By Anash.org writer
Rabbi Dovid Gold, a chaplain in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, FL, reached out to Anash.org to share an inspiring experience that he had last week.
As he always does, he got a list of Jewish patients and began going from room to room, offering his services as a chaplain and sharing words of encouragement. When he began conversing with an older woman on one of his rounds, she commented that she didn’t know why she had mentioned her Judaism.
“I haven’t been to a shul in over 60 years; I have no idea why I even replied Jewish when the hospital asked about my religion!” The patient shared that she is married to a gentile, and has 2 children who know they are Jewish but not much more than that. “They never had a bar mitvah, or even a bris milah!”
“I explained to her that it’s the month of Elul, and that as we get closer to Rosh Hashanah our neshama is telling us something,” Rabbi Gold said. “She agreed, and promised that this Rosh Hashanah, after 60 years, she will show up in shul!”
Rabbi Gold concluded his story with a well-known teaching of the Frierdiker Rebbe. “From Rosh Chodesh Elul, the air in Lubavitch has a teshuvadike feeling. That continues on still today!”
To reach Rabbi Gold about chaplain services offered in Miami, email [email protected].
