SALLY'S DESIGN BOUTIQUE 25-50% OH metro Village Of Friends A young Israeli family bonds with Detroit's Jewish community. Selected Items in Store Thursday, November 21st Through Saturday, December 7th Run, Don't walk for your best selection ADDITIONAL PROMOTIONS IN STORE Previous sales & special orders excluded, all sales final Inside Orchard Mall Maple and Orchard Lake Rd. West Bloomfield, MI 48322 248-626-0886 Avi Brandvain, Ido Porat, Beth Brandvain, Vered Porat and baby Yanay in his new glasses areMinders® HOME CARE Providing total quality home care for better living • Skilled nursing care such as wound care, insulin administration and infusion treatment • Personal care such as bathing, dressing, and grooming • Companion care services include shopping, cooking, and cleaning, as well as transportation • Home care for children with autism, seizure disorders, or other special needs • Care for clients who suffer from traumatic brain injuries and other long-term disabilities It's really all about living a better life at home, CareMinders makes it possible for people to live safely at home." — Richard Lampear, owner and operator of CareMinders in W Bloomfield & Lansing C areMinders® HONIL CARE 5829 West Maple Rd, Suite 115 I West Bloomfield I 248-851-HELP (4357) 3225 West St. Joseph I Lansing I 517-908-3200 www.careminders.com 18 November 21 • 2013 JN Shelli Liebman Dorfman Contributing Writer A fter receiving the mind- numbing news that their newborn son was blind — and that the suggested doctor was 6,000 miles away, Israelis Ido and Vered Porat turned to everyone they knew — and didn't know — for infor- mation and recommendations. But it took a single social media email to the right person to make their journey to a Detroit-area physi- cian one of incredible support and ongoing friendship for the young fam- ily, who spent a month and a half sur- rounded by our Jewish community. The connection began with a sim- ple typed note. "I got this message on Facebook from a friend of mine who lives in Israel, but used to live in Detroit, whose daughter's in-laws know the Porats," said Beth Brandvain of Farmington Hills. The message said, "[The] baby has some kind of rare eye condition and has to have urgent sur- gery in Detroit where it turns out the biggest experts on this are:' It includ- ed this request: "Would it be OK if they call you when they are there as a friendly person with a great smile?" Far beyond the great smiles of Brandvain and her husband, Avi, came the connection to their friends, which included the loan of a car, cell phone, baby clothes and equipment, transportation to appointments, someone to sit with them during their son's surgeries, invitations to dinners and community events, and remark- ably, even a place to live during their stay from Sept. 23-Oct. 31. "They would have connected with somebody else if it wasn't us," insists Brandvain, who was at the airport to greet the Porats when they landed. "Avi and I feel really lucky to have met them and to be able to connect them with our resources. Thinking about them going through this on their own would be very sad:' Warmest Of Welcomes Two days after Yanay was born, Vered, 31, and Ido, 33, were told he had no sight. "We were told something was very wrong with his eyes and that he was blind," Vered said. "We were told to see specialists and that there were no options; he was going to be blind and no surgeries would help:' It was suspected that the infant, the couple's first child, might have the rare genetic disorder Norrie dis- ease that leads to blindness in male infants, but initial tests were nega- tive. "It still could be some kind of Village Of Friends on page 20