Monday, November 23, 2009

A Gracious Miracle



When Nana, my father's mother, passed away this past September, right before Yom Kippur, we found her ketubah (marriage contract), which was written in 1924, and checked it to make sure we had her Hebrew name correct to say in memorial prayers.

We found that in addition to her Hebrew name of Hanna, which means gracious, she also had a second name of Nessa that none of us had known about. Nessa means miracle. We immediately added that second name to our prayers for our dad's complete recovery from the open heart surgery he had on Rosh Hashanah, which left him on a bi-ventricular assist device with an immediate need for a heart transplant. In retrospect, it was a miracle we had to pray for.

"The call" came last evening, nine and a half weeks after his initial surgery, 32 long days and nights after he had been on the heart transplant list at the most critical level.

Today's transplant, performed by the world-class transplant team at UCLA Medical Center, is indeed a miracle bestowed graciously upon us by our G-d who hears prayer, and it is with deep gratitude to Hashem that we begin the next phase of his recovery.

We continue to pray for Sholom ben Hanna Nessa's complete recovery, and thank our friends and family for all your love, prayers and good wishes. Dad, we love you and are glad to have you with as long as Hashem lends you to us.

No comments:

Post a Comment