On the way to rehearsals for a show, we stop at Haim's kiosk to buy coffee.
In the newspaper located there, the headline tells about a "sudden and mysterious illness" type strike of pilots in an Israeli airline.
At least two flights were canceled as a result of this strike at the height of the July-August vacation season.
Almost every morning I visit the kiosk of Haim and his son Yaakov.
I don't remember even once that the window was closed and the kiosk was closed.
The knowledge that Haim's kiosk will be open and he and his son will be in it is as strong and absolute for me as the sun shining in the sky.
It will always be open and they will always be there.
Haim is self-employed and can certainly manage one day without opening the kiosk.
Sure he has tired and annoying days where he wants to stay in bed and just not open.
He will indeed lose money in that case, but it will definitely be an amount he can handle.
So why does it never happen?
Because of the contract.
There is an unwritten contract between Ben Haim and Yaakov between me and hundreds of other customers within the framework of which Haim's commitment is that every morning at six - the place opens.
This is the contract.
It is not written, as mentioned, but it exists.
On the way, with coffee already in hand, I think to myself: what if the theater will withhold my salary for the show I'm traveling to rehearsals for?
These things happen from time to time.
Not in our magnificent theater which is the finest of all theaters, but in principle you sometimes hear about such things in the field of culture;
In such a case, would it occur to me not to show up for the show in Kfar Saba or Ashdod or Nes Ziona until the payment is given?
The answer to this is clear and immediate: unthinkable.
Not because of the commitment, not because of the theater, not because of the prank.
Only because of the audience.
Only because of the contract.
We have a contract.
Beyond the existence or presence of the theater, of the management, of the system - I have an interest in the audience.
I perform for him.
He came to see me.
I don't cancel a show unless I'm sedated and ventilated.
Now don't jump on me.
I know.
It's not exactly the same.
And there is definitely something to do with the fact that I am anxious about my position and that Chaim will meet his clients the day after the closing, matters that do not exist in the case of the pilots, and yet I ask: what about the contract?
After all, apart from the working relationship, which I am not going into at all and it is quite possible that the pilots are right, what about the passengers?
What about the unwritten contract between the pilot and them?
Could they really not be part of this equation at all?
Even before I imagine the human injury to the passengers, the ignoring of the heartache, just like that, in the name of the basic rules of a reformed world: is this how a contract is broken?
Everything that is not written and signed with a full signature and initials simply does not exist?
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