“Toddlers don’t need to be taught how to be happy — it’s their birthright, and it’s ours as well”
I was so gratified to read the article about different families’ experiences with kidney donation. As a kidney donor myself, I passionately believe in the value and virtue of publicizing stories of kidney donation, particularly those of women donors. I felt many of my own experiences mirrored within the article, though I donated in Canada, and I had the zechus to donate to my father.
When awaiting our surgery date, I took upon myself to daven for 40 consecutive days at the Kosel to beg for the success of the surgery. The closeness I felt to Hashem as a result of this pilgrimage was transformative. It was an intensely spiritual experience.
When waiting for the anesthesia to kick in, I was told to visualize a place I wanted to be. I closed my eyes and saw myself on a beautiful sunny day standing in front of the towering stones, and felt an incredible sense of peace (though after reading the article, I wish I had had the presence of mind to declare, “Hineni muchan umezuman l’kayeim mitzvas aseh shel kabeid es avicha v’es imecha.”) When, three days after the surgery, I ventured two floors down in the hospital to visit my father and heard him say asher yatzar as his body began to work properly for the first time in over seven years, I cried.
On my 40th day at the Kosel, I broke down in tears. In a powerfully affecting display of ahavas chinam, a woman I’d never met before and will likely never meet again, laid her hand on my shoulder and said, “Yehi ratzon sheyimalei kol mish’eiloseich l’tovah — Hashem should fulfill all the wishes of your heart in a positive way,” and continued on her way away from the Wall. The chizuk and love I felt from that simple expression of concern and empathy was indescribable.
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