On Tuesday, we held a very special “Chessed
Appreciation Breakfast” where we discussed, celebrated and honored the great
work that the girls have been doing this year thus far in their Chesed opportunities.
Click here for pictures from the breakfast.
Click here for some individual girls' chessed pictures (more to come....)
Click here for pictures SFW's chessed at Sderot's indoor and secure playground area.
Click here for pictures of SFW's chessed with the I.D.F.
We had the privilege to hear from a
variety of girls as they shared their beautiful, funny and even sometimes challenging
experiences they experienced. We heard from all sorts of chessed places where
girls workd such as medical clowning in Jerusalem hospitals, Ezrat Avot, Aleh, Kav
L'Chaim etc. etc. We were all inspired by each
other!
We would like to thank our faculty
advisors Mrs. Mindy Hilewitz and Mrs. Mim Schwedel for arranging this breakfast
and, more important, for all of their work all year for the girls and their
chessed!
Keep reading below for ONE example,
from Eliana Block, of the beautiful talks we heard….
-"שלום,
אפשר לבקר פה?"
-"למה לא?"
And so the journey begins. Devorah and I visit with the patients
at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital. Our usual floors are Geriatrics, Pediatrics, and
Internal Medicine. It is here where Devorah and I realize that Christian,
Muslim, Secular, and Chareidi alike, everyone looks the same in a hospital
nightgown.
I will be honest: This chesed is not for the faint of heart. I
remember entering a room in the geriatric ward my first day, and standing
aghast against the door. Each bed had a patient, and each patient had a long,
clear tube running from a medicated sac into their nose which was secured with
large, brown, medical tape. In some rooms, the odors are unbearable. Some rooms
are depressing. This is why one cannot judge a chesed from only one time.
Had I not continued after that first day, I would never have
learned that Helen loves to swing dance and took ballet lessons from the age of
five. Had I not continued, I would have never cradled 4 month old David while
his mother ran out quickly to get an oxygen refill, one of the many tubes that
prodded his tiny body. Had I not continued, I never would have heard the
stories of an 88 year old survivor who stole potatoes in order to survive the
Holocaust. Would Devorah and I have learned the history of Malcha from a
Yerushalmi, met her sabba’s childhood friend from Iran, or been invited for
Shabbat Kiryat Arba, the Dead Sea, or invited to have our own rooms for the
rest of the year in Acco?
Probably not.
What I learned can be summed up in two main points. One- Sometimes
the greatest chesed is realizing when it is, and when it is not the proper time
to visit. And two - If you need a bracha for practically anything, volunteer
for one day at Shaarei Tzedek and you will be knee deep in brachot for
children, marriage, תלמוד תורה, ישוב ארץ ישראל, and of course, health. I had
the precious merit to meet people who have Emunah so strong it could shatter
rocks into pebbles.
Like I said, this chessed is not for the faint of heart: It is the
type of chesed where you must prepare yourself to sit beside a hospital bed,
and have your little American self be completely and utterly blown away by the
man with the Star of David on his nightgown.
