Rabbi Ephraim Holzberg, one of the more well known Askanim in Jerusalem, heard about the terror attack in Barkan and immediately rushed out to purchase toys for the son of Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel HY”D who was murdered in her office by the terrorist. He was inside the store purchasing an electric toy car when the taxi that he came in received a ticket for illegally parking. The ticket cost 100 shekels for a minor traffic violation.
Upon receiving the ticket Rabbi Holzberg approached the city inspector and asked: “Do you know to whom this present is going? It is for the son of Kim Holzberger who was just killed in Barkan.
The city inspector, upon hearing Rabbi Holzberg’s words began to cry. He exclaimed: “I had no idea! I had no idea! Rabbi Holzberg asked the inspector to void or cancel the ticket. The inspector said that it was already in the system and that he couldn’t retract it. However, he reached into his own back-pocket pulled out a 100 NIS bill and handed it to the driver.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
mi keamcha yisroel
Mi k’amcha yisroel
It’s another story that shows the beauty of our nation. However; I don’t think he belonged asking for the ticket to be voided (not in the way it’s presented here at least).
מי כעמך ישראל!
Nice of both of them but what gave R’ Haolzbwrg the right to park illegally even in a situation such as this? If we pick and choose when we have to obey the laws then the laws are and will be meaningless.
Nice of both of them but what gave R’ Holzberg the right to park illegally even in a situation such as this? If we pick and choose when we have to obey the laws then the laws are and will be meaningless.
UncleMo, I know what you mean. I don’t understand what the wonderment is over here. There are laws and ordinances as well as special and unique situations too. No one should ever find themselves in a terror situation, but there are countless (seemingly reasonable) reasons why one can try to respectfully argue against a ticket in court (a medical emergency such as a heart attack, going into birth labor, delivering tomchei shabbos meals to a family, stopping your car to rush out to help a pedestrian who fell on his/her face across the street, etc). When my wife gave birth a few years ago, I tried to reason with the city court against alternate side parking ticket- and was unsuccessful. Whether I won or not, no big life change, no big kiddush Hashem, would have been nice to save the $100 from the ticket- but it’s all Min’ Hashemayim.
Now, we don’t know from the story what type of traffic violation it was- was it parking by a hydrant, blocking a pedestrian walkway, blocking a driveway…. Buying a toy for a child in this situation is a tremendous mitzvah and act of chesed, but was it at the expense of a chillul Hashem or blocking a walkway where potentially elderly, children, or disabled people had to inconveniently walk around? Was it blocking another car, preventing another from getting home or going to minyan? Would an extra 5 minutes have found an appropriate parking spot? I’m not judging in favor or disfavor, as I don’t know the full situation and/or how it impacted others.
Mi Keamcha Yisrael. However , whatever his noble reasons for going into a store to make a purchase , it gives him no right to park illegally.
outoftownjew, tgishabbos and nebuch: Are we reading the same article? Rabbi Holzberg did not park the car illegally. He was driven to the store in a taxi and the taxi driver parked in an illegal manner. Rabbi Holzberg is not to blame (unless he asked the taxi driver to park illegally).