A moral dilemma on King David Street

February 21, 2010 - 8:32 PM by

I’m not sure if I was taken in by a 3-Card-Monty sidewalk scam or callous in not fully helping someone in need.

I left Jerusalem’s King David Hotel on Friday with my tennis partner Calev after our weekly doubles game (Why we get to play at the venerable hotel’s outside court situated in it’s beautiful poolside courtyard is another story worth telling some day).

As we were walking to Calev’s car, a neatly dressed woman holding two young girls – aged maybe six and four, dressed in their Friday finest approached us.

“Excuse me,” she said in an accented English that revealed her Arab origins. She was tall and thin, and wearing a fashionable black pant suit.

“I’m from Haifa, and I had to come to Jerusalem to take one of my girls to the hospital for an appointment. But I lost my pocket book, and now we have no way of getting back to Haifa. Do you have any money you can give so we can go home?”

What would you do?

Calev, who grew up in New York, immediately scoped out the situation as a classic tourist scam, aimed at bilking the high-scale King David clientele out of their money.

I looked at the little girls, and took NIS 20 out of my pocket and handed it to the woman.

“This will get you to the Central Bus Station,” I said. “You can ask Egged (the bus company) to help you get home.”

The woman wasn’t happy with that offering.

“But I need NIS 150 to get home,” she insisted.

Claiming that the money I gave her was all I had, we continued walking to the car. Calev said, “I’m sure she’s from east Jerusalem and does this every week.”

As we drove onto King David Street, he suggested we look for the woman and offer her a ride to Haifa. If she declined, then we’d know that I had been taken. If she accepted, then it was going to be a long afternoon driving two hours each way to Haifa.

Alas, we couldn’t find them on the street anymore, and we were left to speculate. Ultimately, I didn’t feel bad at my NIS 20 contribution to the woman. Even if she was a clever scam artist, the money would hopefully go to feeding her children. But we may never find out who she was… unless she’s there again next Friday when we finish our tennis game.

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, coexistence, Crime, General, Israeliness, Life, Social Justice, Sports 

Comments

5 Comments on A moral dilemma on King David Street

  1. Sadie on Tue, Feb 23rd 2010 1:40 AM

    2. I possibly would have offered them a ride to east J’lem or more probably would have offered to call the police for help.

  2. J. Unterman on Wed, Feb 24th 2010 6:58 PM

    3. It IS a scam. That woman approached me in the same locale a year ago. Thankfully, I was suspicious and gave her nothing. Some months ago, I saw her again with a child outside the Prima Kings Hotel doing the same thing.

  3. Lisa Samin on Thu, Feb 25th 2010 4:43 PM

    4. I also had the same situation last year, but in Rehavia, not at the King David. I didn’t know what to do either, because what if the woman was really in trouble. However, when someone gave her NIS 20, as you so generously did, and then she got mad that it wasn’t enough, I knew that this was a scam. Someone in real need is usually thankful for any assistance they receive.

  4. Sender Frenkel on Sun, Mar 14th 2010 7:03 PM

    5. Jews can be as crooked as Arabs. Some years ago bought an inscribed “ivory”
    mezuza at an Old City antique shop. The owner repeated asked me whether I was Jewish. It was a clever plastic fraud.

  5. Ferhanda Whitaker on Sat, Mar 20th 2010 3:01 PM

    6. I would like to make a contribution to a chartiy that is in need. Can you tell me a good organization where I can give generously into and especially if it involves children.

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