Rabbi Yitzchok Hisiger tells an amazing story that illuminates this misvah of honoring one’s parents.
Rav Mordechai Moskowitz is a resident of Ashdod, in Israel, whose wife, Mrs. Penina Markowitz A”H, passed away several weeks ago. She passed away following an illness of about four years. During the shiva, Mrs. Moskowitz’s doctor shared the following story with the family.
Four years ago, after Mrs. Moskowitz was feeling sick and underwent various tests, her doctor shared with her that she was severely ill and that she had approximately six weeks to live. Her illness was ravaging her body.
Strangely, upon hearing the devastating news, Mrs. Moskowitz was composed and calm. With aplomb, she told the doctor that she’s not worried because, “I have insurance.”
“Insurance?” asked the doctor, bewildered. “How is insurance going to help?”
Mrs. Moskowitz explained that her “insurance” wasn’t what the doctor was thinking.
“My ‘insurance’ is my mother,” said Mrs. Moskowitz. “My mother lives with us in our home, where we care for her.”
Despite the various difficulties involved in caring for her mother, Mrs. Rachel Halpern, Mrs. Moskowitz demonstrated superhuman strength and dedication, tending to her every need with remarkable devotion. Her mother was weak and elderly and no longer recognized her daughter or grandchildren, but she was treated with tremendous sensitivity and compassion. When the home health aide who spent the days with Mrs. Halpern went away overseas to India, Ms. Moskowitz assumed full care of her mother, despite her own weakened condition due to her own illness.
At the same time, Mrs. Moskowitz was taking a dosage of medication and miraculously, against all odds, defied the doctor’s predictions, living year after year while caring for her mother.
Two months ago, Mrs. Halpern passed away. Shortly after, Mrs. Moskowitz began deteriorating and her own condition worsened considerably. Six weeks after first experiencing a serious decline in health, Mrs. Moskowitz passed away.
“Medically,” the doctor told Rav Moskowitz, “It was impossible to explain how your wife stayed alive these four years. But as she said, she had ‘insurance.’ She had her mother who she cared for so devotedly.”
And indeed, as the doctor thought, Mrs. Moskowitz had just six weeks to live. But these weeks didn’t begin until after her mother passed away, once her “insurance” had expired.
Reprinted from the Parashat Yitro 5784 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
