Haim Hattz ○ About one man in Haifa • Yitzhak Toito

(haipo) - "Sometimes you just have to listen..."

He looks strange.
Thrown, a little dirty, sloppy bordering on tattered.

I saw him walking around Jaffa Street in the Paris Square sector.
Sometimes, just sitting on the sidewalk and sometimes
Crossing the road from here to there, from there to here
without purpose
At least that's how it seems.
Involuntarily, movies ran through my head, what he had been through in life.
If you ever felt like your life was hard, come here
And I'll show you why you're wrong.

Sometimes he would disappear for a month, or a little more
then appears again.
Sitting here, standing there, crossing the road
rubs against cars.
Weird, we already said.

where are you man

Time passed and I noticed that it had been a long time
I did not see him. Make a big break this time.
where are you man
A little more time passed and I heard.

He was kind of homeless.
If there are those whose life is honey
Or, say strawberry jam
His life was - gravel.
Live from hand to mouth, or from the sidewalk to the car.
What is it from the sidewalk to the car?

So that's how... he would schedule your trip
The cars on Jaffa Street.
The narrow road and the people who cross it frequently
Drivers were not allowed to develop high speed
And he trusted it.
He selected the appropriate car and burst onto the road
Before the driver could stop... BOOM... an accident.

He was injured most of the times in his legs.
Usually breaks a few bones and is evacuated
to the hospital.
And that's exactly what he wanted.
Because now he is entitled to compensation from National Insurance,
Or from the driver's mandatory insurance, or whoever
The main thing is to have something to buy and eat.

Along the way, there is also the bonus of a clean bed,
Some good attitude from compassionate nurses at the hospital
and milk porridge for the evening.
A painful profession, with high risk and a livelihood not who knows what.

Only after three months of not seeing him, I heard.
The last time he met
With the car... the car won.
I felt a strong pinch in my soul.

Animal cruelty

I remembered the case of that poor man, when I came across another story.
Rabbi Yitzhak ben Shlomo Luria, known by his nickname the Holy Ari
Stayed with a Jew.
After finishing the hospitality, he thanked him for the trouble
But before he left, he asked the Jew: "How can I pay you?
for the hospitality and trouble for me."

The owner of the house answered him: "I had sons but my wife was married
barren woman. Requests that his honor find a cure for her
That you can give us more children."

The Ari explained to him in the answer: "There was a small ladder
Standing in your house on a regular basis, roosters would rise
And they go down to drink water in a vessel that was next to it.

Once, your wife told the maid in your house
that you remove the ladder from there for some matter.
Since then," the Ari claimed to him, "the roosters have great sorrow
And they are thirsty. And so she was doomed to be barren.
Although she had no intention of upsetting the roosters,
But because of a completely different reason, her actions, they caused."
The owner of the house heard the words
and put the ladder back in its place.
A short time later, his wife became pregnant and gave birth.
But, the happy ending did not put my mind to it.
I was looking for the logic, or the idea behind the story.

Then I also saw an explanation.
According to the teachings of the Jewish tradition, not only is it forbidden
Go cause grief to the animal
But you must feel for his help if you saw him suffering
And even if it's not your fault, and even if it's the owner's
of the animal his sorrow and he is sitting on the side
and does not help him.

And more later, because we learn from the sources
Because the concern for the suffering animal owner is important, to the point
Desecrate the Sabbath for them, as is customary for a sick person.

The human heart cannot be divided.
If he is merciful - he is merciful, and if he is cruel - he is cruel.
It is not possible for a person to act indifferently towards animals
And he will be defined as merciful.
The human heart is one, and if it is able to develop
Indifference to the grief of a dog or bird
After all, he is getting used to being indifferent
to the suffering of others and it permeates and permeates
And he becomes a person who is indifferent to grief in general.
of animals and of humans.

Long after I heard that homeless man was killed in an 'accident'
I thought to myself, did we act according to her
The ancient tradition?
Even if he had refused help, wouldn't we have had to
To do something?
And maybe just listen?
How I would like to sit next to him and hear him.
Do not advise, do not suggest or refer.
Don't be arrogant, God forbid.
Just hear, just listen to his story.
I have no idea what his name was.
For me, he was a 'gravel life'.

Yitzhak Toito

Born in Haifa, and has a master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in physical education.
Last year he published his non-fiction book "Collecting Gifts from the Floor" which is full of unconventional ideas, casually woven into the plot and which the reader is invited to simply pick up from the floor.
Itzik is now nearing the end of his next book.

More stories by Yitzhak Toito published in Hai Pa: