Sher Auto Sales

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Station wagons: Many of these outmoded boats on wheels and large vans can be found in Northwest Baltimore's Jewish neighborhood. Their roomy interiors accommodate traditionally large families. By RAFAEL ALVAREZ - SUN STAFF So many things are crucial to the intensely ordered life of an Orthodox Jew: a synagogue within walking distance of home, a trustworthy rabbi, and schools to teach the galaxy of nuance inherent in Judaism's 613 separate commandments. The outside world rarely gets to see the striped shawls and tiny boxes filled with sacred Scripture worn by religious Jews at daily prayer. But the next time you're cruising the streets of Northwest Baltimore, be alert for an obvious sign of the Orthodox way of life - the faded -and rusting full-sized American station wagon. "When I'm driving down the Jones Falls Expressway and I see a big old wagon, I automatically assume it's an Orthodox family," says Hillel Tendell, a local attorney. "And when you come out of [services] and see two identical wagons side by side, you ask the next guy, 'Which one is yours?' "Go to the corner of Clover and Highgate, and you'll see both sides thick with station wagons," says Tendell. "This is the way we live." The hulking wagons and boxy passenger vans that seat up to 15 people reflect the size of the Orthodox family. Even when a couple has only four or five children, they are invariably part of a car pool ferrying children to and from Jewish schools. "Generally speaking, a person isn't allowed to cease having children for reasons of convenience," says Rabbi Yitzchok Adler, a father of 10 who recently bought a 1989 12-seat Chevy van with 80,000 miles on it for $6,800. "We need big vehicles, and we need inexpensive vehicles." The preponderance of these autos are 7-year-old Chevrolet Caprice wagons or Oldsmobile Custom Cruisers — lumbering, four-wheel boats that tend to be gray or blue and sell for about $6,000 if they're in good shape. American automakers are no longer manufacturing full-sized wagons—they've been overtaken by minivans and sport utility vehicles— but so many wagons remain among Baltimore's 2,100 Orthodox families, that children waiting to be picked up from school often check who's behind the wheel so they don't go home with the wrong people. And most of those wagons come from Sher's Auto Sales and Maven Motors, Orthodox used car lots three blocks apart on Reisterstown Road. "Meir Sher is the main source he's known far and wide," says Tendell. Like an used car salesmen, Sher likes to close a deal with a handshake—except when the customer is a woman, because Jewish laws of modesty caution him against touching any female other than his wife. Sher's wife is Chaya, a verbal dynamo who does most of the selling— sometimes getting more than $11,000 for a one-owner latemodel wagon with low mileage— after Meir buys the vehicles at auction and wholesale. While the most-observant Jew struggles to fulfill all ofthe faith's dictates, particular pains are taken to sell used cars by the good book.

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