The Elevator Ride

A month ago, there was a news item in the Israeli online news website I follow. Typically this has very serious news. This time it had me laughing for quite a while.

Here's the story from Ha'arets:

Eli Yishai removed from T.A. elevator after stuck for 45 minutes
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent

Trade Minister Eli Yishai and three Shas MKs were stuck Thursday for 45 minutes in an elevator that fell three stories in a Tel Aviv office building.Yishai, whose office is responsible, among other things, for security and inspection of elevators in Israel, ordered a probe of the
malfunction. He is expected to receive the preliminary findings as early as Thursday night.The building where Yishai and MKs Nissim Ze'ev, David Azoulay and Ya'akov Margi were stuck houses the Tel Aviv branches of Trade Ministry offices. The lawmakers were in the building meeting with authority heads.

While they were stuck in the elevator, MK Ze'ev fell ill and
fainted. Firefighters, police and an ambulance arrived at the scene and
removed the lawmakers from the elevator after 45 minutes. In the end, nobody present was injured.

Ok, so no one sees anything very funny about this almost tragic event, right? In the Hebrew version, the one who fainted complained there was very little oxygen in the elevator. Still, no one finds this funny, right?

Maybe I should add at this point that the Kneset Members who were caught in the elevator all belong to one radically Ultra Orthodox party in our government. You won't find a secular person who likes this party. They do not believe in serving in our military. They suck our taxes that pay for their studying for a lifetime. This party is based on racism. They are comprised of

Sepharadi Jews and they've never been too friendly to the Ashkenazi Jews (moi).


I bring to you the Hebrew comments that followed this news item:

• Everything is from above.
• Oh, how unfortunate. With some luck this could have ended with an entire new group of Kneset Members. It's a pity the elevator stopped only after six floors. Where's the "supervision from above" [the Hebrew term for God] when we need it?
• Does Tel-Aviv not have a building with 40 floors?
• Someone should check their mezuzah and screws! [typical remark from a Shas member when something bad happens to someone]
• We almost got rid of them - conclusion: there is no God!
• They did not parachute in the army - so they parachute in civilian life.
• It's very fortunate that these were Kneset members and are already used to suffering lack of oxygen to their brains.