The Surprising Way I Found Comfort in My Daughter’s Hospital Room

On Friday afternoon, while I was alone with my infant daughter for a moment, there was a knock at the door of our hospital room. A short, pudgy woman–who just begged to be called Bubbe–pushed her reading glasses up on her nose and looked down at her clipboard, “Are you the Rosen-Prinz family?”

“Yes,” I replied quietly as the baby lay asleep in my arms. I had become accustomed to the constant daily interruptions after many days in the pediatric intensive care unit where doctors worked tirelessly to diagnose my baby with what we would come to learn is a very rare illness.

“Would you like a Shabbat kit?” she offered.

I hadn’t heard of such a thing but was intrigued. “Kit” made it sound like it offered complete spiritual fulfillment in a box. “Sure, leave it on the rollaway cot.” There really was nowhere else to put it in our cramped hospital room. What little space we had was entirely overrun with trays of stale food, pink plastic water pitchers overflowing with melted ice, toys in need of sanitizing, wilted floral arrangements, and other comforts as we tried to make ourselves at home.

I had been measuring time by the nurse’s shift changes and I wasn’t even aware what day it was until this gesture jarred me back into reality. It was Friday, Shabbat was about to begin, and we had been in the hospital all week.

After Bubbe left, I opened the kit to examine its contents. It contained two “candles,” which were actually flameless, battery operated, flickering LED tealights, two individual challah rolls, and a miniature bottle of kosher grape juice. It also included a little pamphlet with the familiar Shabbat blessings: Shabbat lights, Kiddush, and Ha-motzei, in Hebrew as well as transliterated English for the uninitiated or out-of-practice davener.

For the full article please click here

By Amanda Rosen-Prinz

Raising Kvell

If you would like to sponsor a week of Shabbat Kits or would like to arrange for your children and/or school to  pack the Shabbat Kits please visit www.shabbatkits.com