My friend Sara got on a fairly empty bus the other day in
Jerusalem. The driver was wearing a knitted kipa,
which means he was modern-rightist-religious.
Two Chassidic men were sitting behind the driver, one on
either side of the aisle. My friend Sara sat down in the row
behind.
She was somewhat amazed, yet delighted, to overhear their
three-way conversation, which went on for some time.
At a red light, the bus driver asked the chossid on the
right, "Can I drink coffee in the home of a friend who is not
observant?"
The man addressed replied "Yes," but the one of the left said
"No." A lively discussion ensued between the three of them
regarding the halachic pros and cons of the question, while
the bus continued on its route.
A few moments later, Sara turned in her seat as she heard a
male voice behind her. A religious man, also hearing the bus
driver's question, added still another point that they had
neglected to bring up: "Granted that he kept meat and milk
separate, how can you possibly assume that he toiveled
the cup?"
*
"There's No One Left"
Nechama had just had a baby a few weeks previously, but she
decided that she "just had to get out" and do some major food
shopping.
Strapping her baby into a front-baby-carrier so that she
could always look at his face, she boarded a bus from Ramat
Shlomo that stopped right in front of her favorite
supermarket in town.
Shopping finished, Nechama gingerly made her way down the
hill to the bus stop which would take her home. Carrying four
huge shopping bags of groceries (with her baby in front)
wasn't impossibly difficult, until she saw that her bus to
Ramat Shlomo was already at the bus stop.
Knowing that she would have to wait at least 20 minutes for
the next bus if she missed this one, she started running
towards the stop as it slowly pulled out.
Much to her delight, the bus driver saw her hurrying and
stopped to wait for her, even though it is illegal for a bus
driver to halt anywhere but at a designated stop. In fact,
not only was he taking a chance of getting a steep fine, but
he also risked the ire of the other passengers who, quite
rightly, wanted to get moving.
Thanking the driver, Nechama boarded the bus and settled
in.
Within the quarter hour, they were in Ramat Shlomo.
Meandering through the residential streets, it was a while
till all the other passengers had gotten off, leaving only
Nechama and her baby and her four huge grocery bags.
At this point, the bare-headed driver turned to Nechama and
asked her which bus stop she needed and where she lived. She
told him.
As he continued driving along his route, he commented, "There
is no one left on the bus to help you." Then, instead of
going to the bus stop, he stopped the bus directly in front
of her apartment building. He then stood up, picked up her
heavy packages and descended the steps of his bus.
He proceeded to carry those four heavy grocery bags to the
very door of her apartment building, followed her all the way
up the 1 1/2 flights of stairs (no elevator) to her apartment
and carried the packages right into her kitchen.
He dismissed her thanks as unnecessary because, as he said,
"After all, there was no one left on the bus to help you."
