My “In Box” brought me a beautiful photo this week. It was a picture of a Bris celebration, with both
sets of grandparents, the young couple and the new baby. At first glance, it is a typical Bris picture
with everyone “kvelling” (bursting with pride) over the latest leaf on the
family tree.
I took one look at the new grandparents, in the front row of
the photo, holding the baby and chills went up and down my spine. To the left was saba (grandfather) Rabbi Michael Levy and to the right safta (grandmother) Chava Willig Levy. Both Michael and Chava are incredibly
accomplished, warm and wonderful people, the kind of people who deserve
everything good in the world.
Michael and Chava have a love story so wonderful that the
New York Times wrote an article about it last year, on the occasion of their 30th
anniversary! You see Michael has been
blind since birth and Chava has been wheelchair bound since getting out of an
iron lung after surviving polio as a child.
For ten years prior to marrying, their paths crossed multiple times, yet
they never met. First she heard him singing in a concert in Jerusalem,
then he heard her sing at a concert
in New York. Eventually they did meet,
and found that they shared so many interests, and they knew right away that
they wanted to get married. Their wedding vows included this statement of love,
and caring, and hope, “I will be her
legs and she will be my eyes.”
Seeing them now, it is hard to believe how many people were
against this marriage, saying that two people with their limitations could not
possibly make a life together, but as Michael said in the Times interview, “We
are both very attached to Jewish tradition, we both love music, words, kids, even
though we both have disabilities.”
Over time, Michael became a rabbi, received a degree in
Social Work, and advocated to make New York City’s transportation system
accessible to persons with disabilities and to remove architectural barriers in
public buildings. Chava received her B.A. in French
literature from Yeshiva University and an M.A. in counseling psychology from
Columbia, and became an accomplished writer and motivational speaker. She has
just just released her latest book, a memoir called “A Life Not With
Standing.”
Seeing them now, after so many years, holding their grandson
and reflecting on their lives together reminded me of a midrash, a story that helps illuminate points in the Torah. This midrash asks the question, “What has God
been doing since finishing the task of Creation?” The answer -- God undertook
the most difficult job possible. He has
spent all his time since the Seventh Day of Creation making shidachs “arranging marriages,” putting
together those who are destined for each other, or as we say in Yiddish, “B’shert.”
God certainly looked beyond Michal and Chava’s limitations, and saw only the
possibilities.
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