I want to
share with you a most amusing and heartwarming story:
A man
living in Jerusalem was saying kaddish for a parent who died. Each day he would
say kaddish at the daily services in the synagogue. It was his way of
connecting to the soul of his loved one. Returning home one night at 3:00am
from a wedding, he fell into bed exhausted. As soon as he had turned out the
light, he realized that he hadn’t prayed Ma’ariv, the evening prayer. He missed
the kaddish for his beloved mother. With tremendous effort, he dragged himself
out of bed and started to dress.
Where to
find a minyan at this time of the morning? 3 AM?
No
problem. As anyone who lives in Jerusalem can tell you, day or night, you can
always find a minyan at the shteibelach—the small synagogues in the Zichron
Moshe neighborhood.
That
night there was a miracle. Zichron Moshe was totally deserted; no one was
there; nary a hobo, nada.
Taking
out his cellular phone, he dialed the number of a large taxi company.
“Hello!
Can you please send six taxis to the shteibelach in Zichron Moshe?”
“Adoni
(my dear sir)! It’s three o’clock in the morning! You think I have six taxis?
What do you think I am, a magician? …I only have five.”
“Okay. So
send five!”
He dialed
another number. “Hello, please send five taxis to Zichron Moshe…”
“Your
crazy? Atah meshugah. I only have four!
“okay so
send four.”
Within
twenty minutes, there was a procession of nine taxicabs parked neatly outside
the shteiblach.
“Adoni,”
said one of the drivers, “Why do you need nine taxis? There’s no wedding here,
no Bar Mitzvah, nothing.”
“I want
you all to turn your meters on and come inside with me. We are going to pray
together the evening prayer — arvit ”
“I will
pay each of you just as if your giving me a lift. For every minute you are
here, I will pay you.”
Dusty
yarmulkes (skullcaps) emerged from the glove compartments of the taxis, some
woken from a hibernation that stretched back to their owner’s own bar mitzvah.
It wasn’t
easy. Despite being obviously fluent in Hebrew, the drivers had no idea how to
pray: what and when to answer; when they should pray aloud and when in silence.
It took
them quite a while. But the kaddish man, showd them exactly what do do. They
had the most incredible, moving prayer at 3:30 AM in Jerusalem, and he said
kaddish after his mother.
When they
had finished, everyone went out to the taxis; the meters in the cars were
pushing upwards of 90 shekels each car. The drivers turned off their meters and
the man pulled out his wallet. He would dash out around 800 shekel to all the
drivers to pay them for their time.
“How much
do I owe you?” he said to the first taxi driver in the line.
“Adoni,
what do you take me for? Do you honestly believe I would take money from you
who just gave me such an opportunity to help my fellow Jew say kaddish?
He moved
down the line to the second driver. Identical reaction. “Do you know how long
it is since I prayed?” you want me to take money from you?
And the
third and the fourth, all the way down the line to the ninth…
Not one
would take a penny.
They
embraced and they drove off to a new morning in the holy city of Jerusalem!
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