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March 19, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: The Divine is in the details
JWisdom.com Stewards of sacrifice with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama is waging war on Israel
March 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Israel's New Enemy: America?
JWisdom.com Love me not? with Rabbi David Aaron (5 minutes)
Jonathan Rosenblum: Washington Throws a Tantrum
March 17, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Orwell, Santayana, and Me
Jonathan Tobin: How Many Lives Is Biden's Pride Worth?
March 16, 2010
Steven Emerson: Combating Lawfare
JWisdom.com How to perform a miracle with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair (4 minutes)
Anne Bayefsky: Behind Obama's Dangerous Overreaction on Israel
March 15, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Father's obligations toward minor children
JWisdom.com Moody, Grumpy, Irritable Children with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Judith Graham: Get the whole picture before a CT
March 12, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: You CAN have Heaven on Earth
JWisdom.com Manufacturing mediums with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (4 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: The march of the Red-Green brigades
March 11, 2010
Glenn Garvin: Conspiracy theories, why people believe them and how they spread
JWisdom.com For Yourself, Not By Yourself with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer : Turn leftovers into tasty New England hash
Paul Richter: Biden promises 'viable Palestine' is in the offing
March 10, 2010
Paul Greenberg: Death Checks In
JWisdom.com How To Get A (Real) Life with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( EXTENDED EPISODE)
Paul Richter: Israel exerts soverign right to its capital as Biden looks on astounded
Richard A. Serrano: 'Jihad Jane' indictment alleges threat from within U.S.
March 9, 2010
Wesley Pruden: Joe's Israeli adventure
JWisdom.com Free To Be (Responsibly) You and Me! with Rabbi Naftali Brawer ( 8 MINUTES)
David G. Savage: Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier's funeral
March 8, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Make a fuss about those who cuss?
JWisdom.com Finding or Losing Yourself? Here's How! with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Steven Emerson: America must learn from the UK about the future of Islamist subversion
March 5, 2010
Rabbi Berel Wein: Golden Calf still with us --- except it has multiplied
JWisdom.com The Limits of Eternity with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Biden's lost cause
March 4, 2010
Alan M. Dershowitz: How About A Real Campaign Against Abuses?
JWisdom.com Using Things, Loving People with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff ( 7 MINUTES)
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative
March 3, 2010
JWisdom.com Grasping The Name of Your Life Game with Rabbi Warren Goldstein ( 8 MINUTES)
The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta : A cowboy's recipes for really good grub
March 2, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Someone's there
Diane Toroian Keaggy : Have we misunderstood Michelangelo?
March 1, 2010
JWisdom.com Whole in One with Rabbi David Aaron ( 5 MINUTES)
Michael Muskal: Hillary meets with Israeli official, discusses gefilte fish dispute
Feb. 26, 2010
Rabbi Francis Nataf: The Megilla of Spring
JWisdom.com A Biblical Secret for a More Powerful You with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: When rhetoric rules the roost
Feb. 25, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: When walking away from your mortgage is both economically sound and makes ethical sense
JWisdom.com The Second Most Important Question in Your Life with Rabbi Yehoshua Karsh ( 5 MINUTES)
Seema Mehta : U.S.-Israel relations raised in California's Senate race --- by conservatives
Feb. 24, 2010
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The gift of the ‘prayer bomber’
Steven Emerson: Why Religious Freedom Commission is under attack
Feb. 23, 2010
Dennis Prager: Government, Yes! The Divine and Parents, No!
JWisdom.com The Last Laugh of Enlightenment with Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair ( 5 MINUTES)
Anne Applebaum: Prepare for war with Iran --- in case Israel strikes
Feb. 22, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Is it not refreshing Tiger Woods' career has crashed and burned so dramatically?
JWisdom.com Esther and the third Truth with Rabbi David Aaron ( 9 MINUTES)
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Feb. 19, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: Is the Divine beyond us or within us?
JWisdom.com Olympic Faith with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 MINUTES)
Caroline B. Glick: Israel and the West are perpetrators of a myth that endangers the Jewish State
Feb. 18, 2010
Cal Thomas: Who is Rashad Hussain?
JWisdom.com A Wedding Disaster to Remember with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein ( 3 MINUTES)
Feb. 17, 2010
JWisdom.com Think your life is messed up? with Rabbi David Aaron ( 11 MINUTES)
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Feb. 16, 2010
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JWisdom.com Feet On The Street Spirituality with Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 8 MINUTES)
Marty Peretz: Let Europe Mind Its Own Business. It Brings Nothing To The Table Save For Mischief
Feb. 15, 2010
Herb Geduld: Lincoln and the Jews
JWisdom.com Are Our Children Really Ours? with Rabbi Mordechai Becher ( 5 MINUTES)
Susan King: 'Wolf Man' reflected writer's wartime Jewish experience

Jewish World Review June 17, 2004 / 28 Sivan, 5764

The Mommy who busted the bomber

By Toby Klein Greenwald


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A story that did not make the news has implications for us


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | My friend, Shlomit (not her real name), doesn't look like your typical terrorist hunter. She wears a sheites (wig worn by religious women as a sign of modesty) and arch supports. In addition to her regular job, she scoots around the country, giving a lecture here, taking a class there. She cooks for families in distress and she bakes cakes to pass out to soldiers manning roadblocks. She's always on a diet.


But last week, Shlomit became a hero.


Shlomit was driving on a main highway in Israel, on her way to a town inside the green line, to visit her married daughter and grandchildren. She found herself behind a large garbage truck, but, not being in a hurry and preferring not to pass on a busy road, she drove contentedly along behind him, listening to a CD of Devora Gila, a religious female Joan Baez-type singer. The yellow license plate on the truck in front of her indicated that it was owned by an Israeli. The cars of Palestinian drivers living under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority have white or green plates. There are, however, Arab-owned vehicles with yellow plates — those belonging to Arab residents of East Jerusalem.


After a while Shlomit noticed that other cars were flying by them, but a car with white plates remained steadfastly behind her. She was sandwiched between the two.


After a while, the garbage truck pulled over to the side of the road and Shlomit passed it. Something made her glance up at her rear view mirror, and she saw that the Palestinian car was also pulling over. Shlomit saw the driver get out and hand a small package to the driver of the garbage truck.


This, she thought — the transfer of something from a white-plate to a yellow-plate driver — was a little odd.


So Shlomit, being a good citizen, upon reaching a roadblock several miles up the road, told the story to a soldier manning the post.


"Would you mind sticking around for a few minutes?" he asked.


"No problem," said Shlomit and settled down with a cup of coffee kindly offered by the young man in the bulletproof vest and helmet.

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A few minutes later the garbage truck rolled into the roadblock lane. Having yellow plates, it should have passed through fairly easily. But the soldiers, tipped off by Shlomit, examined his cab even more carefully than usual. They found the little package and opened it.


It contained explosives. My friend Shlomit probably saved some lives that day.


The story could end here, but it doesn't. There is a story behind the story.


Shlomit, being the road traveler she is, always carries two items in her car, in addition to her green leather purse and a water bottle. She has an instant camera and the soldiers' "bill of rights". It explains what rights a soldier has when checking an individual and someone tries to question the soldier. "I see the 'Machsom [Roadblock]-Watch' women harassing soldiers all the time," she says. "I also noticed, over time, that the day after the media reports that soldiers at a certain roadblock caught terrorists before they infiltrated, the 'Machsom-Watch' women are there, harassing the soldiers.


"In effect, the statement these women are making," says Shlomit, "is that they would have rather the bombers got through and murdered Jews."


This is the reason that Shlomit won't say at which roadblock they caught the "garbage bomber" — in order not to provide the harassers with another IDF target. When Shlomit gets to a roadblock where soldiers are being harassed, she photographs the harassers and hands the soldiers a copy of their bill of rights, along with her chocolate cakes.


The moral of the story, says Shlomit, is, "Be vigilant. If you notice something unusual on the road or anywhere else, don't hesitate to point it out to a soldier, policeman or security person."


Life or death can be only a heartbeat away.


How does she feel, knowing she probably saved lives that day?


"I didn't do anything," says Shlomit. "It was all the hand of G-d."


And off she drove, into the sunset.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and in Washington consider must-reading. Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Toby Klein Greenwald is a journalist, a community theater director and the editor of WholeFamily.com. She lives in Efrat. Comment by clicking here.

© 2004, Toby Klein Greenwald