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Whats your thoughts? Do you pick up people that are hitching?
Yes, why is it even a question? Who would give up such an easy mitzvah?
When I had a car,I would sometimes give the KIDS a lift and tell them never to hitchhike again.
Seriously.
I wouldn’t mind picking up ppl.. But I am a girl so they wouldn’t come in anyway..
Besides is that really diff than getting into a car of some1 who offers you a ride when he sees you waiting by the bus stop?!
Your safety comes first.
I wouldn’t hitchhike it is a dangerous thing to do, you never know what kind of crazy is behind the wheel. On the other hand, I do give rides to people (and kids) who need it. My father a”h used to pick up people and drive them all the time. Especially at 49th street, people who were going to be m’vaker cholim at Maimonides. He would say the car knows the way and goes by itself, I am only sitting in the driver’s seat. He didn’t want anyone to feel they were be matriach him. He wasn’t going to the hospital he just wanted the mitzvah of helping them.
r-b, please share them. We’re all here for you.
Sorry… the rule in my car is that if I don’t know you (or someone in my car doesn’t know you) you don’t get a ride. If you’re stuck, I’ll be more than happy to call a tow truck for you or possibly even lend you money — but get in the car. No.
Putting aside the fact that it’s illegal, there is also the issue that just because a person appears frum there is no guarantee that they are, in fact, safe people.
And yes, it goes the other way too. I don’t get into a car unless I know the driver (or one of the other people in the car). I’ve been offered rides from frum-looking strangers while waiting at the bus stop — and I always politely thank them and turn them down.
The Wolf
“I’ve been offered rides from frum-looking strangers while waiting at the bus stop”
I imagine they have caged-in areas for animals. Let’s be realistic, who would want a loose wolf in their car?
twice, (10 yrs. ago), while waiting @ the B11 busstop @ Ocean Pkway & Ave. I, B’klyn, frum looking men offered me rides. I’m a married woman, & I declined, of course. It was veryy creepy!! :/
I did take rides from frum looking women twice.
I imagine they have caged-in areas for animals. Let’s be realistic, who would want a loose wolf in their car?
Understandable… but I was looking at it from the issue of my safety, not theirs. *I* know that I’m not going to harm someone who picks me up, but I don’t know that they won’t harm me — and if I’m going to be in a cage, then that puts me in a more vulnerable position, not a less vulnerable one.
The Wolf
I picked up some guy on the road from Snowbird and took him to Salt Lake City. I figured a guy with a snowboard couldn’t be too bad.
Turned out he worked for the mountain and offered me half price tickets.
I just picked up some drifter from a truck stop in Alabama. Turns out he’s an ax murde-
in israel it’s a way of life
I pick up people when I can / feel safe about it, but my kids have Wolf’s guidlines; never get into a car if you don’t know the people inside
“you’re not setting a good example”
Huh?
I agree with brisker. If you take strangers into your car “when you feel safe about it,” then why can’t your kids go into strangers’ cars whom they feel safe about?
real-brisker; most of the I time pickup hitchhikers if they’re jewish and look normal.
Out of tons, only had like four problem ones.
two left a terrible stench,
one kept on changing their mind where they wanted to go.
After i took them to one area they decided
they wanted to go to another area not close by, when I took them to that area they changed their mind again at that point I told them politely to please exit the car last stop.
One I can’t even talk about. No regrets though! when I was a youngster I hitched a lot and was very appreciative, I decided that when I got my license I would be like those ppl.
Kids is another story, no child under 18 should hitch no matter what especially alone without another two friends and I wouldn’t suggest any young girls hitch period.
Even women should avoid getting a ride a/
anyone they dont know thru & thru even neighbors.
I think the safe age for hitching is 65.
I’ll always pickup youngsters even though i disagree w/ them hitching. I’d rather take them & know their safe, than Nebach
leave them out there. I try to give them a little perspective
right before they get out.
b_h: what happened with the one you didn’t talk about?
r-b: what were your horror stories?
I used to hitchhike when I was a kid with frum people. I give rides to frum kids, when I can. But somehow I don’t think a lot of kids nowadays have any safety awareness. Eg.- Tonite I was driving home -the block to my home is narrow, even without snow. There were three bochurim walking down the street -when they saw me they stuck out their thumb. The problem was -they weren’t walking on the sidewalk because it’s covered with snow and ice and they weren’t wearing reflectors. I almost hit all three, but saw them at the last second. I was going to yell at them, but I just have given up because this is an everyday occurance. Shomer Pissayim Hashem!
tehre is too much hitch hiking upstate in the summer and you dont knw who is who there
mewho,
Just out of curiosity, would you pick up an exactlywhat on a chain while hitchhiking? 🙂
The Wolf
wolf, i dont understand your question, can you please clarify
Ah, I guess you’re not familiar with Shel Silverstein.
The Meehoo with an Exactlywatt
by Shel Silverstein
Knock knock!
Who’s there?
Me!
Me who?
That’s right!
What’s right?
Meehoo!
That’s what I want to know!
What’s what you want to know?
Me, WHO?
Yes, exactly!
Exactly what?
Yes, I have an Exactlywatt on a chain!
Exactly what on a chain?
Yes!
Yes what?
No, Exactlywatt!
That’s what I want to know!
I told you – Exactlywatt!
Exactly WHAT?
Yes!
Yes what?
Yes, it’s with me!
What’s with you?
Exactlywatt – that’s what’s with me.
Me who?
Yes!
GO AWAY!
Knock knock…
hahah very cute. i’ve never read it before. reminds me of who’s on first. thanks for sharing
“If you take strangers into your car “when you feel safe about it,” then why can’t your kids go into strangers’ cars whom they feel safe about? “
Cookie and Brisk –
Thank you for clearing that up.
The difference is, I’ve got 20+ years experience; they’ve got 2-3 years experience.
True, they need to learn at some point, but hopefully, its mostly by watching me and mrs.. and to a much lesser degree, by trial and error.
For the record, Mrs. BP follows Wolf’s guidlines, I follow them as far as getting into a car (but will pick up starngers if I feel safe about doing so.
Unfortunately, the tiny percentage of creeps and poseurs is enough for me to believe that rides should not be accepted in many circumstances, and especially by children, girls and women.
I only pick up those who I feel comfortable I would be able to subdue with the bat I keep in the car if it came down to it.
I also do not pick up anyone hitching for a ride, if they put me and my passengers in danger while soliciting a ride. If they are in the middle of the street, dart out in between cars, blend in with the pitch blackness all around (especially true at night in the mountains) they exhibited enough dangerous behavior for me not to want them in my car.
i gotta start driving with a bat
the bat will enable you to do more chasodim with your car 🙂
If a child approaches you for a ride, let their parents know – this isn’t “snitching”.
May H-shem bring a nechama to the Kletzky family for their unimaginable tragedy.
Signed.
Mostly harmless? ok so how much harm will you tolerate exactly?
I’m in Israel right now and after hearing inside information from a search and rescue volunteer who was one of the first on the scene after the three boys Hyd went missing I have been thoroughly scared off tremping. I didn’t do it in the first place but now I thank HaShem that I never did. But in Israel there’s a huge tremping culture, especially in areas like the Gush and Shomron where buses are few and far between and people need to travel for school and jobs. I’ve passed the trempiada where the three boys Hyd were taken and it’s as well used as ever. The whole thing scares me. On the positive side, as a reaction to this, several towns and settlements have started to offer free hasaot at key times to prevent tremping.
In the US I never hitch and never offer rides. Caveat: I’m a girl, and every time yeshiva bochurim run up to my car at red lights to try to get rides they run back twice as fast to the curb when they see who I am… Funniest was when I forgot to lock my doors and the guy was practically in the car.
I now always lock my doors.
ETA- did not realize this was such an old thread… Oh well.
writersoul: Hitchhiking has anyways been a boys thing. Girls generally didn’t hitchhike even in good times.
Regarding giving other people rides…
I know a true story – someone was driving on a freezing cold winter morning and saw some children standing at a bus stop waiting for their bus. He felt sorry for them and offered to drive them to their school so they shouldn’t have to wait outside in the cold.
What the driver did not realize is that the children’s mother was watching them from the window of her house(two houses away), and she was too far to do anything but she was horrified to see her children getting into a stranger’s car. She was also terrified for their safety.
Does anyone think that the driver did the right thing?
The driver did the mentchlich thing. You can’t account for every theoretical possibility that someone might get worried about you doing a chesed.
As a regular summer camper, hitchhikes in random areas are not a new thing for me. My experiences have been exclusively positive, but then again there but for the grace of G-d…
A story that did not occur to me, but I heard first hand, occurred to a fellow camper several years ago. He was about 15 or 16, on a hike and got separated from his group. He was not lost, simply with a different group, just to be clear. He was wearing a hooded top, as it was raining. He looked for a hitch, a car stopped and, after informing the Madrich by phone that he was going to join his own group farther down the road, he left. A minute into the drive, which was to a spot a few minutes drive away, he took of his hood. The guy, who until that point had seemed very friendly, glanced at his cappel and said, in a sharp voice, “Are you Jewish?”
The bochur answered affirmatively. The man swung the road onto the side of the road, in the middle of the nowhere, and brusquely ordered him out of the car. Not the scariest story ever, perhaps, but certainly worrying. As for me, literally just the other day I was coming back from a day out with my friends, and I was unable to get on the bus home. So, since I was about a forty minute run from my home, I started running along the side of the motorway. Traffic was sluggish at one point, so I decided to race the cars on foot. There was one particular car that I kept overtaking. I noticed the guy staring out the driver’s window, and I flashed him a big smile and kept running. A minute down the road, he caught up, pulled over and gave me a lift. He was a very friendly black man with a large cross on the dashboard, although I didn’t notice that until I got into the car. He turned out to be funny, interesting and took me virtually all the way home. He wasn’t Jewish but was very interested in Jews, and whilst I expected some proselyting none was forthcoming. He was genuine and I enjoyed his company. My cheshbon was that firstly, it made sense that he would pull over out of kindness, considering the way he first saw me, and secondly, I was bigger than him, and if anything, he should have been scared of me. but those points were, in retrospect, not valid, and I should have exercised more caution. Generally, people should not take hitches unless they’re with people they know and trust.
I get these requests all the time. Funny thing.. according to some people here, I’m really a scary creature.. (teeth, fangs..)
Joseph- you’d be surprised how many (Israeli) girls tremp.
Admittedly, here in Monsey it’s much less common. (We either drive or walk.)
Joe- you’d be surprised How many Israeli girls tremp. I know I was.
writersoul: About these Israel girls that hitchhike, would it be fair to say that they tend to be more secular or soldiers and are not the very religious, especially chareidi, girls?
Joe- not charedi but definitely religious. You have to understand that a lot of it depends on where you live- chardal/dati leumi girls are more likely than charedi girls to live in places with bad public transportation, necessitating tremping. In Monsey, it’s the opposite (or rather, the “farther right” a woman is the less likely she is to drive, which is an absolute necessity here.
And for the record, I have seen chasidish women hitching. Few but they exist.
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