{"id":4190,"date":"2017-08-17T15:47:44","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T19:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/?p=4190"},"modified":"2017-08-17T15:47:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T19:47:44","slug":"opennnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/opennnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Opennnn!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"pr<\/a>
Lego-therapy infusing the child with hope, with continuance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maor Cohen is known at Ezer Mizion as the Lego<\/strong> Man. He runs a workshop for kids with cancer<\/strong> and their siblings using lego<\/strong> as a medium enabling them to cope with their fears and anxieties. For those children who are unable to attend the workshops he makes hospital visits.\u00a0 Always smiling on the outside, one cannot imagine where he finds the strength to continue his mission of chessed. Read on to share his thoughts.<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n

Adi is at a terrible stage of her development. Terrible for us.<\/p>\n

She got to know Dora.<\/p>\n

That annoying cartoon character, the bi-lingual Dora with the monkey and the pocketbook who teaches kids translations.<\/p>\n

But she asks the kids to scream them out.<\/p>\n

And they listen to Dora.<\/p>\n

To us \u2013 not as much\u2026<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s episode focused on the word \u201copen,\u201d which repeated itself\u00a0 again, and again, and again.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbba,\u201d Adi explained to me. \u201cIn order to get into the castle, you have to say \u2018Open.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When she grows up, she\u2019ll realize that it doesn\u2019t always work.<\/p>\n

\"pr<\/a>
Lego-therapy: Like my creation?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week, I was called to hospitals on a few different occasions in my capacity as LegoMan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need you,\u201d I was told.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to be needed<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want there to be young children living in such a horrifying nightmare.<\/p>\n

And those are the lucky ones.<\/p>\n

Some are no longer living \u2026 anywhere.<\/p>\n

And sometimes it happens to the nicest families.<\/p>\n

About four years ago, I began a job and was a little stressed by the field, which was new to me. I called Asaf who had held the position before me.<\/p>\n

He taught, explained, helped, took care of, did everything, as if he was still on the job.<\/p>\n

\"pr<\/a>
Lego-therapy: Next year I’ll make an even bigger one…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He infused me with confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall me whenever you need to,\u201d he said,<\/p>\n

Since then, we became friends.<\/p>\n

A year ago, one Monday night, I was walking from the room of one child to another\u2019s\u00a0 in Schneider Children’s Medical Center.<\/p>\n

Asaf came over and gave me a hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d I asked anxiously.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son,\u201d he replied. No further words were necessary.<\/p>\n

I was shocked.<\/p>\n

We went into the room. His little boy, Lior, a baby, just a few months old, lay in the crib. His mother was stroking him.<\/p>\n

What does a crib have to do with the Oncology Ward<\/strong>, dear G-d?<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Lior ben Asaf, not yet a year and a half old, returned his soul to our Creator.<\/p>\n

Lior is no more.<\/p>\n

\"pr<\/a>
a Lego celebration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last night, very late, I remembered that I\u2019d promised a set of lego<\/strong> to a girl who\u2019d finished treatments.I don\u2019t know what made me think of it, but suddenly I remembered that the set was in the car. I sent her mother a message and she immediately got back to me, excited, to say that the girl was waiting for it and she\u2019d be so happy.\u00a0 This morning, I went to be menacheim aveilim, <\/em>to console Asaf.<\/em>\u00a0 Suddenly, a message popped up from someone that the mother was in that same neighborhood.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t prepared. This wasn\u2019t supposed to happen. I couldn\u2019t meet her, Not now. Not when I\u2019m going to\u2026<\/p>\n

Something inside me pressed me. It will make her daughter so happy.\u00a0 I called.<\/p>\n

I gave her the Lego. She saw where I was coming from.<\/p>\n

She took a deep breath.<\/p>\n

I went back to Asaf, hugged him, and told him what had just transpired.<\/p>\n

I went on my way, looked up to the skies,<\/p>\n

and screamed, \u201cOpennnn!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOpen the gates of mercy and health! Opennnn!!!\u00a0 \u201d<\/p>\n

To donate funds to the Lego Workshop, click here<\/a> and type LEGO in the note field.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maor Cohen is known at Ezer Mizion as the Lego Man. He runs a workshop for kids with cancer and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4,169,889,104],"class_list":["post-4190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancer-support-division","tag-cancer","tag-lego","tag-lego-therapy","tag-oncology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4191,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4190\/revisions\/4191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ezermizion.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}