With love,
Brother Emmanuel
18. 1972, Haifa
B
ULLETIN BOARD IN THE
C
HURCH OF
E
LIJAH BY THE
S
PRING
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO BROUGHT MONEY FOR SHIMON COHEN’S OPERATION.
WE HAVE ALREADY COLLECTED $4,865. WE NEED ANOTHER $1,135 BUT CAN ALREADY SEND THE LITTLE BOY TO FRANCE FOR THE OPERATION. THANK YOU EVERYBODY!
HILDA
19. 1973, Toulouse
L
ETTER FROM
K
ASIA
C
OHEN TO
E
THAN
C
OHEN
Dear Ethan,
As soon as we arrived, little bighead was examined by two doctors, one a pediatrician and the other a surgeon. They examined him for one and a half hours. He did not cry and behaved well. The pediatrician said that mentally the child was perfectly fine, and that all the observable limitations of mobility are caused by the pressure of fluid in his head. They arranged one more examination, praised all the X-rays we had brought, and said the Israeli doctors were on par with French doctors.
Dina has delighted and amazed me. You remember we only knew about the trip in March and came here in July, but believe it or not, in the meantime she has learned to speak French. She sat with her nose in a textbook and I was secretly annoyed that she was just wasting time. Incredibly, she understands everything and can speak the language.
Little bighead was taken to the department. At first he was a bit naughty but Dina had brought a toy for him and we avoided any crying, although he was pouting a bit. He is such a sweet, clever little fellow. By comparison with other children here, ours is really not too ill. The day after the X-ray, the professor said that in his opinion the prognosis was favorable. My dear Ethan, there is a baby in the next cubicle in such a state it breaks your heart to see him. His little head is twice the size of ours, his whole face seems pushed down to his chin, and there is a great hernia in the skull as big as a largish apple. His mother sits there with him, poor woman. It’s so terribly sad.
Dina is clearly feeling happier. Our little man is one of the very healthiest. Dina has met several of the mothers. Imagine, they give them psychological counseling. I will go myself later, but for the moment I feel more like looking around the city.
They have put us in a small room in the monastery guesthouse. This is a big community and the people are very welcoming. I didn’t expect such warmth and goodwill from French people. They had always struck me as haughty and self-important. In the next room is a girl from Brazil called Aurora with that very sick baby I described. She is here with her twin brother, whose name is Stephan. Aurora’s husband abandoned her when he saw the baby was ill but her brother has greatly taken to him. There’s so much sorrow here, but also a lot that is heartening.
Dina is behaving very well. She seems to be less upset and has perked up. At least there is not a hint of the depression she was suffering from. They will perform the operation very soon, early next week. The professor said he does not like to second guess the future but thinks that he will be able to send us home two weeks after that. He hopes the operation will stop the process.
I shall phone you immediately after they have done it. Although we are living here without having to pay, we are spending a lot of money. Food is quite expensive, and Dina really wanted some sandals so I bought them for her. On Sunday we went to Mass. There were two Polish women there, very sweet people. We made friends immediately. Brother Emmanuel was celebrating the Mass, the monk who arranged this trip. After the service, he came over and asked whether there was anything we need.
I wanted to tell you, dear Ethan, that I have always slightly envied Jews having such a closeknit community and such strong family support—not including your family, of course—but this time I have found there is the same family feeling among Christians, and when we are all together we are like brothers and sisters.
I felt this most acutely when I was queueing for communion and we were all united in spirit and members of one family. How splendid that was!
I kiss you and hope (I don’t want to say too much) that everything will be fine.
Your Kasia
Dina says she will write to you separately.
20. 1976, Rio de Janeiro
L
ETTER FROM
D
INA TO
D
ANIEL
S
TEIN
Dear Brother Daniel,
Mama has probably told you that Stephan and I registered our civil marriage while we were still in France, and now Stephan is insistent that we should get married in church. He says we need to put right the mistakes of our youth and that we should have a second child in accordance with all the rules, that is, after a church marriage. If we are to be married, then who would do it better than you? Please tell us when it would be convenient for you to come to Brazil, after the beginning of September, and we will immediately send tickets for you and Hilda. I very much hope you will not delay, because otherwise the bride will not be able to find a dress to fit her. Our second child is due in January. The Brazilians are wonderful people but a marriage not sanctified by the Church strikes them as questionable. They also take a dim view of giving birth before the wedding.
I do not know whether Mother told you that my husband’s family is very rich. They manufacture fashionable footwear which is famous throughout Latin America. Steve’s parents want to arrange a huge wedding and say I can invite anybody I want from Israel. I would like to invite Hilda. She was so kind to me when I was going through a very difficult time. Apart from my parents, two of my schoolfriends and my father’s brother and his children are planning to come to the wedding. Father is terribly pleased because this is the first time his respectable Jewish family will be joining our family in a Christian celebration. However, a second uncle, Leo, will hear nothing of it. Grandmother, too, is making her mind up. Let’s hope that, when she has thought about it a bit more, she will forgive my mother her Polish origins and my father his unwise marriage.
Dear Brother Daniel, I am only now beginning to realize that my life is working out thanks to you. You brought my parents around when little big-head was born and father was going to walk out of the house. You arranged for the operation in Toulouse where I met Stephan and Aurora, and together with them suffered the death of little Nicky and then that dreadful complication of little bighead. He survived the infection by a miracle, and after going through all that we became quite inseparable. I gained not only a dear friend and sister but also a husband, the best in the world. Do you remember coming to me before the birth when I was practically suicidal, idiot that I was, and told me I would be happy? You told me everything would be fine if I could learn to live by the rules which everyone knows but which each person has to discover afresh with their own heart if those laws are not to become mere words.
I cannot say that I understood at the time what you meant, but I do now.
Little bighead, thank God, is fit as a fiddle. They have yet to correct his squint, but Brother Emmanuel says that operation should be done a bit later. Our little boy is physically rather less developed, both in size and in the movements he can make, than other children his age, but he is far ahead of them in mental development. Please do not think that I am just a typical mother exaggerating her child’s progress. He is not yet four but can already read fluently, remembers everything he has read, almost by heart, and the whole family thinks he is wonderful, especially Stephan and Aurora.