Save tiny newborns in the hospital of hope
AT THE lowest point in recent Jewish history, when most had reached the depths of despair, one man dared to hope and dream. Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam zt’l was one of the youngest rebbes in Europe, leading thousands of followers in the town of Klausenburg, Romania, before the Second World War. His wife, 11 children and most of his followers were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
In the summer of 1944, the Rebbe, along with 6,000 other prisoners, was forced to march for 20 miles a day, in the scorching heat of the Polish summer. On the march, the prisoners were starved of food and water and any stragglers were shot immediately.
On Tisha B’Av, when Jews mourn the destruction of the two temples in Jerusalem, the Rebbe removed his shoes as a traditional sign of mourning. Despite all that had happened to him, he refused to give up on the Jewish observances that made him who he was. The Nazis saw this as a sign of rebellion and made him march on broken stones and gravel.
At one point, they thought he was trying to escape down the embankment, so they shot him. He was hit in the arm and tumbled down the embankment. In an effort to stem the bleeding, he took bark and leaves from a tree and wrapped it around the wound. It was at that point that he swore to God that, should he survive, he would build an institution based on the Jewish values of love, peace, equality and tolerance, all of the values the Nazis despised. He swore he would build a hospital in Israel that would epitomise everything the Nazis tried to destroy.
That hospital is Laniado, in Netanya, built in 1975. After the maternity unit opened, the Rebbe asked the nurses and staff to call him immediately when the first baby was born. A few days later he received the call. Upon hearing the good news, the Rebbe said in a broken voice: “Zeh ha nekama sheli,” (“this is my revenge”). This is my revenge — life will defeat death, hope will defeat pain, compassion will overcome hatred.
A new neonatal department is currently being built and is due to open next month. It will cover 900 sq m, will have 34 treatment stations and will be fortified against missile attack and also be earthquake-resistant.
Each year, the Laniado maternity unit delivers more than 7,000 babies. Around 500 of the newborns require care in Laniado’s neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU). Some born as early as 25 weeks’ gestation, weighing just 600g, have a good chance of survival at Laniado, and the NICU becomes a second home for their families as they are looked after for months on end. Expanded facilities are desperately needed so more of these tiny, fragile infants can be saved.
If you would like to celebrate a birth (or any other simchah) by contributing to the new neonatal department, call 020 8201 6111 or e-mail info@laniado.co.uk Registered charity 1126356