OII #9- It's a War Zone- Really!

I decided to save some money this Pesach and join a co-op for vegetables. You had to order insane amounts of produce- like 9 kilo of potatoes, carrots, and onions, along with 5-6 kilo of other items- but it saved hundreds of shekels, at least in my calculations.

And I wasn't the only one- everyone I knew was ordering from them, telling me how easy it would be to head down to the local Bais Yaakov parking lot and just pick them up.
So, I blissfully sent in my money and waited to pick it up.

I offered to go myself, but Mr. NMF insisted on helping me out, and he went down. Little did I know what was in store.

He came back an hour and a half later- looking like he had just walked out of a war zone. Kippah askew, he told me, "That place is a madhouse. And, I didn't finish!"

So, I decided to go down to see for myself.
Hundreds of people, all crammed together, toting huge bags and sacks of vegetables. Trying to balance their chassa (romaine lettuce) and their green onions, on top of giant boxes of bananas, people were rushing back and forth, with baby carriages, shopping carts- you name it, they had it, to carry the produce.

I noticed two things.
Firstly- wow.
Mr. NMF has a rebbe who was here right after the 6 Day War. A friend of the rebbe's was sick, and the doctor prescribed eating apples. In order to get apples, they had to search, and finally found a rich Arab who was willing to sell them some apples from his one apple tree for a hefty price.
Now- we have abundance of produce- so much fruit and vegetables, that we can't even carry it home. Israel has come a long way since the days of no apples.

Secondly, a man was rushing back carrying his bag of apples, and it developed a hole.
Suddenly, everyone stopped, including me. We all dropped whatever we were carrying, and raced after the apples that were slowly bouncing down the hill, and retrieved them all. The man thanked us all profusely, and remarked- Mi K'Amcha Yisroel- who is like Your nation, Israel!

That's how everyone behaved. Despite the fact that it was a tumult, almost like a war zone, when it came down to it, everyone behaved like decent human beings, like a mentch.

So- if they say that Israel is a war zone- well, it could happen, but only during vegetable pick-up before Pesach.