A Breath Of Fresh Air

“Mommy, I think we missed our stop!” Rivky called out to her mother.

“It’s OK, Rivky,” Shaindy reassured her daughter. “The train reverses at the last stop and starts the route again. Before we know it, we’ll be back home b’ezras Hashem.”

Shaindy Kohn had spent the hot, humid summer day in July shopping for her daughter Ruchy, a kallah, and Rivky, the sister of the kallah, who is a high school student. Baruch Hashem, their full shopping bags testified to their success. In just a few stops thaey would find themselves at the final stop and then the subway train would reverse its route and begin its Manhattan-bound trek.

At last, the conductor called out, “Last stop. Good night, folks!”

All the passengers alighted, but the Kohn Family waited for the train to start moving again. Instead of restarting its route, the train doors closed, and the lights went out. The hum of the air conditioning became silent. Before they knew it, they found themselves locked in a hot stuffy subway car. They looked out of the train windows to see if there were any conductors or subway personnel to alert. Ironically, they faced an empty train station. It was deserted. They tried sliding the doors open, but they would not budge.

Shaindy tried to think logically. There must be some way to signal for help. She pulled out her cellphone and dialed her husband. No reception and no service. She tried dialing 911. That should work. No service again. No way to call anyone in this underground station.

Then, an epiphany. Of course, the emergency lever. There was no light in the subway car, but a red light flashed near Rivky. “Rivky, there is an emergency handle to your right. Try pulling it,” Shaindy advised.

Rivky grabbed the bar and tried turning it to the left just as the illustration recommended, and suddenly the spring detached and she went flying with the lever across the train. The emergency lever was broken! Now what?!

Ruchy, who since her engagement was only focused on her chosson and matters related to her upcoming chasuna, willed herself to disconnect and focus on this weird situation. Who gets locked up in a train? These things only happened to her family! She began to bang on the train windows. Someone should become alarmed by the noise. Rivky helped her by rattling the doors. The sounds, although unsettling, simply echoed in the empty station. Was the train becoming darker by the minute or was it their imagination?

“Girls, you’re just going to tire yourself out. Let’s say some Tehillim.” Shaindy took out her pocket siddur, but it was hard to make out the tiny print in the darkness. They said a few kapitlech by heart. Shaindy and the girls peered out of the train windows and tried to catch a glimpse of any passing shadows. There was absolutely no one around.

“Mommy, do we have water?” Rivky asked. “It’s so hot and sticky in here.” Shaindy wondered if she should ration her lone little water bottle. “Take some and share with Ruchy,” she offered. She never realized how refreshing air conditioning was. Had she always taken her central air for granted? She tried maneuvering the windows and wished they would budge and allow in a bit of fresh air.

“Mommy, do you think there’s enough oxygen for us to survive the night in this airless car?” Rivky asked.

“I wonder what my chosson will think when he hears the news. ‘Three Jewish women collapse in unventilated closed subway car.’ And then he hears that one of them is his kallah. He’ll be devastated.”

“Ruchy, let’s think positive. Somehow Hashem will help us. You’ll have a real adventure story to share with him. You’ll tell him how you were saved so miraculously and how we all saw Yad Hashem!” Shaindy was getting edgy herself, but she had to encourage her daughters. She regretted that she did not get off following the missed stop, but obviously it was bashert for her and her daughters to go through this ordeal.

Rivky watched her mother and her older sister talking. This was really bad. Her mother and her older sister were always so resourceful, and now they were so stuck. Who and what could help? She had to go to the top, to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But they had already said Tehillim.

Shaindy started singing. Didn’t they sing songs of emunah during the Holocaust? They sang “Ani Mamin” and “A Yid Never Breaks.” They sang some Shabbos songs. When was the last time she just sat and sang with her girls? They were so talented and harmonized so beautifully. Soon her daughter Ruchy would be married and when would she just sing with her?

At some point, they stopped. Their throats were parched and there was no water left. Rivky tried to think about a kaballah she could accept so she should have a zechus to ask Hashem to save them. Her teacher Mrs. Weiss always spoke about how HaKadosh Baruch Hu loves tznius. In the dark car, she turned to Hashem and silently beseeched, “Hashem you know how hard this is for me. I accept this upgrade in tznius and please Hashem in this zechus save my mother, my sister – a kallah about to get married in just a few short weeks, and me – a high school student who truly wishes to fulfill your will and make you proud!”

Suddenly, Ruchy called out, “I see someone walking. Let’s start banging and yelling again!” All three of them started banging like their lives depended upon those very sounds. The shadow stopped for a second. They recharged their pounding. The figure then started walking up the stairs in the station. They pummeled with all their might.

The figure returned and followed their pounding. With disbelief he opened the subway doors. “What exactly are you doing on this train? We called out that this is the last stop, and everyone should disembark.”

Shaindy explained to the conductor that they had missed their stop and assumed that the subway would restart its route and pass the station near their home. The conductor shook his head. “I don’t know what made me come back. After the last run, I usually hurry to return home and never retrace my steps. I’m glad you folks are safe. I wouldn’t want to think about how you would manage without air for a whole night! Hurry along and go home as well.”

They thanked him and followed him up the steps and out into fresh air and freedom. Rivky did not tell anyone about her kaballah which she took upon herself at that time. A full year later, when Rivky’s color war team asked her to share with the camp her tznius story, she told her fellow campers her personal story and how a kaballah in tznius saved her and her family.