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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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*The Yiddish word for taxi is "taksi"
New York City announced that it had selected Japanese automobile Nissan to produce the "Taxi of Tomorrow." Some have blasted the design for not being 100% handicap accessible. Bloomberg said that the new design is going to be the safest, most comfortable cab "di shtot" (the city) has ever had. These taxis will not hit the streets until late 2013, and the price of the NV200 is around $29,000.
That news reminded me of several humorous/touching "taksi" stories.
1. A "taksi pasazhir" (taxi passenger) tapped the driver on "di pleytse" (the shoulder) to ask him a question. The driver began "shrayen" (to scream), lost control of the car, nearly hitting a bus. It went up the footpath, and stopped centimeters from a shop "fentster" (window). For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the elderly driver turned and said, "Look, son, don't ever do that again. You scared the living c.... out of me!" The passenger apologized and said, "I didn't realize that a little tap would scare you so much." The driver replied, "Sorry, it's not really your fault. I jut retired and today is my first day as a "taksi" car driver. I've been driving a funeral van for the last 45 years"
2. Two Jewish men are in the cloak and suit "gesheft" (business) in "Noo Yawk." They're very "matsliakhdik" (successful). All of a sudden, they're getting bored and one of them says to the other, "Aw, let's go out to California. We'll go in the moving picture business and make some money."
So, the two of them go out there and make a big success with it. They're out there about ten or fifteen years. One day they're "shpatziring" along Sunset Boulevard, bored, you know. And one says to the other, "Sam, what do you say? You got nerve?"
"What do you want--what?"
"Let's grab a "taksi" and go to New York."
"Are you 'mashuge' (crazy)?
"What do you mean I'm crazy? You'd rather stay here 'aleyn" (alone) in your room? Let's go!"
"All right. If you got nerve, I got nerve."
So they go up to a "taksi" driver and they ask him,"Want to go to New York?"
He says, "I'll call up my boss. I'd like to go."
So he goes over and calls up his boss. He comes back and says he wants $1,800.
"What are you worrying about eighteen hundred dollars? I'll give you a few hundred besides. Let's go!"
So one of these fellers is getting in the cab, but he gets out again and says, "Sam, you get in. You know I get off first. I get off at Central Park West and Seventy-second Street."
3. "Taxi Driver" by Chana Steinberg (aish.com) For Yom Ha'Atzmaut It had been a long and overwhelming day. My husband and I had just spent about four hours at a Jerusalem hospital, waiting, waiting, and finally meeting with a doctor about a necessary surgical procedure for my husband. Although, thank God, the surgery was minor, the expense was large and the hassle, inconvenience, and utter 'schleppiness' of the whole ordeal was very strenuous.
We entered the hospital parking lot, got into the first cab we saw, too tired to haggle over price, and settled in for a quiet ride home. The driver was not an outwardly religious man but his inside was a different story. You can't live in the holy city of Jerusalem and remain untouched by God's presence. Like all Israeli cab drivers, he had a story to tell and wanted to tell it. We exchanged pleasantries and then he started asking about our respective families. My husband, always the friendly guy, reciprocated with his pleasant inquiries. "And how many kids do you have?"
"One," said the cab driver. "He lives in Las Vegas because he had to get away."
"Escape? From what?"
"You don't understand," said the cab driver. "Remember the famous wedding tragedy a few years ago?"
How could I forget? It was in the midst of the intifada and here was something we couldn't blame on the Arabs. Due to faulty construction, a wedding hall had collapsed in Jerusalem during a celebration, killing 23 and injuring dozens of others.
"That was my son's wedding," the driver told us. "Many of our friends were killed, including my wife's father and brother. After that, my son had no peace. Reporters followed him everywhere and every friend and relative reminded him of the enormity of the tragedy that had taken place on the day that should have been the happiest of his life. He and his wife had to get away."
The cab driver continued with his tale. He explained that he used to be very comfort- able financially. But while he waited for the lawsuit against the construction company to be settled, his personal medical bills had eaten away at his savings. Unable to return to his previous job, he had become a cab driver.
My husband and I were horrified to hear this personal tragedy--a story told without a trace of bitterness. But as the driver continued speaking, our horror turned to amazement. The cab driver explained how his whole perspective on life had changed.
During his rehabilitation, the treatment of his injuries, and the mourning over the death of his friends and family, he realized how little money actually meant in his life. Instead, his greatest value was the health and well being of those he loved.
He went on to explain how this new perspective had changed his life. One day he was driving a very wealthy woman home from the hospital. After she heard his story and his words of inspiration, she begged him to come and speak to her daughter who had been suffering with a painful sickness in the hospital for weeks and had lost all will to live. The mother said she would pay him anything if he would cheer up her daughter. How could he turn her down?
This cab driver came into the hospital, spoke with the woman's ailing daughter and in fact succeeded in inspiring her. The grateful mother handed the driver a blank check and told him to fill it out for any amount, sure he would be thrilled with this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Instead, to her utter astonishment, he ripped the check up in front of her eyes.
"By refusing to accept monetary pay," explained the driver as we pulled up to our destination, "my entire reward will be from heaven, and there I can cash in much more than a million dollars!"
You gotta love the Jewish people, and
especially those Israeli taxi drivers.
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I thank Chana Steinberg and aish,com for
sharing this "vunderlekh" story.
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