What My Father Told Me Every Single Day of my High-Risk Pregnancy by Rebbetzin Rivkah Slonim

Posted by JewishMom on Feb 28, 2023 in Inspiration | 2 comments

Relatively early in my pregnancy with our fifth child, the doctor announced that I had to go on complete bed rest. The pains I had been feeling were due to my uterus contracting prematurely, which could lead to a dangerously early delivery.
When my beloved doctor pronounced her recommendation, I looked at her in total disbelief. There was just no way I could suspend all of my activities for so long! She saw that I was having a hard time processing the information, and she firmly repeated: Rivkah, this is no joke. If you don’t promise to adhere to my recommendations, I will have to ask that you leave my practice; I simply cannot take responsibility for what might ensue…
As we are close in age and similarly hard driven, I looked into her eyes and asked her, “Dr. Amin, please tell me the truth: if our roles were reversed, would you close your
bustling solo practice?”
Without batting an eye, she replied emphatically: Of course, do you think I am crazy?
I now understood the gravity of the situation, but still, I was used to “being crazy,” and besides, shlichut [being an emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe] is not equivalent to any other position. My husband and parents asked me to stop being ridiculous and grow up already. Quickly.
Once safely ensconced in bed (pre-personal computer and cell phone days) the real difficulties ensued.
We had to make many practical arrangements: childcare for all the hours the babysitter could not be with us, meals, laundry, and the list went on and on. And of course for the Chabad House: events, Shabbat, Yom Tov, the day to day administration, and the classes… Luckily I was still able to give classes (our second floor was never cleaner, as people were coming up to learn in my bedroom) but the rest of the time I was mentally climbing the walls!
My poor husband, who was now ably juggling everything alone, had to deal with my
despondency as well.
Every single day, my dear father would call me to see how I was doing, and every single day, he would repeat: you are engaged in the single most important shlichut.
You are bringing another soul into this world…
All these years later I can still hear the love in his voice. The profound truth of the lesson he was trying to impart to me then only becomes more clear with the passage
of time.
As the Rebbe taught, “If Hashem chooses to bless you with a child, then he obviously believes that this is more important–much more important–than mivtzaim [the Rebbe’s outreach campaigns]. Having children is the single most important thing a person can do.”

Excerpted from the newly-released book Holy Intimacy: The Heart and Soul of Jewish Marriage by Sara Morozow and Rivkah Slonim
Order at https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Intimacy-Heart-Jewish-Marriage/dp/1958542113
In Israel, for sale at Pomerantz and Manny’s