The Syrian Cab Driver

My daughter could not get to work today at the police station in an Arab neighborhood. She usually gets rides, but because of the disengagement from Amona today, there were no transports available. Hubby gave me $ to take a cab to work and I decided to drop her off at her work.

The cab driver wore a kippah, meaning he is Orthodox and didn't seem to mind carusing in an Arab neighborhood. He had more trouble from the Ultra-Orthodox Jews protesting cremation or an autopsy or whatever it was they were protesting in Jerusalem yesterday.

"I was just driving on Bar Ilan Street, taking kids home from school. Along comes this mob and they are pulling on the doors trying to smash it, with these poor screaming kids in it. They were absolutely terrified. If my car were stuck in an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, they'd offer me advice, tell me to go here, there - this is insane!!"

So now I got the story of why he wasn't like other Israeli cab drivers, who are usually too nervous to venture into the Other's territory.

He told me he speaks fluent Arabic.

"How? Did you learn from your parents?"

"No, I came from Halab, Syria when I was 12 in 1973. They killed my father and my mother was in jail for helping people immigrate to Israel. But when she got out, on the eve of the Yom Kippur war, we left and escaped to Israel via Lebanon." From the bits he told me, he explained that they went to some large well-known synagogue in Lebanon and stayed there for a bit before heading to Israel.

He continued on "We were multi-millionaires in Syria. We owned 16 stores and had alot of homes."

And here he is driving a cab for a living.

His wishes were similar to mine - even though his family suffered from anti-semitism in Syria. I was his back seat egger-on. Wouldn't it be nice to have open borders with our neighboring countries - Lebanon and Syria. Yes, wouldn't it be nice to drive through Lebanon to Turkey. Go shopping in Damascus? Sit in a Lebanese cafe? We both think so...