Chaveirim of Brooklyn/Catskills Urges Erev Shabbos Travelers to Hit the Road - Early

By M.C. Millman

After dealing at the zman last week with an Erev Shabbos emergency for close to thirty families, all stuck on the New Jersey Turnpike in traffic that hadn't moved for close to three hours, and following too many weeks of similar instances, Chaveirim of Brooklyn/Catskills is reaching out to Erev Shabbos travelers with sound advice:

Leave early! As early as you possibly can!

"I've been a Chaveirim dispatcher for more than thirteen years, "Naftali Jaroslawicz, who dispatches Friday afternoons, tells BoroPark24, "and time and again, I see that people just don't realize that there are things that can come up beyond their control when they're on the road."

There are many categories of Erev Shabbos travelers. There are those who are just careless and leave late, and there are those who run into circumstances beyond their control. Either way, the result is the same! The difference is that in one category, something could have been done to prevent a last-minute emergency. In the other case, it is just circumstances beyond anyone's control. 

"I can't begin to tell you," says Naftuli, "how many people we've had to arrange to put up for Shabbos at the last minute. People all over the Tri-State area end up in random, often empty apartments, all on their own for Shabbos, simply because they didn't plan better and got stuck somewhere too far away to make it to their destination before Shabbos. 

I can't stress this enough, leave with more than enough time." 

Suggestions Chaveirim is making include checking on Waze or Google Maps for road conditions well before hitting the road. Always prepare a contingency plan with options to get off the highway at multiple places along the way and, most importantly, leave as early as possible. 

"People have to do better than to get on the road two hours before the zman," says Naftuli, "even if it's only a one-hour trip. There is usually at least one person in an Uber on Shabbos for every Erev Shabbos I've taken calls, but in the last few weeks, there were more than thirty consistently. It doesn't matter if it's an early Shabbos or a longer one, people get stuck regardless. It's out of control."

And so Chaveirim would like Erev Shabbos travelers to take back control – and arrive safe and sound and early enough to enjoy Shabbos.