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A PARKING SPACE
As all of us Jerusalemites are well aware of how precious a commodity a parking space is in our holy and busy city. This is undoubtedly the case in all of the great metropolises in the world. The difficulty of finding a parking space near one’s home, makes returning from a late night affair a matter of serious angst. Whether one will have the ability to park one’s car reasonably close to one’s home is of great concern.
The street adjoining our home had allowed parking on both sides of the for many decades. This made the drive through that street somewhat hazardous and many a side view mirror was broken in navigating one’s way down that street. But people in our neighborhood were nevertheless comfortable with that arrangement for it provided quite a few parking spaces - spaces that were sorely needed and in great demand.
And then, lo and behold, overnight, without warning or any consultation with the neighborhood’s inhabitants, the authorities abolished parking on one side of the street. This made driving down that street much easier but forced many neighbors to engage in a nearly fruitless search for alternative spaces where they could park their cars overnight.
Since I no longer own a car I was and am able to survey the scene dispassionately and objectively. And since I am a rabbi I am always looking for the Jewish connection in all events in life no matter how mundane they may appear on the surface. And this set me thinking about parking spaces and the “Jewish problem.”
Over the unbelievably long exile and dispersion of the Jewish people amongst the nations of the world the Jewish people have always searched for a place to park themselves. They parked in Babylonia and North Africa, Spain and Portugal, Provence and France, Italy and Holland, Poland and Lithuania, Germany, Austria, Central Europe and Russia and lately in North and South America and Western Europe.
Even though these parking spaces seemed to be initially legal and attractive parking, they turned out to be, in reality, historically temporary and eventually hostile and illegal. Again, just like the other side of the street parking spaces on my adjoining street, overnight most of these countries and climes declared that parking there was no longer allowed. So the Jews kept on moving on, always looking for a convenient, safe and acceptable place to park.
When the Jews arrived in Poland in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries they felt so certain of their parking space that they said that the Hebrew name of Poland – Polin – represented the Hebrew words “po” – here – and lin – to rest overnight – “Here we will rest in comfort until the end of the Exile.” But pretty much overnight, in the past century, the No Parking sign was erected over much of Europe and brutally enforced. So has it been throughout the story of the Jewish people amongst the nations. All of our safe and legal and convenient parking spaces were eventually ruled illegal or parking there became an untenable experience.
There are not many parking spaces left in the world for Diaspora Jews to squeeze into. We have been all over the globe and there are no new undiscovered continents and countries that can afford us new parking spaces. However in our time, our original parking space established by Joshua and David has somehow, against all odds, become available for us once again.
There are amongst us many that find this original parking space somewhat inconvenient. It is hemmed in on all sides by very large vehicles that prevent easy access to our parking space. And there are many, even some amongst us, who dispute the fact that this parking space in fact belongs to us.
All city dwellers are aware that oftentimes disputes over parking spaces result in violence and even murder. People are irrational when it comes to parking spaces and morals, common sense and societal accommodation play no role whatsoever in disputes over parking spaces. Thus, there are many Jews who hesitate to leave the parking space where they are located - inconvenient, uncomfortable and even dangerous as it may be - to return and park in their rightful, legal and ancient parking space.
Usually it takes a traumatic experience to convince these Jews that they can no longer park themselves in their previously accustomed spot. I pray that this should no longer occur or be necessary but all of Jewish history tells me otherwise. Jewish history and tradition are the signposts that signify where our legal, permanent and eventually secure parking space is truly located.
Meanwhile I am delighted daily that I no longer own a car, even while living in my permanent parking place.
Shabat shalom.
Berel Wein
