In Israeli Hospitals, Purim Joy Continues Underground
by Shloimy Galperin – chabad.org
“Israel’s hospitals have gone underground.”
That is how Rabbi Levi Mendelsohn, director of Lev Chabad, opened a conversation with Chabad.org this week. All above-ground hospital floors have been evacuated, he explained, with staff converting parking garages into makeshift wards.
“You can only imagine that the hospital patients, already in pain from their respective illnesses, are under extreme discomfort when relocated to the makeshift hospital ward on the concrete lot without sunlight,” explained Mendelsohn. “There’s hardly any privacy with rows of almost 100 beds divided only by partitions. But that doesn’t seem to break the strong and uplifted spirit of the patients.”
Despite the ongoing war, Purim is going on as planned throughout the Land of Israel. While Purim concluded on Tuesday night for the rest of the world, Jerusalem—due to its unique status as an ancient walled city—celebrates it today.
The backdrop to this Purim is unlike any in recent memory. Early Shabbat morning, Iran’s Supreme Leader was killed in a joint Israeli-American military operation that also struck Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and senior military command. Iran responded with hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting cities across Israel and American bases throughout the Middle East, sending millions of people to bomb shelters over the past five days.
Mendelsohn, who holds the rank of captain in the Israel Defense Forces and was recently called to active duty, directs the massive network of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and volunteers to many hospitals in Israel. His wife and seven children are staying at his in-laws’ home. He barely sleeps.
“During wartime, there’s no time for sleep,” he said. “We have to be ready at the sound of every siren, and G‑d willing, we won’t need to pull bodies from under collapsed buildings.”
500 Volunteers, 30,000 Packages
Lev Chabad is a project of Tzeirei Agudat Chabad, the umbrella organization of Chabad-Lubavitch in Israel. Thirty-four emissary couples and thousands of volunteers ordinarily serve 29 hospitals. Their work covers the full range: pastoral guidance for patients confronting difficult diagnoses, organizing prayer services, Shabbat programming, holiday celebrations, and distributing toys to children.
On Purim, the organization typically mobilizes around 700 volunteers, including yeshivah students, seminary girls and community members, to bring the joy and spirit of the holiday to hospital rooms. Patients can request a private Megillah reading at their bedside, while Lev Chabad also distributes more than 30,000 individually packaged mishloach manot.
This year, restrictions from the Home Front Command tied to the ongoing conflict have reduced the volunteer count to 500. The programs are continuing regardless.
“While the resilience of the Jewish people is evident in every war, this is unique,” Mendelsohn said. “Despite the ongoing challenges and dangers, we are seeing open miracles even more than every other time. An evil enemy is being taken apart, and the relatively few casualties are miraculous. The spirit of the nation, and the poignancy and joy of this Purim, has never been stronger.”
