Last night, at about 10:30 pm, Chaya and I were on our way back from the Tel Aviv area to our home in Jerusalem. Just after the Shoresh Junction, directly opposite the famous Elvis gas station on Road 1, my car died. Literally. Just stopped. Hopeless and not knowing the first thing about how to fix a car, I called the insurance company that sends a mechanic and tow truck. "We will be there in about five hours," the woman told me on the line. Chaya said to call @Yedidim_il, a volunteer organization which helps people who are stranded on the side of the road. I had heard of them but never experienced what they did firsthand. Was I in for a surprise. I explained to the person who answered the Yedidim hotline what had happened. He said that someone would be there shortly and within 20 minutes, a car pulled up and a young man named Nehorai jumped out. A young father who works in renovations, Nehorai lives in the haredi town of Telz Stone, right across the highway from where we were stranded. He had just gotten home from a long day of physical labor and when he got the alert, he left his wife and kids and came to help us. He spent 40 minutes trying to get the car back up and running. He consulted with a few of his fellow Yedidim colleagues, tried a few more things and when we concluded that it was a computer failure which required service at a maintenance center, he gave Chaya and I a ride to a nearby town from where we could get a taxi home. I have plenty to say - and I often do - about haredim and their refusal to serve in the IDF. But Yedidim - one of the largest volunteer organizations in Israel founded by haredim - shows another aspect of life in Israel. Nothing is black and life. Worth keeping in mind. [In the picture - Chaya and I with Nehorai inside the car]
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