CYIR DELEGATION VISITS HOSPITALIZED IDF SOLDIERS
The Council of Young Israel Rabbis office in Israel -- CYIR DELEGATION VISITS HOSPITALIZED IDF SOLDIERS.
Amidst all of the tumult and the attendant pressures in the wake of the tragic occurrences as a result of the flotilla of Turkish ships off the coast of Gaza, understandably, the deep concern for the welfare of the injured IDF commandos who were hospitalized in Tel Aviv and Haifa was not lost for a moment.
The Council of Young Israel Rabbis office in Israel located exactly where these soldiers were hospitalized in Haifa’s Rambam Hospital and Tel Aviv’s Tel HaShomer.
On Thursday afternoon, June 2, together with Yossi Goldberger, activist on behalf of Yad Ezra, Rabbis Jeff Bienenfeld and Chaim Wasserman, CYIR presidium members, set out with baskets full of sweets, fruit and nuts to visit with these heroes of Shayetet 13.
As could be expected, outside the rooms of the soldier-patients were family members -mother, fathers, siblings and extended family - gathered round to support their hospitalized loved one and offer them at bedside whatever the patient needed.
In each case, additionally, groups of young soldiers were posted on guard outside the rooms to provide the necessary security and offer whatever support they could.
At Tel HaShomer Hospital, despite all of the bustle in the hallways and elevators, the director general of this a sprawling medical center himself made one of his frequent appearances to update the families. Upon greeting the rabbis wanting to know who they were, he was pleased to hear that the delegation arrived from Jerusalem. Noticeably impressed with the fact that they were American rabbis who headed a group of rabbis in Israel and America, he expressed his personal appreciation for having come.
“This wasn’t simply another mitzvah of bikur cholim, noted Rabbi Wassrman. “We were
coming because young men had to know that they earned the gratitude of world Jewry for their heroic efforts.”
One mother could be seen deeply moved by the visit and the news that people from as far as America are asking for the name of her injured son in order to mention him specifically in prayers on his behalf. Before leaving, she was again gratefully forthcoming when Rabbi Bienenfeld asked for a contact phone number to call for updates on the condition of her soldier son.
The Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel was gratified to be able to be on the scene to make this visit in the name of “the many thousands of Young Israel members in America and Israel as well as the hundreds of its Young Israel rabbis.”
