Times of Israel editor David Horovitz was a recalcitrant driver required to attend a two-lesson course in driver’s ed. Luckily for David, his teacher was Uri Tsihy. He passed the course and got an unusual column out of it to boot: “Driver’s ed with one of ‘the Thirty-Six’? An inspirational story, in a time of crisis.” It’s a long, thought-provoking, and humorous column — perfect weekend reading to go along with “The Week In Pictures” next door.
In Lesson Two Horovitz recounts how Uri screened a short video on how to negotiate traffic circles and displayed several related slides before moving on to to another slide. “One night I dreamed I had been accepted for an interview by God,” Uri read matter-of-factly:
“I asked Him what most surprised him about His children, the humans.”
“God answered,” Uri continued, “that they get bored being children, are desperate to grow up, and then are desperate to be children again. That they sacrifice their health to accumulate money, and then spend all their money trying to regain their health. That they think fearfully of the future and forget the present, so that they don’t live the present or the future. That they live as though they will never die, and die as if they never lived.”
This reading continued for a few minutes — a complete departure from the formal syllabus, obviously, though presented as just another slide. All of us, the non-comprehending and the interrupters and the formerly irritated, sat in silence, listening to what was evidently Uri’s understanding of the purpose of life and the mistakes we make, so frustrating to the Almighty, in failing to live it wisely — notably in neglecting to treat our fellow children of God as we should.
We could all use a little driver’s ed with Uri — whole thing here.
