Real Friendship: Rivka’s Story

by Sari G. (an admiring friend)

…this is a real story that is happening here and now…in this country…between earthly and spiritual souls…

We will try to peel off some of the outer covering in order to look inside and understand that …beyond ourselves, our preoccupations and worries, our “self-loving”- because things can also be accomplished in another way.

Because there is also he who is all good! He who is elevated above all others, spiritually noble and who gives of his soul for altruistic reasons. He really gives of his soul.

This is the story of a real and enduring friendship between two women. They have journeyed a long way together and, now, when one of them is in need of a kidney because hers have ceased to function, her friend stands up and declares that she will be the donor.

I was there in the transplant unit in Beilinson Hospital and I saw before my very eyes this great woman!! Colossal!

And I am excited, deeply moved.

They are lying next to one another, fulfilling their destiny and making G-d’s name holy (“kiddush shem shamayim”) by their presence.

Alma Bat Leah Blima underwent a kidney transplant on Tuesday and we are all praying that it will be successful so that she will regain her health and continue her spiritual pursuits.

Alma nobly brings to reality the fact that, in this life, we need to submit to the will of G-d and know that all His doings are for the best.

Rivka Bat Ranana, a healthy person, placed herself in a hospital bed and submitted to the doctors who opened her up and took her kidney without receiving any earthly remuneration.

This is something that is almost unbelievably hard for most people to understand. However, this is actually happening. Really! Giving for the sake of giving! Without any reward!

Rivka is the mother of many children.  She has a married daughter who recently gave birth and it is right before Purim, and Pesach is approaching.

She is lying in the hospital, happy despite the post-operative pain; happy and recuperating.  Let us stop and cherish the moral.  It is possible to give of ourselves to another.  It is possible and it is a must!!

And, hopefully, we will all be among the givers….

And, another tiny story…..

Rivka’s husband left his studies, work and children who need him, to be at his wife’s side during this difficult time.

Excitedly he relates that he left the hospital the previous night, past midnight and waited for the bus to Bnei Brak which never arrived.  With no other option, he hailed a cab.

On the way home, the cab driver asked him what brings him to the hospital at that hour of the night.  He told him that his wife had donated a kidney to her friend and that she is now recovering in the hospital.

When they reached their destination, he asked the driver what he owed him. The driver replied that he owed him nothing, only a blessing!!