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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,485 words · 7:35. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 I have heard a lot of stories, but your story — I cried like a little girl. Can you tell it to me? - We were parents of five children, and my wife was pregnant with the sixth, and so, during the pregnancy, they told my wife that, according to — there is a certain finding, that a girl was supposed to be born who in fact has Down syndrome.
0:27 Now, we were very afraid, any ordinary person is very, very afraid, we were very worried about it because we already have a special child. We have a child who today is nine years old, who was born prematurely, in the 26th week, so we didn't want to get into all that complication again. So we were very stressed about it. My wife and I thought a lot about what to do, we heard about the Rav, the Yanuka, we decided that we were going to him. I went in to the Rav, I tell the Rav such and such, look what they are telling us, what is supposed to be.
0:58 The Rav tells me, don't worry, the girl will be healthy and whole. The Rav took a small note and told me, open it after the birth. We were very curious, we didn't know what was going to be written there. - They told you there was a chance it would be the syndrome, a chance of almost 100%. The doctors told you? - Yes. - They told you that you have a one hundred percent chance - Yes. - That the child would have the syndrome.
1:24 - Yes. The birth came, a birth that was supposed to be quick and easy, and suddenly something there in the birth got stuck, stuck. It started on the night after the first day of the festival and went on, went on, went on, it was already the middle of the night, morning, until one of the doctors, the really good ones there, says to my wife: listen, there aren't many choices, you are going in for surgery.
1:49 We waited, and she gave another option and another option, until she said, that's it. The time has come, it's surgery, it's a must, there is nothing to talk about. My wife said, we take everything with love. If this is what has to be, this is what will be. I am going into the surgery with joy. She really went into surgery, and the surgery, Baruch Hashem, went successfully; as soon as the baby girl came out, the doctors do their tests to make sure what really came out.
2:20 And Baruch Hashem, we saw that a completely normal girl came out. - Without a syndrome? - Without a syndrome, exactly as the Rav said, a normal, normal, normal girl. We didn't open the note right after the birth, because the Rav told me to open it only 24 hours after the birth. - Wow, how did you manage to hold back? - That is, we were in suspense and didn't know what is happening, what is written in the note? And we were in suspense, and we waited for the next day at 10:55 in the morning, and we waited with longing eyes to open the note. When we saw the note, both of us almost fainted.
Read the whole shiur in English (10 more parts)
2:54 We didn't believe how far the greatness of a tzaddik can reach, how far a tzaddik can decree and the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills. It's simply like a story out of fairy tales, like a made-up story, something not logical. That is, you see it written for you on the note. It's not imagination, that someone dreamed it at night, it's something that is written for you on the note. We were in shock, total shock, and everyone I told it to, people were open-mouthed.
3:21 Simply like that. So first of all, it says the 16th, which was the day after the first day of the festival. We went right on the night after the first day of the festival, and it was supposed to be quick and easy. It was the day after the first day of the festival. And the hour is written, which is in fact 10:55 in the morning, and they wanted to operate on her a long time before. It simply got put off, and put off, and put off, and put off, and put off. In the end, the birth itself was exactly at that hour.
3:47 And he also wrote: "Surgery instead of a syndrome, with joy." - Wow, I have chills. - We saw it, we were simply in shock. Right away I told it to a few people I know, and it went around like a conveyor belt. I got phone calls, you could say from all over the world, people called me from lots of places, people I don't know: listen, I want to hear the story firsthand.
4:13 I want to hear the story firsthand. You don't understand. Okay. It made such a noise in the world. Unbelievable. And here, these are all the doctors' documents that were telling you, we won't show it to the camera, of course, but these are all the doctors' documents that told you it's a syndrome. Yes, it's unreal, unreal, there are no such things.
4:40 And was there talk of surgery before? - No. My wife, the previous birth, the birth before the previous one, she took a private doctor so that she would not come to surgery again, and indeed, before this birth we went to a doctor who is the head of a clinic at Shaare Zedek, to give approval that she doesn't need surgery, and he said she can go for a normal birth. For a normal birth, she doesn't need surgery at all.
5:05 It wasn't on the schedule at all, like. Like, the Yanuka knew the day, the date of the birth. And what the outcome would be? That there would be surgery, and instead of a syndrome, when the doctors give a 100% chance that there will be a syndrome. And he gives it to you on a note, not in a blessing, not in a video that can be erased — on a note. So, like, if you had opened it, if there were surgery and a syndrome, you would say, what is it worth? You have proof.
5:33 What a risk, it's a risk. What a risk the Rav took. But he was 100% sure of himself, against the doctors. Wow, what a crazy story. Now, besides the fact that no ordinary person wants a child with a syndrome, we in particular, we have a special child, and I said, I'm not going to get into this thing again. Not going, I don't want it, it's over. I have a special child, and the coping with him... he is 9 years old, and it's not simple.
6:01 I said, I'm not getting into it again. - You couldn't, emotionally, think about it. - Emotionally it's impossible. Impossible. - Because we can say, so why did it happen to you? And there are people for whom maybe it... he didn't bless as he did for you, but you — maybe he saw in you that you can't. - It could be. - You can't, it was, people maybe can accept it, So, but you — it was like, you brought approval from the Holy One, blessed be He, to do the open miracle for you. Like, it's an open miracle, it's against nature. It's also an open miracle, it's also prophecy, because he knew that it would be surgery, also prophecy, because he knew what it is, what date, what hour, and that there would not be a syndrome, against
6:42 all the doctors, like, it's something crazy. What do you expect from this story, from the Jewish people? Like, what do you — how do you see it? Like, why did Hashem give you an open miracle like this, from a holy messenger? - I don't know why Hashem gave it to me, but I know that now, with this story, our job is to glorify the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the world, and to say that only Hashem, and only the tzaddikim whom the Holy One, blessed be He, plants in every generation — only these tzaddikim who are truly tzaddikim of truth, not all the tzaddikim there are — tzaddikim of truth.
7:17 Only they can turn reality around. A tzaddik decrees and the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfills. There is nothing else. Against all the doctors. Against all the odds. Even when the doctors give you 100% syndrome, he can say it will not be, it's instead of a syndrome... then it will not be. Against all the odds. Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness is forever.
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