By Brocha Lipkind
RUN4YITZI will run the Miami Half Marathon for second year to raise $20,000.00
For the past three years, I have been making a trip to Los Angeles and spending a lot of quality time with the Hurwitz family.
Our families go back, wayyyy back. We laugh, we cry, we talk, and sing – That’s just how it is. Completely balanced. While visiting, I sit and talk to Yitzi, ask advice, hear some jokes, but what is most apparent is the chizuk he gives me to bring back home.
During my most recent trip, last month, something frightening yet tumultuously enlightening happened. I wrote about the occurrence on the spot, and with Dina’s permission I am sharing it with you.
Life Support.
What does that mean to you? Think about it. Give it a few minutes, I can guarantee you can’t truly understand the complexity and deeper meaning of those words. When has anyone used those words in real life that you could relate to? The media creates scenarios where family members are left desperately and feverishly contemplating what they should do, or what they can achieve by deciding if they should take their loved one off or put them on life support. Whatever the scenario, it’s a decision that does not come lightly.
Today I experienced the purest meaning of Life Support. And those words are still ringing in my ears. Haunting me perhaps but definitely permeating.
In the early morning hours while I was still fighting the awake state the Hurwitz home was in a quiet high gear. Hatzolah was called, a generator was being run and the most amazing woman was moving swiftly with firm determination, completely under control with her ever apparent grace filled calm nature.
Let’s go back a bit. The wind was howling, the trees were violently swaying, and dawn was considering its break. It was loud. It was dark.
BOOM!!!! Something nearby sounded like it had exploded. My father would call it a CRACK of lightning but it seemed like more of a roar of an angry beast. In my foggy fitful slumber I thought of a hurricane storm in Miami but quickly remembered this is Los Angeles, and this was not the case today. My assumption was that the winds were so strong that it had pulled the electric cables.
The power went out.
To most this would be nothing more than a slight inconvenience. But in this house, the Hurwitz house, it was not only an inconvenience it was a matter of life and death. Everything in Rabbi Yitzi’s room is powered by electricity.
The complexity and severity of the situation hadn’t completely sunk in until I went with Dina to speak to the men working on the electric outside. These were her words. But please read it out loud. Then read it again and think if you could ever say those words without falling apart. Because Dina is the strongest human I know.
“Excuse me sir, I live in that building over there and my husband is on Life Support, I was wondering if you could tell me how long it will be until the power goes back on?”
Read it again, please.
Maybe it was her adrenaline, probably it was. But this is life. This is Dina.
Dina is Yitzi’s Life Support.
Last year our team raised $10,418.00 for the Hurwitz Family. Not only has our team doubled in size but so has our goal. You can help us reach that $20,000.00 goal for the Hurwitz Family, by donating here
www.run4yitzi.com
Thank God for this life-saving device you had on-hand. It is important to have regular maintenance performed on generators to make sure they are in working order. Also have an extra one or two on hand for emergency situations.
Dear hurwitz family. I almost say your fathers kapital every night after i say shema. So if I am saying shema from a siddur that night (majority of the time) i say it. I met musie and chava in ranch camp and I believe i have been saying it since. Whenever i go to the ohel I have your father in mind.
We all can learn so much from the Hurowitz family.
Moshiach now.
Beautiful article Bracha. Good luck to Bracha, Esther and all of Team Yitzy. May you exceed your expectations and may Yitzy have a refuah shleimah.
Dovening and donating. Powerful story. Yashar koach to Brocha, but especially to Dina.
Thank you, Mendel, as well.
have you all heard of the new miracle cure just developed in Eretz Yisroel to fight ALS? It has shown wonderful results and will soon be ready for the public..Hashem is Boray Refuous, and may this be the help that Yitzy needs..bekorov mamosh…
Beautiful story!
May Dina’s incredible Life support and all of our Mitzvos for Yitzi merit him a complete Refuah Shelaima U’krova, and only happiness, health, success and good things for the entire Hurwitz family. Kol Hakavod to all of those who are supporting and donating to the Hurwitz family. It is such a big mitzvah.
beautiful!
every penny goes to the life support of yitzi who spends all his energy trying to inspire others
Please donate and support the Hurwitz family!
Brocha, what you do is incredible and so inspiring!
Please give to this worthy cause. My wife, Brocha, trains for months with a small group of people who will run with her in a few weeks, Every dollar goes directly to Yitzie’s medical expenses. Truthfully $20K is a small portion of his yearly expense. Lets raise more than $20k and show the world that even the worst diseases can not hold a person down, Yitzie and Dina inspire countless people. And Brocha is an inspiration to me and others here in Miami, Go Brocha! Go Team Yitzie!
Very moving story; Yashare koach for your support of these very special people.
Keep up the great work!
Wow this inspired me. They’re both just tremendously wonderful people!
thats really inspiring and amazing