The following is being presented as a public service. It is a true story with necessary details changed and its message overstated, that is, the contrast exaggerated, to get the point across. Read it, and make sure you get to the bottom line.

Can't Complain
by Rosally Saltsman

There's a well known story about Reb Zusha which relates that when he was asked how it is possible to fulfill the commandment of blessing the bad with the same wholeheartedness that one blesses for the good, Reb Zusha replied, "I'm afraid I can't answer your question. Nothing bad has ever happened to me."

Your Medical Questions Answered!
by Joseph B. Leibman, MD Diplomate, Board Certification of Emergency Medicine Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine Ma'ayenei Hayeshua Hospital

It was a typical winter night in Bnei Brak. Sweater weather, but nothing oppressive. Not really a fog, but a fine mist. Compelling, but not overbearing. That is the allure of Bnei Brak, reflected even in its winter nights.

Poet's Corner
The Germ
by E. Isaacs

Laying down his instruments, the doctor quietly said,
"Your son has a deadly germ breeding inside his head.
That's always where this germ does start,
Unchecked - it'll quickly reach the heart. In your home is an area containing this deadly pollution,
Call the exterminator at once - it's the only solution."

*

The distraught parents returned home straight away,
And a top exterminator was contracted without delay,
He came at once, all set for his responsible task,
With detectors, explosives and an awesome gas mask.

*

Solemnly, the parents signed a legal declaration,
Taking responsibility for the damages of the extermination.
For wherever this deadly germ might be hiding,
The area would have to be destroyed upon finding.

*

Parents and son followed at a cautious distance -
Extermination could take place at any given instance.
The dining room and kitchen were declared danger-free,
The detector was silent - where could this germ be?
All the bedrooms were soon cleared off the list,
Now comes the study - no place will be missed.

*

He flung open the door and suspiciously stepped in,
When the detector flashed wildly and created a din.
The detector was waved first one way, then the other,
"THIS IS IT! Stay away!" he commanded the father.
With a bang and a flash, the house gave a shudder,
"What was the damage?" exclaimed the worried mother.
The father hugged his precious son and declared,
"As long as you're safe, what do I care?"

*

The exterminator emerged from the smoke filled room,
"It was the COMPUTER! But now your son will recover soon."
The son stared at his smoldering companion-tutor in dread.
"Don't grieve over this - your life was hanging by a thread.
Had you spent any more time with that deadly germ this way,
You wouldn't have been around long to `enjoy' it, anyway."

*

"YOU're our most precious possession," his mother now cried,
"Better for you to be alive and that the computer died!"
"Never again," said the father, "will this germ enter my home,
For surely, my children are the dearest possession I own."