Boy Has Faith
In His Recovery

L

eaning slightly against his
father, Yaakov gets out of
the car. It's still three hours
until Shabbat, but the Or-
thodox Jerusalem neighborhood
where they live is already trans-
formed with the atmosphere of
the holy day.

perfect faith in the coming of the
Messiah' — isn't just words for
me," he says. "Every day when I
wake up, I think: Maybe today
he'll come. At any rate, I know
it'll be in my lifetime."
That's why so much of secular
life seems like wasted energy, he

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Yaakov El Haddad reads with his father, Chaim.

Slowly, father and son make
their way into the apartment.
The smells and sounds of the
hospital fall away as he walks
through the door. Everyone is
there, except his four eldest sib-
lings. They crowd around him:
12 brothers and sisters and his
mother, all cheering, "Baruch
haba, Yaakov! Shalom aleichem!
Welcome home!" Yaakov is glad
to be home, but he is already
tired and the pains in his stom-
ach are back. His illness began
five weeks ago. He says it will
disappear "whenever the Holy
One, blessed be He, is ready."
Yaakov El-Haddad is 15 years
old. He was born in France, the
seventh in a family with 17 chil-
dren, and has lived in Israel since
he was 2. His father, a rabbi,
comes from Morocco, and his
mother from Tiberias.
"We live in a five-room apart-
ment," he says. "I share a room
with two of my brothers. Being
part of a family like mine is nev-
er boring. There's always some-
one to talk to, to do things with.
When we sit down to eat, it's al-
ways a big table, with lots of
laughing and singing. I guess I'm
closest to those nearest me in
age, but we're all good friends."
In addition to two parents and
13 children residing in the El-
Haddad home, there is another
presence — God. Yaakov takes
religion seriously.
"You know the prayer that you
say every day — 'I believe with

says. "Take the Washington
peace negotiations. There can't
be peace until the Messiah
comes. I want peace for Israel,
but I want real peace. And all the
other side wants is concessions
from us."
Yaakov's views are shared by
much of his family, his school-
friends and his community. It
has been months since he has
been to the Beit HaTalmud
Yeshiva High School where he
studies, but he hopes his class-
mates will come by and visit
while he is home. He enjoys
school, and misses it.
"I have a lot of friends there
and I'm excited by what we
learn," he says. "I want to con-
tinue studying and go for rab-
binical ordination."
Meanwhile, it's hard to keep
up with classwork in the hospi-
tal, he says. "My stomach hurts
a lot and my concentration is
poor. Even leisure reading — the
kinds of things I usually enjoy,
Jewish legends, stories about
rabbis — is hard at the moment."
Yaakov was admitted to the
Hadassah-Hebrew University
Medical Center with severe ab-
dominal pain, reduced appetite,
weight loss, hypertension and he-
morrhages under his skin.
Dr. Sam Menachem, head of
Pediatrics on Mount Scopus
where Yaakov is being cared for,
diagnosed an auto-immune dis-
ease called Henoch-Schonlein

RECOVERY page 38

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L

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