Chana Kadvil of Rechovot has a particularly hard nisayon to deal with. She has been confined to a wheelchair for years. We thought we would hear about her suffering, but to her, it’s not relevant or significant. She is full of chayus when she tells of the mivtzaim that happen through her. She accomplishes what many healthy, mobile Chassidim don’t.
By Rochel Haramati
THE CHALLENGE
The Maggid of Mezritch once sent a Jew to R’ Zushe of Anipoli in order to learn from him how to accept suffering with love. The man stayed with R’ Zushe for a few days and saw the extreme poverty R’ Zushe lived in. When he told R’ Zushe the purpose of his visit, R’ Zushe said, “I do not know why the Maggid sent you to me. I have never suffered.”
That is what Chana Kadvil is like. She is handicapped and is confined to a wheelchair. I thought I would hear about her suffering but it didn’t even come up in our conversation. To her it’s not relevant. The only thing she had to tell me about was mivtzaim. I had to draw out her complicated personal situation with quite a bit of effort. The little that I found out is that she is sixty years old and has been in a wheelchair from the age of thirty upon suffering spastic paralysis.
Until she was ten, she functioned normally. She ran and jumped like all children do. At the age of ten she began feeling sensitivity in her heels. Every bump into an object would make her fall and hurt herself. But she continued to go to school, finishing elementary school, high school, and even two years of university. She learned to drive and got her license all while her condition deteriorated. At first she held on to walls as she walked. Then she got crutches. At thirty she had no recourse but a wheelchair.
At a certain point, the doctors told her that if she underwent six operations, she might be able to walk on crutches. She spoke with Rav Machputz a”h who did not agree to the surgery. The rav gave her strength to handle her situation and much hope. She asked the Rebbe for a bracha for a refua shleima and the Rebbe answered, “Good news soon.” Her situation is improved slightly in that she can stand with a walker. She thanks Hashem greatly for that.
Do you have any idea why you were chosen for this challenge?
In T’hillim chapter twenty-five there is a verse, “The secret of Hashem is to those who fear Him, and His covenant is to let them know [it].” I understand this to mean that “those who fear Him” merit a mode of conduct, which is in the category of “secret” that is inscrutable and incomprehensible.
PHONE SHLICHUS
Please tell us what motivates you to do what you do.
The Rebbe said, “Do all that you can,” and I take that very seriously. I was told, “What are you doing? The Rebbe said it to everyone! You are acting as though the Rebbe said it just to you! You are not the only one …” But I feel that the Rebbe definitely meant me and everyone personally. If the Rebbe just wanted us to lift a single grain and that’s all, he would tell every person to do one thing and that would be all, but the Rebbe said, “do all that you can!” so I got to work.
What did you do?
I knew that I couldn’t compete with Chassidim who run around and build mosdos etc. I thought about nearby yishuvim and kibbutzim. There were some religious people, not Lubavitchers, who reached out there a bit and wanted me to help. I told them I am handicapped so they suggested that I make phone calls. I called 240 families in Netzer Sereni. I urged them to add a mitzva for the sake of the Jewish people. Some committed to say T’hillim. On Yud Shevat I submitted a report to the Rebbe as a gift. Afterward, on 28 Nissan, I finished Givat Brenner with 630 families.
In every phone conversation, Chana spoke about the difficult situation the Jewish people are in and asked people to do something to help. There were all sorts of hachlatos.
I spoke with so many people. Very few put up any opposition. Most were what we call tinokos sh’nishbu (lit. captive children, i.e. ignorant of Judaism). They knew almost nothing about Judaism. People grow up but they are babies when it comes to knowledge. Many do not know what T’hillim is, what tz’daka is. I explained everything. Some said, “We will say it for you.” “Let it be so,” I thought, the main thing being to connect them to saying T’hillim and then they will continue on their own.
One person was very moved and wanted to do something. He did not have a pushka, so I said, “Take a bag, put a coin in it, and give it to a poor person.” He realized that he had no problem doing that. Then I spoke to him about saying five chapters of T’hillim. After some time, I got back to him and it turned out he did not own a T’hillim. I suggested that he call the gabbai of a local shul and ask for one. I called too. When I got back to him a third time, he had a T’hillim but hadn’t used it yet. So I instructed him to repeat after me. He put on a kippa and began to say T’hillim. There are many other stories of pure souls who are like little children who need reminders and to be urged on.
People from Ramot Meir asked me why I didn’t provide them with material like I gave to Kibbutz Naan. “We want it too.” So I started working there also. Hashem led me to so many places. At that time, I had a car and went to them. Another woman joined me and we visited each house. The very fact that we went there shook the place up and changed things.
The inspiration engendered at Kibbutz Chulda led to a Hachnasas Seifer Torah, a new Aron Kodesh, and turning the clubhouse into a shul.
At Mishmar Dovid they turned a bakery into a shul. Then someone said that this wasn’t appropriate for a shul and she didn’t rest until, thanks to her, the council allocated 300,000 shekels to renovate the bakery and turn it into a proper shul. That woman underwent such an astonishing change that she asked us for sifrei kodesh which we gave her, of course. She referred to the Rebbe as a prophet. A week before Shavuos I spoke to her and said, “You are constantly talking about a Torah and now it’s a week before Shavuos. What’s happening with it?”
Without thinking twice she ordered an Aron Kodesh and a paroches and announced to the ones in charge at the kibbutz on Thursday that “on Monday before Shavuos, the Torah will be here.” They said to her, “What are you talking about?” She said, “This is what I demand,” and indeed, they brought a Torah in on Shavuos!
She wrote to the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh, and the Rebbe wrote that he is happy about the opening of the minyan and shul and that it should be a place where they learn Nigleh and Chassidus. She asked me what Nigleh and Chassidus are. I told her it means Chumash and Tanya. She asked me to buy ten sets of Chumashim, 100 T’hillims, and 10 Tanyas. She paid for it all and brought the s’farim to the shul.
HEALING FAITH
What do you think is the connection between faith and healing?
We need to understand that all power is from G-d. We don’t “go for broke” and do whatever we feel like. “And choose life” means that Hashem told us exactly what to do. People tell me, “What? I am alive! More than you!” But the truth is that just as in the Hebrew word machatzis the letters ches-yud=chai (life) are close to the letter tzaddik and the letters mem-tav=meis (dead) are further from the tzaddik, so too in real life, this is the real measure of what life is.
Do you have tips for women with difficulties and challenges?
I always wanted to be healed. We are approaching a time when everyone will be healthy. Hashem will remove all illnesses. Yosef was told, “Behold, your father is sick,” and Rashi says that until then, nobody was sick. Avrohom and Yitzchok passed away suddenly when it was their time, but Yaakov became sick first, so he would know it is time to bless his children. For us it seems huge to remove the illness from this one or that one, simply impossible, but for Hashem, it’s just removing the very concept of illness and then, there will only be health. In Yekum Purkan in the Shabbos davening we ask for “chein, chesed and rachamim, long life, ample livelihood, heavenly assistance, a healthy body and proper light, living, enduring descendants etc..” This is what is about to happen! We need to understand that precisely this is going to happen, even though I am in pain now.
Your belief in the Geula is so alive and tangible and it enables you not only to keep yourself going but also to do great things with others.
I repeat to myself what will immediately happen: I will run and tell everyone that it all passed. I am always repeating this and it gets absorbed by the body! The Rebbe explained to someone who was sick – reach the level of bittul and you will be healthy! Moshe Rabbeinu said, “and I am dust and ashes,” Dovid HaMelech said, “and I am a worm, not a man.” We need to acknowledge the fact that we are nothing and then the illness will become nothing.
A year and a half ago, on 6 Tishrei, I bought a T’hillim from N’shei Chabad with a piece of material on it from Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. It cost a lot of money. Since then, I can say that many miracles have happened to me.
“And they will seek Hashem their G-d and Dovid their king,” is said when sanctifying the moon. Hashem first created two great luminaries but the moon complained about two kings ruling with one crown and so Hashem said, “Diminish yourself.” With the Geula, Hashem will fix the blemish in the moon and there will be two great luminaries. Hashem is about to be revealed in a way that even Moshe did not merit. Moshe was told, “And you will see My back and My face you will not see,” “because man cannot see me and live,” while with the Geula, we will all merit to have Hashem speaking to us face to face.
One of the twelve p’sukim is, “Kol Yisroel … and all Your nation is tzaddikim.” Many ask me, “how will the Geula happen when most Jews are not religious.” The truth is you need to see people’s hearts. That is where they are tzaddikim.
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From what Chana says it is obvious that this is precisely how she sees everyone, as tzaddikim! This is the secret to her success despite her limitations. We wish her a refua shleima with the true and complete Geula!