38 | APRIL 11 • 2024 
J
N

W

hen we get a new phone 
number, we often assume the 
numbers are random, but other 
times, we’re reminded very clearly: Nothing 
in life is random. 
Meet Jaclyn Baird, for 
example. After moving to 
New York recently, Jaclyn 
obtained a new phone num-
ber. How annoying is it to get 
constant messages or calls 
addressed to someone else? 
Most people just ignore them, 
muttering things like, “Can’t 
they see from my WhatsApp 
profile pic that I’m NOT the person they’re 
looking for?’” 
But not Jaclyn; she is sincerely happy to 
help others out. Ever since she got her new 
number, she’s been getting calls and messag-
es for the person who held her phone num-
ber previously, a fellow called Yossi who sold 
esrogim and had moved to Canada. 
Not only did these random calls not 
bother Jaclyn, she went the extra mile — she 
actively sought out this Yossi’s new contact 
info so that when people mistakenly call 
or message her, she could pass on his new 
number. Apparently, Yossi jokingly calls 
Jaclyn his “unpaid secretary!” 

A CHANCE ENCOUNTER
On March 11, 2024, Jaclyn itched to get out 
of her apartment and, on a whim, decided 
to return her library books. As she walked 
down Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, 
she noticed a man walking his bike toward 
her. He sat down to rest on a street bench; 
his head tilted sideways and he started shak-

ing. Jaclyn recognised his movements as a 
seizure — she knew what a seizure looked 
like from when her father had brain cancer 
— and she immediately called 911. 
When Jaclyn saw the man’s neck pressing 
into the bench’s armrest, she realized it was 
blocking his airway and, with help from 
bystanders, gently moved him so he could 
breathe. By the time the ambulance shrieked 
toward them, the man’s pulse was fading, 
and he was shocked with the defibrillator. 
His heart started pumping again, and he was 
promptly loaded into the ambulance and 
rushed to the closest hospital.
It was quickly discovered this 36-year-old 
healthy man had suffered an unexplained 
sudden cardiac arrest and he was transferred 
to Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, 
one of the top cardiac hospitals in the coun-
try. 
Immediately, misinformation and rumors 
were flying — no one knew where this man 
— his name was Yehuda Leib Greenwald 
— had been found or what had happened 
to him. Doctors treated him for every pos-
sibility. 
Yehuda Leib Greenwald is my brother.

WHATSAPP CHAT 
CONNECTS THE FAMILIES
Meanwhile, Jaclyn went to sleep that night 
thinking about the young man she’
d called 
911 for, praying he would be OK. She then 
woke up in the morning to find that her 
phone had blown up with hundreds of mes-
sages.
It turned out someone had added her 
to the rolling Tehillim WhatsApp chat for 
Yehuda Leib Ben Baila, clearly believing her 

phone number still belonged to Yossi the 
esrog seller! 
Jaclyn is not Jewish and, at first, she wasn’t 
sure what the chat was, but her breath 
caught when she saw a picture — it was 
the man she’
d last seen being rolled into an 
ambulance! 
Jaclyn realized this was a chat dedicated to 
prayers for his full recovery, and she posted 
a heartfelt message expressing how pleased 
she was to hear that the man she’
d called 911 
for had survived.
My sister Brocha, who was sitting next to 
Yehuda Leib at the time, read that message 
with a jolt — and immediately called Jaclyn. 
Doctors had been asking her all through the 
night what had happened — and she had no 
idea. Brocha passed her phone to the doctor 
who was finally able to hear what happened 
to Yehuda Leib from an eyewitness. There 
was definitely no head injury, Jaclyn report-
ed. As a result, the doctors removed the 
extremely uncomfortable looking neck brace 
that they’
d put on Yehuda Leib just in case. 
A small miracle. 
A few days later, Jaclyn visited Yehuda 
Leib and our family in the hospital, and we 
were able to personally thank this extraordi-
nary young woman for her quick thinking, 
which undoubtedly helped saved Yehuda 
Leib’s life. 
Meeting Jaclyn was like a crack of light fil-
tering through the darkness, a stark remind-
er that Hashem runs the world and that 
there’s a reason for everything, down to the 
exact digits of our phone numbers. 
Please pray for a complete Refuah 
Shelaimah for Yehuda Leib ben Baila. 

God had a plan for this set of seven digits.
No Wrong Numbers

Rochel 
Burstyn
Contributing 
Writer

OUR COMMUNITY

Rochel Burstyn 
with Jaclyn Baird, 
the woman who 
helped her brother.

Rochel with her son 
Avi on the left and 
brother Yehuda Leib 
on the right.

