I was on the train last night going home from work. 2 brothers were sitting in the set of seats across from me. They had their shoes off and their feet up on the seats.
On the train when you have your feet on the seats, the ushers who walk up and down the length of the train tell you to put your feet down. If you do not have your shoes on they do not bother you.
These 2 guys (in their late teens I think) had their socked feet on the seats and they had placed their (clean) shoes up on the table.
The usher walked by and told them to take their shoes off the table. They did so immediately and began chatting with the usher about him telling them to do so.
The usher explained that a) they would not do that at home so why would they think it is ok to do so on the train and b) a table is like a mizbeiach (altar) and is inappropriate to treat in that fashion.
NOTE: the usher was a secular/traditional Israeli, not wearing a kippa and he unabashedly gave a very Jewish explanation to two secular teenage kids who were doing something wrong..
The story sort of undermines your argument that Secular Israelis aren't jewish enough.
ReplyDeleteI also love getting in a cab and the driver is not religious, but as he talks you hear "baruch Hashem, etc et c"
ReplyDeleteIts as if everyone has a bit inside. It may not show in the exterior, but there is usually something.
How holy is that?!?
ReplyDelete(sorry for not commenting more...kids started school and work has been wild)
thats why i like living here. its the little things...
ReplyDeleteit does not undermine the argument at all. The young generation of schoolchildren get much less than the older generations got. An adult today is much more "Jewish" than a schoolchild today.
ReplyDeleteAside from that, there are certain parts of the country that are more "Jewish" and certain that are less "Jewish". Obviously areas thathave a higher concentration of religious and traditional Jews, will have more such stories within them. Where I live is an area of higher concentration of traditional to religious Jews. There are a lot of other places as well. But in a place with a lower concentration of traditional Jews such stories might be rare.
There are a lot of reasons why I love Israel, and that sort of story is near the top of the list.
ReplyDelete