Horrendously Useless New Bus Shelters/Stops

Our regional council, Binyamin just replaced most of the bus stops with these awful tin cans. You can't see if a bus is coming, and drivers can't see if anyone is waiting inside.  The clerks, who get "company cars," claim they chose them to keep us dry when it rains, just a few/months weeks a year.

Considering how closed they are, the buses will just pass us by unless we stand outside. So what's the point?!


Are they safe in a lightning storm?

Batsheva and King David, "Takes Two to Tango," Said The Busdriver

One of the things so very different here in Israel is that here the bus drivers are "peers," meaning "regular people," the sort who can be neighbors, friends, fellow Tanach, Bible aficionados.

There are Arab bus drivers, too, as I wrote about here, but they are the exceptions. Unlike the American Jewish society in which I was raised, here in Israel Jews aren't pushed into only the "clean" white color professions. Everyone knows that the plumbers live better than clerks, and police is a civil service job. So, back to the story...

I can't exactly remember how we got onto the subject, but as has been my custom since reaching a certain exalted age, I was sitting in the front seat on the bus, and the veteran driver is known as friendly, very knowledgable and the sort of person who could easily be a neighbor.

If I'm not mistaken, we got onto the subject, because there had been talk of someone taking the blame or responsibility for something, and I brought up one of my favorite Bible topics, of which my opinion is far from the the classic/standard commentary.

In my reading/comprehension of the straight text, I see Batsheva as seducing/tempting King David, and the atypical and most important result of the entire sordid story is that totally unlike the first human male, Adam who quickly blames Eve for everything:

"It's all her fault; she made me do it." Adam tells Gd.

King David consistently takes full blame and tries to legitimize his relationship with Batsheva, and they do marry. Remember that during that early narrative, there is no word from Batsheva except for when she sends David a message that she's pregnant, and then she's silent again.

The busdriver and I discussed the textual description of the beginning of Batsheva and King David's relationship. He davka used the phrase "it takes two to tango," very certain that the  Bible would have mentioned if Batsheva had protested King David's advances if there had been any. Later on we do read of Tamar's reactions to Amnon's attack. And if the David-Batsheva scandal is raised to show that even David can be immoral and sin, then we would need to hear protest and sorrow from Batsheva. The driver agreed that Batsheva may very possibly have had seduced David by intentionally bathing in his view.

After the death of their first son, they have another, Shlomo, Solomon. II Samuel Chapter 11,

Chapter 12.  

24And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and he came to her, and he lay with her: and she bore a son, and she called his name Solomon*; and the Lord loved him.

כדוַיְנַחֵם דָּוִד אֵת בַּת שֶׁבַע אִשְׁתּוֹ וַיָּבֹא אֵלֶיהָ וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִמָּהּ וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן וַתִּקְרָא (כתיב וַיִּקְרָא) אֶת שְׁמוֹ שְׁלֹמֹה* וַיהֹוָה אֲהֵבוֹ:

*And shouldn't we consider it significant that Batsheva named her baby son Shlomo, Solomon, which in Hebrew means "complete?" For her, the mission/quest to have a son with King David was a success! This was her plan!!

We hear nothing more about Batsheva until  The Prophet Natan confers/conspires with her in I Kings Chapter 1:

13Go and come to king David, and you shall say to him, 'Surely, you, my lord the king, did swear to your maid saying that, 'Solomon your son will reign after me and he shall sit upon my throne,' Now why did Adoniahu reign?"

יגלְכִי וּבֹאִי | אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד וְאָמַרְתְּ אֵלָיו הֲלֹא אַתָּה אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲמָתְךָ לֵאמֹר כִּי שְׁלֹמֹה בְנֵךְ יִמְלֹךְ אַחֲרַי וְהוּא יֵשֵׁב עַל כִּסְאִי וּמַדּוּעַ מָלַךְ אֲדֹנִיָּהוּ:

There is no such conversation recorded in the Bible. What there is in the Bible are a number of other determined women to seduce, marry, have children with men of this Davidic and Messianic line. Remember that the Messiah is to be a descendant of King David. They are Leah, Tamar, Ruth-Naomi and Batsheva.

I'm glad that I had gotten into this conversation with the busdriver, since the route was too long and convoluted for me, but as we spoke I began to hope that it would take even more time, at least until we came to a satisfying conclusion.

Traveling in Biblical landscape can be amazingly inspiring 

An "Only in Israel Story," The Arab Bus Driver

Ever since reaching "a certain age," I've begun to claim the front-seat of the bus for myself.

Not long ago, after getting on a bus to Jerusalem, I realized they the bus driver was an Arab. This happens a lot, because as I keep saying:

"Israel isn't an apartheid state!"

Honestly, I don't inspect the driver when getting on the bus, so unless it's a driver I'm familiar with, I haven't a clue as to who's driving us.

I only realized that the driver was an Arab when he began to make announcements. Now, to be honest, drivers don't usually make announcements on Israeli buses. It took me a bit until I realized what was going on.

First he suddenly stopped the bus, and before getting off he said that "everything was fine." But then we saw him anxiously trying to make some calls and apparently try to report something. I was starting to get pretty nervous. Then he made an incomprehensible announcement. Incomprehensible between my rotten hearing and his heavy accent. He had to repeat it a few times for me.

He reported that something was wrong with the bus, and he was going to do his best to get us as far as Givat Asaf where there are lots of buses towards Jerusalem.

And then he addressed me in Hebrew, and of course I asked him to repeat it a couple of times.

"You know English? Are you from America?"
"Yes"

And then he suddenly spoke to me in excellent, slightly British accented English.

"Where are you from?"
"I've been here a very long time.
"But where are you from?"
"New York"
"I was there."

And before I knew it, the Arab bus driver was telling me a whole long story of how he had tried living in America to study and how outrageously expensive it is.

"It's much better here."

He seemed so very happy to be speaking English. It reminded me of when I used to work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin, when there used to be a lot of Arab customers. They loved speaking English to me and would tell me that it made them feel like they were back in America.

PS Yes, we did get to Givat Asaf, and a bus picked us up after only a couple of minutes.

Travel Dangers in Judea vs Binyamin

The other week when traveling with my daughter and her daughters to Alon Shvut, Gush Etzion to see the play "Sisters," we noticed something very surprising to us. On the Gush Etzion part of Highway 60, unlike the Mateh Binyamin section of the same highway, there are bus stops.

thanks to Ruth Jaffe Lieberman

Security authorities in our area, Highway 60 from Adam to Eli, do not permit bus stops on the main road. There are trempiadas, places one can wait for rides or offer rides outside of communities like Ofra or at junctions like Shiloh and Eli, but no public bus is permitted to have stops there. We, the carless, have to decide at times whether or not to wait for a bus and possible tremp inside at a bus stop, or wait for a tremp where this is no chance a bus will stop.

In Gush Etzion, the trempiadas on the main road,  Highway 60, are also bus stops, which can make traveling easier, but there's a downside to this. Highway 60 is a popular venue for Arab terrorists. They take advantage of the lack of real protection for innocent Jews. It's very easy for them to shoot and stab, since they don't have to pass through a security check to get to the bus stop. And as we all know, many of the victims of Arab terror at the Gush Etzion bus stops had considered themselves careful since they weren't going to tremp.

I don't claim to be a security expert, and didn't serve in the IDF, but I've been living in Israel since 1970 and in Shiloh since 1981, and I'm also a terror attack survivor, injured, too. But it seems to me that life in Gush Etzion would be safer if they kept bus stops off of the road. At least it would be harder for the terrorists to reach/harm/kill innocent Israelis.

Why Grandmothers and Others Tremp aka Hitchhike

Even bus stops aren't all that safe and comfortable, especially when you don't know when the bus will arrive.

One of the things that kept me from falling asleep last night was wondering what to blog here on Shiloh Musings this morning. I do try t keep my blogging topics varied and interesting and from a perspective you may not get anyplace else. I guess you'd call this one in the "not get anyplace else" category. How many retirement age grandmothers admit to hitchhiking besides yours truly?

It's not that I have anything against buses. There are times I really look forward to taking a bus for the comfort and quiet and chance to say my daily Tihillim Psalms or the Mincha Afternoon prayer. When my husband travels home, especially, heavy bags from the shuq, open air Machane Yehuda Market he has been known to wait hours for a bus to Shiloh rather than struggle with his bulky, heavy bags and tall frame in a small crowded car seat.

 Our buses do not stop
on the road.

Why would he be waiting so long when there are generally one or even two buses to Shiloh from Jerusalem when he's on his way home? Well, that's the schedule, but sometimes the buses just don't arrive. Apparently there aren't any spare buses. That means that the very impressive bus schedule that the "powers" worked out took for granted that no bus would ever break down, and all drivers would be in good health and show up as scheduled. Of course in the real world you need backup plans, and when you don't have good ones, innocent, trusting travelers are left in the cold. And we are also in a panic.

If we take another bus in order to get to a bus/hitchhiking stop will we see our bus passing and then miss it?

That's the "Murphy's Law" for travelers like us? If we take a ride to Ofra, we may have to run like mad, or end up missing the bus if it comes quickly. And if I take a ride to the Shiloh Junction, there is a bus stop, but few drivers pick up passengers there. A number of times I've ended up waiting either there or at the Shvut Rachel-Shiloh Junction where no bus stops at all.

So you must wonder why I tremp. First of all, you should know that most of the drivers are friends or very familiar people, considering that I've been living in Shiloh for over 34 years. I know lots of people from nearby communities and my work in Yafiz, Sha'ar Binyamin. We do quick profiling, as do the drivers.

I'll give an example of what happened to me the other day. I was on my way home and had taken the lightrail to Ammunition Hill, which is near Ramat Eshkol and French Hill, Jerusalem. From there I walked to the bus stop on the top of Eshkol Blvd. There was supposed to be a bus in a few minutes, so I waited, and I waited. And I didn't get on any of the buses that could easily have taken me to the "cityline," the border of Jerusalem, where there are buses and tremps. I was waiting for the bus that would take me just a few steps from my house. Yes, I have absolutely nothing against taking buses. But the bus never came. I was getting tired of standing, and if you're wondering about safety, there's no guarantee that standing there is any safer than standing at the "cityline."

Finally, when a bus to Ariel, which doesn't stop in Shiloh, came I got in. I was able to use my train ticket's free transfer which made the trip free until the Psagot/Tel Zion/Kochav Yaakov stop. But I got off at the "cityline." And just as I got off, a neighbor pulled up, so I got in, and someone told me that another neighbor was right behind her. She took me straight to my door. To me, that was the sign that I had done the right thing by tremping.

I think the bus came just a few minutes later, but since I had no idea it would be arriving at all, I think I did the smart thing. Too many times my husband reports that buses didn't show at all, and there's a limit to how long anyone should stand helplessly at a bus stop.

Yes, that's me at the "cityline." Those signs are no longer there, but cars still stop supplementing the bus service.

More About Arabs on Jewish Buses, Big Problem!

Arabs getting on #86 at Beilinson
Hospital Petach Tikvah

Yesterday, again, I had to deal with the cons, the problems, the disadvantages of Arabs on Jewish buses in the Shomron, Samaria. I must say that we do not have that situation in the Benjamin District, probably because our buses all go into Jewish communities, and that is forbidden for Arabs without papers. 

Arabs getting on #86
at Beilinson Hospital
Petach Tikvah

The Afakim bus company which goes from the Shomron to Petach Tikva, Ariel and Tel Aviv, has many stops on the main road, which brings the Arabs who work in Israel (the Tel Aviv area) near their towns and villages. That is not the case for us. The only stops I've seen Arabs get on and off are Pisgat Zeev and Sha'ar Binyamin, and those Arabs all have permits/papers allowing them into Jerusalem.

In Israel the public transportation, bus companies, although businesses must follow certain government guidelines. That especially pertains to those buses that go to Judea and Samaria, and that is because our bus fares are discounted. The government calculates the number according to Israelis whom they estimate will ride the buses, not taking into account that they permit Arabs to ride them along with us. The result is simple to predict. They buses are full. The buses are overfull, and Jewish Israelis are left waiting.

overfull bus didn't let us on at Tzomet Yarkon (junction)

I was dropped off to wait for a bus to Ariel at Tzomet Yarkon (Junction) yesterday, and I couldn't believe how many people were waiting. Foolishly, at first I thought is was a good sign, that they, wiser than yours truly, knew that buses were about to come. But the sad truth was that buses had come and went without letting on a single passenger. There wasn't even standing room. They were overloaded with Jewish and Arab passengers. The buses just don't come frequently enough. By the time they reach that bus stop, they are packed, like New York City Subways at rush hour. And unlike the subways, they have a driver who controls the doors. Passengers are let off via the back door, while the front door stays shut.

Lucky for me, I'm an experienced trempistit hitchhiker and bus passenger hailing from New York, and I got to the very front when a bus finally did let a few of us in. There were well over a dozen exhausted people left standing in the hot sun waiting for yet another bus.

I had to travel standing most of the way to Ariel. I was one of the only females standing, and I was definitely the eldest standing. The others looked younger than my kids.

If the Israeli government is going to permit Arabs to travel on these buses, they must make sure there are enough buses on the roads for all!!

Mobs of Arabs on Jewish Buses

There has been a lot in the news about whether or not Arabs should be allowed to travel in Jewish buses. There are Arab buses, at least in the Jerusalem area, beautiful new white ones of all sizes. It's rare for Jews to go near them even when it would be convenient. But the Ariel buses are a different story. Yesterday when I traveled from Tel Aviv's Tel Hashomer Hospital back to Ariel in order to get home to Shiloh I found out just how many Arabs travel on the same buses as Jews.

It would be no exaggeration at all to estimate that easily three quarters 3/4, yes, that many, of the passengers on the 86 from Belinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, where I had changed from the 87 from Tel Hashomer, were Arabs.

There aren't security checks at the "barrier" in the direction of Ariel, unlike towards Petach Tikvah/Tel Aviv etc. And, unlike the "city line" Hizma "barrier" at the Jerusalem border, security inspectors do enter the buses going towards the shefela, coastal area.

By the time we entered Ariel, the bus was almost totally empty. The only passengers were Jews, and I was one of the maybe two who got off at the last stop by the university.

And just in case you are wondering. I sat in the front seat. There was a Jewish woman who sat next to me until the Rosh Ha'ayin stop. Then an Arab, who was clearly a laborer, about 50 years old sat next to me. We each sat as far apart as possible. That was fine until he fell asleep. I had to nudge him by knocking my bag onto his to wake him up and stay away. And, yes, I'd do the same to any man.

B"H, thank G-d nothing unpleasant happened to me, and I didn't hear of anything while traveling. But as a woman of my age, I'm not a target.