Grapevine: Dastardly deliverymen

DURING THE corona pandemic, home food delivery skyrocketed. Even after, many people continued to order in. But for some, it’s not always such a good idea, as in the case of TikTok influencer Yoni Cohen. 

This week, thieves disguised as Wolt delivery staff broke into the Holyland apartment of the bitcoin dealer and real estate developer, holding him at gunpoint and handcuffing him. He insisted that there was no cash on the premises, but they overturned the apartment for two hours in a fruitless search before finally giving up. Not wanting to leave empty-handed, they took the keys to Cohen’s luxury car, Yediot Aharonot reported.

As they were making their getaway, a police officer attempted to stop them. After the getaway driver tried to run over the officer, wounding him lightly, the latter drew his gun and fired. The upshot was that the driver was critically wounded and the car was damaged. 

Most luxury apartment complexes have a concierge, and deliveries can be left in the lobby for residents to collect. Cohen’s experience should be a cautionary tale not to allow delivery staff beyond the lobby. 

■ SOME SYNAGOGUE congregations lacking a permanent rabbi invite guest rabbis; or if they are fortunate, have a roster of scholars who give the Shabbat sermon. 

Hazvi Yisrael in Talbiyeh has been without a permanent rabbi for the past seven months.  In the aftermath of October 7, the search committee, headed by Dr. Kenneth Collins, had put things on hold, meeting only on Zoom to set procedural guidelines. 

Recently, it met to discuss the 10 impressive resumes received to date. Following interviews, the number of applicants will be reduced to three, each of whom will participate in Shabbat services for three consecutive weeks, after which, based on the congregants’ opinions, the committee will make a final decision. The congregation should have a permanent rabbi sometime between Purim and Passover.

Last Saturday, the sermon was delivered by former police commissioner Roni Alsheich, who attracted a much larger turnout than usual at the synagogue. As many public figures are promptly forgotten once they are no longer in office, it was interesting to see so many people attend. Even more interesting was that he gave the sermon in both Hebrew and English. Apparently, this was not his first encounter with native English speakers, so he catered to the Hebrew and English speakers.

One of the points he made was the reason that the Hebrew calendar months are not mentioned in the Torah is that the Children of Israel did not become a nation until the exodus from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah. Until the exodus, they were slaves bound to the calendar of the Egyptians. Time must not control the people; the people must control time, he said. That meant that the nation of Israel had to determine its own calendar. 

While the Bible starts with Bereshit (Genesis) he said, from a national standpoint it should actually start with Rosh Hashanah because the Kiddush of Rosh Hashanah reminds us of the exodus from Egypt.

■ THE ABOVE-MENTIONED Dr. Kenneth Collins, in addition to being a physician, is also a historian who this week delivered the first lecture for 2024 for the Jewish Historical Society of England’s Israel branch, headquartered in Jerusalem and chaired by Dr. Gabriel A. Sivan, who in August will celebrate his 90th birthday. Sivan was among the contributors to the Encyclopedia Judaica.

■ FOLLOWING ON the heels of last Friday’s Grapevine item about a woman being fined for not swiping her RavKav because she almost fell as she entered the light rail, Susan Caine reports on also being fined due to faulty mechanism of the swipe device or because the inspector was acting illegally. She duly held out her RavKav when he requested it, and he told her that she hadn’t swiped it. She insisted that she had heard the sound confirming that the swipe had been registered. The inspector said the RavKav hadn’t been used in six months. She gave him her ID card when he demanded it, unaware that he was not supposed to. To ensure that she didn’t alight, he took her ID with him as he continued on his inspection tour. She suggested she might inadvertently be swiping the card incorrectly, asking him to demonstrate. He refused. She also asked why she would be holding out her RavKav for inspection if she hadn’t swiped it. She had believed that everything was in order. Nothing she said convinced him.

However, not all inspectors are like him. This week, an inspector on the 13 bus route, knowing that the overwhelming majority of passengers are senior citizens who look to sit down before they fall down, said as he boarded: “Whoever hasn’t swiped their card, do it now before I get to you.” In the cases of passengers who were several seats away from the device, he swiped their cards for them.

One last public transport story. People who live on Hagdud Ha’ivri Street are far from happy, presuming there’s any truth to the rumor circulating about the establishment of a bus line on their street – which has already changed beyond recognition. As it is, there’s barely enough room for the apartment owners’ cars, in addition to which there are schoolchildren crossing the road. Are such issues deliberately ignored?

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