Twenty eight years after its founding, Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital has now expanded its pediatric department to better serve the rapidly growing population of children in Bnei Brak and surrounding areas. The changes were spearheaded by Professor Eli Somech, a seasoned pediatrician with many years of experience and an intimate knowledge of the charedi sector.

As any parent knows, there are few things a parent fears more than handing their child over to a medical staff for life-saving treatment. The difficulty can be amplified significantly when the child encounters an unfamiliar world in the hospital; staff members hailing from different communities and backgrounds may not be aware of the child’s unique cultural sensitivities and needs.

Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital was founded partly to address this issue for the charedi community. Dr. Rabbi Moshe Rothschild established the hospital in 1990 with the goal of providing advanced medical services in the spirit of Jewish law. Every detail of the hospital is run according to halacha.

“If you want to talk about a city of children—that would be Bnei Brak”, says Professor Somech. “Over the years, I have come to know the charedi sector quite well through my independent clinic on the border of Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan. I am quite aware of the unique needs and dilemmas that characterize the children of this community.

“Pediatrics is now an inextricable part of who I am. Most importantly, because of the direct connection with the kids, the reward is immediate: you see the children smiling, you see them healthy. Being a doctor in the children’s department is a sort of practice of hope; you build a very strong connection with the child and his parents.”

Asked how the charedi sector deals with illness differently than the general population, he replied, “Charedi communities tend to have larger families (in close quarters) than the general population, and that makes it easier for infectious diseases to spread. Therefore it’s important to place special emphasis on prevention, and the importance of vaccination, when educating parents.

Somech emphasized the importance of this sense of community with another example: “Eating disorders require a lot of attention to detail and to community norms. The chance of recovery and progress is greatly improved when the patient feels at home.” It was for this reason that Mayanei Hayeshua recently opened the only mental health ward in the world run according to Jewish law, and staffed entirely with religious caregivers. This ward includes a brand new eating disorders clinic.

Mayanei Hayeshua also boasts a state-of-the-art NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), as well as a top-rated labor and delivery deartment. The immediate goal is to provide more medical services for the ‘ultra-specializations’—pediatric nephrology, pediatric pneumology, etc.—in order to provide the full range of responses to various needs.

Located in central Israel, Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital services over 250,000 residents in Bnei Brak, Petach Tikvah and Ramat Gan. Committed to operating in accordance with Halacha and Torah hashkafa, and highly sensitive to the needs of the religious patient, the hospital features understanding staff, a fully equipped Beis Medrash, and special protocols for Shabbos and Yomim Tovim. All this comes side-by-side with top-notch medical services throughout the various wings of the entire medical complex.

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