"Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. " (Jonah 2,1) At the time we were in the "belly of the fish", that is, during the initial hospitalization, we stayed in the hospital for three months; A nerve-racking and intense period in which I spent time distracting myself with needle, thread and felt in which I created little dolls. One night Nadav fell asleep, and in order not to disturb him, I went with my handwork to the central lobby and worked quietly. Suddenly one of the mothers approached me and asked to learn from me how to make a doll; Then another mother appeared and another - and so we sat, four mothers, wo
"Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard" (Jonah 1,15) Although Jonah is asking "Pick me up and throw me into the sea" - In other words, give up on me, leave me alone, throw me to the sea - the people attempt to save him with all their might, and avoid throwing him into the water. This story fills me with gratitude, thankfulness, appreciation, and genuine appeal to all the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff of the pediatric Hemato-Oncology Department at the Ruth Rappaport Hospital at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. It is ostensibly their job to try to save lives but the concern with which things are done is extraordinary in the reality of our lives. Here is a small story that will
“… find out who is responsible for this calamity.” (Jonah 1,7) In the Yom Kippur service we open the Holy Ark and sing: "Like the clay in the hand of the potter – he expands it at will and contracts it at will – so are we in Your hand…" We also ask ourselves why; Why Nadav, a pure soul that did not harm anyone, suffers in such a way; And for us - such a break as a family and even as an extended family. Fate plays a key role. Why things happen to one and not to another. I imagine us, the humans, as the industrious ants that go in a long line. Each is concentrated in the grain it carries and suddenly a foot appears and tramples an ant. Why? Why this ant? - because! He expands it at will and co
In the book "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (by J.K Rowling), Harry, Ron, and Luna are described as arriving at the Hogwarts school. They approach the horseless-drawn carriages that take them to school, and Harry suddenly notices that, in fact, the carriages are horse-drawn. Ron does not see them, but Harry and Luna see them clearly. Later, Luna explains to Harry that only those who have experienced loss or suffering can see the horses. It is clear that my reading of the Book of Jonah is greatly influenced by the fact that "now I can see the horses"; My angle of vision underwent a fundamental change. In the Book of Jonah, the captain represents the wake-up call, the knowledge tha
Three years ago my son, Nadav, went on the customary 'post army service trip' to New Zealand. After suffering immense back pains he has been diagnosed with cancer. The tumor has left him as paraplegic from waist down. It goes without saying that I flew there to take him back home, and right on our arrival – straight from the plane – my son was hospitalized for consecutive three months in which he was treated with both, radiation and chemotherapy. We moved to live with him at the hospital, of course, during these months and in the following year, in which he was hospitalized every couple of weeks for chemotherapy. Everything that I went through (not to mention Nadav and the rest of the family
