Part II
Synopsis: Rivka, who manages a chessed organization
which sends help to families in distress, is giving Liat a
tryout at the home of her husband's chavrusa whose
wife is hospitalized in intensive care.
She accompanies Liat to her first job, with reservations
about the capabilities of this handicapped young woman, but
is pleasantly surprised when seeing her in action. After four
hours of intensive work, and marvelous results, they take a
coffee break.
"I see that you are skilled at housework," Rivka complimented
the young woman appreciatively.
"Yes, life has taught me to specialize in all kinds of
areas."
With her life wisdom and her rich experience with people in
distress, Rivka understood the deeper message that was behind
Liat's concise words. Some people flourish -- not in spite
of, but because of adversity. They grow from their weakness.
Their lack serves as a springboard to elevate them and spurs
them to rise above their difficulty. They cling to what they
do have remaining and with it, reach great heights.
"I wasn't exactly raised with a silver spoon in my mouth,"
Liat began her story:
I was born after my parents had been married eleven years.
That's why my mother called me Li-at - You are mine!
She felt that I was all hers, a present she had been waiting
for with bated breath.
For the first eight years of my life, I was a pampered and
spoiled child, enveloped with endless love and the devoted
care of my doting parents. But the spell was broken. My
father had to go abroad for work and my mother joined him. As
for me, my parents decided to leave me behind with my aunts.
My mother figured that they were only going for a short and
busy time and there was no point in taking me.
In those months, I passed from one aunt to another, one week
at a time. Clearly, as a child, I found these frequent
transitions upsetting and even threatening. It's true that I
knew the aunts but each home has its own different rules,
limits and lifestyle. Adapting to them sapped my strength and
affected my disposition. I lost my appetite and had no
patience for anyone. I felt alone and abandoned.
No one asked me what was wrong. Everyone thought I just
missed my parents. During one of these transitions, something
terrible happened. Two of my mother's sisters lived in Beer
Sheva in adjoining neighborhoods. One Friday, shortly before
Shabbos, I was asked to move with all my belongings from one
house to the other.
I knew the way but I had not a drop of emotional energy for
the move. With my eyes full of tears and feeling utterly
dejected and rejected, I crossed the street, lugging two
heavy valises. My vision was blurred from the tears and I
didn't notice a bus coming at me from the opposite direction.
The serious accident was unavoidable.
*
Rivka trembled with shock. She saw the incident as totally
traumatic: A little girl crushed beneath the wheels of a huge
bus. Liat, for her part, seemed not only resigned, but
totally accepting, as if the whole thing was very removed
from her. Throughout her life, she had made every effort to
relate to the incident as positive, and her investment had
transformed it to a level of fruitfulness.
*
Afterwards, she continued, I had to deal with losing
consciousness, head injuries and a crushed leg. My parents
naturally returned from abroad to nurse me and did not remove
their eyes from me. The best doctors and the most famous
specialists were mobilized to treat me, but none of them
offered a chance for my injured leg. Even recurring
operations did not improve the terrible damage.
My mother was devastated. A year later, she suffered a sudden
heart attack and died. I was left on my hospital bed,
tormented and orphaned. There was no one to assume the role
of protector. My father did not have the emotional stamina to
bear the sorrow and the aunts tried to fill my parents'
shoes. After an exhausting period of rehabilitation, my aunt
enrolled me in a boarding school.
The social element contributed a lot to my wellbeing and most
importantly, I found the strong role model I had been
searching for -- Rebbetzin Gelman. The rebbetzin filled the
void created by my missing mother and paved for me a clear
path for life. The constant message that she conveyed was
coping with hardship, getting up after you've fallen. Growth
after withering, exactly like the small seedlings buried deep
in the earth which sprout after first withering...
That was when I began to feel the stirrings of hidden
strengths. Instead of descending to the depths of despair, I
understood that if I did not stand up for myself, on whatever
feet I still had, no one else would. I cooperated more fully
with the medical team that was still assigned to me and I
tried to help myself.
Since then, I have picked up the broken pieces of my life and
built from them a polished Liat. A Liat who is determined to
fight and who wins. I merited with Divine Providence to get
married and raise a wonderful family. Without faith, and the
will to survive and to make the best of my situation, and
without the G- d-given strength to cope, I would have been
crushed.
*
Rivka remained under the strong impact left by the story. At
that very moment, she wished to tell Liat that she was
welcome into her chessed organization with open arms,
that she would be regularly paid for her work and that she
would be sent each week to needy families. By the very virtue
of her fighting personality, she would be a boost to them,
morally as well as physically. But after reconsidering a
moment, she decided to first consult Mrs. Carmeli, her
partner in the organization. An unwritten agreement existed
between them to make all decisions jointly.
Rivka's conscience bothered her that night and banished sleep
from her eyes.
"Why take a crippled housekeeper into the organization?" Mrs.
Carmeli had decreed shrilly. "The funds of the organization
are sacred. People donate for charitable purposes and we must
take responsibility for the expenses and not waste our
funds," she added in self-righteous self defense. "After all,
those who appeal to us are liable to suffer. This Liat whom
you are talking about is likely to work excellently for a
week or two and then to become lax. What will we do then? We
have to think of possible snags and eventualities, in
advance. We wouldn't be able to fire her with a flimsy excuse
once we've committed ourselves to employing her on a
permanent basis."
"But she's excellent! I've already seen her in action and she
is efficient and thorough, to say nothing of her devotion.
Her work speaks for itself, I promise," Rivka tried with all
of her powers of persuasion to win Mrs. Carmeli over.
"No! Nothing doing!" Mrs. Carmeli was adamant. Rivka had to
give in. Her partner was a mature, experienced and logical
woman. Her outlook on life was well thought out. Whenever
Rivka followed her advice, she always came out ahead. In her
heart, though, she conceded that while it was hard to reject
Liat now, it would be seven times harder to find a reason to
fire her in the future.
The decision was cast. Liat did not get an answer that
evening. And although Rivka was one of those people for whom
24 hours were never enough in a day and who always borrowed
time from the wee hours of the night, she could not get her
mind off Liat throughout her other activities. Did she
find other work yet? How does she continue to cope? Is she
very disappointed by my decision?
One week, when it was Mrs. Carmeli's turn to send out help to
desperate families, there was a hitch. Marianna, the Romanian
maid, was caught by the immigration authories and the
organization was left without its two working hands. Mrs.
Carmeli tried for a long time to find a suitable replacement
and was disappointingly answered with `taken' or `the hours
don't suit me,' while other potential cleaning women demanded
an exorbitant hourly fee and transportation expenses. The
week passed quickly and a solution was demanded from Mrs.
Carmeli.
With no other choice, Liat, the handicapped housekeeper, was
chosen as a filler. Before she arrived, it was made clear to
her that the job was only temporary, for two or three weeks
at best. Liat assured Mrs. Carmeli that she felt privileged
to work wherever she was needed, and arrived at the office
limping. Mrs. Carmeli made a note to herself that she had
done well in being tentative with her and leaving room for
doubt.
*
Three weeks passed. Rivka left Mrs. Carmeli with the job of
delegating cleaning ladies. During the fourth week, she
received an unexpected phone call.
"I think it's time we sign Liat on permanently," said Mrs.
Carmeli, in an excited tone. "She seems to be very special.
The phone calls haven't stopped coming. The families can't
get over her dedicated work. I heard that another
chessed organization is trying to get her to join
them."
"If someone else has already offered her a permanent job, why
isn't Liat grabbing it?" Rivka wondered out loud.
Mrs. Carmeli was quick to explain, "Liat is honest and fair.
She did not want to give them an answer before she heard what
we had to say. I am convinced that we should take her on."
Rivka had no problem agreeing with her. She would have done
so long ago.
"You know, Rivka," Mrs. Carmeli said confidentially, "I thing
we should not be influenced by a person's outer appearance.
Sometimes, by making a hasty judgment, we can make serious
mistakes and lose out. Not every day does one find a diamond
like this!"
Ageeing wholeheartedly, Rivka smiled in satisfaction.
Who says one can't climb a ladder with one leg? If you
really want to -- you can. Thank you, Liat, for teaching me
an invaluable lesson on coping.
