A suspicious bottle on a roadway outside the Lincoln Tunnel brought rush hour traffic leaving and entering New York City to a standstill on Friday afternoon.
A Port Authority spokesman said that a police investigation closed the eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 495 going in and out of the tunnel from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.
Car traffic outside the tunnel was diverted to local streets in New Jersey. Commuter buses were held at Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Terminal, where thousands of commuters fumed.
Police determined that the bottle was harmless.
As the Z’man of Shabbos neared and Yidden were still stuck inside the tunnels, volunteers of the Sanz community in Union City along with Union City Hatzolah headed towards the tunnel to bring the stranded travelers to Union City for Shabbos. The families of Union City welcomed them and prepared rooms and food for them.
On Shabbos afternoon one person came into the Shul not knowing where he was and not having eaten since Friday afternoon.
He related the following: He had gotten off a bus outside the tunnel an hour after the Z’man Shabbos, and had found a hotel in Weehawken a few blocks from the tunnel. Not being able to carry, he had to walk the maximum of 4 Amus at a time with his bag……a walk that wouldn’t take longer than 5 minutes took him almost 2 hours.
He finally arrived at the hotel and asked for assistance with the electrical doors. When the cleaning lady came into his room at 1PM on Shabbos afternoon, he was finally able to get out of his room. He then walked for an hour to Union City & found the Shul. A Union City resident found him and invited him to his house for the Shabbos Seuda.
Union City Hatzolah reminds everybody that in case of any emergency at or next to the Lincoln tunnel, please call them at 201-422-9000. Please keep this number handy.
Union City is at the second exit outside of the Lincoln Tunnel. The shul is located at 3400 New York Avenue.
(Dov Gordon – YWN NYC)
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24 Responses
What a beautiful Kiddush Hashem!
mi k’amcha yisrael
I was stuck on a bus and made it home 40 minutes after candle lighting (just to the minute!!)
Its good to know there are other options if I need it!
Does anyone know how it would work in terms of the Techum shabbos?
Just the perfect way to earn more zechusim before Yom Kippur. This article shows the beauty of Am Yisroel, I am sure Ha-Shem was proud of his children in Union City.
dasyosher, I asked my Rabbi what to do if I were stuck on the bus. He told me that once I am on the bus, I should stay on until I am at my stop. He also told me that as long as I am not holding muktzah things directly (like my wad of cash is not in my hand) it would be ok to take my stuff with me. I didnt clarify if this is only in a place with an eruv because there is an eruv where I live.
yes it was a site to see and please don’t forget to thank the Director of Union City Hatzolah R’ Yankel Askal without him nothing would have been done
For the most part, the story of the hotel stay was as reported. The nisyonos were those of working people in golus.
Over this Friday and Shabos, many people were assisted by the unusual kindness, erlichkeit and refined midos of the community in Union City.
To my knowledge, all the people assisted before and during shabos (21-23 by my count) were completely unknown to the residents.
Whereas Avraham Avinu had orchim come to him, the UC community came out some distance to assist and greet every one of the unexpected guests.
I cannot tell you how many times I was thanked! for for being mezakeh my baal-habayis by being his orai’ach. I was greeted with real simcha by every person I met. Well after noon on shabos I was joyously greeted by Aron Hirshman and his mother Rebetsin Hirshman. Aron was so happy to find another “refugee” that needed assitance. Aron ran and found me a place to eat where the meal had not yet concluded. I was feted to a delicious gala meal by my host & hostess, Rav and Rebetsin Shlissel in the company of their beautiful family ba”h. I was then offered a place to rest until mincha.
My host brought me cold drinks into the bais ha medrash while I was learning. He later arranged a make-up kidush (with the Friday night nusach minus Yom Hashishi) since I had not made a real one Friday night since I had no food. B”H he was mezakeh me to have three seudos and kidush on this shabos!!!
Bigger chidushim in hachnasos orchim were around the corner.
As I understand, like many chassidishe kehilos, The Sanzer kehilla in Union City usually eats shalosh seudos and davens mincha after the shekiya. In addition, they davened maariv after shabos past 72 minutes – a very late zeman.
My baal habos and others, arranged for us refugees to have shalosh sedos AND mincha (AND maariv) in accordance with OUR preferred zemanim. This required gathering a group to complete the minyan and several other arrangements. This shows unusual sensitivity and zealousness in providing every comfort for us orchim.
Everything was done in the most hospitable, pleasant and endearing way.
Ah, but the lessons in torah and hachnosas orchim were not yet completed.
We merited to hear a Shabos Shuva derasha from the Dayan of the kehilla which was the equal of any shmuz by a Lithuanian gadol in clarity, content, appeal and amazingly, in style.
The main gist (fortunately, not being a native speaker of Yiddish, Hebrew and Aramaic are a large segment of shabos shuva drashos) was the importance of Emes in every aspect of our existence. That teshuva can only be manifest through practice and refinement of the mida of Emes in every way. That striving for emes in learning and in amkus is the key to everything. There was also reassurance to all lomdim that if a “barrier wall” is reached in understanding a sugya, that one should not despair of his learning since identifying the non-emes (klipos) is part of the emes learning process and absolutely helps to expose the emes in learning.
The Dayan quoted familiar seforim and gedolim such as the Nesivos, Mesilas Yesharim, Rav Chayim Berlin & the Netsiv, The Chazon Ish and other citations that I don’t remember. (unfortunately, I did not hear the beginning of the derasha). I only mention this level of detail to show that although we are 12 shevatim and although we might pronounce shiboles (Shoftim 12) differently, “Yisro’ele v’oraisa v’kudsha brich hu, chad hu”
After the derasha, the rest of the kehilla davened mincha, and had a shalosh seudos tish. It was a feast for all senses to participate as honored guests and receive sherayim (normally, I would have to wait for the bais hamikdash to get sherayim from a korban).
After a separate ma’ariv, my baal habayis, graciously arranged rides to my hotel and then to my home. This is waaaay beyond levayas orchim and hachnosas orchim.
I wish to thank Hashem for moderating my nisayon. I wish to thank Hashem for opening my eyes to the nimukim of chesed and hachnosas orchim and bayn adam lechaveiro.
I wish to thank Hashem for exposing me to the beauty of another world I had never been exposed to and to understand better that like the arba minim we are all different and yet an integral piece of Hashems people.
I wish to thank all those who met us with their simple kindness and effort.
Lest anyone nitpick. I am a Jew of Lithuanian descent who only recorded his observations.
Hashem is proud of his children in Union City, but why are people still not learning the lesson of not traveling so close to Shabbos?!!
to amama;
it wasn’t a matter of leaving so close to Shabbos. People left early enough to get to their destination on time, to prove my point, they were trapped in the tunnel for close to 3 hours.
Its amazing and beautiful how people just open there doors to people they never even met ! Beautiful ! This is real klal yisroel
to AMAMA your post was very un justified these people left 3-4 hours before the zman and they where stuck in the tunnel for a few hours in this time of the year you should rather look to be dan lekaf zechis especially now when its definitely not their fault
By the way, there were also many stranded trying to get into the Lincoln Tunnel on the city side who were welcomed hospitably by families on the West Side of Manhattan. I saw unfamiliar faces in my Shul and thought they had come to hear the Rav’s Shabbos Shuva drosho, but they told me they had been stuck for Shabbos because of of the tunnel being closed.
Yakovrose – I appreciate your attempt at being dan lechaf zechus and I would love to do it too. Nevertheless, fellow #1’s experience – “He had gotten off a bus outside the tunnel an hour after the Z’man” – which means that without the 3 hour delay he wouldve been outside the tunnel two hours before the zman – i think that’s not giving enough time for shabbos, unless he lives in Union City.
fellow #2 – “stuck on a bus and made it home 40 minutes after candle lighting” this guy gave it more time and made it home for Shabbos Shuva.
I’m not perfect, not even close to it, but how many more such stories must we hear?
i was about to enter the tunnel at around 4 and i got a phone call and missed my turn!! it took me an hour to get into the holland tunnel but bh i made it!
Another reason to live in Eretz Yisroel, where Erev Shabbos and Erev Yom Tov are NOT working days.
As someone who very nearly was stuck there on Friday ,can anyone give better directions from the lincoln tunnel than “Union City is at the second exit “.
What is called ” the second exit” ? (What does the sign say ?)
Does it make a difference from which tube of the tunnel you are exiting ?
What are the directions to 3400 New York Avenue ?
To amama:
you are probably not aware that there are other comunnities not farther than 20-30 minutes from the tunnel (these include passaic, teaneck, fort lee, englewood, clifton, and many many more) union city is definitlly the closest (2 min from the tunnel).
Directions from the lincoln tunnel to union city:
it doesnt matter which tube.
take the ramp 495
Take the PARK AVE exit toward UNION CITY. 0.1 mi
Keep LEFT at the fork in the ramp. 0.0 mi
Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto N MARGINAL HWY. 0.0 mi
Stay STRAIGHT to go onto CANTELLO ST. 0.1 mi
CANTELLO ST becomes 31ST ST. 0.0 mi
Turn RIGHT onto 33RD ST. 0.1 mi
Turn RIGHT onto NEW YORK AVE. 0.0 mi
End at 3400 New York Ave Union City,
Coming to the tunnel (toward NYC ex. from monsey, kiryas yoel):
Take the exit toward KENNEDY BLVD. 0.0 mi
Stay STRAIGHT to go onto 30TH ST. 0.4 mi
Turn LEFT onto CENTRAL AVE. 0.2 mi
Turn RIGHT onto 34TH ST. 0.2 mi
End at 3400 New York Ave Union City,
I’d love to be dan lechaf zechus, as per MDhalachalMaase – written by HaRav HaGaon R’ Shammai Gross (Translated by Rabbi Tzvi Abraham): Even when the trip is expected to go smoothly, it is common for travelers to meet unexpected delays, and this should be taken into consideration when scheduling travel on erev Shabbos. Even when the trip is made for the sake of a mitzvah, a person should make every effort to arrive at his destination well before Shabbos. A person who makes a long trip on erev Shabbos aware that he risks violating the Shabbos shows disrespect for the Shabbos, even if he is fortunate and arrives on time.
re: #19 amnana
the gemorah discusses this re; a family that did not leave from tzor to tzido (sidon) in whast is today lebanon on friday. but that is NOT the halacha.
2. i occasionally daven at sanz mincha (park in the lot across the streeet) and even 10pm maariv (where i often mmet my cousin).
3. i remember on 9/11 when people couldnt come acccross the bridge ito nyc (staren island) and the ELIZABEH, new jersey kehilla graciously accepted guest!!!
re:18 And if 495 is closed , as it was this Friday , what are the directions ?
i quoted halacha l’maaseh – not gemara (I’m a mama – I dont learn gemara). I also remember walking across the Williamsburg Bridge on 9/11 and being greeted with water by chasidim from Williamsburg. May it be a zchus for them. If you look back to my first comment I wrote that Hashem is surely pleased and proud of the Klausenburg community’s hospitality (which I have fond memories of myself – I remembering going to Union City to the previous Rebbe zt”l with my father), but I am going to repeat that Hashem wants us to give Shabbos much more respect than we are giving it. I see people speeding around 3 minutes after the zman, why?!! i dont want an answer to that question. Let us all plan ahead and we will all gain. Anyone arguing with me is simply not undertanding what i’m writing.
I know, we all need jobs desparately. Everyone has to work out their own life and lifestyle and see how to greet Shabbos in with respect. there are always last minute unexpecteds so get the expecteds out of the way. May we all be zoche to be mekabel Shabbos the way we should, may we all be zoche to constantly be mekadesh shem shamayim and may we all be zoche to a gmar chasima tovah and a shnas geulah v’yeshuah.
To Amma I was one of those lucky people who was stuck in the tunnel on shabbos and had to sit on a bus well into shabbos when I got home. You should only know that the people who gave them selves enough time were the ones that got stuck. Many people who like to cut it close were able to make alternate arrangements either by staying in the city, or going over bridge or taking the Holland Tunnel because they knew about the problem. Those of us who left on time never knew about the problem because it happened once we were on route to the bus station. What happened on Friday was out of the norm. In my ten years of commuting it has never taken me more then 2 hours even to get home even under the worst of circumstances. This past Friday it took four hours.
Sometimes things happen and it’s nisayon from Hakodosh Baruch Hu. I discussed this with the Rav of my community (who is someone who gets shaylas from around the world) and he told me that I gave myself adequate time and some times these things happen. He told me not to change my Friday Routine going forward and what I should learn form this incident is not that I got stuck and got home after shabbos started, rather pay attention to how I reacted under the circumstances. When I realized I had a problem I consulted with a Rav about how to handle the situation and was able to follow the guidelines of Halachah even under these circumstances. The fact that I was able to be mikayem the mitzvah of Shamor es hashabbos on Shabbos Shuvah is a tremendous zechus going into Yom Kippur.
Re: 21
Take the exit on right toward Willow Ave/Weehawken/Hoboken
Merge onto County Route 505/Park Ave Continue to follow County Route 505 0.2 mi
Turn right at 19th St 154 ft
Turn right at Hackensack Ave 0.8 mi
Continue on 32nd St/Hackensack Plank Rd 449 ft
Turn right at New York Ave 0.1 mi
1.4 mi – about 4 mins
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=40.772458,-74.02737&hl=en&geocode=FecEbgId0HqW-w%3B&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=17&sll=40.773563,-74.025074&sspn=0.006744,0.016479&ie=UTF8&ll=40.769207,-74.021802&spn=0.006744,0.016479&z=17