Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman has successfully established a highway synagogue for religious commuters.
By JEREMY SHARONRoute 6 synagogue 370(photo credit: Courtesy)
The renowned rabbi and Israel Prize Laureate Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman has successfully established a highway synagogue for religious commuters who find themselves stuck on Route 6 while the specified time for the upcoming prayer is drawing to a close.The three Jewish prayer services – morning, afternoon and evening – are delimited by strict time constraints.For example, one must pray the afternoon service only after mid-day but before sunset. If a person happens to not have prayed the afternoon service but finds himself on a highway shortly before sunset he faces a problem in finding an appropriate place to perform the religious duty.Many people facing this dilemma pull their cars over onto the hard shoulder of the highway and pray there, although this is dangerous and usually illegal.The new highway synagogue is designed to solve this problem, at least for drivers on Route 6.The synagogue, which is mobile, is currently located between the Baka and Iron interchanges of the highway, on the northbound section of the road within the grounds of a service station and is now up and running.Numerous minyanim – quorums of 10 Jewish men for a prayer service – have already been conducted this week, the first in which the synagogue has been operative.Grossman, who conceived the idea, turned to Udi Savion, director of the Derech Eretz road operator for Route 6, which is a toll road, for permission to establish the synagogue and place it in its current location.Savion said that he was happy that he could make a modest contribution toward the journey of passengers crossing Israel.“I promised Rabbi Grossman that we will also establish another synagogue going in the opposite direction, southward, and we’ll try and get this done soon,” Savion added.
Grossman welcomed the establishment of the new synagogue, saying that it was an important addition for the spiritual and physical well being of commuters.“There’s no doubt that this synagogue will protect and safeguard the highway and those who travel on it,” the rabbi declared.
