Shemot: 14: 21-22
They had been going to the car wash together for years. Mirriam and Yossie had made it into a tradition. In fact, Mirriam wouldn't wash her car if Yossie wasn't with her. She would rather the minivan sit in the driveway, encrusted in salt from the winter or mud from the spring, than clean it up without Yossie.
When Yossie was a baby, the car wash held a certain fascination for him. Sometimes, it was the only thing that would stop him from crying. He had been a very colicky infant, and when the electric swing, the soothie sound machine, and even the old Electrolux vacuum cleaner failed to calm him, Mirriam would take her wailing child to Whale of a Wash in Secaucus, the only all-night car wash in Hudson County. That always did the trick. Yossie would stare out at all the brushes and bubbles with wide eyes, and before you knew it, he was asleep.
Yossie graduated from the car seat to a booster seat, and then to a seat belt, but he still loved the car wash. He didn't like the kind like Splash N' Dash in Elizabeth, where you had to get out of your car. That wouldn't do. He preferred to watch the bubbles from inside the cockpit. His favorite one was the Car-isma Wash in Kearny. It had great old machines, and the dryer made this wonderful, deep noise, like the whole car might be sucked up into the mechanism of the car wash.
So on a sunny Friday afternoon, three days after a major snow storm dumped six inches of granular powder on northern New Jersey and the public works department of Jersey City sprayed a quarter of an inch of white, chalky salt on the Wexlers' minivan, Mirriam picked up Yossie from school and drove all the way over to Car-isma Wash. It was six miles away from their house, but it was well worth the drive.
"Hi Mrs. W."
"Hi George."
"Do you want the usual?"
"Yes. The full exterior, hold the sealant. But today I want an underbody scrub as well. That salt will burn a whole straight through your chassis. Know what I mean?"
"Sure thing, Mrs. W. Is Mr. Y. in the car?"
"Of course. What kind of a question is that?"
The back window of the van rolled down.
"Hi George."
"Hey, Yossie. How are things?"
"Oh, you know. Same old same old."
"I hear you, buddy."
"And you?"
"Well, Yossie, it's like I always say. Every day above ground is a good day."
"I hear you, Mr. G."
"Can you dig what I mean?"
"I dig it."
"Well, right on."
Their conversation had been exactly the same since Yossie had learned to talk. George walked over to the car and leaned in the window, and Yossie gave him his traditional fist bump.
"Now that's what I'm talking about. Mmm hmm."
Mirriam paid George and climbed back into the car. She pulled the minivan up to the red line, pulled forward until George gave her the thumbs up, and put it in neutral.
The minivan lurched forward as the car wash pulled it into its inner workings.
First the minivan was covered in little droplets of warm water.
"Mom, did it ever occur to you that the car wash is a lot like the splitting of the Red Sea?"
"No, Yossele. That never occured to me. What makes you think that?"
"Well, of course Kriat Yam Suf is on my mind, since it's Shabbat Shira this week."
"Of course."
"But it's more than that."
Large bubbles of soap were shot at the minivan by jets hovering outside the car.
"The Torah describes the Jews as walking betoch hayam bayabasha, standing on dry land within the sea. That's just like being inside your nice dry car in the car wash and watching the water on the windows."
"I never thought of it that way."
"I think it must have looked just like this."
Large pieces of wet cloth danced along the surface of the minivan, swishing back and forth and cleaning off any remaining dirt.
"And when it says Vayolech Hashem et hayam biruach kadim kol halayla, and Hashem moved the sea with a strong east wind all of the night, that's like the drying jets that dry off the car at the end."
"Not bad, Yossie. I see you've given this a lot of thought."
"What can I say? I like to learn Torah, and I like carwashes."
More jets of hot water pounded the car, rinsing off the final soap residue.
"And if you want to know what it was like to be one of the Egyptians at Kriat Yam Suf, all you would have to do is open a window, right about now."
"Please don't."
"Don't worry, I know the rules."
The drying jets attacked the car, and all the moisture was either sucked up or blown away. The minivan came out of the end of Car-isma Wash, and Mirriam put the car in gear and pulled away.
"Thanks, Yossie. That may have been the most educational trip through a car wash that you and I have ever taken."
"No charge, Mom. Today, it's on the house."
"Now that's what I'm talking about," Mirriam said. "Mmm hmm."
Mother and son shared a fist-bump, and the two drove home in their nice, clean car.
I am really glad to read this web site posts which consists of lots of useful information, thanks for providing these kinds
of information.
Posted by: charmbuy.com | October 15, 2013 at 09:10 AM