9 Months after the Accident by Adina Rachel Leibowitz

9 Months after the Accident by Adina Rachel Leibowitz
  1. [Two weeks ago the neighborhood coordinator asked me to send a meal to Adina Rachel following the birth of a baby girl, and the very next day I recognized her when I ran into her at shul. Adina Rachel shared her difficult yet empowering and inspiring story behind this birth with me and she graciously agreed to share it with you as well.]
I got married when I was 30, later than I’d hoped. But B”H, we had children right away, a boy named David Akiva followed soon after by an adorable girl named Cherut.
Last spring, a few days before Pesach, I was walking with David Akiva and Cherut. Out of nowhere, a bus ran into my stroller, and even though David Akiva and I were just centimeters away, we left the accident without a scratch but Cherut was critically injured.
My husband, Nachshon, works as an emergency-room nurse at Shaarei Tsedek. I called him from the ambulance to tell him what had happened, and he was waiting at the emergency room to receive us. For an hour the doctors tried to save her, but afterward they told us that they were very sorry but our Cherut was gone.
When I left the hospital for the funeral I told the doctors, “Please God, I will be coming back here in 9 months to give birth!”
I said that because that was what I was hoping for so strongly. And it was only after the shiva we found out that I was, in fact, pregnant.
During the pregnancy, every time an ambulance went by, I remembered the accident. It was very difficult, horrific. But I decided that when I was ready to give birth I would take an ambulance to the hospital, I was determined to have a corrective emotional experience.
And B”H that’s what happened. Every time I would have a contraction in the ambulance it was very painful but I would still smile, because I knew that I was healing the trauma I’d gone through.
And now, since our beautiful daughter Ortal was born, every time I hear an ambulance I think about the birth and feel happy.
Nachshon and I chose the name Ortal, which means “light, dew” because dew isn’t like rain that sometimes falls and sometimes doesn’t. Dew is a constant blessing, and we pray that with God’s help the light of this blessing will be with Ortal always. Just like the blessing of joy and strength she’s given us will always remain with us.
Ortal was born during a very challenging time for the Jewish people. For the last few months of my pregnancy until last week Nachshon was away serving as a reservist in the IDF. We pray that Ortal will bring with her a constant blessing of peace, unity and goodness wherever she may be.
When I was pregnant with Cherut A”H I wrote a diary about the pregnancy, every week I would write a few lines about what was happening in my body, and how she was developing, along with a short sort of prayer. I had hoped to give it to her one day. It is my greatest hope that pregnant women will be able to use it and get chizuk from it https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nolAK6r2T2DS8Le6Yg4rTHuzFHqjCBG2/view?fbclid=IwAR29TDZ5D7xaydpa-2i0yJmbhN4r4Z1UrBeDJI-zzuFODWL8QB2RqBnyg5o
To receive printed Hebrew or English journals please contact me at +972547242756.
May it provide an elevation for the soul of Cherut bat Nachshon Nechemia. And a zchut for all of Am Yisrael.
Painting by Brian Kershisnik

2 comments

  1. Thank you for sharing Adina Rachel’s wonderful diary!

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