There we were spending a hectic Thursday erev chag running around doing errands and, lo and behold, at our very last stop—at a parking spot very close to the front of ShopRite in Paramus, as we prepared to pull out of our space, our car decided to be dead. No turnover whatsoever. How could it be?? We had been driving all day without any problems.
We decided to look for someone who might have cables that could give us a boost and at the same time knew we always had the possibility of calling AAA. Almost immediately, out of nowhere, a lady stopped to ask how she could help. She began to search for cables. She ran into ShopRite, and they had none. She stopped a man, who said that he had them and offered to give them to her. All total strangers, coincidentally all doing shopping for the chag, everyone in a rush but no one too busy to help. One man with a kippah stopped to help but was as helpless as we were.
The question remained: Once we had cables, which car would give us a boost? We were not parked in a place where anyone could easily get to us. Most naturally it would be the car next to us. Almost amazingly it was an angel who happened to be Israeli who came out of the store and was parked directly next to us. She put her children into her van, opened her hood and, voila, the boost began. As it turned out, both of these women were Israeli. Our angel who gave us the boost is from Modiin. We chatted as if we had been friends forever, and as she left we wished each other a Shana Tova and kissed on two cheeks (she is Israeli and we are Canadian).
We turned to the hero who ran around looking for cables and amazingly knew exactly how to maneuver the cables from one car to the next. As we began our conversation with her, Nina asked her whether or not she worked and our new friend explained that she was the Judaic studies principal of the Gerrard Berman Day School in Oakland. Sarit Ginzburg does not know it but she has us as friends for life. As our conversation continued, the next of our saviors joined us. He was coming to ShopRite to buy challot and happened to meet an Israeli lady asking him if he had cables in his car. As we all continued to speak we mentioned that our son-in-law, Chaim Hagler, is the principal of Yeshivat Noam, and the man explained that we would then know his mother. Who is your mother, we asked? Esther Feil, he explained, who for so many years ran the entire preschool department at Noam. Of course we know Esther well, we told him.
The next unbelievable miracle is that none other than our own Chaim Hagler came walking by. There we were almost having a party caused by the fact that our battery was dead and all of these special people became part of our lives in those few minutes. We will never forget them, nor should any of us ever forget how fortunate we are to be a part of this amazing Jewish family. One does not need to have siblings who are blood relatives. As Jews, over and over again we are reminded of how we are so closely related. As our experience ended on such a high note, almost party like, it was a reminder of how grateful we have to be, especially during the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, to cherish the people of whose lives we are a part. It is a reminder of how we need to never forget each other. Little deeds, which to some appear innocuous, are gratefully appreciated and each of us should make a concerted effort to reach out whenever necessary to help our brothers and sisters.
Am echad b’lev echad.
By Rabbi Mordechai and Nina Glick
