Manhattan, NY – A feral pigeon nicknamed Tony has been riding the New York Waterway ferry from Manhattan to Weehawken at the same time every day for three years.
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“I’ve been working this job for 23 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” says senior deckhand George Schumpp, a 52-year-old from the upper East Side. “Three years ago, this pigeon shows up and starts going through the cabin and eating crumbs. Next thing you know, he’s here every day at the exact same time. And he does more work cleaning than my partner.”
According to deckhands and regular passengers, Tony boards the Thomas Jefferson ferry every morning at Pier 79 on W. 39th St. during the rush-hour commute. He travels back and forth on the boat to New Jersey, exiting briefly at each dock to search for food, before disembarking after two hours without fail back in Manhattan.
He then repeats the same two-hour routine, wandering both the upper and lower decks of the boat, during the evening commute. The only time he ever misses a day is during a blizzard.
“If you see him every day, you recognize him immediately,” says Montoya. “He’s black and has a great sheen to his feathers. Plus, no other bird is brave enough to go in the cabin with all these people around.”
“I’ve been a New Yorker my whole life and we’re not big fans of pigeons, but Tony has changed the way I think,” says Schumpp, who recently started feeding the pigeons around his home after work.
“He’s really smart and unique. He thinks he’s human. He’ll walk on and off the boat with the passengers. The passengers love him.”
I’m surprised to be the first of all the posters to suggest that it is a “Gilgul”. What we need is for a Minyan to daven Mincha on the ferry. That will be a “Tikkun” for the Neshama.
This pigeon is luckier than the frum working Yidden in Flatbush that lost their express bus x29 due to Jay Walder head of the MTA who has now resigned.
Sorry but gilgul is a real thing even if we don’t understand it!
To #10 , I think you’re wrong. Lions and eagles are not Kosher. A pigeon is Kosher. Being megilal into the latter is apparenly a lot higher level than the former.
rav saadia gaon in emuna v’deos 6 8 says we do not believe in gilgulim because jews believe that the human soul is too special to end up in an animal. chasdai crescas in or adonai maamar 4 drush 7 says the same. the rasbha in tshuvo 418 says the same but adds that believing in gilgul causes one to be nisrashel from din. (you know, who cares if you mess up, theres always next time). The rashba’s rebbi the ramban, an early kabbalist also never mentions it. Rabbi hirsch in bereishis 50 2 writes about embalming “to the egyptian the body was embalmed so that its individuality should persist. But the soul did not remain in its personal individuality, but wandered from body to body- even to animal bodies- in manifold metamorphosis. To the jew the soul persists, the body wanders, once the soul has gone home to the circle where it belongs, the body has nothing more to do with the individual” etc see there. Also anyone who believes in gilgulim will have a hard time explaining gemara in avoda zara 5a ein ben david ba ad sheyichlu nishamos shebaguph. And an even harder time explaing tosafos there.
Many big rabbis did believe such as rabbeinu bichayei, ironically a student of the rashba.
This will end soon when Bloomy rolls out a pigeon ferry tax and describes how it cost less here than in other countries.
Guys, guys. I think THE point here is there is a pigeon who gets on and off the boat everyday between NY and NJ. Do we have to analyze everything to death? This was a great human interest story, until I read all your commentaries. Do you all have to fight over everything, all the way down to a human interest animal story?
this is a cute story….based on last weeks ferry story, is a pigeon per ferry limit put in place yet?