What can We do to help
choleI YISRoel? Bzchus Refuah Shleima a little girl just diagnosed with Leukemia l''a
!Interview with Mrs Posen - A miracle Hello, Esther. Can you tell us in short what happened to your son? About seventeen years ago, my son was sick with the machala. Baruch Hashem, today we can thank Hashem from the depths of our hearts that he is healthy. Recently, he became a chosson, and will soon be getting married B"H.
Besides for inspiring others, did you personally take upon yourself any upgrade in tznius? At the time when my son was sick I was wearing a sheitel, and as a zchus for him to get better I cut my sheitel shorter. A little while later, when the whole story of Avodah Zarah in the sheitels came up I switched to a tichel.
Wow! Mazel Tov! Baruch Hashem, you were zoche to a great yeshuah. Do you want to share any ideas you did as a zchus for your son’s refuah? Yes, when I heard the devastating diagnosis, I didn’t think, “Why me?” or “I am not a good person and that is why this is happening to me… chas v’shalom.” I just wanted to give a nachas ruach to Hashem, and in this way increase my son’s zchusim. Yet, I was unsure of what Hashem wanted me to work on. As I was sitting in the oncology ward, I told Hakodosh Baruch Hu, “I am not moving from this place until I come up with an idea of what I should do as a zchus for my son.” As I was waiting for my turn, I watched the children walking around the ward, and I noticed their bald heads. Then it hit me.
Can you share with us a miracle story? Sure. I love to share this most unbelievable experience: Since my son’s recovery I have been visiting patients. About 15 years ago, there arose a sheila that the human hair from the sheitels were coming from avodah zara sacrifices. It was then that HaGaon HaRav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l ruled that women should refrain from wearing their wigs, and many women stopped wearing their sheitels for a few weeks.
I thought to myself, “It’s Hair for Hair.” (The children lose their hair, as a result of treatment l”a.) I felt Hashem wanted me to inspire women about their mitzvah of headcovering. I firmly believed that in this zchus my son would have a refuah shleima. Baruch Hashem, Hashem helped us beyond what we imagined. Our challenge changed from a nisayon to a neis. Unbelievable! Could you share with us how you went about inspiring others about this mitzvah? I went from place to place to speak to women. I told them that Hashem is our loving Father and He doesn’t want us to suffer. So how can we awaken his rachmanus? Through strengthening ourselves in tznius, and specifically kisui rosh. I tried to give over to the women how this mitzvah is a gift for us and how many zchusim we bring about when we ensure that our clothes and headcovering are in accordance with tznius. Yes, it is up to us to get rid of this machala.
During those weeks I was making my routine rounds in the Tel Hashomer hospital to visit the patients and give them chizuk. I went from room to room in the oncology ward, and to my utter disbelief, I did not find even one frum patient. Are you serious? The oncology ward was empty? There were Arabs and non-frum people there. But no frum people were in the ward. Not even one. This went on for four whole weeks, the exact time when people were not wearing their sheitels because of the sheila of avoda zara! Could you believe that the wards in the Tel Hashomer Hospital were all empty of frum patients? I’ll tell you even more. Within those weeks I was speaking with a friend whose daughter was sick in Ein Kerem hospital. I shared with her how shocked I was that there were no chareidim in the oncology ward in the Tel Hashomer Hospital. And guess what she responded? “I don’t believe this! The same thing is going on here in Ein Kerem Hospital. There are no frum patients in the ward who are suffering from the machala.”