Shua points to a piece of jewelry. “This one here… is this suitable for a very chareidi woman?” he asks

“After Tovi spoke with you, she took off her hearing aid. She handed it to me and told me to put it in the garbage.

You should have seen her eyes, Shifra. She was so happy.”

“In the garbage? Wow.” Seven thousand miles separate Gedalya from Shifra, and the words come through after a delay of a few seconds.

“Yes.” Gedalya combs his beard with his fingers.

Dudi gets up and moves away so his brother will have some space and privacy in this communal waiting room. There are signs in English on the walls. Everything is clean and neat. It’s a nice waiting room, complete with an aquarium.

“She said she wouldn’t be needing it anymore.”

“And you really threw it away?”

“I did — for her sake. I didn’t want to show any hesitation at all. I made a whole show of it, all dramatic, you know? That made her happy. Now I’m standing by the garbage can, wondering if I should pull it out.”

Gedalya hears a hubbub of voices in the background. “Who’s there with you?” he asks.

“Your sisters — Nechami and Chaya both came to help me with bedtime,” Shifra says. “And your mother, too, and my sister and my sister-in-law. After the kids are settled, we’re going to sit down and say Tehillim Mechulak together.”

“Are you resting?”

“I can’t rest, Gedalya. You can’t imagine what kind of torture this is for me, to lie here in bed while my daughter’s in surgery on the other side of the world.”