After adopting children in need, rewarded with twins
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I surround myself with incredible people all of the time. People who are constantly giving and helping others without getting anything in return. They do this because they are good people and they want to become even better. That is why I am the luckiest person in the world. Emergency medical service volunteers from United Hatzalah, donors, visionaries, and all of the other people around me are good people and I thank God for that every day.
But I had a recent personal story that I want to share. I have a niece and nephew, whom I love very much. They got married 10 years ago. They were very happy together, but they were not blessed with children. They tried everything possible to have children. After six few years of trying and meeting every doctor that they could, these doctors all told them that there was no way that they would ever be able to have children. This couple very much wanted to have a family. They loved and adored children.
Finally, they decided to do something really special. Four years ago, they heard about a baby who was born with Down’s syndrome and was abandoned in the hospital. The baby was left in the hospital for a few weeks. My niece and nephew came to the hospital and began the process of adopting this child. It was a long process, but they were consistent and committed. I was even asked to write a reference letter for them explaining what special people they are as a part of the process.
Some weeks after starting the arduous and invasive process of adoption, they were finally granted the right to adopt the baby. They were suddenly the happiest people in the world. They treated the childas their own, caring for it and providing for its every need. The lovethey showed this baby was whole and pure. I have never quite seen anything like it anywhere else.
Two-and-a-half years later, they heard of another baby, who was also born and left in the hospital. They went through the same process and adopted this child as well. The care that they give to these children goes above and beyond the normal love that parents have for their children. They don’t use babysitter’s and they don’t take vacations. All of their time and energy is given to these children to make sure that they will want for nothing.
Last month, 10 years after they got married, my niece gave birth to beautiful twin girls. This was the nicest surprise that I have ever heard of. Years after they lost hope of ever having their own children, this couple adopted two children, and God repaid their kindness with two additional biological children.
I am lucky; I have five children of my own. But seeing miracles such as this happening to those who do acts of chesed, is something that lifts me up and inspires me every day. It reminds me of why so many people want to be a part of a project that does chesed such as United Hatzalah. The mindset of giving, without expectation of anything in return, defies the basic psychology of humanity and elevates those who possess. It enables us to partake in a small part of the divine. It allows us to open our eyes and see the miracles around us. Sometimes, it even qualifies us to be recipients of those miracles.
In the weeks before the High Holidays, we often hear the refrain that charity and acts of loving-kindness will save us from death. When I think about that, I think that these acts of chesed do more than simply save us from death, they save us from a life of normalcy and uplift us to a life of shared divinity, a glorious life where we see and bear witness to the miracles that happen all around us each and every day.
Eli Beer is the father of five children, a social entrepreneur and president and founder of United Hatzalah of Israel, an independent, non-profit, fully volunteer EMS organization that provides fast and free emergency first response throughout Israel. He is also a recovering Covid-19 patient.
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