Bogged Down on a NJ Parkway

by Dena Gorkin – Principal of Bnos Chomesh Academy in Crown Heights

It was last Motzoei Shabbos, Yud Shevat, so I didn’t find it odd that I found myself explaining the concepts of “Chabad” and “Shliach” to a New Jersey state trooper on the Garden State Parkway.

This became necessary as I stood with the incredibly resourceful Mushky Namdar, the Bnos Chabad head at our Bnos Chomesh Academy, discussing which nearby Shliach we might contact for assistance.

We were on our way back from a Shabbaton in Ocean City, NJ. A Thursday night farbrengen with the Alevskys from Manhattan had set the mood for a relaxing and introspective Shabbos Yud Shevat.

We had just partaken in a beautiful melave malka hosted by the wonderful Rapoport family, Shluchim to Atlantic City. Inspired by the miraculous Rebbe stories we heard from Mrs. Tova Rapoport, we headed down the highway back to Crown Heights.

Half an hour into our trip, our bus driver noticed the engine failing. We repeatedly asked him if the situation was dangerous and he told us he hoped not…

With Divide Providence, there was construction along the stretch of the road where we had the difficulty, so the driver was able to pull over into two blocked off lanes, rather than a narrow shoulder.

No gas stations, rest stops, motels or civilization anywhere in sight. With the ocean to the right and marshes to the left we were literally “in the middle of nowhere” (that’s what the state troopers call Bass River, NJ).

As chassidim we know that there are no accidents, no happenstances and no experiences without a lesson in Avodas Hashem.

Lesson #1: Faith

It’s Yud Shevat. The Rebbe is looking out for us. Everything will turn out well. Fear and panic are not options.

Lesson #2: If we find ourselves somewhere that we were not meant to be according to our own plan, we must have a job to do there

It seemed clear that Bass River had been waiting for 5774 years for the Ma’amer Basi L’gani to be learned there. And so, the students of Bnos Chomesh learned part of the maamer on a broken down bus, in the rain at mile marker 52.8 on the Garden State Parkway.

After a long wait for a tow truck and much back and forth about how we would be rescued, the police ordered car services to help transport the girls to the police station. (If you ever want to experience real quiet, head on over to the police station in Bass River. The town motto should be “Bass River: Nothing Happens Here.”) Some of us actually got to ride in the back of police cars.

Philadelphia Shluchim Rabbi Zalman and Miriam Gerber entreated a friend of theirs who owns a bus company to send a bus to bring our group back to New York. Rabbi Gerber left his home at 11:30 PM to get the driver and help him gas up the bus.

During a wait that should have been an hour and a half and turned out to be 3 1/2 hours, our high school girls kept a positive attitude. Once we arrived at the police station, things got musical.

We sat around and sang niggunim, composed whacky songs about waiting for the bus, spoke about “the meaning of it all,” and finally wrote a thank you note to the policemen for their hospitality. Fortunately, a box of leftover nosh from the Shabbaton was among the luggage we had removed from the bus, so nobody went hungry.

Lesson #3: Appreciate the Hashgacha Pratis, even if we don’t understand it

We often hear stories like this that have an amazing ending. We find out that the state trooper is a Jew and he had just asked G-d for a sign that he should start practicing yiddishkeit. Or that the new bus driver desperately needed some words of inspiration and we boarded his bus just in time to give that to him.

Our story has no such ending. And while sitting on the floor at the police station, I asked my students: “What if we never find out why we ended up here?”

Their answers surprised me, but spoke volumes about their pure emunah: “That’s okay,” they said. “We’re fine with that. We don’t need to know the reason. Hashem has his reasons.”

Finally at 3:30 AM, a very tired crowd made its way onto the newly dispatched bus and headed towards New York. We arrived in Crown Heights shortly before 6 AM and made the dropoffs by 6:30 AM.

A big yasher koach to all the sponsors of our Shabbaton: Kingston Avenue Bake Shop, The Marketplace, House of Glatt, Dovid Malka’s Kitchen and Sushi Spot. Our deepest appreciation goes to the patient parents who stayed up waiting for their daughters and who stayed calm through it all. And of course to the wonderful students of Bnos Chomesh, thanks for your great spirit during the whole adventure and for purifying the air in Bass River!