Six women share the moment they felt privileged to belong to our nation

Dina Storch

I’M’

nearing the yahrtzeit for my daughter; it’ll be six years since we spent two years of our lives with her in the hospital. The feeling of being different and special — chosen — from among the nations was stark.

In the care of the medical teams, we saw our community through the eyes of outsiders, and we gained an appreciation of what we have — it was as Dovid Hamelech said, “Let all the nations praise Hashem.”

I remember once meeting with a social worker in the bikur cholim house that was made available to us. “What do you mean, this is your house?” she asked. “I thought you lived in Lakewood.”

I explained to her the concept of bikur cholim. She touched the walls of the house in disbelief. “This [kindness] is angelic,” she said.

Chai Lifeline volunteers and other visitors came to my daughter every day. No other patients had support like that. The nursing staff could not distinguish between volunteers and our actual cousins, because really, we Jews are a family. When my husband blew the shofar in the hospital, the nurse present was sobbing at the obvious holiness. I remember explaining that on my Sabbath I could not do certain acts, which are creative work, because G-d created the world and rested on the Sabbath. They loved that, which gave me a renewed appreciation for the Torah and its laws. Another time, I was chatting with staff and explained how our schools in Lakewood often host weddings, since the premises are not used in the evenings anyway. The reaction was undiluted admiration. “I always knew that Jews were really clever.”

Before my daughter’s petirah, we were sitting and singing. At one point, we switched to English songs. Non-Jewish staff who were present told us to “go back to the prayers.” Without understanding a word of the pesukim, they could feel the emotional and spiritual impact of the words of Tehillim and tefillah.

Really, we have a treasure vault.

Dina is a singer, songwriter, and music teacher who has been active on the Jewish music scene for several decades.