Featured Article in Misaskim 2013 Summer Safety Magazine 100,000 Copies.
We all know the feeling: you’re in a rush and every space in the parking lot seems to be taken. You finally spot an opening right there in front of the door. Delighted, you pull up…only to realize that the reason the spot is open is because it is reserved for the disabled.
“But there are no disabled people here now,” you tell yourself with a quick glance around. (Would you really have noticed if there were?) “I’ll just be a few minutes and no one will know the difference.”
Did you ever stop to wonder why the best spots are reserved for the disabled, even though there never seem to be any disabled people around?
We hope you will never have to learn the answer.
Despite what most of us think, there are plenty of disabled individuals in our communities. They may drive up at any time. The few minutes you will save yourself by taking the spot nearest to the entrance of the building pale in significance when compared to the suffering and anguish you may be causing someone else—suffering that is completely unnecessary if you would just have stopped to think for a few seconds.
Harav Dovid Cohen, shlita, stated that the misuse of reserved handicapped parking spaces or removal
of such spaces is gezel es harabim. Harav Malkiel Kotler, shlita, stated “al tgzilu dal” applies.
State and federal law require all parking lots, including those located on private properties, to have parking spaces designated especially for use by the disabled. It is against the law for anyone to park there without a special permit or license. Even a car that carries a handicapped permit or license may only park in a reserved space if the individual with the disability is present at the time.
In addition, the area next to the reserved parking spot is marked with diagonal blue lines. That area may not be used for parking by anyone, not even by the disabled. It is there to permit wheelchair access to those who are using those spaces. You should never park there under any circumstances.
People suffering from disabilities have told Misaskim that they choose which shul to daven in based on which one has available disabled parking. They already know which shuls in their neighborhood to avoid because other people always take the reserved spots, or because no such spots exist. Some disabled individuals skip davening in shul altogether because it is just too difficult for them to drag themselves across the parking lot, while others enjoy the easy access that should have been theirs.
Speaking about those who park illegally in a reserved spot in front of a shul or beis medrash, Reb Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, has said that the davening and learning of those who park illegally have the status of a mitzvah haba b’aveirah. He further stated that their Torah or tefi llah will not be blessed with hatzlacha. In effect, their efforts are worthless. What a shame!
In his Friday night address at last December’s Agudah Convention, Rabbi Paysach Krohn, noted lecturer and mohel, discussed the anguish that people cause when they park illegally in reserved spaces. He mentioned a
woman who had to carry her disabled teen-aged daughter, “like a sack of potatoes,” through the parking lot of a doctor’s office that is frequented by members of the heimishe community, because someone had occupied the reserved space near the door.
Later, Rabbi Krohn received an e-mail from someone who suffered a similar experience in the very same parking lot – only worse. This man had two children who could not walk. When he arrived at the office, he found that someone had parked in a manner that blocked not one, but two reserved spots. The father was forced to park three rows over, help one child into the wheelchair, place the second child on the first child’s lap, and then navigate the snowdrifts with one hand, while clutching the second child’s walker with the other.
As he arrived breathless at the entrance, the offending driver walked out and headed for his car. The entire scene was witnessed by a person from across the street, who was incredulous at what he saw. Needless to say, it was hardly a Kiddush Hashem.
Please, stop for a second and think about those less fortunate than you!
You can do a tremendous chessed for others by making sure those blue reserved parking spots are always
open and accessible. Stay away from reserved parking if you are not disabled. Those spaces are not for you. If you see people who are using those spaces inappropriately, let them know politely that they do not belong there. Make sure those spots are free of litter, snow, or anything else that may inhibit their use by their rightful disabled users.
In the merit of caring about others, may Hashem spare you from.
thank you Misaskim www.misaskim.org
VISIT YOU TUBE LINK FOR RABBI PAYSACH KROHN SPEECH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXu7v41-e3I
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