Sparks From Israel

Sparks from Israel

The Laundromat
I woke up early and went to do some laundry on the way to the synagogue. As I unloaded my laundry I discovered a pair of Tzizit I thought I had lost. It was a going away present from my rabbi when I made Aliyah. I thought of him for a moment sleepily, then started the washing cycle, put my bags in a corner and ran off to pray. When I returned I saw the custodian cleaning the Laundromat. He looked like a middle-aged surfer, with a tattoo around his arm, and a small knitted kippa pinned inside his bushy hair.

I went to check my bags and detergent I hid behind the machines and pulled them out. The man saw me and began to scold me. I thought he was telling me that I should not leave my things there because he was going to throw them out and I was lucky he didn’t. But that’s something someone might say in Canada, not here in Israel.

When he said the word Tzizit, I understood the reason he was so angry with me. He noticed among my bags was the Tzizit and he reprimanded me for putting something holy in a dirty place. ‘This is not the way a Jew behaves.’ he went on. ‘ What is the world coming to when people throw Tzizit on the ground’, etc. I apologized profusely and explained to him that I was half asleep and forgot I had a pair of Tzizit between my bags. What a unique people that is never shy to give moral instruction to one another.