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NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN
GREATER DETROIT SECTION
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PRESENTS
Boy Has Faith
In His Recovery
HELEN THOMAS
DATELINE: WHITE HOUSE — KENNEDY TO CLINTON
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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.
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 rab-
bi, 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 Pm
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 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 life-
time."
That's why so much of secu-
lar life seems like wasted ener-
gy, he 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 Glasswork 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 mo-
ment."
Yaakov was admitted to the
Hadassah-Hebrew University
Medical Center with severe ab-
dominal pain, reduced appetite,
weight loss, hypertension and
hemorrhages under his skin.
Dr. Sam Menachem, head of
Pediatrics on Mount Scopus
"It's hard to
keep up with
classwork in the
hospital."
—Yaakov El Haddad
where Yaakov is being cared for,
diagnosed an auto-immune dis-
ease called Henoch-Schonlein
purpura. — an inflammation in-
volving the small vessels and af-
fecting tissue throughout the
body. His prognosis echoes
Yaakov's belief: the condition
usually clears up spontaneous-
ly. But the symptoms are treat-
ed, and Yaakov hopes there
won't be an upset during his
home visit. Last time, when his
blood pressure fell to normal, his
parents stopped his medication,
and the doctors were displeased.
"I was caught in the middle,"
he says. "It's a rough situation.
It's also rough being in the hos-
pital for so long, because I love
my home, my family and my life.
But if it has to be, then I have
few complaints about Hadassah.
I'm comfortable, well looked af-
ter, and most of the doctors and
nurses are really wonderful."
Because he's in a pediatric
ward, visiting hours are very re-
laxed, which is something
Yaakov deeply appreciates.
"There's always someone from
home sitting with me," he says.
"They and I hold to a beautiful
Jewish tradition: That every vis-
itor to the sick takes away with
him a sixtieth of that sick per-
son's suffering."