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On Friday I was dismayed to look down and see that we had (another) flat on the stroller. When I looked more carefully, I realized it was the tire that I had just repaired last week! I went over to the bike shop in front of our house where I had swapped out the inner tube last week to see what he could do, but when I got there, it was so crowded that I could barely get in the door.
After waiting a few minutes, the mechanic who had helped me last time looked at me and asked if he could just fill the tire and if it went flat again, he would fix it on Sunday. I asked him if it was always this busy on Fridays. No, he said, but always this busy right before Yom Kippur. He filled my tire and I left a little puzzled.
Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calender - a day of repentance, atonement, and fasting. Why the rush on Bicycles? I realized that it must be like the day after thanksgiving - everyone has it off, so some use it to prepare for the holiday while most spend the day shopping! I thought to myself: it's the busiest shopping day of the year! It makes sense: school started a few weeks ago and given the six day work week with everything closed on Shabbat, everyone is probably doing all the buying they forgot to do before school. I've never seen the bicycle shop that crowded and I walk by there every day.
On Friday, Debra had a stomach flu so I took the girls to Kol Nidre by myself (the opening prayer of the holiday at sundown). On the way back, I remembered one of the really special things about Jerusalem: there are no cars on Yom Kippur. I don't know if it's the law or just custom, but there is absolutely no traffic. I saw one private car on Friday night, and none yesterday. Everyone, secular and religious, goes out walking in the streets. I mean in the middle of the streets. The whole 24 hours of the holiday. It is a fantastic sight to see -- the joy of the kids riding in the middle of the street, adults strolling down the middle, families stopping to talk in the middle of the street with their neighbors. Imagine this for yourselves if you can, walking in the middle of a four-lane busy thoroughfare for 24 hours. There is no traffic at all. No car sounds. Only the sounds of kids and families playing. It made us realize how much we would love Jerusalem if there were no cars.
I made Debra, aching belly and all, go out for a little while on Friday night just to see it. And she looked around and pointed at all the kids in streets... on their bicycles! We never knew there were that many bicycles in Jerusalem. Every kid between six and sixteen was riding. And I realized then that was why it's the busiest shopping day of the year at the bicycle shop!
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2 comments:
It is actually not a Jerusalem phenomenon but country-wide. Danny S and I were wandering around looking for Tamir who'd jetted ahead of all of us on his bike. While wandering, we wondered aloud, why is it that so many other taboos have been broken (cinemas are open on Shabbat, we now have non-Kosher supermarkets throughout the country, etc.) but people still do not drive their cars on Yom Kippur. My view is that it is something that is so black and white, so drastic, and so dangerous (imagine a car trying to get through the roads with all these people) that people just figured that they're better off going along with the consensus. If only we could have a day like this once a quarter...
BTW Tamir had jetted ahead, took the right turns, and was at home waiting for everyone else to arrive. Much to his mother's surprise.
I love the images that your post evokes! Maybe in the future this will be more common place.
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