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Heartbeats of Kindness – My Discovery of Bikkur Cholim

13 0
wednesday
Sometimes life reminds us that miracles don’t always arrive with thunder or light—they appear quietly, through people whose kindness keeps the world beating. What began as a medical crisis for my father became, for me, an awakening of the heart, a moment that nourished my spirit and revealed the depth of compassion and unity within the Jewish people. It began as a simple cath study in a local Philadelphia hospital. Within minutes, what seemed routine turned into a medical emergency. My father, at his youthful 78, was found to have 90 percent blockages in four arteries. Open-heart surgery was the only way to save his life. He was soon ambulanced to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he waited a week for the blood thinners to leave his system before the complex surgery. The medical team — led by the exceptional Dr. Mauer Biscotti — was remarkable in both skill and compassion. But for us, the shock was overwhelming. My father was surrounded by family — my mother, his children, grandchildren, and close relatives all gathered around him. My brother and my husband took turns at night so that someone was always by his side. Our story, like that of many Jewish families from the former Soviet Union, carries another layer. We grew up in an atheist culture that silenced faith and stripped Jewish identity of meaning. Only after coming to America did, we begin to rediscover our heritage — learning, often humbly and slowly, what it truly means to belong to the Jewish people. Even now, decades later, we are still growing into that identity, finding our place among the community, one mitzvah and one moment at a time. This experience at the hospital became another step on that journey — a reminder that the Jewish heart........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)