A Scarf for a Life

It was a Friday afternoon and we were in the Catskills for the summer. With Hashem’s help, I was preparing the last-minute things for Shabbat. Although I still had a few hours left before candle-lighting, I wanted to be ready to greet my husband (who has since passed away, may he rest in peace) and my mother in-law who were arriving from Brooklyn to spend the Shabbat with us.

It was almost candle-lighting time but my husband didn’t yet arrive. Then, there were no cellular phones, so instead of worrying, I sat down on the porch to say Tehillim. Finally my husband and his mother ob”m arrived. We had a beautiful Friday Night meal; it was extremely uplifting to see my children, may they be healthy, enjoying our guest – their grandmother.

The Shabbat-morning meal was beautiful and peaceful. 

After the meal, my husband started vomiting; first it was the food and then it was blood. I made him sit down and called Hatzalah (emergency medics), they came within minutes to our bungalow.

From a sunny, beautiful and uplifting Shabbat we were transferred to an ambulance and now heading to the emergency room of the local hospital. In the ambulance my husband started vomiting blood again. The Hatzalah medics – all of them true Tzaddikim – opened an intravenous line to flush him with water, and then another line. They contacted the main unit to alert them to be on standby. Meanwhile, we were all praying that we wouldn’t lose him in the ambulance.

What we didn’t know at the time was that my husband was suffering from a ruptured esophageal bleed, which is frequently fatal because people usually don’t survive due to the force of the blood that rushes directly from the liver. Even if they do survive,  their subsequent life span is very short, Heaven forbid. 

At that time, I felt like the sun would never shine again. With eternal gratitude to Hashem, I have seven children. At the time, the oldest was eighteen and the youngest was five, may they all be healthy. I was pleading to Hashem to keep my Rosh Mispachah – my dear husband – alive and well.

Suddenly, the bright light of a flashing thought from Hashem illuminated my brain.  I decided to make a deal with Hashem. I whispered under my breath, “Hashem, let’s make a deal! I will do something that is out of the ordinary and You will perform a miracle for me that is out of the ordinary, OK? I will change my hair-covering for You, Hashem. I will take upon myself to wear an especially modest type of hair covering that no one else in my family or my husband’s family wears. You know that this is hard for me, Hashem, but I will do it with total dedication, no matter what anyone says. Please, let my dedication to the mitzvah of modesty invoke mercy on my husband! Please keep him alive!”

While I was plea-bargaining with Hashem on my husband’s behalf, the blood kept on gushing out of his mouth. The refuse container in the ambulance was getting fuller and fuller by the minute…

Hashem in His phenomenally limitless mercy heeded my prayer and agreed to my deal. That very moment, the blood stopped gushing, and the ambulance was able to proceed to the hospital’s emergency room.

Although it was a long recovery, I fulfilled my promise to Hashem and my husband lived after that for another twenty years.

What can we all learn from this? Hashem always listens to our prayers. Every tribulation in life that we have is for the sole purpose of bringing us closer to Hashem and to know that He can and does everything, big or small.

Prayer, especially personal prayer, works miracles. But if any woman wants to see miracles fast, all she needs to do is to strengthen her tzniut, modesty. Modesty is the foundation of a righteous woman, who merits Divine blessings in everything she does.