An unusual public remark was delivered this week in the home of Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman, a member of the Council of Torah Sages and rosh yeshiva, when Rabbi Reuven Sklar, chairman of the Chaim LeYeled organization, came to seek a blessing and discuss the group’s expanding work for hundreds of children and respiratory patients in Israel.
Sklar described the organization’s daily activity, centered on its healing center and guesthouse, which each year hosts hundreds of patients with cystic fibrosis, lung disease, and severe skin conditions such as psoriasis. He said the facility is constantly full, demand from families is relentless, and the current building is too small, making it necessary to press ahead quickly with a new center now under construction. He added that over the past three years, while the new center has been built, the organization has continued caring for patients and their families without interruption, because their stay there can be life-saving.
Sklar explained that each stage of the new construction is meant to save more patients, give them, in his words, “air to breathe,” and accommodate families now stuck waiting because of the shortage of space in the existing guesthouse.
Bergman listened closely to the account of the patients’ year-round difficulties and the support provided by Chaim LeYeled. He then offered a rare blessing, saying, “Your work in Chaim LeYeled is entirely sacred. Through your important actions, you are extending the lives of patients. I wish you much success.” Sklar thanked him for the encouragement and blessing, saying it strengthens the effort to complete the expansion of the medical center.
