1977-1978

One Friday morning during the Hanukah vacation, I decided to visit my
friend G i l at Kibbutz HaSnita.
Arriving at the Kibbutz, I went to Gil's living quarters, only to find
him not there. He was visiting relatives in Kfar Blum for the weekend.
G r e a t ! Not knowing anyone else at the Kibbutz, I decided that I would go
back to Jerusalem and have a -pleasant tbiabbat there. This decision came at
2:00. I wasn't real keen on times from place to place, so I thought I could
do it. I hitched a ride into Afula and the experience began.
I caught a bus from Afula in the direction of Tel Aviv. The reason I
say 'in the direction o f is because it stopped at all the bus stops on
the way, and because I was in a hurry, they sent a truck of the bus to. t o
erect extra stops along the way. I was a wreck! I f I had known anyone in
Tel Aviv it wouldn't have been bad, but I didn't. The bus pulled into the
Tel Aviv Central Bus Station at 4:30. Shabbat began that week at 4:37, and
because I don't travel on Shabbat, I figured Tel Aviv was the final destination.
I had planned out my strategy on the bus into Tel Aviv: I would go
to the Conservative Synagogue there (I got the address from a calendar
diary which I had with me) and tell them that I am stranded in Tel Aviv with
no place to go. Then they would take care of me and my worries would be over.
Sure! I took a "special" (25 lousy lirot) three blocks to the synagogueit
was locked. I said to myself in anger, "They must close for Shabbat and
holidays". I was frantic" I t was 4:35 and I just began to walk. I asked the
first person I saw where the nearest synagogue was, and he directed me to
a small, small shtebel across the street. Safe at last! I went into the
synagogue, put down my backpack and sleeping bag and was just in time for
Mincha. We hadMincha, Kabalat Shabbat andMaariv, and we all knew I was
foreign from my garb and my faulting Hebrew accent.
The Shammash approached me and asked me where I was from, what I was
doing in Tel Aviv, and when I informed him of my unpleasant predicament, he
kindly asked me if I had a place to sleep. I replied that I didn't, and he
promptly gave me the key to the synagogue! "We had services at 8:30 tomorrow:
I'll get the key back from you then." He left and there I was with a synagogue
and nothing to eat. I kicked myself for figuring that I would be taken care
of, vowing never to do this kind of thing again.
I was sitting on the ledge outside of the shtebel when the gentleman who had
steered me to this place in the beginning passed by on the way back from services.
' "Did you find the place alright?"
"Yes, I did. "
"And have you a place to sleep?"
"Yes, I did. "
"And you have a place to eat too, I suppose?"
"No, I don't ."M y eyes caught his and he smiled.
"You'll come home with me then," he said.
I had a very,pleas ant Shabbat that weekend withMr. andMrs. Tannenbaum
of #1 Sprinzak Street, andMrs. Tannenbaum's father, an old man who only knew
that which was in front of him existed, like his Kiddush cup, or his chicken
soup, or his glass of soda. I slept in the synagogue and ate with the Tannenbaums,
and when Shabbat was over, 4 r. Tannenbaum insisted upon driving me
to the Central Bus Station where I would bus home to Jerusalem.
u P'RTYa ’
"All of Israel looks out for one another." That's for sure!
Howard Mark
• May 10, 1978
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