab, I turned to my husband and said, \u201cMaybe we have been missing the point. Hashem sends messengers to us in all kinds of ways \u2013 perhaps all these cab drivers have been sent to tell us something. Maybe we need to really \u2018hear\u2019 what they are saying \u2013 not just chuckle at the experience. Gabi is right. There is no such thing as a \u201cregular\u201d Jew. We each are created \u201cB\u2019tzelem Elokim,\u201d in the image of God, and have been put here to complete a task. We don\u2019t always know what our task is, but it is our responsibility to not give up the quest, no matter how bumpy the ride may be along the way.<\/p>\n

It is almost a year since that trip. We have not yet bought cemetery plots (although I did enter a raffle for 2 plots in Israel, figuring it was not the kind of prize too many people would jump for), but it is my hope that we will make it to Israel standing upright, ready to tell the next cab driver that we have come home.<\/p>\n

\n

Susan Schwartz is a wife, mother and grandmother. She is the president of Davka Corporation.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not being accustomed to riding in taxis in the United States, I don\u2019t really know if the experience of driving with an Israeli taxi driver is so unique, but it certainly seems so to me. When one is in Israel, you become part of the greater community; the expression \u201ckol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh\u201d (all<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":43659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat the Taxi Driver Told Me\u2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The cab driver answered with vehemence: "There is no such thing as a 'regular Jew'\u201d he said. \u201cAll Jews are special \u2013 we are the children of Hashem.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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