This has been a L O N G week. In our small congregation we had seven people in the hospital. None were critical. All were serious.

• A 96 year old who needed a pacemaker and had a panic attack or seizure just before going to the hospital for her scheduled surgery so went by ambulance instead of her daughter’s car.
• A 97 year old doing at three day test to see if a brain stent needs to be used to drain fluid
• An 80+ year old with a gallbladder issue and underlying problem winds up in ICU.
• A mother-to-be with a 35 hour delivery and the baby winds up in the NICU.
• Our administrator still in rehab with a shattered but healing elbow.
• An 81 year old with cataract surgery. His was the least serious.

A ninety year old, not one of the above, told me today, that while her doctor has given up on her because her heart will give out on her, she is not ready to die. She told me her work is not done yet. That she still has work to do. And that she would continue to do that work until G-d said she was done. She said this with a big smile on her face and surety in her heart. That very heart the cardiologist felt he couldn’t treat any more.

I admire her spunk. Her determination. Her sense of humor. Her spirit. She never went to college but she was president of a PTA–and her senior retirement community. She went to the school of hard knocks. And she has had a hard life. She got beaten up by the Catholic kids for being Greek Orthodox. So she signed up for catechism and challenged the priest about what he was teaching. She defended her Jewish neighbors, explaining to her other neighbors that it was the Romans who killed Jesus not the Jews. She told me how she hurt her arm helping to rescue a young man at the scene of an accident. She made me smile and gave me renewed energy.

Last night in my Introduction to Judaism class I explained how G-d visited Abraham when he was recovering from his circumcision. From this we learn the importance of visiting the sick. Moses prayed for healing his sister Miriam. El na refana la. Please, G-d heal her. The prayer is simple and direct.

Visiting the sick isn’t just for rabbis. Praying for healing is incumbent on us all. My prayer is to be like my Greek Orthodox friend. Determined, with a sense-of-humor. With strength and compassion and courage. With faith and energy.

Please G-d heal them. All of them. Give them strength and courage. Energy and vitality. Faith and compassion. Hold their hands and their spirits. Give them skilled and compassionate care teams. Be their Rock. ALlow them to put their burden down as You lighten their load and give them rest. Let them enjoy a perfect moment of Shabbat.