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Ever since she was a little girl, Sara knew what she wanted to be.
 
From a young age Sara Gottesman possessed excellent communication skills, incredible analytical skills and a burning desire to help others. So when it came to choosing her career path, it was clear that she was a natural lawyer. The Israeli-born Sara finished seminary, attended a women’s only college in Eretz Yisroel and immediately received internship offers upon graduating. She eventually got married and had three beautiful children who admired their mother’s incredible strength of character, resilience, and poise.
 
But even the best lawyers can make mistakes.
 

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Ever since she was a little girl, Sara knew what she wanted to be.

From a young age Sara Gottesman possessed excellent communication skills, incredible analytical skills and a burning desire to help others. So when it came choosing her career path, it was clear that she was a natural lawyer. The Israeli-born Sara finished seminary, attended a women’s only college in Eretz Yisroel and immediately received internship offers upon graduating. She eventually got married and had three beautiful children who admired their mother’s incredible strength of character, resilience, and poise.

But even the best lawyers can make mistakes.

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Rabbi Ferver* had taught over 647 students in his life. And he knew when a talmid was going through a hard time.
 
The sunken in eyes, the hollow cheeks, the hopeless, lifeless expression…It was a look that always made him wonder– What kind of demons were this kid battling?
 
When Rabbi Ferver met Nesanel Gottesman when the new Zman started, he instantly recognized the look. Nesanel’s round, youthful face was etched with worry and his eyes were drowning in pain. When he sat down with Nesanel and asked him if anything was bothering him, he was shocked to see the boy immediately burst into uncontrollable tears. Eventually, as he opened up, Rabbi Ferver felt his own eyes well up with tears of his own.
 

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If you took a look at 22-year-old Nosson Nissan walking down the street this morning, he wouldn’t look any different than he did in the same spot in Jerusalem a month ago. On the inside, however, everything has changed.
 
A month ago, Nosson was acting as a hospice nurse for his sick mother, in their shared 1-room apartment. Now, his mother has passed away. A month ago – even a week ago – Nosson was engaged to the kallah of his dreams. Now, it looks like that might not happen.
 

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Losing a family member is always tragic, but last week two Jerusalem brothers experienced a horror story beyond the norm.
 
Rivka Nissan did not have an easy life. She raised her two sons alone, with very little income. 2 years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer and as she fought her illness she could not afford to fire help at home or, even in her final days, hospice care. What Rivka did have, however, was two sons. And what sons Yaakov & Nosson Nissan had was the most valuable of all: gratitude.
 

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When someone says that they have “nothing” or “no one,” it is usually an exaggeration. But as neighbors filed into the tiny one-room apartment upstairs in Ramot last week to say shema with a dying widow, they felt that for once – the saying was literal.
 
Rivka Nissan’s home had been transformed by her two sons, Nosson & Yaakov, into a hospice since her cancer became terminal. “Like malachim,” the two young men stood by her side and cared for her every need until her final day. It was a small token in return for all the years she had raised them alone.
 

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It’s rare for a Non-Jewish couple to discover Judaism. It’s even more rare for them to fall in love with it, leave everything behind, travel across the ocean and live as fully Orthodox Jews in the land of Israel.

But for Aryeh and Miriam Abramson, it’s exactly what happened.

When Aryeh and Miriam met ten years ago, they knew that they were soulmates. The two wed, but soon after their marriage, they felt like something was deeply missing.

“We were searching for meaning in life,” explains Aryeh.

After over six months of soul-searching, the two were accidentally exposed to Yiddishkeit (a story for a different time!). And something struck a chord.

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Shani* used to be one of the most popular girls in her class. When she got sick and started chemotherapy, however, that changed. Losing her hair was devastating. Through her battle with cancer she volunteered, cheering up other patients, and made a chabura with other girls in the neighborhood to learn shmiras haloshon. Her family was elated when they finally got the news that the chemo had eradicated her cancer, and that she was in remission.
 

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It was the night of her daughter’s l’chaim, and as Libi Schwartz looked around her crowded Israeli living room, she was moved. Her friends and family were just as emotional as she was, and there was hardly a dry eye in the room. Her daughter Leah always had so much going for her– Intelligent, fun-loving, kind-hearted and full of character. Yet despite all of her wonderful qualities, shidduchim were a bumpy road for quite a number of years and Leah had received surprisingly very few suggestions.
 
Oh, and Leah had cerebral palsy.
 

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Beeps. Buzzing. Flashing lights.

The NICU is a dark cocoon of chaos. A small universe of tension and fear and love and hope. Any parent who has had a baby under care in the newborn intensive care unit knows about the complex entanglement of feelings that grow with every passing day as they hope for their baby to regain health, a cacophony of helplessness and fear and yearning and love.