Dear Readers
The stories presented before you are written to demonstrate the real
life problems faced by many Jewish families today. For this reason the
names of the heroes of each story are fictional except for Mrs. Yocheved
Blanck, founder of the Yad Letinok
organization of Jerusalem, Mrs. Helen Porat, head of Northern Branch, and
Mrs. Rachel Yosian, one of the main heads of volunteer work. The purpose
of these stories is to sharpen and enlarge the awareness of the value of
life. All of these stories are based on true events which have occurred
during the work of the organization to help pregnant women in distress.
Bracha Chatavi
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"Father, your blessings have been
fulfilled!" exclaimed Gila happily.
"What blessing?" asked the elderly man, surprised but with a smile on his bearded face. "Daniel our neighbor, the boy I so want to marry, promised me that shortly we will get married!" answered Gila. "Yes, my beloved daughter. I love you and I like Daniel very much. The main thing is that you should be successful and there should be harmony between you." "Father, are you sad?" asked Gila in a soft voice. "Our dear mother has passed away and I promise to help you even after I get married, don’t worry." There were knocks on the door that interrupted the conversation between Gila and her father. Gila went to open the door and there stood Daniel smilingly. Also Gila was happy to see her fiancee. She decided that now was the time to reveal her secret that she had kept for nearly two months. Daniel said shalom to her father and walked into the dining room. "Aba, rest a while and Daniel and I will talk in the other room. A little bit afterwards, we will return for a cup of tea together." Daniel sat down on the couch, taking a bit of the nuts and other sweets placed for him on the table. "How are you, dear Gila?" he asked. "Boruch Hashem," answered Gila, her cheeks turned slightly red and she smiled. Gila lowered her head. Her heart beat rapidly as she took the courage to ask, "When should we make the wedding date?" "Soon, but I’m not in a hurry." Then he started to stammer. "The reality of my situation . . .I . . .I. . ." He hardly managed to finish the sentence when tears started flowing down Gila’s face. She lowered her head again and waited for a proper answer from Daniel. Daniel was confused. He was a clever boy and understood the pain. He lowered his eyes from the table to the floor and then to the ceiling. It was hard for him to look Gila in the face. Suddenly, he said in a loud voice, "I am sorry Gila. I don’t intend to be in such a rush. It’s true that you have a problem, but in this modern age there are other solutions. Tomorrow, I will contact a doctor and we will see how to deal with the situation." Daniel got up and said good-bye to Gila as he left the house. It was to Gila’s tremendous advantage that she was a girl with deep faith in G-d. She felt strongly the reality of the Creator of the world and that in difficult times it is forbidden to despair. She would cry out to G-d and He would turn Daniel’s heart. She ran to her room, placed her head under the pillow and cried, profusely, with bursts of silent tears and then loud sobbing. This is not the same Daniel that I know and love, she said to herself and continued to cry until she fell asleep. Gila’s father awakened from her crying. That’s not an ordinary crying, he thought in his heart. He got up with difficulty from his bed and walked towards Gila’s room. He was shocked at the sight of Gila lying by herself on the bed, her hair drenched with tears, the pillow soaked as well. "Gila," he cried, but she did not answer; she had fallen asleep. Yaakov, who was not a young man, did not break. He was a Jew with faith and much experience in life. His youth had long departed but he understood that these were not easy times. It was possible to fall into the trap of one’s desires. He decided to speak to the neighborhood Rabbi, in order to get advice about Daniel and Gila. "Shalom, dear Rabbi, I am requesting you to help my only daughter. Someone needs to persuade Daniel, her boyfriend, to marry her, do you understand?" said Yaakov. "Daniel is a nice boy. I am not angry with him. The boys nowadays don’t want to carry on their backs the yoke of family life and responsibility. "Yes," answered Rabbi Shmuel. "Don’t worry, Yaakov, everything will straighten itself out even by tomorrow, G-d willing. "Thank you," answered the elderly man with a sigh of gratitude. Rabbi Shmuel phoned up Rachel.
He didn’t worry about the late hour as he know that for these problems,
she was available 24 hours a day.
The time was 5:00 A.M. The entire
universe was at rest; only Rachel awakened early. In her notebook was written
the address that she must reach. She was already on the way to Gila’s house.
When she finally reached her destination, she was greeted at the door by
Rabbi Shmuel. She smiled but looked tired from the trip.
The voice of joy and happiness was heard on the 29th of Sivan, the wedding day of Gila and Daniel. Another happy household was formed. Rachel, to her sorrow, wasn’t able to participate in the wedding, but what was certain was the feeling of true happiness. She requested Rabbi Shmuel to give them a warm congratulations from her. The years have passed and Rachel
receives regards from the couple via Rabbi Shmuel. Daniel and Gila have
already six children and they are very happy and successful. One clear
day Grandpa Yaakov saw Rachel on the street. He hurried his footsteps with
difficulty and cried out to her. She turned around to see who was calling
her name and suddenly found herself facing Yaakov. She hid her excitement
and greeted him with, "Shalom, how are you? How are the children?"
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Thursday evenings are always busy,
but some Thursday evenings are busier than others. And the Thursday evening
that Yocheved’s husband told her that Rabbi Joseph had called was one of
those busy evenings. Rabbi Joseph had asked Yocheved to call Shaul.
Although Shaul’s the line was constantly busy, Yocheved finally managed
to get a hold of him.
“Oh,” said Shaul, after Yocheved introduced myself. “You are Yocheved, the person that Rabbi Joseph had told me to call.” “Yes,” answered Yocheved, before getting straight to the point. “What’s going on?” “I work in a factory with a lot of other people,” said Shaul, “and one of them, Suzy, will be getting married in the spring. She just found out, however, that she is pregnant.” Yocheved paused for a moment. It was only November, and the wedding was scheduled to take place in the spring, in another five months. Although Yocheved knew that there would be a problem, she had trust that with His help they would succeed. “She confided in me,” continued Shaul, “ that her boy friend would not consider changing the date of the wedding. They have already made an appointment with the hospital abortion committee. “What can I do?” asked Shaul. “If she discovers that I am interfering in her personal affairs, her boy friend might kill me. “I recently attended a lecture by Rabbi Joseph. He said that abortion is the same as murder. How can I let somebody commit murder without trying to stop him? Can you do something?” Yocheved asked Shaul to give her the boyfriend’s telephone number. “I’ll get one of our volunteers to speak to him,” she said. “ Suzy will never know how we got the information. We are very discreet in these matters.” Yaffa, one of the volunteers for Yad Letinok, called up to Suzy’s boy friend. “Yoni,” she told him, “what have you got to lose? You can either make the fancy wedding a few months earlier, or buy a larger wedding gown. It’s really not a big deal. “A life is at stake,” continued Yaffa, “the life of your own son or daughter! Just think about it!” At this point, Yaffa began to plead with Suzy’s boyfriend, Yoni. “You know that Suzy wants this child. The child belongs to both of you. Do you want to ruin your marriage right from the start? How cruel can you be?” But nothing seemed to help; no matter how hard Yaffa tried, she was not able to convince Yoni to change his mind. Yaffa was desperate. She called Shaul and asked him to find out when Suzy and Yoni had scheduled the abortion. “Get hold of the doctor,” she said, “and try to delay the abortion at all costs.” Shaul agreed. He was willing to do whatever was necessary to save a Jewish life. Early Sunday morning, when Shaul pulled his car into the hospital parking
lot, he immediately noticed that something unusual was going on. The patients
were being turned away from the hospital. It only took a few minutes for
Shaul to discover that there was a doctor’s strike and all non-emergency
procedures were postponed.
*** The following week was Chanuka. As Yaffa watched her husband kindle
the menora, she thought of the great heroism of the Jewish woman. In the
merit of Yehudit, who had risked her life to save the Jewish people, Yaffa
prayed that another miracle would take place - a miracle that would save
this woman and her baby to-be. Yaffa was overwhelmed by tears as she poured
her heart out to her Creator.
The following day, Suzy was scheduled to enter the hospital. Yaffa and
Yocheved anxiously waited to hear what had actually happened. They
were surprised when Shaul called. “A miracle, a miracle!” he yelled. “The
ultrasound showed that she is carrying twins. Yoni broke down and said,
‘I can’t destroy two babies.’”
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“Oh! Oh!” Ephraim cried, “My back
hurts. Shula, please bring me another pill!” Shula obediently went to the
medicine chest and brought her husband a painkiller and a cup of water.
“Shula, Shula,” cried Ephraim in desperation, “my back hurts so much. How long can I continue suffering? My patience is wearing thin!” Ephraim looked at Shula, expecting some response. “Ephraim,” said Shula, “I understand that you are suffering, but you really have no other choice but to accept it and recuperate, with G-d`s help.” Ephraim had recently injured his spinal cord from an accident and was finding it difficult to cope with his physical limitations. But he was always pleased to listen to his wife’s words of encouragement. “Understand, my dear,” continued Shula, “ that it is better to accept our lot in life, and be happy and laugh , even if we have pain and suffering. Let us not allow our troubles bring us down! With patience, all will turn out for the good.” “Go and make lunch,” said Ephraim. “I don’t want to keep you any longer.” Shula obediently returned to the kitchen and continued with her cooking. “Shula! Shula!” she whispered to herself. “How much longer will you continue to suffer like this? You are 43 years of age; your son Dani is now 20 years old, Elisheva is l8 and Dosi is 11 years old and you love them because they are your children. My husband suffers, he is unemployed, depressed. We can hardly make ends meet financially and on top of it all, I am now pregnant. How will we manage? “I must quickly go before the abortion committee,” she said to herself. “There is no doubt that they will give me permission to abort my baby. Then I will be able to find a proper job and support my family. “In any case,” she continued, “Neither Ephraim nor my children are happy that I am pregnant. I will terminate it, and then it will be forgotten, like a bad dream.” Helen and Rebetzin Hadassa were on their way to visit Shula Prachim`s house. Helen was carrying a pre-roasted chicken, ready to be eaten, and Rebbetzin Hadassa had brought along a bag of chips to accompany the chicken. They were hoping that they would succeed in encouraging Shula to continue her pregnancy. Almost as soon as Helen and Rebbetzin Hadassa entered Shula’s home,
they began to discuss the situation with her. “Listen, dear Shula,” said
Helen. “Don’t worry about your economic situation. Rebbetzin Hadassa will
make arrangements for you to receive a monthly stipend.
Although Dani and Elisheva were in another room, they were paying close
attention to their mother’s conversation.
Their younger sister, Dosi, suddenly interrupted the conversation. “But why do you say that we have a problem?” she asked. When she saw the stunned look on her brother and sister’s faces, she continued emphatically. “Yes! I want a baby, a baby girl. I will call her Liraz and she will look just like me. I’ll brag about her to my friends in school and I’ll by her nice pins. I will even take her for a walk in the carriage every afternoon so that Mom will be able to rest.” While Dosi was speaking, Dani’s face became serious. He affectionately patted his younger sister and looked at her beautiful eyes. Although no one spoke, Dani and Elisheva exchanged glances expressing their deep despair. At that moment Helen and Rebbetzin Hadassa entered the room. “You are
right,” said Helen, clapping her hands. “It is possible that the present
situation is not good for another baby. But what will happen in a few years
time?”
Dani and Elisheva lowered their heads in shame.
Shula knew that the child would be named Liraz, just as Dosi had said. The Prachim family – Ephraim, Shula, Dani, Elisheva and Dosi – are all crazy about their little sister, Liraz. (Raz means secret in English.) |