My son plays energetically with his friends during recess. I understood long ago that every day that he comes home healthy and whole is reason enough to thank Hashem, even in circumstances where his glasses got bent or his pants torn; and certainly when both he and his clothing came home in one piece.
This time, something happened that was logical even if rare: My son fell off a table in cheder and broke his hand. This time he did not come home; rather, I had to go pick him up from Talmud Torah and take him to the emergency room. In the hospital they put a cast on his hand and told me to make sure to follow up with an orthopedist. Two weeks later they did an X-ray and saw that the cast was not placed properly. The bone was not even close to coming together, and therefore he needed surgery.
I was very upset that my son needed surgery. He is, after all, only a boy; what did he need all these yissurim for? A fracture and a cast were more than enough.
B’chasdei Hashem, since the incident took place in his Talmud Torah, the insurance company covered the cost of treatment by a private doctor. Askanim hooked me up with the right doctor, and the appointment was made for surgery.
In the meantime, my heart was racing. I davened that he wouldn’t need surgery and asked Hashem for the doctors to find a simpler way to help him heal. On the day of the scheduled surgery, we arrived for pre-op early in the morning; my son had been fasting since 6 a.m.
The doctor arrived and prepared him, and I asked him to reexamine him and try to see if perhaps the fracture could be fixed without surgery.
Afterward, when my son went in for surgery, I went into the hospital’s shul. It was empty. Just I and Hashem were there. “Ribbono shel Olam,” I said, “I thank You so much for healing my son in the easiest possible way!” I said these words again and again until I felt in my bones that indeed, yes, Hakadosh Baruch Hu had already arranged everything in the easiest possible way. Once I had this feeling, I started to dance in gratitude. I clapped my hands and jumped up and down with joy for the great yeshuah.
For a full hour, I expressed gratitude for the present and for the future, and then my phone rang. They were calling me to the recovery room. “So quickly?” I asked.
I hurried to my son and asked the doctor what he had done. He told me, “In the end I thought of an alternate way. I did not do the accepted form of surgery, but rather microscopic surgery with a tiny cut, using laser technology, and I was able to insert the screw through that tiny incision.”
Two weeks later we were called in again to remove the screw, and that was it. My son’s hand is completely healed, in the quickest and easiest way, baruch Hashem.
We learned that when we thank Hashem with all our hearts, Hashem gives us many, many reasons to thank Him more and more.
