“The steadfast love of the Lord
never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations
3:22-23 (ESV)
Monday, April 6
Another day without any Hineni meal
deliveries felt strange, but we still had a ‘good’ reason to be on the road.
In Gilo, we delivered a food
package to an elderly couple from our church, who were thrilled to find items
they had forgotten to buy. The Gilo hostel was surprised when I called them,
not to deliver meals, but to give the two men a small token of our
appreciation. When Israel came down to receive the present, he almost began to
cry – he was so touched by the plants and the (obviously very much needed)
encouragement. When we left the house this morning, we had to wait for a long truck with sound equipment that was backing out of a nearby street. We had been wondering what that was all about, and found out upon returning home...
A saxophone musician who had been giving 'roof' concerts in Tel Aviv, now traveled all over Israel to encourage the people while staying put in their houses.
Tuesday, April 7
Our last Hineni delivery for the
time being. When we arrived, the very short staffed kitchen was still busy
filling the 70 boxes.
First a woman from City Hall had to receive her meals plus a few Pesach boxes she was going to deliver personally. Apparently, she was curious who I was and what we had been doing, so she asked if she could take a picture of Wim and I. On our way to the car she asked the usual things, “How long do you live here? Are you Jewish?, etc.” She thanked us profusely for our willingness to help and promised to send us the pictures.
First a woman from City Hall had to receive her meals plus a few Pesach boxes she was going to deliver personally. Apparently, she was curious who I was and what we had been doing, so she asked if she could take a picture of Wim and I. On our way to the car she asked the usual things, “How long do you live here? Are you Jewish?, etc.” She thanked us profusely for our willingness to help and promised to send us the pictures.
Our ‘friend’ Galina in Pisgat Zeev
was, as usual, enthusiastic to receive the meals and also presently surprised
by the plant. The last stop was the Golden Age home in Ramot. Two female
soldiers created a ‘checkpoint’ in front of the main entrance, so I had to
leave the present for Yelena, our contact person with them. She later sent me a
picture of the plant with a big heart and ‘todah!’
Traffic was VERY busy; we had been
spoiled by the ‘empty’ roads. This was the last day people were allowed to go
shopping and driving to other cities (if necessary) because restrictions were
becoming even stricter at sundown. On the roads leaving the city were several
roadblocks, creating traffic jams. When we were stopped, I just had to show our
permit and the policeman waved us through.
“Do you want to go shopping now?”
Wim asked before heading home.
“No way! Everyone is crazy the day
before Pesach.” I had learned my lesson the hard way. “I’ll walk to the shop
tomorrow morning, gives me an excuse to be outside.”
It felt like a Friday evening when
all the buses stopped running at 6 p.m., part of the new pre-Pesach
restrictions to make sure people stayed home. Normally, people were driving all
over Israel to be with their friends and families for the Pesach holiday. Not
this year – it will be a Pesach no one will forget!
