Jewish Life Digital Edition April 2015 | Page 28

I thank You Miracle stories When man plans I By Gidon Orelowitz It was 2pm, four hours before the start of Pesach. After sufficient tests, my doctor called for an operation to remove my appendix which was infected. At 4pm, I eventually went into theatre for an hour. When I came out at 5pm, I remember my mom standing there and I held my sister’s hand. I was full of drugs and passed out. I didn’t daven mincha or maariv on Monday, but I reckon Hashem knew why. Now the story really begins. Before going into theatre, there was a debate going on. My awesome family don’t like leaving each other alone. One of them was willing to spend yom tov with me. My older brother, Yehuda, decided to step up to the plate. We secured a room in the hospital for the two of us, a private room, as opposed to him sleeping in the hotel across the road. My mom and sister had – with tremendous foresight – packed everything we needed to spend yom tov away, and left it all in our room. This included kosher for Pesach food and drink, Machzorim, Haggadahs, special dishes needed for the Seder, clothing, medicine, tehillim, Gemorah, magazines and toiletries. My mom, dad and sister left at 5pm to go home, and Yehuda settled into the room. I was drifting in and out of conscious awareness, not really present. The anaesthetic was powerful. Pesach in Rosebank – what a jol I awoke two hours later, at 7pm, to find Yehuda leaving to go downstairs to have a Seder. I managed to read the Haggadah myself, in fact, making the brocha at the end for counting the Omer, not realising it was the first night of Pesach, so it was 24 JEWISH LIFE n ISSUE 83 actually a brocha in vain (don’t tell any rabbis). That’s all I managed, and I was asleep. The next morning, Yehuda explained to me who was at his Seder the night before. Somehow, all the Jewish patients in the hospital found each other. There was my brother, who was healthy; a guy who was in for issues with his kidney; another who had a stroke and had been in hospital for a while; and his two sons, who then went home to have their own. Then there was Lawrence. I found out that he had the craziest story. He’s a diabetic, and stopped taking his medicine. He was fine for three weeks, and then fell into a diabetic coma for two-and-a-half months. During the coma, he had a heart attack, then came out of the coma and developed gangrene in his foot, which subsequently had to be amputated below the knee. Now, this oke is positive about life! Anyhow, the Seder they had went for about an hour; they sang and did everything. They had it on the first floor in the visitors’ and counselling room, which is made up of two couches and a coffee table. Between one guy’s daughter packing him everything and everything my family brought, they literally had everything. The second night, there were nine of us at the Seder. It was the first Seder I was only allowed water. I bet you no rabbi has ever been asked what measurement of water should be drunk to fulfil the obligation. I should write a new section of Talmud. So, my brother conducted it like a symphony orchestra. We sang, off key of course. There was a full Seder plate, and the three matzahs in a bag, and wine, which my brother and another patient finished, and got rightfully merry. So, during our stay there, my brother and I did our own ward rounds. In between games of monopoly and backgammon with my brother and Lawrence, we got to know all the Jewish patients. There was an old lady in the room next door to us who’s kids live in America, so she was so happy that we visited her. Bikkur cholim… does it apply if you’re also sick? An hour before yom tov ended, we went outside the hospital for the first time and sat on the steps looking at the “big world”. My brother reckons we were put there for reasons beyond our understanding. It wasn’t for us. It was so we could make a difference to the lives of the other Jewish patients. We introduced our fellow Seder-mates to my parents after yom tov. They were crying when relating to my parents how special the Pesach was for them. Lawrence said it was the best Pesach he’s ever had. I suppose meeting Lawrence taught us more than any textbook could teach. This Pesach was not planned. It couldn’t have been. Well, not by us at least. Hashem was smiling, though, because He planned it. He had a good chuckle all along. This Pesach will forever stick out. You know why? All the other ones were ‘perfect’. But, in my memory, they all form a blob, they were all the same. This Pesach was like no other. Going forward, my brother suggested we start a club and make a voluntary roster to ensure that healthy people go to hospitals to run Sedorim over Pesach. Stay tuned, my friends. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed. I hope you now have a greater understanding of how little humans are really in control. The universe has a plan for all of us. JL Keep your stories coming in! E-mail [email protected] photograpHs: BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM and G-d chuckles