For the mother it was a nightmare as she managed to get her baby carriage on board the Jerusalem light rail. The train then drove off, leaving mom behind screaming as her child was being distanced from her.
The incident occurred during the evening hours as the train coming from the Jerusalem Central Bus Station direction stopped on Jaffa Street near King George Street. Mom got her baby carriage on board and she settled her 18-month-old in and then went out to get the remainder of her packages. She saw the doors closing and reacted, sticking out her arm to prevent their closure.
One passenger inside the train told Yated Ne’eman “I was inside and realized what is going on and tried to stop it too. We immediately called to the driver on the intercom. We explained the carriage is inside and the mother is locked outside the train. He replied ‘I don’t care. It’s not my problem’.”
The witnesses add that the driver saw the status light indicating the doors were not properly closed. He realized an arm was caught between the doors in the effort to prevent them from closing. He then got on the public address system and instructed the person to remove the arm when the door opens. The witness explains he thought the driver was going to open the doors to permit mom to board but they opened and shut immediately and the train drove off, with the screaming mother outside and her child inside. Passengers were agitated, realizing the pain of the mother, who was understandably hysterical.
Passengers began shouting to stop the train immediately. They called the driver on the intercom but he ignored their shouts.
The train continued until the next stop, City Hall, at which time concerned passenger took the baby carriage to a security official and then passengers demanded that the driver give them his information. He replied “I am not a bus driver and therefore, I don’t have to give my details to anyone”.
“He was not wearing an identification badge so I took his photo. I plan to file an official complaint” concluded one witness quoted by Yated.
Citypass officials confirm the details of the story. Officials acknowledge that the incident should not have occurred as it did and an investigation is promised, adding “the appropriate measures will be taken”. Officials add that due to security considerations, a train may not stop between stations.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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22 Responses
I AM NOT SUPRISED!!!! the other day an egged driver almost closed the door between my baby carraige and i. good thing my husband was on the bus and he fought to keep the door opened so i was able to get on! i really hope some changes occurr after such an incident. my deepest sympathies to this poor mom.
The same story happened to me on the train from Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem (Malchah) My grandson stepped off the train at the Biblical Zoo stop by accident, a stop early, and before we even realized that he couldn’t get back in, the train pulled away , leaving him on the platform alone, and hysterical. The entire train of people took up arms and went to the engineer who was forced to reverse. My grandson was handicapped with a genetic disease and this action was crucial. Parents and caregivers beware. Israeli trains keep moving even if someone’s hand is stuck in the door, unlike the New York subways. You can’t take your eyes off the children for a minute especially when the train approaches a station. May HaShem watch over us always.
sounds like a typical day in Israel.
It doesn’t sound like a Jewish driver! I think the driver simply wanted to terrorize Jewish passengers and get paid for doing “his job.”
I hope the mother sues the company and the driver to the hilt!
#3 Sounds like lashon harah of the Meraglim.
#5 – he refers to some (or many) of the people in EY who have these tendencies and not the land itself. Hence it is dissmiliar to the Meraglim.
lieba, that sure is a crazy thing to say. you hope she sues the company. If you feel on ice in front of a shul would you sue the shul as well?
I believe the driver was doing his job. Looking at it from his perspective, the driver could have been working 8 hours already and wanted to continue the operations for everyone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if the woman was holding a cell phone in her, previously texting. I’ve seen that before.
#4 No, it sounds like reality!
#5, it may be loshon hara, but it sure ain’t motzi shem ra. This is quintessential Israeli behavior and it happens every day, everywhere. If you want to make aliyah, know this in advance.
Sounds to me like some people need to be fired from their job.
Rega, rega, rega, bklynmom (what one invariably has to shout frantically to get a bus driver not to close the doors before all departing passangers can get off a bus) your comment is very cute…dimissive and a tad stupid too.
just a simple advice to all Yerushalayim-goers: it’s best to avoid the train as much as possible
the pritzus there is awful, and it is virtually impossible to be שומר נגיעה and to be makpid on שמירת עינים there.
the buses are a much better option, if you can work it out.
myself, i opt to walk via geula to where the train would take me, in order to avoid all the tumah, even though it’s an extra 15 or 20 minutes each way
Hashem yishmor aleinu !
Was once waiting at Egged bus stop when full bus arrived let off a few people then driver allowed public to cram into front stairwell door. Without looking driver shut door on elderly woman then took off dragging her body by the ankle at least 25 feet. Had I not witnessed event,I wouldn’t have believed it. Where do you think the Arabs learned that Jewish blood is cheap?
Why say loshon hara about yidden living in Eretz Yisroel.
Let us all stop saying and writting loshon hara as Maran The Kaminetzer Rosh Yeshiva reminded us so sweetly at the siyum hashas last week.
Reply to #12
I know many chashuve rabbonim and askanim who are big time yirai shamayim and very attentive to being שומר נגיעה and in matters of שמירת עינים yet they regularly take the light rail in Yerushalayim Your haskkafah of walking everywhere is great for your health but don’t confuse it with anything remotely required by halacha.
I am chozer b’tshuva: everything is great is eretz yisroel. people behave like angels, there are no problems here, life is but a dream, no pritzus, all is kosher, all is great.
come and enjoy the beautiful life. people who have problems must examine themselves for avairas.
how’s that for t’shuva??
sue citipass and the driver to the hilt but you cannot expect much in apathetic israeli culture
Very sad to hear. In all my years as a kid travelling to school and back on Egged, I never saw anything like that -in fact, drivers are usually very understanding to riders with strollers and kids.
To the person who compared it with Egged – one difference-I understand that the light rail drivers are all chareidi – (which explains why the rail service stops hours before egged does on Fridays…) they should be even more patient, as they probably come from larger families and probably have large families themselves….
#16. Please look up Sefer Chofetz Chaim Hichos Lashan Hara Klal 9 the end of S’eef 1 and also S’eef 2. It may apply to what you wrote. Also please look up Klal 4 S’eef 12 and Klal 10 S’eef 12( which was yesterday’s halacha in the Hilchos Lashan Hara Yomis Luach). As Maran The Kaminetzer Rosh Yeshiva Shlita reminded us so sweetly at the siyum hashas last week we all need to learn Sefer Chofetz Chaim daily. Maran The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva ZT”L said that by learning Sefer Chofetz Chaim daily, besides for everything else, we are showing HKB”H that we want to improve our speech which is needed for a complete Teshuva, for it is part of Kabalah L’haba besides for having charata on the past and regretting on what we did wrong.
#19, hey, I wanted to do t’shuva, what’s the problem. I took back my words and said only good stuff. Come here to Isreal to live and experience how great it is to use the buses and go into the local makolits. nuttin’ like it. ain’t my t’shuva good enough for u??
to #15,
i’ve taken it at many times of the day, and it’s literally impossible to be safe – the people are packed in there like sardines, and i don’t have to tell you how they dress in the hot summer days
when i’m late (or it’s dangerously hot to walk), i have found the “safest” place to be is at the very end of the train, where you can have your head stuck to the (empty) driver’s cabin, so you’re not looking at anyone
but even there, it’s quite בדיעבד
#16 & #19: You are both missing something important. You’re so busy discussing the halachos of lashan hara and tznius, yet you’re discussing it over a medium that the Gedolim have stated is assur. The Gedolim of our generation (including a few who recently dies) stated that internet access is assur. There are heterim, when issued by a COMPETENT RAV (ie. one of the few), but otherwise you should consider not using the internet if you’re so holy that you have to discuss halacha neither of you actually understand. Yes, I’m on the internet, and I’m not perfect, but then I don’t use it to discuss halacha and feel like a malach for doing so.