Friday, January 13, 2012

G-d is Good!

I should make a series on this topic...

People frequently ask me how I get back home to Shiloh from work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin, when I have night shift.  Sha'ar Binyamin is a "shopping center" off of the "highway" that connects Jerusalem, Maale Adumim, Jericho,  Jordan Valley and the Benjamin and Samaria districts.  Its location is very central, as I hear from the various Jewish and Arab customers, but I can't wait for a ride home on the main road, and by the time I finish working buses don't enter. 

The store closes at 9:30pm, and then we straighten up for an average of twenty-thirty minutes before we're allowed to sign out and go home.

That means that I can't start looking for a ride among the Rami Levi customers until close to 10pm, when the store is emptying out.  The supermarket staff is very cooperative in helping us find rides to Shiloh, Ofra, Beit El, Kochav Yaakov, Adam etc.  But it can be stressful not knowing how or when we'll get home.  Some places have more of a chance for rides, because more neighbors shop in Rami Levi.  Davka, Shiloh is the most difficult, because fewer neighbors make a point of shopping there at night or making a special trip, since we're the furthest away.

There's a Jewish concept of Siyata d'Shmaya,  the Hand of G-d, and I describe my transportation system as that.  Twice in recent weeks, I saw the same neighbor checking out when I signed out after finishing my shift.  He even lives in my neighborhood, so he doesn't have to go out of his way to help me.  I don't just trust such Siyata d'Shmaya.  I usually send out an email to the Shiloh list asking that if anyone will be there or passing on the way home after 9:30pm that they give me a call.  A few times, that has helped. 

Yesterday when I was already working I suddenly realized that I hadn't sent out the email request, and I had no way of doing it from work.  I called my husband who luckily was still in his office, so he sent it out.

Just after we closed the store and started straightening up I got a call from an unfamiliar number.  They were neighbors who had just passed the Chizme checkpoint and wanted to know if they could pick me up.  I received permission to leave, grabbed my stuff, not even putting on my jacket, signed out and reached the security at the entrance to Shaar Binyamin just as they pulled in.

Yes, G-d is good, and He gave me wonderful neighbors!!

No comments: