Out of the Depths by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau

Author:Rabbi Israel Meir Lau [Lau, Rabbi Israel Meir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Sterling
Published: 2011-09-23T07:00:00+00:00

WHEN RABBI FRANKEL WAS ABOUT SEVENTY YEARS OLD, he suffered a sudden heart attack. He was rushed to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The doctors forbade visitors and phone calls in order to avoid exciting him. My wife, Chaya-Ita, went to stay with her mother in Tel Aviv, while her brothers remained close to their father’s bed. Countless individuals phoned the Frankel home asking after the rabbi’s health, since he was the rabbi of the southern neighborhoods of Tel Aviv. One caller, speaking in a quick, sharp voice, asked if the rabbi was receiving visitors. After Chaya-Ita explained that his doctors had forbidden visitors, she asked who was calling. The answer on the other end was, “Alter from Jerusalem speaking.” Because Alter is a fairly common name, she hung up, never imagining that the speaker was the Rebbe of Gur himself. But her brother Rabbi Aryeh Frankel from Jerusalem, who was very close to the rebbe, found out about this phone call. Word went around that the Rebbe of Gur was the one who had called, asking if it was possible to visit Rabbi Frankel in the hospital.

The brother rushed to Tel Aviv and informed Chaya-Ita of the identity of the caller. “Do you know what a great honor it would be if the rebbe came from Jerusalem to visit Father?” he said. “The rebbe almost never leaves Jerusalem! Here he wants to travel to Tel Aviv and visit our father and give him his blessing, and you’re standing in his way,” he protested. An embarrassed Chaya-Ita tried to explain why she had treated the rebbe’s phone call as just another drop in the flood that inundated them from morning to night, and how she had innocently answered that the doctors had forbidden visitors. The family decided not to tell their father about the missed visit.

The next day, the Rebbe of Gur somehow found out that Rabbi Frankel’s condition had improved, and he decided this time to go to the hospital without asking first for permission. On the day he arrived, it happened that Rabbi Frankel’s wife was at his bedside. When he entered the room where Mrs. Frankel was sitting, his first question was, “Is your daughter here? She deserves a yasher koach, congratulations, for her vigilance over her father.” The rebbe sensed that Rabbi Frankel’s daughter might be criticized for how she had answered his phone call and for trying to prevent his visit. Instead, he complimented her on her caution. The Rebbe of Gur stood beside Rabbi Frankel’s bed for a minute. In his focused manner, every word a pearl, he said, “Yitzchak Yedidya, we need you. You must be healthy and strong.” Then he turned and was gone.

But the news of his presence in the hospital spread like electricity through all six floors. Parents pushed children in wheelchairs down corridors, patients asked relatives to wheel their beds out of their rooms. Those capable of walking crowded in the hallways in their hospital gowns, in the hopes of receiving a blessing from the rebbe, or at least a glance from his eyes.

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