The Essence of Unity

Something fascinating happens to Sheba Medical Center during Chol Hamoed Pesach. Despite the fact that the hospital is fully operational during the holiday, the bustling hallways thin out in dramatic fashion.

Declaring yourself ‘healthy’ for the holiday is indeed a form of freedom, especially during these challenging days, when the stress of enduring a seemingly never ending war, has created an array of new physical and mental challenges for both our citizens and hard-working medical staff.

What truly is bringing smiles to the faces of our medical teams ahead of Pesach are the growing numbers of soldiers, who have endured weeks and even months of physical and mental convalescence that are about to be released from our Returning to Life Rehabilitation Hospital.

During their recovery period, a myriad of celebs, cowboys, social media influencers and singers from the USA have come to Sheba to offer their support, which has absolutely had a positive impact on their recovery.

Last week, the American Jewish Committee brought Grammy-nominated singer John (Five for Fighting) Ondrasik to Sheba to meet the heroes of October 7th and Iron Swords in an informal manner. During the course of his visit, Ondrasik listened to their stories, played some of his biggest hits and then watched intently as two of the recuperating soldiers whipped out their guitars and harmonized with him.

These unforgettable moments of bonding and unity have been the hallmark of these ongoing encounters during the past 6 months. Unity…brotherhood…achdut in Hebrew…Our recovering soldiers have been a true beacon of light and hope amidst the chaos and darkness, which have tried to ‘infect’ our well-being.

It is our wish to all of our readers who follow us during the course of the year through this newsletter to celebrate the Festival of Freedom with a healthy mind, body and soul, as well as imbibe the incredible strength of our heroic soldiers, who have shown us the true essence of achdut!

Chag samayach!