A Blessing for the Arabs | No Rabbi | Beit Midrash

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Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu

קטגוריה משנית

Once, during a period when there were many shootings and terror attacks on the roads, Rabbi Eliyahu needed to travel to the Cave of the Patriarchs. But, as usual, he refused to ride in a bulletproof car, saying he would travel only in the same cars that residents living in Judea and Samaria regularly used. Rabbi Eliyahu and those accompanying him traveled in a convoy, so that the vehicles both in front of and behind the rabbi’s car served as security vehicles.

At one of the first bends in the road during their journey, an Arab-driven taxi pushed into the middle of the convoy, coming quite close to the rabbi’s car, literally driving right behind it, riding its tail. All those in the security vehicles were tense, fearing a possible terrorist attack, and they tried to overtake the Arab's taxi in every possible way, but they met with no success. The taxi stuck to the back of the rabbi’s car like a leech, and nothing they tried could change the situation.
Though they made many attempts, the security officers couldn’t get in between the rabbi’s car and the Arabs' taxi to separate them. Anxiety was high and nerves were tense, so much so that the convoy drivers almost got into an accident. But then Rabbi Eliyahu himself solved the problem by asking to pull over at the side of the road. All the cars in the convoy pulled over, too, with everyone on edge and full of apprehension. The Arab taxi also pulled over. Three men wearing kaffiyehs and a woman in a jilaba stepped out of the car.

Rabbi Eliyahu's assistants gathered around him to protect him from the taxi's Arab passengers. But Rabbi Eliyahu just smiled widely and said, "Call them over so they can get a blessing!"
Rabbi Eliyahu's assistants were shocked. A blessing for these Arabs? Weren't they in enough danger already? But they didn't dare go against the rabbi's instructions, so they called the Arabs over. To everyone's great surprise, they came.
As they approached the rabbi, they removed their kaffiyehs, revealing the white yarmulkes they were wearing underneath. To the even greater surprise of Rabbi Eliyahu's assistants, the "Arabs" revealed that they were a group of undercover agents on a mission to protect the rabbi on the roads in those dangerous times.