A STORY OF HOPE AND INSPIRATION

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well and enjoying summer.

Mazal Tov to Rivky for having attained full American Citizenship. Such a nice achievement! Wishing you continued success in all areas Rivky!

We have experienced a live story of HOPE AND INSPIRATION in our community this last week, which I thought would be worth to share.

A member of our community passed away last week on Tisha BeAv, and his life story came to light. He was 47 years old.

I don't want to go into his medical condition, but at birth he had severe problems.

When he got older at 5, they did very delicate and complex surgery on him. In fact the procedure that he went through became named after the London Surgeon who devised the operation.

At his Barmitzvah, the whole Family were crying because of the miracle that he had survived to that age.

He then had a further operation at age 20.

He got married and together with his wife they raised a Family of 6 healthy and amazing children.

Shimon AH was a quiet and gentle person.

He was conscientious with his Judaism, and all his children keep Judaism in a vibrant and genuine manner. The oldest boy is 22

I vaguely knew that Shimon AH had some health issue, but I never knew that every day of his life was a miracle of survival. That is because he never complained and never spoke about it.

And he was always quietly happy, getting on with his jobs, family and communal work. There was never any requests for help or charity.

He had no enemies. Everyone loved and respected him.

We all have problems and challenges, and rightly so, these challenges can seem overwhelming for us at the time.

But I think we can gain much inspiration and hope from Shimon AH. There is always hope!

On day 1 of his life, the doctors were afraid to move him from one hospital to another, for fear of his life.

And blessings and advice were sought for every move, throughout his life. (unbeknown to most of us)

And yet day by day, miracle by miracle, and with the help of Hashem, he built a formidable Family, one which any Jew would be proud of.

In this week's Sedra Eikev, we read the second paragraph of Shema, where Hashem promises us tremendous blessings if we will heed His commandments and serve Him with love, and a whole heart, and our entire being.

I think that the life of Shimon AH bears some reflection of this sentiment.

At the end of this paragraph, there is also a hint to the coming of Mashiach.

May this be speedily in our days when we will all be together again with departed ones.

We are now in the 7 weeks of comforting after Tisha BeAv and I wish everyone a joyful Shabbos!