Lessons from Hadassah Hospital and Beyond

So after several recurring visits to Israel, I've had yet another new experience...an encounter with the Israeli medical system at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Charlie wasn't feeling well at the erev Shabbat family dinner. When his symptoms grew dramatically worse, an ambulance was called and we traveled to Hadassah's Ein Kerem Hospital on a high hill overlooking the city.

I had always heard what a world-class hospital Hadassah is, and I must say, the caring here has been exceptional. It is not fancy, but the atmosphere that any individual has the right to good health care indeed prevails. The emergency room was a scene out of a multicultural textbook. Arabs, secular and religious Jews, and multinationals were all being treated for their conditions. The staff switched between Hebrew, English, and Arabic with great ease as they diagnosed conditions and explained treatments.

Charlie was deemed to have developed bi-lateral pneumonia and he was admitted at 3:30 a.m. to a room on the 5th floor. His roommate is a Palestinian (self-definition) who owns property in Jerusalem, Acco, and Hebron. To be honest, I've been speaking to him in Hebrew and once when I asked him if he were feeling better he answered by saying, "Yes, Baruch Ha-Shem!" Until today the conversations have been polite, short, and focused on the need to be able to share a room and a small space between two individuals in a cooperative way. Today, the conversation changed to harsh words about Israelis and about being a Palestinian. I must say that my response was not pleasing to him. "But look, here you are receiving good care for 3 weeks so you can get well. That's a good thing." After thinking he did admit that there are people he meets that have no differences, they are just people."

Somehow I think if this country and the countries surrounding her could get beyond the political barriers and start treating each other as part of the human family, all might one day right itself. But the bottom-line is that adults raise their children to hate or to fear the "other" side and progress at times appears to be nil.

This entire "hospital" experience brought me back to the words of a speaker I heard last week at the Pardes opening dinner. Rabbi Michael Melchior, Denmark's former Chief Rabbi, spoke about how he grew up with fairy tales. Hans Christian Anderson had been housed by his great-grandfather. Years later, when the Nazis came to transport the Jews out of Denmark, his grandfather was the one who received the information 24 hours in advance of the round-up. Before the transport was convened, every Jew had a non-Jewish neighbor (countryman) who took him/her into hiding. But those righteous individuals also went one step further. They took care of their Jewish neighbors' homes, maintaining the grounds and watering the indoor plants until it was safe for them to return. A country rose beyond itself to respond to a humanitarian crisis. A country proved that fairy tales do indeed come true.

The fairytale in the middle east would be one where Israel's enemies would accept her existence as a political reality, a neighbor who is not going to uproot herself. The Israeli response would then reach out to the "others" without fear for her survival...discovering the bonds that unite all humanity. Some of us might think fairy tales can't happen, but history has on one occasion proven otherwise.