Life proceeds normally. Tuesday is similar to Monday and Wednesday follows in its wake. Then suddenly, without any warning, life explodes. A fifteen-year-old is crossing the street, something he has been doing since he was a youngster under the watchful eyes of his nervous mother. Now at fifteen, his mother no longer worried about his crossing. She knew he was careful and responsible. What she didn’t know about was the van that came hurtling down the street, against the light, hitting her son with full force causing his head to strike the asphalt until he lost consciousness. And life was no longer normal. The tiny hospital room becomes your world. Nothing else matters.
The worries were endless. Would he survive? Would he be permanently brain injured? Clutching a t’hillim (Psalm book) and begging Hashem(G-d) to have mercy, his parents didn’t leave his side. One left. The other arrived. Day after endless day. Nothing else was real. Only teh beeping monitors at their son’s hospital bedside. The eight children at home were hardly on their radar screen. The parents were barely aware that Shimmy* had a test scheduled next week and needed help studying, that Mimi* was having a hard time taking Mommy’s place and her terrified younger siblings were acting wild and not listening to her. Her parents hardly knew but Ezer Mizion did. Volunteers were dispatched from many rosters- some to provide hot, nourishing meals for the parents at the hospital, some to provide those same meals for the rest of the family at home, some to handle those hectic evening hours, some to do homework with the kids. The parents did not own a car. Ezer Mizion’s Linked to Life division was contacted regarding rides to and from the hospital for them.
Who is Linked to Life? Just people. People like you and me. Mostly middle-class working people who have joined this famed WhatsApp group. Their phone beeps and they quickly check the request. Can they fit it into their day? In most cases, someone responds. It may be driving a patient or a family member to the hospital. Or delivering vital medical equipment or medication. Or perhaps providing something to lift the spirits of a family undergoing a crisis. Over 3,000 such trips are made every month. Each group, divided by areas, becomes a family. Lets take a peek at an pre-Shabbat posting:
- A special thanks goes to our dedicated directors for navigating assignments right through summer vacation… It certainly is not something to be taken for granted!
- A heartfelt mazel-tov to group member Dovi Baladi on the birth of his first grandson, and to Mrs. Shosh Shiloh on the birth of a granddaughter. Wishing everyone only nachas and simchost across the board, from our loving hearts (Hey – any chance of a shidduch?:)
- This week, a huge fleet of buses and ambulances drove the humongous day camp for kids with special needs (a total of 900 people!) . A giant thank-you to group members, directors Malkiel Beriga and Moshe Traube, who didn’t stop working for a minute…
- Welcome to Daniel Malka, director of the group in Maalot in the North, and best wishes for much, much success.
- Around the world: Special thanks to Menachem Bromer, our man in Strassbourg, France, for his quick and dedicated assistance to an Israeli tourist who fell in Nice.
- A giant thank you to Shlomo Miller, Los Angeles, for coming forward wholeheartedly to help a disabled cancer patient who came on a visit from Israel. Notice the speed at which medical documents were transferred from Israel to the Ukraine.
- Words cannot express our thanks to Yisrael Spritzer, director of the Jersualem branch, and to the entire Jerusalem staff, for dealing last week with getting a disk to Ben Gurion airport, in an impossible race against time. It couldn’t have happened without you!!!
- How do you organize Shabbos for 10 people in 10 minutes? Only in Rechasim do they know the answer.
- Good Shabbos to all!
It’s over now. The teenage boy, Baruch Hashem (thank G-d), has recovered with no long-term effects of the accident. No more rides to and from the hospital are needed. It is only now, when the terror has receded, that the parents are able to appreciate the fact that punching in a few buttons brought them a ride each time it was needed with strangers becoming like family and opening their hearts to another’s needs. Things are back to normal but the parents are amazed at how their home had functioned so well in their absence. With its vast range of divisions, Ezer Mizion made it all happen!
Live in US, Canada, SA, Europe…anywhere in the globe and like to join Linked to Life? SMS 011 972 52 580 8936.
