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Grand River • • • • • • • • • • • • 851-6633 644-9181 305-8707 852-0888 264-1070 777-0357 795-4900 982-3080 453-2233 463-5381 419-885-3044 517-351-5050 Look What's New At Metropolitan! Why tan 3-zI times a week when you can tan just once? Our new Superbed redefines tanning' Coupon Good For One FREE VISIT New Clients Only Expires 5/31/96 Coupon 10 Visits for $39 Monster Bed Excluded Expires 5/31/96 Coupon Mammoth First Visit Only $6 Expires 5/31/96 METROPOLI TAN La Mirage Plaza • 29555 Northwestern Hwy. (North of 12 Mile) 810-358-8883 HOME OF THE MIGHTY • MAMMOTH • MASSIVE • MONSTROUS TANNING MACHINE 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 Publicity Deadlines The normal deadline for local news and publicity items is noon Thursday, eight days pri- or to issue date. The deadline for birth announcements is 10 a.m. Monday, four days prior to issue date; out-of-town obit- uaries, 10 a.m. Tuesday, three days prior to issue date.