March 22, 2020
The social media is buzzing with humoristic cartoons, puns
and things, all related to the virus-crisis.
Sometimes you ‘stumble-upon’ a real gem, like this story:
This is what happened to a woman named Tami in Israel. As
the country is on lockdown we are helping each other:
“Had to drive to Jerusalem bring food supplies to my mother.
On the way home, on Highway One, I get pulled over by police. Policeman:
"Is everything okay? Do you have an emergency or something that makes it
urgent for you to drive?"
Me: "I was bringing food to my elderly mother for
Shabbat and the coming days."
He reaches into the police car and takes out a bouquet of
flowers.
He: "Take. I bought some bouquets of flowers before
starting my shift to give to the people I stop who have heartwarming stories of
why they're driving."
Me: "What a shame! I already brought the food. I'm on
my way home."
He: "OK, so listen to me. Not while you're driving -
you hear me: not while you're driving. But when you get home, you call your mom
and tell her that Rafi wishes her a Shabbat Shalom."
O.k., we knew it was Sunday because yesterday there were no
busses at all and the supermarket was closed, but nowadays I have to check my
agenda to remind myself what day of the week it is.
Yesterday was already very strange because I usually spend
most of the Shabbat preparing for the Sunday church service, like bulletin, powerpoint
and music sheets. Because there is no church, I was ‘free’ and used my time to
cook many meals and a Dutch apple cake (which we shared with our downstairs neighbours.)
 |
| One German and one Dutch lady are the only volunteers at the moment. Together with the staff they work VERY hard to get the meals ready for distribution. |
So today, instead of going to our congregation, we waited
for a phone call from Benjamin Phillip (Hineni) when we could come to pick up
the meals and deliver them.
11.30 a.m. we arrived only to find they were
not ready yet, as more orders had come in and they had to cook more food.
We took the first batch of 130 meals to Armon haNatsiv
(East-Talpiot) which happened to be two addresses, instead of one.
The well-known
shopping carts arrived with 2 ladies to receive part of the order; the largest
batch was picked up by a jolly man who greeted me in Italian.
He also wanted to
practice some other languages, like English and Dutch and asked what “Thank you”
meant in Dutch.
“Do sweedanya! – good-bye!” I said to him in Russian.
“Ah, Russian is EASY!” the man said in English.
Yes, for a Russian, I thought, remembering the frustration I
felt trying to learn the language when I was in my twenties... The only things
I remember are a few words and at I least I’m able to recognize the different
letters and how they are pronounced...
We drove home to eat our lunch and then returned to Hineni,
where the rest of the meals were packed in bags of 10 each, which made it much
easier to handle than those big, heavy cardboard boxes.
When we arrived at the first address in Pisgat Zeev, I
learned that they didn’t need the 20 meals because the mayor’s office had provided
all the senior citizens in that house with a meal. Thanks, but no thanks....
Instead of using the GPS, I thought I knew which address
came next, but despite being in touch with my contact, I didn’t see anybody arriving.
It so happened that I had been waiting in the wrong building, that had been on
the list on Thursday, but not today! Mea Culpa! Waze brought us to the correct
address, where I was greeted by an enthusiastic woman named Galina. “Oh, I wish
I could give you a hug, but that’s forbidden!” she laughed.
Benjamin called when we were on our way to Ramot, the other
neighbourhood. It was getting too late for the largest order of 110 in Kiryat
Hayovel. The volunteers were already leaving. Oh, boy! Should we let go of the
10 in Ramot and head straight in the direction of home? He told us to deliver
the 10 and then drive back to Hineni to store the meals in the cooler for tomorrow.
However.... when we arrived in Ramot, the woman in charge
asked if we could spare more meals. They needed another 80, because somebody
had not delivered that day.
And thus it happened that we were able to bless this home eventually
with 140 meals instead of 10.
We were tired after the long day, but I felt elated and
happy that we were able to make a difference during these hard times. And that’s
why we were called to Israel in the first place: to comfort God’s people!
I had it on my heart to show our gratitude to our local
supermarket, and printed out some big posters which we pasted on the wall of
the owner’s office. Nobody saw me doing it, and I wonder if more people will
start adding notes to that wall. Hope so. Those hard-working people need all
the encouragement they can get!
