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Home
and Family
UREI BETUV YERUSHOLAYIM
The Long Way Home
by Menucha Levin
Usually, it takes about forty-five minutes to travel from
Yerusholayim to Metzad, our little hilltop settlement perched
high in the Judean Hills. But now with the current difficult
situation, as it is called, this journey can take a lot
longer.
For instance, last week I went home on what is called the
seminar bus, the school bus carrying the high school girls. It
usually leaves town around 2:30 p.m., but last Tuesday, the bus
didn't even arrive until twenty to four. The bus grew more and
more crowded as it picked up not only the girls from our
settlement but ones from the neighboring community as well.
Then the bus stopped near Bayit Vegan and these other girls
transferred to their own bus. But then, to our dismay, we
discovered that we would not be able to return home by the
regular route as the tunnels on the Gush Etzion highway were
closed again. There was shooting on the outskirts of Efrat, the
closest `large' community to us, only twenty minutes away. It
was a scary thought.
So we took the slow scenic route, the winding road through Ein
Karem to Tzur Hadassah. Actually, it is a very beautiful road,
with tall pine trees clinging to the steep hillsides, rather
like upstate New York [we should say, lehavdil]. But
under these nerve wracking circumstances, we were not able to
relax and enjoy the view. The girls were tense and concerned
about their families, unable to inform them of the delay. Some
recited Tehillim and as time passed, we all grew rather hungry
as the snacks we had were gone and no one had anticipated such
a long journey. I guess tension contributed to the gnawing
feeling in our stomachs...
By the time we finally reached Efrat, it was completely dark
and the girls were really starved, as teenagers will be. Their
first move was to the payphone to reassure their anxious
parents that they were all right. Then they asked the bus
driver if they could go to the store to buy something to eat.
He had to refuse. "Sorry," he shook his head. "It would take
too long to round you up and the army escort jeep could show up
at any time."
A woman driving by in her car overheard this conversation and
decided to help with a wonderful act of kindness. Rushing in to
the store, she returned with her arms filled with packages of
cookies, chocolate bars, drinks and cups, enough for everyone
on the bus, including the driver! All of us, touched by her
thoughtfulness and generosity, thanked her profusely.
At such a difficult, painful time for our people, it was
heartwarming to realize that a passing stranger cared about a
busful of hungry girls. One of these commented to our
benefactor, "If everyone were like you, Moshiach would
come!"
Then, another girl who knows I write, said to me, "This would
make a great story for Yated."
And of course, she was right, too.
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