Q&A: Driving in Haredi Society
Driving in Haredi Society
Question
During this vacation period, when many people from Haredi society are on the roads, every year irresponsible behavior is seen on their part (sorry for the generalization, but it is very common among them) on the road—failing to give right of way, reckless driving etc., as if the road belongs only to them..
A. Is there anything that can be done educationally?
B. Which Jewish laws are they violating when they behave this way?
Answer
A. Ask educators. Beyond that, whoever can do something about it did not ask you or me. So what is the point of discussing it?
B. There are many laws, but what is the point of listing them? It is obvious that reckless driving is forbidden, and citing clauses of prohibition will not convince anyone. “Love your fellow as yourself,” guarding life (after all, one must desecrate the Sabbath to save a life, all the more so one must drive carefully so as not to endanger life), returning lost property (preventing loss), desecration of God’s name, and so on.
Discussion on Answer
And there was an incident involving two yeshiva students riding on a scooter, and a police officer decided to follow them in order to catch them in a traffic violation. After two hours the officer signaled the driver to stop and said to him: ‘I’m impressed by you. For two hours I’ve been following you and you’ve driven perfectly, without any traffic violation.’ The driver answered him: ‘Indeed, God is with us.’ The officer said: ‘If God is with you, then there are three on the scooter,’ and immediately wrote them a ticket. Maybe since then God decided to leave the country 🙂
Best regards, Yazanyahu Shpanyerski
Where does this generalization come from??? And the respondent just takes it for granted and does not even state that the answer is only on the assumption that the question is even standing on solid ground.
If you saw ten or twenty or a hundred Haredim, that is still a drop in the ocean. And maybe it hints at suppressed anti-Semitic tendencies (as is known, today it is forbidden to say the explicit word. If you say it everyone jumps and clucks).
And maybe all Haredim look the same to you, so it catches your eye more than if you see one secular man on one street and one secular woman on another street and a Religious Zionist boy on another street and a Reform woman on another street, and so on.