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122
Relying On Miracles
To Keep Us Safe
or fun, I sometimes ride
Jerusalem's Egged buses on
Friday afternoons. On a
sunny day, this is the best
time to see the city's neighbor-
hoods and watch people.
So while cleanup crews cleared
away the remains of bus number
18 from downtown Jerusalem,
those Friday afternoon rides kept
coming to mind. No matter which
route or how packed a bus might
be, Friday afternoons were when
I saw Israelis at their best.
A Friday afternoon bus ride
treats me to the sound of Hebrew,
English, Russian, Yiddish and
any other number of foreign lan-
guages. Haredi families dressed
in their finest clothes hurry to
reach their Shabbat destinations.
Russians laden with bags of fruit
and vegetables return home from
the shuk, or market. Children
giggle, anticipating a special
Shabbat treat. Tourists clutch-
ing maps eagerly describe to each
other how happy they are to be
here. Soldiers looking forward to
a day off smile a little more
brightly.
And just when the bus is burst-
ing at the seams with passengers,
a mother — holding a baby in one
hand and a folded stroller in the
other — gets on at the next stop.
Somehow, people make room
for her to sit.
In the hours leading up to
Shabbat, there's an unspoken
feeling of solidarity. There's a feel-
ing that 'We're Jewish and we're
in this together." This is how I
would prefer to remember
Jerusalem bus rides.
That's why I felt numb, stand-
ing in the rain while the remains
of another bombed-out city bus
were cleared away. Now, PH have
new, less idealized images of
Jerusalem.
Jaffa Road and a nearby alley
were strewn with shattered glass
and pieces of twisted metal. Car-
rying small plastic bags, mem-
bers of the Chevrei Kaddishe, or
burial society, searched nearby
balconies and shattered store-
fronts for body parts. A group of
yeshiva students huddled in the
rain quietly recited tehillim
(psalms). Soldiers were in no
mood to smile.
"Somehow, this is all part of
God's plan," said a middle-aged
businessman, standing near the
police line watching the cleanup.
"We might not understand that
right now, but God's involved.
Paul Benson, a student in
Jerusalem, is a former
Baltimore Jewish Times staff
reporter.
That's the lesson of Purim. The
terrorist could just as easily have
blown up my bus. I'm going to
pray a little bit harder today."
Nearby, an elderly man sur-
rounded by TV camera crews was
less philosophical. "This isn't
peace," he said bitterly, gestur-
ing toward the bus. "The killing
hasn't stopped. How many more
deaths do we have to endure?"
Other questions lingered as
well.
How was a Hamas bomber
able to blow up a bus in the heart
of downtown Jerusalem? Where
and when will the next terrorist
attack take place? And what does
it take to stop a terrorist — will-
ing to die no less — from blowing
up a public bus?
And will my occasional Friday
jaunts be coming to an end? Just
how much of life's conveniences
and pleasures should be sacri-
ficed for the sake of safety? Who's
Just how much of
life's conveniences
and pleasures
should be sacrificed
for the sake of
safety?
to say that ending my Friday af-
ternoon rides will be the last com-
promise I have to make? How
many more attacks will it take
before my rides stop?
It's easy for me to say that I'll
be defiant, that my bus rides
have now become a matter of
principle. But then I got a better
look at bus 18 as it was towed
away. The roof was completely
blown off. The metal frame
bulged from the middle of the
bus, driver's side, where the
bomber must have stood. That
anyone could survive such a blast
is surely a miracle.
And we're not supposed to rely
on miracles.O
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days prior to issue date.