Bus Ride

What can lead to a divorce? I don’t know about other countries, but in Israel – a bus ride. At least in the case of Gimel. I call him “Gimel,” the first (Hebrew) letter of his name, because he has enough trouble with the divorce, without the cause being on the lips of everyone. He doesn’t want to be known as “Gimel the Fool.” You, the reader, I can tell. You can keep a secret, and besides, Gimel’s tribe, so to speak, does not read secular publications.

So it’s like this. Gimel – okay, Gershon – it’s only his first name and anyhow you don’t know which Gershon – Gershon is sitting on the bus with two baskets brim-full of purchases from the open-air market at his feet, one basket crowding his legs, the other half in the aisle, a traditional arrangement on Jerusalem’s buses as they aren’t designed for ample purchases. Jerusalemites like to purchase in bulk. They have large families. Besides, at any time someone or many someone may “drop in.” Gershon’s wife, Rachela, who was not blessed with children, likes people to drop in. She is fond of quoting Gershon who quotes from the Mishna: “That your house will be open wide.”

But let us return to Gershon where we left him sitting on the bus. As he usually does, Gershon looks out the window. He likes to watch the people, his fellow Jerusalemites, his people – or part of them, the ones dressed in black, or at least modestly. It is the Hebrew month of Sivan, on the eve of Shavuot honoring the giving of the Torah and celebrated in Biblical times by bringing the first fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem.

If this was the extent of Gershon’s interest – looking out the window – his marriage wouldn’t have been jeopardized. But then it happened or, more accurately, began to happen. His ear picks up the conversation of two men sitting behind him. “Conversation” is not the best word. It wasn’t a conversation about family, or apartments, or business. It was about the Torah. We are, after...