Chapter 87

Thus that day—Tuesday of Parashas Chukas, the twenty-sixth of Sivan, the first day after his departure from the hospital and his presence in our home—passed over us. We surely rejoiced over him throughout that entire day and night. Our joy over him cannot be measured; it was quite literally without parallel.

Yet when we saw his immeasurable weakness, we suffered greatly. In retrospect we also understood the benefit that had come to us from not taking him home against the hospital’s wishes, a matter discussed at length above. In the end, even after he had left the hospital with the permission of the physicians and nurses—on their own initiative, without any prompting from us, as stated above—he was so weak that this cannot be measured, and his life was sustained almost miraculously. Even several weeks later, his weakness remained so extreme that all the neighbors and everyone who saw him marveled at his thinness, weakness, and scant vitality. Reason could not comprehend how we would be able to care for and sustain him in our home. We still required great miracles in order to merit seeing him grow up among us and become a man among men.

That day and the ensuing night passed over us in this manner. We gave no sleep to our eyes, watching him and continually trying to sustain him. On Wednesday morning my wife took him to the Tipat Chalav clinic to eat the aforementioned cooked food, but she had already missed the time. The clinic nurse therefore gave her a small quantity of buttermilk, as stated above. In the afternoon she went again to give the cooked food to the child. She fed it to him there, but immediately after he had finished eating, he vomited all the food, as well as what he had eaten over the preceding several days. He soiled his garments, my wife’s garments, the utensils, and the premises of the Tipat Chalav clinic. The people present and the nurse were astonished.

My wife was compelled to clean everything again. She returned to our home with the child in great and profound anguish, for his condition was not good. The afternoon was already difficult for us, and the night was especially so: his stomach was not functioning properly, and he had many abnormal discharges. Our anguish may readily be understood. We deliberated among ourselves concerning what should be done and resolved that under no circumstances would we again take him to the Tipat Chalav clinic to be given the aforementioned food. Not only did it fail to strengthen him; it harmed him. We ourselves were obligated to seek every possible means of sustaining, strengthening, and supporting the child with good foods—with cream, buttermilk, milk, broth, and chicken—in accordance with the physician’s instructions.

Yet from where could we obtain these things? Our circumstances were exceedingly straitened, and we were wholly unable to do this. For the moment, therefore, we immediately borrowed some money to purchase the aforementioned foods for the child and sustain him. We said that we would pursue every possible means of preserving his life, for this was quite literally a matter of mortal danger, which overrides everything. This was especially so after all the exertion and toil we had undergone on his behalf and the many thousands of tears we had shed over him.

On Thursday we purchased the aforementioned foods for him and gave them to him. My wife took him to the Tipat Chalav clinic to have him weighed and the result entered upon his card, so that afterward she could take him to the Hadassah clinic and have Dr. Rabinowitz examine him, as he had instructed.

The nurse at the Tipat Chalav clinic said that the child should first eat the cooked dish and food there, as stated above, and only afterward should my wife take him to Hadassah. My wife answered that since we had seen that the food there harmed him, we had resolved that he would no longer eat there. She would therefore not feed him but would take him immediately to Hadassah. The nurse became angry over this and said that we were assuming a great responsibility. Responsibility for the child no longer rested upon her, the nurse, but upon us, for we were endangering him if we did not permit him to eat their food.

My wife did not heed her. She did not give him the food there but took him, together with the Tipat Chalav card, to the clinic at the old Hadassah. They initially refused to permit her to enter without obtaining a new clinic ticket. She said, however, that she had to see Dr. Rabinowitz and that he himself had instructed her to come. With difficulty they then permitted her to enter without a ticket.

She entered with the child to see Dr. Rabinowitz. The nurse said, “Is this our Naftali?” My wife asked her, “How do you know him?” The nurse replied, “Why, our entire hospital was shaken and astounded over our Naftali! Blessed be Hashem that we see him in such a condition.” The nurse at the Tipat Chalav clinic likewise said to all the men and women present there, “Do you know what danger this child was in? Not even one in ten thousand emerges alive from such an illness, and even that one is left with injury, God forbid. How great are the miracles and wonders performed for this child!”

Dr. Rabinowitz examined him and looked at his card. He was pleased and said that, blessed be Hashem, the child was in a better condition than he had been in the hospital. He asked my wife whether the child rested at home, and she answered that he did. He was astonished and said that in the hospital the child had not rested at all; his crying day and night without respite had caused the staff anguish and suffering like death.

She told him that this was presumably because the child had longed for our home. She described how, when we took him home, he had revived himself and rejoiced, quite literally dancing in our arms and saying, “Ah, ah,” from joy, as stated above. The physician was exceedingly astonished by this, and so forth. He gave her another written note and added further foods that the child was to be given.

My wife returned from there joyfully with the child. She went with him to Meah Shearim and entered my father-in-law’s home so that he could rejoice with the child. She remained there for some time, and he, of blessed memory, derived great pleasure from the child. He had suffered much anguish over him and had repeatedly poured out abundant prayer and petition before Hashem, may He be blessed, that He heal the child of his illness. Afterward she entered her sister’s home with him, and from there traveled to our home.