"This is an awfully nice thing you're doing," Batya Burd said.
"It's important," I said. "They've been trying for 8 years to have a baby. And it's been failure after failure after failure." And I do mean failure. Miscarriage after miscarriage after miscarriage. Hormone treatments that caused more harm than good. Adoption attempts that went nowhere. Medical treatments that produced nothing.
"I think we're cursed," my cousin Deborah had told me. "Nothing works."
Well, it was Passover, an auspicious time to pray at the Wall. I couldn't be in Jerusalem for 40 days to do it, so I figured this was the next best thing. Besides, conventional prayers didn't seem to be working, so it was time to take things to the next level.
I paid the money, the agent prayed, I prayed, Deborah and David prayed, a lot of other people I didn't even know were praying, we all prayed and... nothing. No baby. What was going on? Doesn't G-d hear all prayers? Why was the answer "no"?
"Thank you for the prayers," Deborah said. "I think that will be the only thing that will help us now."
Passover again. Another auspicious time to pray at the Wall. I was debating whether to do it again. After all, there wasn't a baby. It didn't seem like this next level prayer thing was working, and I was ready to give up. Then I remembered a story Batya Burd had told me when I have her the money in Jerusalem. She had said that she had prayed at the Wall to find a better apartment. She did it for 40 days and came up with no apartment. She decided after a period of time to do it again. "After the second cycle, we were finally able to move," she said. "What I didn't realize is that G-d was putting things into place during that first cycle that I didn't know about."
Well, since I certainly didn't understand the ways of G-d, and I figured it couldn't hurt, I decided to send money and do the prayers again. Maybe having someone pray at the Wall would be the extra effort that we needed to make a baby. If it took Batya Burd more than once maybe here was the same thing. So I sent the money and I prayed, the agent, prayed, David and Deborah prayed, people I didn't even know prayed, we all prayed... and still nothing. No news of any baby whatsoever.
Then, Rosh Hashanah came around. Now here was a really auspicious time to pray at the Wall. And not one to let an auspicious time pass me by, I sent thte money again to pray at the Wall while I prayed in New York. Nothing complicated, same prayer as before, that David and Deborah should have a healthy baby.
After Rosh Hashanah, Deborah took me aside and told me, "I didn't want to say anything but we're having a baby. It's passed the six month cycle so if anything happens, the baby can live outside the womb. I haven't really told anybody yet because it's been so many failures, and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up. But right after Passover we did the in vitro again. I don't know what convinced us to do it again, especially since it failed the first time, but it worked and it looks like we're having a baby."
I knew what convinced them to try again. The first Passover the prayers were laying the ground work. Second Passover the prayers were putting things into motion, hence, the in vitro method. And now, at Rosh Hashanah, the prayers were sealing everything.
David and Deborah's baby was born on January 19, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs., 7 oz, and was healthy in every way. His name is Yehuda Elkana. He is a miracle. Many, many prayers went into his creation. May he grow up to follow the ways of G-d and give his parents much joy. I am so glad we didn't give up.
A true inspiration for those struggling.
