Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center (MHMC) was established in 1990 in Bnei Brak, Israel, as a community hospital with a unique mission to provide modern and sophisticated medical services that adhere to Jewish tradition and halachah. Dr. Moshe Rothschild, Founder and President of the Medical Center, initiated the establishment of the hospital out of a belief that a city like Bnei Brak, with a populous religious community, calls for a medical center that will provide its inhabitants with high-quality professional medical services while strictly adhering to the values of the sanctity of life and human dignity. As a medical practitioner in Bnei Brak, Dr. Rothschild had long seen the necessity for a local hospital that would provide for its medical needs, without compromising the spiritual level of the environment distinctive to it. By making such an option available to the population, they would be spared the necessity of traveling out of the city, and many lives could be saved.
Many g’dolei Yisrael supported and encouraged him. “The Tzadik, Rav Yehudah Zev Segal zt”l of Manchester, told me that if he had the strength, he would call every expectant mother in the world to come and have her baby at Mayanei HaYeshua. The importance of giving birth in a respectful place cannot be overestimated. In Mayanei HaYeshua, the baby’s first breath is taken in holiness and purity, and I have no doubt that this atmosphere will influence the baby for the rest of its life. There is no hospital in the world more pure, and all the children born here enter the world in holiness and purity.”
A number of years ago, a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy was brought to Mayanei HaYeshua Medical Center while in the throes of a difficult and painful labor. She was admitted into the hospital and doctors worked tirelessly to save her and rescue her unborn child. Observers commented that her situation was so grave that it would take nothing short of a miracle for both of them to come out of this alive. B’chasdei Hashem, after many hours in the operating theater and emergency room, the woman pulled through and her baby was born in good health.
When the dust had settled, Dr. Rothschild came to visit the patient. He described how the doctors had gone above and beyond to treat her, and how Hashem was watching over her from above. Then, he said, “I just want you know that if there is any one person who can take credit for your miraculous survival, it is the Steipler Gaon, Rav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky zt”l.”
The woman looked confused. “The Steipler passed away many years ago,” she said, clearly uncomprehending. “Besides, even when the Gaon was alive, I never met him or came into contact with him at all. How could he have saved me?”
Dr. Rothschild smiled warmly and replied, “It is well known that Mayanei Hayeshua has a sterling reputation for delivering mothers and babies. The government has a statistic that tracks every hospital nationwide and the mortality rates in each one. Generally, a hospital will list anywhere from 6-7 fatalities per 100,000 live births. Here, with great siyata diShmaya, we can proudly say that we are closing in on the 100,000-birth mark, and we have never had even one death! Do you want to know how this is possible? It is because when I was in the process of laying the foundation for this medical center, I went to the Steipler Gaon for a blessing. He told me that no woman who comes to have a baby here will ever be in danger! So, in truth, although you might have gone through a difficult labor and delivery, in reality, you were never actually in danger, because the blessing of the Steipler protected you from the outset!”
After this story took place, someone asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l how is it that his father’s blessing can remain in effect, when our Sages rule like Rabbi Yosi who held that after a righteous person passes away, the blessings he gave in his lifetime will cease, so as to amplify the greatness of what the Tzadik accomplished in his lifetime (as we find in the case of Yaakov Avinu, where upon his death, the waters of the Nile River receded after having been blessed while Yaakov was in Egypt). If so, how can the hospital’s impeccable record be credited to the Steipler’s blessing, if he had already passed away many years ago? Rav Chaim answered that there is a difference between a general blessing and a specific blessing. In the case of Mayanei Hayeshua, his father had issued a specific blessing that protected – and continues to protect – mothers who deliver their babies there. This blessing is one that will not cease and will continue on for posterity.
Rabbi Dovid Hoffman is the author of the popular “Torah Tavlin” book series, filled with stories, wit and hundreds of divrei Torah, including the brand new “Torah Tavlin Yamim Noraim” in stores everywhere. You’ll love this popular series. Also look for his book, “Heroes of Spirit,” containing one hundred fascinating stories on the Holocaust. They are fantastic gifts, available in all Judaica bookstores and online at http://israelbookshoppublications.com. To receive Rabbi Hoffman’s weekly “Torah Tavlin” sheet on the parsha, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
