Nice Story

[Luvtotravel]

another story that I read on Rabbi David Ashears daily Emunah email:

 There was once a religious boy walking in the street in Bnei Brak. He saw a sign with a request to be tested for a bone marrow transplant. It was for a young man in grave danger who needed immediate help. This boy went for testing and was found to be a match. He asked the hospital if he could meet the boy that he was going to help and they agreed.

 The two sat with each other for a long time talking. They connected, and the boy was so excited to help save a life. Afterward, he came home and told his father the great news - that he is going to save someone else's life. When the father heard the name of the young man that needed help, as well as his father's name, he forbade his son to go through with it. The son replied, "But, Dad, his life is at stake! How could we not help him?" But the father was adamant about it.

There was a Rabbi staying at their home at the time who tried to convince the father otherwise, but the father told the Rabbi, "I don't want to be spoken to about it. Please, leave me alone." This was around Pesach time and the Rabbi was by them for the Seder. At the end of the Seder, when the father just finished his fourth cup of wine, the Rabbi tried, once again, to convince him to save this boy's life.

 At that point, the father opened up to the Rabbi and told him the reason of his refusal. He said he survived the Holocaust and the boy who needs this transfer right now, so desperately, is the son of a Holocaust survivor, as well, who he could never forgive.

 This man knew how to make bombs, so the Nazis had him working for them. The father said, "On one occasion, he came into our barracks with a stick and started poking around. He poked hard at the ceiling and he broke it open and my son, who was hiding there, became exposed. He took my son and walked out. One minute later, I heard two gunshots fired and my world was broken. There is no way my son is going to help save this man's son's life."

The Rabbi replied, "But his son didn't do anything to you. Why should he suffer?" But the father wouldn't hear it. The Rabbi tried to convince him to at least talk to them, maybe there is some information he didn't know. And he finally agreed.

At the meeting, this other man told the father, "I have been hoping for years to find you. You see, that day, the Nazis found out there was a child being hidden in your barracks and they told me to go in and kill everyone there. I told them, 'No, I could easily just find the child being hidden and kill him.' I was meaning to save all of your lives. And when I took your son out, I was going to save his life, too, but there were two guards with me so I had to shoot them and run away. I ran with your son and I put him in a monastery for protection. The Nazis found me and beat me. They couldn't kill me because they needed my services, but they injured me to the point where I would never be able to have children. After the war, I went back to the monastery to get the boy and adopt him until I found you. This boy is really your son, and that's why your other son is a good match for the bone marrow."

michoel shnitzler has song of this story but regarding a kidney transplant

[justaregularguy]

michoel shnitzler has song of this story but regarding a kidney transplant

I did hear that many of the details were changed but I think the basic outline is true.

[good sam]

So the donor boy's father knew immediately that the sick boy's father was the jew in the camp who captured his son, but the sick boy's father through endless searching was unable to locate the boy's true father. Like did they live in the same neighborhood. Do I have this right?

[shimino1]

Chaim Walder himself writes at the end of the story that he made it up to help raise awareness for the cause of bone marrow testing.