Hospital of peace, equality and tolerance

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 World War II. 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 (ninth day of the Jewish month of 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 alongside the column, 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 the land of Israel that would epitomise everything the Nazis tried to destroy.

That hospital is Laniado, in Netanya. The hospital was built in 1974. After the maternity unit was 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” — life will defeat death, hope will defeat pain, compassion will overcome hatred.

A new neonatal department is now being built. Each year, 400 newborns, eight per cent of live births, require care in Laniado’s neo-natal intensive care unit. Some born as early as 25 weeks’ gestation, weighing just 600g, have a good chance of survival at Laniado — and the unit 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 this beautiful department, contact Laniado UK.

020 8201 6111, info@laniado.co.uk laniado.co.uk Registered charity 1126356