So Avi reinvented himself as a taxi driver, learning new skills, mastering new routes, and meeting new people. Most of all, he says, his career change meant a boost in bitachon

The assignment: Find the route, site, or scene that best captures the beauty and charm of Jerusalem.

The driver: Avi Mizrahi of Bar Ilan Taxis

The theme: Nothing frames the beauty of a city better than its holy history

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he best part of being a taxi driver? When you start your day, you never know where you’re going to end up.”

Avi Mizrahi’s affirmation applies perfectly to today — when he woke up this morning, he had no idea he’d be accepting a challenge to take our readers to the location that best showcases Jerusalem. He definitively decides the Old City is our destination, but the route, he says, is part of the experience too.

“‘For sure we should start with Kever Rochel. If you’re coming to Yerushalayim for the first time you can’t miss Mamma Rochel,” Avi tells me as we pick up our photographer, Esther Tscholkowsky.

If you’re expecting the quintessential Israeli taxi driver — an excitable Sabra vehemently espousing his views on politics and other drivers on the road, eating a falafel with one hand while smoking a cigarette with the other — the ride with Avi is a little different. He pleasantly and coherently answers my questions but doesn’t chew my ear off. He’s the furthest thing from prickly: easygoing, calm, and unassuming. He tells us that one of the best parts of his job is meeting all sorts of people, and he seems to genuinely like all of his customers.

Maybe Avi’s mild manner comes from the time he spent in America, working as a locksmith. His English, picked up from the ten years he lived in the United States, is certainly better than my Hebrew (no comment on the number of years I’m living in Israel). It’s no wonder that about half his clientele are Anglo; I’m sure his Americanized demeanor makes them feel comfortable. He, in turn, is impressed by his clients and all the chesed he sees. “It’s unbelievable; so much chesed. I see things, I hear things — they’re in my car, so I hear,” he says almost apologetically, explaining that he can’t help but notice what people are up to, and a disproportionate amount of the time, they’re involved in helping others.

“A few weeks ago, I picked someone up at a baby store in Ezrat Torah, just before Shabbat. He starts loading my car with ten car seats — some infant seats, some for bigger children. He tells me he’s starting a gemach. He doesn’t have much of an income and his wife recently lost her job, but he made a neder to start a gemach so people can keep their children safe when they travel. He has no job and no money, and he’s doing chesed. Unbelievable. So of course, I gave him a discounted fare.”