This week’s issue of the Emes Parsha Sheet is sponsored by Rabbi Yaakov Mandel (“Rabbi Mandel”), L’iluyi Nishmas his sister, Esther Rosenbaum A”H (Esther Bas Menachem Manis). What follows, is an inspirational story regarding Mrs. Rosenbaum’s Middas HaEmes (honest character) as told by Rabbi Mandel, in a recent issue of the HaModia newspaper.
“About twenty-two years ago, R”L, I lost a grandson at 14 months old, who passed away suddenly in a crib death. His parents and the entire family were devastated. While I was on my way to Lakewood, Esther hurried to the hospital to be with my daughter and son-in-law. The doctor came out and asked my children, ‘Please come inside to identify your deceased child, and to confirm that the name of the deceased is as it appears on the documents that we issued.’
My children looked at each other and were thinking, ‘Ribbono shel Olam! In a time of such a Tzarah, on top of that we need to go inside and identify him?’ Esther told them, ‘I’ll go inside and take care of it.’ But then she paused and said, ‘How can I identify the baby? I don’t know what he looks like.’ Thinking quickly, she turned to my daughter and asked, ‘Maybe you have a picture of the baby?’ My daughter did, and she shared the picture with Esther. Esther looked at the picture and said, ‘All right, now I can go inside and identify the baby.’
In such a situation, anyone else would have just done as they were told. Maybe one in a thousand would feel a bit uncomfortable identifying the baby when they did not know what the baby looked like. But it wasn’t Emes! How could she say that she recognized the baby to be the name on the document when she didn’t know what the baby looked like? Obviously, if my daughter hadn’t had a picture, Esther would have identified the baby in any case, because according to Halachah, it would have been permitted. Any delay is not Kavod (dignity) for the Meis (deceased) and would add to the already excruciating pain of the parents.
How did the Middas Ha’Emes become so ingrained in her, even in that situation? And how was she able to stop and think at such a time? She had learned from our father (Rav Menachem Manis Mandel, ZT”L).”
