So we were on the sheirut back from the airport last night, and it was just the two of us, an older man and a young woman left to be dropped off.

Suddenly, the old man says: “What happened to my other bag? I had another bag in here”

Driver: “Didnt you put it in the back? Why not? Have you looked everywhere?”

Man: “I took it on with me. I had three bags, now I have two. If it was mine, to hell with hit. But it belonged to someone else.”

So we all concluded that someone else had accidentally taken it. The driver said: “the other people who got off were dati – 1 million percent that when they find it, they will call the office and you will get it back. Do not worry my friend”.

The man was still upset though. The driver relayed information about the missing bag over the radio to HQ, so that if anyone found it, they should know who it belongs to.

Two minutes later we here back over the radio: “We had a duty-free bag here in my van. Is this the one you are missing?”. The man said: “Cant be, I took it onto this van with me!”. But as the contents was described, it became clear that somehow the bag had ended up on another van.

“Pilai Pla’im (Wonder of wonders)” said the driver, “It seems like hocus pocus to me. I think that Harry Potter was involved somehow”.

As we got off the van, a rendezvous with the other van was being set up to return to the man his lost bag.

Here are the things that strike me about this incident: No one for one second considered that someone stole the bag – “God forbid that I suspect such a thing” said the man. Everyone knows that Frum people do not do that, and that if a frum person took it by mistake, he would definately return it. Also, the immediate return of the bag, within 5 minutes from the other van – hashavat aveidah at its best.

And the best part – this kind of thing happens all the time over here.