Community Magazine December 2012

A Brother’s Gift From Beyond It Happened to Me! Super Storm Sandy Edition At the start of 2011, my brother, who was very ill, went into a coma. At the end of this past summer, after 16 months of unconsciousness, he woke up. Though he was still very sick, the news that we could once again speak to him was very exciting. I raced to the hospital as soon as I heard the news, and exuberantly walked through the familiar corridor that brought me to his room. I sat by his side, looked into his eyes and asked him if he remembered any of my visits. He replied that he didn’t remember anything, and that he had essentially been shut off from the world. I began to show him pictures in an effort to catch him up on the events of the previous 16 months. He cried tears of joy, thanking me for coming. A week beforeHurricane Sandy, I got the phone call. My brother had passed away. Though knowing how ill he was, we were not shocked, we were deeply saddened and unable to really make sense of it all. Following the funeral, my family chose to sit shiva in my home on East 8th Street in Brooklyn. In the days leading up to the storm, we were busy receiving visitors who had come to offer condolences. Monday night, Hurricane Sandy was in full force. Traditionally during big storms, our family would enjoy the lights and sounds of the tempestuous weather from my bedroom, while gazing out of the big glass windows that gives on to East 8th Street. Instead, we were downstairs, still sitting shiva for my brother. Suddenly, we heard a deafening crash, and the whole house shook. We ran to the front and saw that the giant old tree that had been standing in my front yard had fallen right into my bedroom, shattering the glass of the big windows and crushing the area where we had relaxed on many evenings. I trembled when I realized that if we had not been sitting shiva, my husband, children and I would have likely been sitting in the exact spot were the tree had fallen! It seemed that my brother held on just long enough to ensure that we would not be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course we can’t understand Hashem’s ways, but we have tremendous gratitude to Hashem for saving our family. –Sari Sitt COMPILED BY FRANCES HADDAD Amid the dreadful destruction, heartbreak and turmoil of the largest Atlantic storm in histor y, countless stories of miraculous events have already been recounted, reminding us that even in life’s darkest moments, Hashem extends His mercy and offers His protection. We present here just a small sample of the myriad stories that have been emerging of Gd’s kindness shining through the dark clouds of October’s super storm. 42 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE