by Rabbi Yair Hoffman
The scene: Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem.
The background: The chessed was started by a Chassidish couple that did not have children. They started a remarkable chessed.
A woman is with a family member for Shabbos. She is a dati l’eumi woman who, formerly, did not have the most positive view of Chareidim and Chassidim. That is – until she saw the chessed. Read the text of this voice note of someone that was previously there.
FORMER PATIENT’S WIFE TO CURRENT PATIENT’S RELATIVE:
There is an entire dining room with full meals for family of patients. Delicious. The best chassidish cooking. You know where the shul is with the Marc Chagal windows. So right after davening you follow the group to the dining room. It’s separate men and women. You have two choices. You can either go all the way to the back and get a bag of shabbas in a bag minus paper. Good. It’s just in Tupperware. Everything that you want. The soup and the kugel and the chicken. And then you bring it up to the room and you sit there and eat. Or you sit at the tables that are made up. I met some lovely South African women when I was there. I had a very good time with them. We communicate regularly now, and you sit down and waiter service, they come around serving things.
You don’t need to call ahead and make reservations, nothing like that. But as far as seats are, when they run out of seats, they run out of seats there. There’s no telling, but, and same thing, lunch shabbos, there’s a kiddush in one room, I think. And then you go to back to that dining room to have your lunch meal.. But anyway, I recommend it. It’s just unbelievable. You have all these people who have family there. Occasionally you’ll have patients coming in with IV poles because they’re tired of being in their room and they want to sit down and the men sing gorgeous! And they just would rather come out of their rooms with their IV poles in their rooms and they sit down at the table so they can get decent food. A lot of times it’s just women who gave birth, but sometimes it’s other people. Anyway, I recommend it. I can’t tell you exactly where the dining room is, but any from Hamish person who’s there can direct you. I do know it’s near the shul..
The Upshot: “I will never say anything negative against Chassidim again!”
The Second Upshot: The Chassidish couple did have a baby girl!
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One Response
I’ve long thought that if such an effort could be organized on a massive scale, with everyone required to spend one hour a month going out and doing forms of chessed , that would touch everyone’s lives, in a short period of time it would totally change Israeli society.