That simple kindness inspired a lifelong affinity for the Jewish People
Last week, Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl, who leads Kollel Heichal HaTorah in Manchester, England, shared with his kehillah a personal story that highlights the lasting impact even a relatively small gesture can have. The Rav related that his daughter had spent several weeks in a local hospital due to medical complications. During that time, his rebbetzin would often purchase several bars of chocolate before heading to the hospital, and distributed them among the staff and patients in her daughter’s ward, spreading sweets and smiles.
On one such visit, an elderly patient graciously accepted the treat and then turned to Rebbetzin Weissmandl with a wide grin. “You’re Jewish!” she exclaimed. Then she added, “I have an amazing closeness to the Jewish people, and whenever there is bad press about them, I always say, ‘You don’t know these people!’ ”
Intrigued, the Rebbetzin asked her why. The elderly woman explained that her positive feelings stemmed from a single episode that had occurred some seven decades earlier in that very medical establishment, where she gave birth to her son. The joyous occasion, however, was marred by difficult hospital conditions. There was a shortage of available rooms, and as a non-insured patient, she was at the bottom of the priority list. Compounding the difficulty was the way things worked back then in the 1960s, when mothers and babies were often subject to extended hospital stays, designed to ensure both were fully healthy before returning home. The prospect of a long, uncomfortable stay in a makeshift room wasn’t especially appealing to the new mom.
Hospitalized at the same time was a Jewish woman who had paid for a private room. She somehow learned of this woman’s predicament and invited the roomless patient to share her private room for the duration of her stay, gratis.
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