Yisrael Almasy’s volunteer fleet changes tires and bridges barriers
The app announces that there’s an incident, the SUV leaps forward, and as the Coca-Cola plant and chassidim flash by, it feels like Hatzolah meets Grand Theft Auto, Bnei Brak edition.
Behind the wheel, Yisrael Almasy — business executive-cum-founder of Yedidim, a nonprofit that’s the Uber of Israeli roadside assistance — glances at the app developed by IDF intelligence veterans. “The responder’s name is Yosef,” he says, “he’s already on the scene, and he’s changed multiple tires today. We have about four minutes to catch him.”
Five minutes later, we arrive, but it’s all over. The Toyota with a flat tire is gone, and there’s no trace of the volunteer. But a few seconds later, there’s another alert. A few streets away there’s a new incident, and the mysterious Yosef — clearly bike or moped-borne — has claimed it again. Almasy spins the wheel and an incongruous tension mounts in the car as we set off into the warren of backstreets on this mid-Elul afternoon, on the trail of Bnei Brak’s champion tire changer.
Outside Maayanei Hayeshua — the Torah city’s hospital — the improbable car chase ends.
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