Wednesday, July 29, 2009

מי כעמך ישראל

I sincerely hope and pray that none of my readers ever need to see the inside of a hospital bikur cholim room, so I am going to take you on a virtual tour.....

I spent all last Shabbos repeating and repeating the phrase
מי כעמך ישראל due, in large part, to two most worthy organizations, Satmar Bikur Cholim and Chesed of New Square.
To say that the Bikur Cholim rooms they maintain are well stocked would be the understatement of the century. There is no truer chessed that that which is done generously and with warmth.
Upon entering the spacious chessed room, you cannot help but notice the stacks of Jewish Press and Hamodia papers. The large refrigerator is stocked with dozens of cartons of orange juice, dozens of containers of milk, an entire shelf of small grape juice bottles, drink boxes, apple sauce and borekas. There is a drawer full of potato chips, a cabinet full of cake products and rolls, another cabinet stacked high and deep with noodle soup cups of every flavor. There is a hot water machine and an array of cofee, teas and fixings. There are two microwaves - one for milk and one for meat. There is a commercial sized warming oven, filled with containers of chicken noodle soup, cholent and kugels. There are labels, foil and markers for your own food. Two tables covered with bright cloths stand in the middle of the room. Everything is sparkling clean.
When people have loved ones in the hospital, they invariably feel very vulnerable. This kind of generous concern acts as a balm for very raw and frayed nerves.
In the merit of the selfless, generous and kind acts of these women and those that support their good works, may we be zoche to the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash and the geulah sheleimah quickly in our days.....


2 comments:

Staying Afloat said...

Amen.

efrex said...

I've been the beneficiary of these wonderful organizations for much happier reasons (they stock the delivery recovery floors at the hospital where our sons were born). Truly, they are one of the most magnificent examples of a kiddush hashem out there.

There's a very significant chassidishe blood-donating contingent as well. Back when I used to donate regularly at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, it was not at all an unusual sight to see a half-dozen chassidic men and women lining up to donate. My favorite experience was having the non-Jewish nurse ask me if I wanted the regular kosher cookies or the "extra-kosher" ones (they kept a stash of cookies with a chassidishe hechsher in addition to the usual Lorna Dunes and Oreos).

There was a remarkably poignant tribute by the late Sam Orbaum (non-religious columnist for the Jerusalem Post) on his experience with the charedi bikur cholim in Israel. I really wish I could dig that piece up; it would be a nice tonic for all of the other news leaking out of that community...