Today I Almost Died

February 26, 2006 - 7:38 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

Today I almost died.

I have been ill for the past few days, and was still feeling under the weather when I woke up this morning. For a few minutes, I debated myself on the topic “Shall I go to work today?”, and me #2 convinced me #1 that I needed to come to work and finish some things. What can I say? Me #2 is an excellent debater.

I was driving on the road #1, in the direction of Tel Aviv just like any other day. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but at some point, I lost focus. I can’t recall if it was when I coughed, or whether it was just a general lack of concentration, but all of a sudden I noticed a car in front of me, a car I was going to hit unless I took evasive action. I slammed on the brakes and found myself spinning out of control. I slammed into the rear left side of the car I had tried to avoid, causing it to careen into the barrier on the side of the road. I ended up also on the right hand side of the road, but facing oncoming traffic. Luckily I was on the shoulder of the road, now out of harm’s way, but what of the other driver?

I stumbled out of my car, put on my yellow vest, and noticed the other driver coming towards me. I immediately apologized, to which he told me not to worry. Things like this happen. I was amazed by his attitude, and lack of desire to kill me! After all, he had been totally minding his own business, and ended up almost killed because of me. Then I noticed another man limping towards us. It was a Chayal – Israeli soldier. The car I had hit had subsequently slammed into a van parked on the side of the road, which had then gone into its driver – the soldier – who was standing alongside it.

After taking down each other’s details, reporting the accident to police, and refusing medical attention (I am not sure why the soldier did not elect to go to the hospital immediately), the three of us stood by the road, waiting for the tow trucks to arrive. “What a nes (miracle)!” was repeatedly said during the course of our conversation. But at no time did the others blame me, nor display any anger towards me. In fact, the limping soldier – I hope his leg is not broken – offered me a chocolate. I told him “You should not be offering ME anything. In fact, I should be offering you my leg!”

I won’t bore you with the rest of the details. But I will say that the accident has taught me a number of important things:
1. I’m one lucky S.O.B. Baruch Hashem.
2. I knew that working as hard as I do, and driving such long distances every day, was taking its toll on me. Now I see it can take its toll on others.
3. My wife and I really need to move closer to my work.
4. I am really seeing a side to Israelis to which many have not been privy. The sensitive, caring side. And it makes me damn proud to be living here.

(Cross-posted at Israellycool)

Tags:

One Night in Jerusalem

March 31, 2005 - 3:59 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

Last night I attended a wedding in Jerusalem. The groom, an Australian friend of mine who I met here in Israel, married an American, giving the wedding an American-Australian flavor (actually, the Australian flavor was more pronounced, especially with the groom donning an Australian Rules Football guernsey and guests kicking around a football). This is one of the great things about Israel: because you have Jews from so many different countries and backgrounds, weddings have their own unique flavor, as they incorporate different customs from different countries.

But this post is not really about this particular wedding, or weddings in Israel in general. It is about what happened to me after the wedding, and what this says about Israel and Israelis.

I leave the wedding at around 11:30pm, and make my way to my car. Now I should probably explain how my car’s security works. On my keyring, I have two separate “controls”: one contains a button for activating the alarm/locking the car and deactivating the alarm/unlocking the car; the other contains buttons for locking and unlocking the doors, independent of the alarm. In addition, there is a keypad inside the car, for inputting a code to enable ignition.

As I approach my car, I press the button for deactivating the alarm.

Nothing.

Hmmm

I press again.

Still nothing.

This is weird. This has not happened to me before.

And yet again.

What’s going on here?

Now panic starts to creep in. Here I am, in the outskirts of Jerusalem, at 11:30 at night, far from home, and I can’t even get into my bloody car. Or can I?

I have an idea. I press the button for unlocking the car, and a familar sound breaks the night’s silence. The car is unlocked. Unfortunately, a second later, a much more audible sound is heard. The alarm!!

Other departing guests stare at me, some guy in a car, with the alarm blaring, who, in their mind, may not even own it. Although I suspect my skullcap probably gives away the fact that I am no car thief.

I enter the car and sit down. The alarm stops after about 10 seconds.

Now what? Hey, wait, I have another idea.

I enter my code and start the engine. Phew! The engine starts.

So does the alarm.

D’oh!

So I am faced with a choice. I can, theoretically, drive home, but with the alarm blaring the whole time (I live about 30-45 minutes away). Of course, that would not only be annoying to me and all other drivers, but would probably result in me being stopped by the police. Or I can try to deal with this now.

I decide to drive. I am tired, and it is late. I drive down the road, to a more remote area, but then stop, realizing that this is not a good move. I need to somehow deal with this situation now.

As I am contemplating my next move, a bald-headed, tough looking guy knocks on my window. I open the door. He asks me, in Hebrew, what the problem is.

I cannot disable the alarm.

Is this your car?

Well, it’s my company car. The company leases it for me.

Give me your keys and I’ll see what I can do.

Now, in most other countries, I would never just hand my car keys to some strange, tough looking guy in the middle of nowhere. I would be too afraid. But in Israel, I feel differently. Crime is certainly lower than in most places, and I am used to Israelis bending over backwards to help someone in distress. So I hand over my keys without blinking.

The man takes my keys and starts playing with the button to deactivate the alarm. He is no more successful than I was. He then asks me to open the car bonnet. I ask him:

Do you think you can disable the alarm?

Well, I have stolen a few cars before.

Really?

Yes.

So here I am, having given over my car keys to a man with experience in stealing cars. Yet I am not overly concerned that he will pull a knife on me and steal mine.

The man tries to see what he is doing in the pitch black, but has no success. So he asks if I have a number for the car leasing company. I retrieve it from the glove box.

Can you also give me your phone?

I oblige.

Now the man not only has my car keys, but also my phone.

He dials the number and requests that a service van be sent to assist me. He patiently describes the problem, and informs the woman on the other end our exact location. He then hands back my phone and keys, and asks if I have a cigarette.

No, sorry. But if you find one, I wouldn’t mind one either.

The man laughs, wishes me luck, and disappears into the darkness.

Approximately 45 minutes later, the service van arrives. I go over to the technician, explain the problem, and he proceeds to replace the battery in the control. The old one was flat (have they heard of providing spare batteries with their rental cars?!)

As you can see, the story had a happy ending. Sure, I am extremely tired today, and somewhat peeved that I was delayed by 1 hour because of a flat battery in the car alarm control. But the point of the story is to give you an insight into a great feature of life in Israel: complete strangers are willing to bend over backwards for you, and, consequently, you are willing to place your trust in complete strangers. And while this is not unique to Israel, I believe it is certainly more prevalent here than in any other place I have ever lived or visited.

(Cross-posted on Israellycool)

Tags:

Givat Haturmusim

February 27, 2005 - 6:58 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Life, Travel 

On Friday morning, my family and I headed to Givat Haturmusim (Lupine Hill), located about 15 minutes from our home in Beit Shemesh. There, we met up with fellow Israelity contributor David Bogner, and his lovely family, for a picnic lunch.

During February each year, Israelis from all over the country flock to Givat Hatumursim to simply behold the wonderous purple turmusim (lupines), red kalaniyot (windflower/anemone), and other wildflowers covering the hill. The tranquility of the surroundings provides a surreal contrast to the hustle and bustle of life in Israel, and give no hint as to the battle that once occured here .

I am, of course, referring to the battle of David and Goliath, as is described in the first book of Samuel. During the war between the Israelites and Philistines, the Philistine camp encamped between Givat Haturmusim and Tez Azekah, another hill nearby. Later on, Goliath stood in the nearby Valley of Elah for forthy consecutive days, challenging someone to fight him. Of course, we all know what happened next. But while David slew Goliath with stones, it is the flowers which now draw people to the area.

How many of you reading this ever imagined that Israelis, living in such a volatile region of the world, took time out to do something as simple as appreciate nature? Not many, I am sure. Yet this is another facet of life in this wonderful land.

The cute children in these pictures are, of course, my daughters Atara and Maya.

(Cross-posted on Israellycool)

Tags:

 

© 2012 ISRAELITY | Sitemap