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64 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 86
perienced when she herself was diagnosed with a devastating illness that
would eventually claim her life several years later. Seeing
the need, she made it her life’s passion and set out to create
Shabbos rooms across America. First at St Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan, then at numerous hospitals across the
New York area, and then even as far away as Florida.
Her vision: Shabbos hospitality rooms that were attractively decorated and comfortably furnished; a quiet place
away from the tumult of the hospital that could be used for
rest, prayer, and contemplation; filled with kosher food and
other amenities for patients and their families, along with
kitchen facilities, couches, tables and chairs; stocked with
tefillin, siddurim and Tehillim, as well as Judaic publications and other media resources. Thoughtful touches to
help make a stressful situation a bit more bearable, allowing
the family to focus their full attention on their loved one.
And Miriam took it on herself to personally stock and
maintain these rooms, around 10 in the New York area
alone. The impact of these rooms has been incredible. Here
is just one entry in a guestbook at the Roosevelt Hospital
Shabbos room:
“Dear Mrs. Alexander
We left Lakewood, New Jersey, at 4:05am and got to Roosevelt
Hospital for surgery by 5:30am. By 8am, I was so tired. This
room is “just what the doctor ordered”. I had a place to myself,
peace and quiet, and time to daven. Yasher koach for a room so
well stocked with kosher food. Many, many thanks.”
As I experienced with my own family, being in a hospital is a
time of fear, anxiety, reflection, and prayer. Miriam saw this
and set out to provide comfortable accommodation and
other Jewish amenities to help families going through such
challenging moments. May we learn from her incredible
chesed and be inspired to care for others so completely and
so selflessly. JL
PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED
Two years ago, my wife and I
flew down to Boca Raton,
Florida, to stand vigil while
my
father-in-law
went
through open heart surgery at
Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
With an infant in tow, we wondered where we would stay in
the hospital during the five or
more hours that would pass as
we anxiously waited to hear
how Papa had come through his second bypass surgery. As
kosher consumers, we also worried whether we’d have any
success finding something for us and for our children to eat.
To our great surprise and relief, we found out there was a
Shabbos hospitality room at the hospital. As we approached, I saw the telltale Shabbos combo lock with the
code written in Hebrew on a sticky note. As we opened the
door, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was like opening the
door to another world. The room looked like a living room
you’d find in someone’s home and functioned as an incredible sanctuary within the sterile confines of the hospital,
providing all of the comforts of home.
At that moment, I couldn’t help but think of a very special woman I’d met years earlier, who had dedicated herself
to creating beautiful Shabbos hospitality rooms like this
one. This room looked exactly like the ones she’d set up all
around New York. What a wonderful surprise it was to learn
that this room had been set up through that very same
woman, Miriam Alexander, a”h, whose dedication to helping others in seemingly small ways is beyond description.
Thanks to Miriam, it’s common to find throughout the
New York area Shabbos hospitality rooms that are beautifully decorated, comfortably furnished, and fully stocked
with kosher food!
But it wasn’t always the case.
I recall a “Shabbos room” at the hospital where my wife
gave birth to our first child – a room roughly the size of a
small closet with a refrigerator that had crackers and such
for those who, unfortunately, got stuck there on Shabbos. It
was even a problem getting into that room on Shabbos.
Well, this is probably what Miriam Alexander, an Israeli
Chareidi m