Why did the Rebbe’s letter prevent the doctor from traveling to the USA to care for the Vizhnitzer Rebbe? * What brought Dr. Sorkin with his Yechi yarmulke to a press conference with the heads of the Litvishe Degel HaTorah party? * The story of Dr. Sorkin’s answer in the Igros Kodesh that was posted on theyeshivaworld.com. * The life story of Dr. Sorkin, from his childhood in Paris, his involvement in Chassidus, and the intensive spiritual care he provides in the intensive care unit that he has presided over for the past forty years.
Photos by Kobi Har TzviTHE REBBE’S LETTER
Recently, the major media outlets in Eretz Yisroel showed the bearded Chassid, Dr. Eliyahu Sorkin, at a press conference that took place outside an emergency room at Mayanei Hayeshua hospital in B’nei Brak. Dr. Sorkin gave a report to dozens of journalists, and through them, to tens of thousands of Jews, who wanted to know how the venerable and extremely aged rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman, was doing. (Sadly, Rabbi Steinman o.b.m. passed away as this magazine was being prepared for publishing.) Surrounding the doctor wearing a Yechi yarmulke stood senior people in the party that was established for the purpose of fighting Chabad, waiting hopefully for some encouragement and hope.
While thousands gathered to pray for Rabbi Steinman’s health in light of the deterioration of his condition, a sudden phone call from the United States had Dr. Sorkin writing to the Rebbe. The story of his question and the Rebbe’s answer was publicized in many places. Beis Moshiach brings the full story directly from Dr. Sorkin who notes that the story got a bit distorted.
“I often write to the Rebbe, especially when I need to make important decisions. On a Tuesday night, two weeks ago, I got a phone call from Monsey. The Vizhnitz-Monsey Rebbe was in critical condition and needed complicated treatment. I was asked to make a special trip to be part of the medical team. I said I would think about it and give an answer in the morning.
“Early every morning, I learn Chassidus with friends, maamarim of the Rebbe. I took the opportunity to write to the Rebbe and opened to a letter in which the Rebbe writes, ‘I was pleased to receive your letter from 4 Tammuz as well as the news that you already came to New York. May it be – the traditional wording – a change of place, a change of mazal, for good and for blessing.’
“I considered this a clear answer from the Rebbe, i.e., to go to New York and join the medical team treating the Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Monsey. I was pleased by the clear answer and showed it to everyone I learned with. They all said it was clear divine providence and we drank l’chaim.
“After learning and davening, I went to my work at the hospital. That day, Rabbi Steinman was already hospitalized with his condition relatively stable. I told one of the family members that I would be flying to New York on Wednesday evening and returning Motzaei Shabbos so that I could treat the Rebbe in Monsey. He wasn’t that pleased because he wanted me to stay with his father. I showed him the letter I had opened to, from the Rebbe. He looked at it and didn’t say a word.
“Then Rabbi Steinman’s condition suddenly worsened. A delicate situation ensued in which it was no simple matter to leave. I didn’t know what to do, to fly or not to fly.
“Rabbi Steinman’s son came to me and said, ‘True that the Rebbe said you should go, but look at what is written in the letter above that.’ I looked at the letter that appeared at the beginning of the page where the Rebbe writes, ‘It is not practical to consider about rabbanim abroad; only rabbanim who live in Eretz Yisroel …’
“I was stunned. It was a clear answer directing me to remain in Eretz Yisroel. Every word of the answer speaks for itself, but what surprised me was the fact that neither I, nor any of my friends that morning, all knowledgeable in Igros Kodesh, who saw the letter on the bottom of the page, had noticed the letter at the beginning of the page.
“When I thought about it, I realized that this is what is called a ‘dynamic answer,’ as opposed to a ‘static answer.’ The Rebbe responds to you according to the situation. When the situation was calm, the Rebbe told me to go to New York. The Rebbe, as it were, ‘hid’ from me and my friends the letter on top. We did not see it in the morning. The one who noticed it was the relative who, at first, hadn’t noticed that letter either. But when his father’s condition worsened, suddenly, his eyes were opened to see the first letter.
“Of course, I informed the family that I would remain in Eretz Yisroel to supervise and care for Rabbi Steinman. Correspondingly, I got a phone call from Monsey telling me that the medical staff there had managed to arrive at a treatment protocol. The Rebbe had worked it all out.
“Once again, I saw the greatness of the Rebbe, who not only gives us answers, but gives the answers based on the time, when it changes depending on circumstances.”
CHILDHOOD WITHOUT JUDAISM
R’ Eliyahu Sorkin was born in Paris without the slightest knowledge about his Judaism. When he turned thirteen, he asked his parents to make him the ceremony in church that others had when they were thirteen. “My classmates would have a priest come and teach them the fundamentals and I asked my parents to do the same because I didn’t want to be different.”
To his surprise, his parents refused. Shocked and disappointed, he went to his room in tears. His beloved parents did not expect such a reaction. After a few hours of conferring secretly, they called him to their room and told him they were Jews, which is why they could not do the ceremony in church.
“Jewish?” he repeated in wonder. “What does that mean?”
After that, his life changed just a little. He began looking for Jewish symbols through which to somehow embrace a Jewish lifestyle, but did not find any. When he got a silver magen david from his aunt, he was excited. He showed it proudly to his classmates. To his dismay, they beat him up and called him names. He returned home injured but proud to be a Jew.
He began to admire Eretz Yisroel and in 1967, during the Six Day War, he even went on a solidarity visit there. A strange feeling overcame him as he tread the holy land. The thought that the place was so familiar to him was unshakable. Wherever he went, he felt that he had already been there. This feeling increased his love for the land.
When the visit ended, he returned to France with his feeling of belonging to the Jewish people stronger than ever, but he knew nothing about mitzvos.
After graduating from military academy in France, he studied medicine in Paris and was one of the leading students in his field. He spent ten years studying medicine and excelled at it. During his studies, he had contacts with the student revolution in France and was one of the founders of Doctors Without Borders. When he finished his course work in university at the age of only 24, he pursued his specialty training in a private hospital as a doctor in the anesthesia and intensive care departments. His training also included working as a doctor on a helicopter for the flight ambulance services.
“During the many years in which I studied medicine, my dream was to move to Eretz Yisroel and work there as a doctor.”
Eliyahu made plans to make aliya but they did not work out. “Then I suddenly had the desire to research what it means to be a Jew.” He went to a rabbi in France who first sent him to learn the basics before learning with him. Dr. Sorkin began studying Hebrew on his own and read Jewish books for beginners. He did it all on his own. He began learning about Shabbos, Jewish holidays, and other concepts. “The more I learned, the more I put into practice.”
His parents, who had hidden the fact of his Jewishness till he was thirteen, were furious about the change in their son. They were afraid he had lost his mind and they fought bitterly until one day, he packed his bags and moved to live on his own.
He met his wife who came from a traditional family and he followed her and continued increasing his mitzva observance.
At a big medical convention that he had organized at that time, he hosted a doctor who came from Eretz Yisroel, who was very impressed by Dr. Sorkin. The Israeli doctor promised him that when he made aliya, he would get him a job in the hospital where he was a senior doctor. As a result of this promise, he resumed thinking about moving to Eretz Yisroel.
LOVE CONNECTION
In 5741, he made aliya with his family. A few months later, the Peace in Galilee war began. All doctors, like Israeli citizens, were sent to the front. As a new immigrant he remained at the hospital, busy over his head with treating the wounded.
About two years after he made aliya, when he was 33, his experience as a helicopter doctor when he lived in France stood him in good stead, when he was drafted into the IDF in the Air Rescue Unit. After a reserves officers course, he began doing dozens of reserve days a year, mainly on the Lebanon border. He was part of numerous daring extrication operations as well as rescues of tourists around the country. Later on, he was even asked to be part of Operation Solomon and was one of the doctors who helped bring over the Ethiopians on this top secret mission. He was released from service with the rank of lieutenant colonel at the age of 53.
After a few years of living in Haifa, he moved to Raanana where he registered his children in Mizrachi schools. Yet, here too, he felt he still had not arrived at what he was searching for. “Despite having become stronger in mitzva observance, I felt a certain lack and yearned to discover more within Judaism.
“One day, a shliach of the Rebbe in Raanana, Rabbi Eliyahu Shadmi, moved to a home near me and we slowly became friends. I ended up registering my children in the Chabad preschool he opened and started davening in the Chabad minyan he started. That is when I discovered what true t’filla is. For the first time in my life, I saw the depth of prayer in a Chabad minyan which made a great impact on me.”
At the same time, he began learning Tanya with R’ Shadmi. “From one shiur to the next, I felt the Tanya penetrating my mind.”
The final blow in his connection to the Rebbe was after a farbrengen in which he first met the mashpia, Rabbi Reuven Dunin a”h. “Then I saw what a real Chassidic Jew looks like, a man who loved the Rebbe without any reservations.”
Dr. Sorkin paused before describing the unforgettable R’ Reuven. “When I observed him, I saw the image of a genuine Chassid. His image remains etched in my mind until today.
“I remember the day I first met him. R’ Reuven farbrenged in the Chabad House and when he began talking about the Rebbe, he simply began to cry. Then I understood what a real Chassid is …”
After much pleading on the part of R’ Dunin, Dr. Sorkin went to 770 for the first time. “In general, I constantly see the Rebbe in my mind’s eye. This is thanks to R’ Reuven who became my mashpia. Whenever he visited my house, he would describe how the Rebbe would conduct himself on different occasions.
“As director of the intensive care unit, I don’t have extra time. When I began thinking about going to the Rebbe, I tried to come up with a good time to go. I visited 770 on 19 Kislev for two days.
“When I walked into 770, I felt the Rebbe’s image looking down upon me. One cannot gainsay the great holiness in the shul as well as the atmosphere that pulsates between the walls of Beis Chayeinu.” Dr. Sorkin spent those two days drawing chayus and holiness.
At the big farbrengen for Yud-Tes Kislev, he was surprised when he heard his name announced over the microphone, asking him to speak. “I had no idea how they knew me and who told the organizers of the farbrengen that I was present. I went up to the podium and began talking. I started by wishing ‘a gut yom tov.’ I was a bit bewildered. I had never spoken before Chassidim, and especially such a large crowd of them, but I opened up and told about my work at the hospital, about a critically ill person who recovered thanks to a bracha from the Rebbe and the giving of tz’daka.”
A DOCTOR WHO IS A RABBI
Dr. Sorkin was present at all of the crossroads of Israeli society over the past forty years. The intifadas, wars, the assassination of Rabin, the horrifying attacks in Tel Aviv. Quietly and modestly, he treated and fought daily for the lives of thousands of wounded and injured in road accidents, acts of violence, falls from great heights, and serious illnesses.
Not many know that in the July 14, 1997 infamous Maccabiah bridge collapse, which led to the death of four Australian athletes, three of whom died, not due to the fall, but to infections caused by exposure to the polluted river water, Dr. Sorkin was the one who took the initiative and identified the source of the problem as the polluted waters of the Yarkon River. Dr. Sorkin brought samples of the water and thanks to his doing that, the proper treatment was provided. Many sick people turn to him for help and seek medical solutions to various problems, some serious. Dr. Sorkin, in the intensive care unit that he runs, first at Soroka and now at Mayanei Hayeshua, does his best to help them. At the same time, he provides them with nourishment for the soul. Many sick people who lost hope, were healed entirely because of his Jewish/Chassidic outreach activities.
“Naturally, my department houses the critically ill. Many are brought after a serious accident or precipitous deterioration. Family members stand by helplessly. They come over to me, as director of the department and as a religious man. I suggest they start putting on t’fillin or doing another mitzva and boruch Hashem, we see immediate results.”
Dr. Sorkin has numerous examples:
“Some time ago, we had a woman here in critical condition. Her family, who were very worried about her, kept asking me about her chances for recovery. I told them that we would do the best we could to heal her, while referring them to the ‘spiritual department.’ Indeed, after the family strengthened their commitment to Torah and mitzvos, the woman completely recovered.
“A similar story happened with a patient who was unconscious. His family was very concerned about him. I told them about divine providence and about strengthening religious observance, but they didn’t want to hear it. I was disappointed by their reaction but a few days later I saw the power of divine providence.
“One morning, as I sat in my office, the son of one of the patients in my department appeared. He said that he overheard my conversation with the family of the sick man and he decided to strengthen his Torah and mitzvos so his father’s condition would improve.
“That’s when I realized how influential I am. That young man did not belong to that family, but he heard what I said and decided to change.”
FROM AFFLUENT TEL AVIV TO RELIGIOUS B’NEI BRAK
Dr. Sorkin ended his position as director of the emergency department in Ichilov in the summer of 5775. He got an offer to run the intensive unit department at Mayanei Hayeshua but he first wanted to take a sabbatical from things medical. He wanted to learn and make spiritual progress before he began his new position. As usual, he asked the Rebbe.
“I got it over the head,” says Dr. Sorkin. “The first thing the Rebbe wondered was why I only wrote to him when there were problems, and not when everything was good. I instantly committed to writing to the Rebbe regularly, even when things were going well. Then the Rebbe wrote that I have a public position and therefore, I cannot leave. I must continue with greater measure and Hashem would bless me. I keep a copy of this letter in my office.”
Needless to say, the move from the hospital in Tel Aviv to that in B’nei Brak was immediate. Once again, Dr. Sorkin found himself walking the long corridors, once again as a director, but this time, the people he encountered were completely different. “Here [at Mayanei Hayeshua] I am constantly in an atmosphere of holiness. I have no dead time. The entire day revolves around Torah, Chassidus or Gemara.”
When I wondered what he meant by this and was about to ask him – did he stop examining patients – Dr. Sorkin was quick to explain. “In the morning I do my usual rounds among the patients. Then I sit with a team of doctors and nurses, most of them religious, for a daily consultation. Of course, I bring up a Chassidic idea connected to the parsha. Then I find some time to learn. As the day goes on, I meet with families of patients. I speak to them about blood pressure or other readings of bodily function, and the conversation always makes its way to how Judaism looks at the situation. When I go home after a day’s work, I feel as though I was in the Beis HaMikdash and I’m returning to my little village. I had nothing like this at Ichilov.”
In B’nei Brak, how do people regard a Chassid who goes about wearing a Yechi yarmulke?
I don’t think that people are looking for a Chabad representative; they want a doctor. The doctor’s job is to help people in distress. In my approach, the patient is the center of it all and there is a medical unit that treats him which includes doctors, nurses, etc. But on another level, the moral support of a patient is no less important and that is where the family comes in. The family’s job is to help the patient get through a difficult period of recovery. This is the stage wherein there begins to develop a relationship between the patient’s family and the doctor, who work together for the welfare of the patient. Conversations sometimes ensue, questions are asked, sometimes in matters of faith, Chassidus, etc.
There’s no question that the picture of the Rebbe in my office gets people to relate and find points of connection. Someone tells me, ‘I am the sixth generation from tzaddik X,’ another tells me about a connection he has with Chabad, and the conversation moves to Judaism and Chassidus. It’s part of the communication between doctor and family.
There isn’t a day that goes by without conversations with families that also contain divrei Torah. I always try to show the Chassidic angle. I bring ideas from the Rebbeim, from the Alter Rebbe down to the Rebbe. It has happened a number of times that I sat down with a family member and we learned a maamer of the Rebbe.
When I was in Ichilov, and it happens now too, even though I am working in a religious environment, there are non-religious family members who want to put on t’fillin, check mezuzos, or give tz’daka. At work it is possible to do mivtzaim. I employ Chassidus as a spiritual supplement to the health of the body.”
I thought there was opposition to Chabad Chassidus in B’nei Brak …
There is no opposition; on the contrary, I think that the separation between factions is artificial. Yes, there is Nigleh and there is Chassidus, but in the end, it’s all one Torah. Within the Jewish people too, there are various streams, but in the end, it’s one nation, one body.
I see this in my work. The days are gone in which you had to talk about Chassidus quietly, discreetly. That’s over. In my office I have a set of Igros Kodesh and people write to the Rebbe without fear. I will tell you even more – there are lots of Litvishe people who are knowledgeable in the Rebbe’s sichos and even go to 770 now and then. That tells us that the separation is artificial and there is a very strong shift among Jews away from that.
The Rebbe MH”M tells us that we are in the days of Geula. This is being expressed in the religious world too, where they have a greater understanding and acceptance of Chassidus. The fighting of once-upon-a-time is nearly finished, aside from a few small enclaves here and there, who live the war. But they are few in number. Today there is a strong connection on the part of Jews from all communities and backgrounds to the Rebbe.
The fact that family members write to the Rebbe must be a very emotional act for them.
Look, they are people in distress and they are crying out for help. Today, everyone knows who the Rebbe is. There is nobody who doesn’t know. When you suggest that they write to the Rebbe and ask for a bracha, they do it.
I once had a patient who was known as a bitter opponent to Chabad. He was terrified about his medical condition. In one of our conversations, I asked him why he is afraid. “A person who completed Shas several times like you, a person who runs a big mosad like you do, shouldn’t be afraid.” I said, “Learn Chassidus and see that you will feel much better.” And he did.
I had another patient whose family belonged to a certain sect of Chassidim. Her condition was not at all simple and her husband was at his wits’ end. I suggested that he learn Tanya and he agreed.
I can tell you even more – by Chabad Chassidim there are those who need to learn more Chassidus. Not long ago, there was a family in a similar situation. I suggested to the father of the family to start learning the sichos of 5751-2 and said he would see an improvement.
MESSAGE OF FAITH
This is what Dr. Sorkin said when he left Ichilov after 33 years: “Medicine to me is a shlichus. I worked on behalf of patients and the public with the belief that this is my role in the world. If there is one message that I want to say today, it’s – believe!
“In my job I have seen people who were sure they were going to die, but they got back on their feet and recovered. So in my life experience, I say, please, never give up, don’t lose hope. Keep believing in the good even in the most difficult situations, and mostly, remember that life is a gift so take care of yourselves and your health.”
PROPHETIC RESPONSE
Dr. Sorkin has many stories of miracles of the Rebbe through the Igros Kodesh. Here is a special one:
“One night, around 11:00 at night, someone who davens in our shul called me. After apologizing for the late hour, he said he wanted to consult with me about a serious problem he had with his eyes. I told him that this is not my area of expertise, but as though he didn’t hear me, he kept talking. He told me he had been in Meir hospital in Kfar Saba and the doctors there told him that he needs a corneal transplant. He asked me what I thought.
“I told him that I am not at all familiar with diseases of the eyes and he should consult with people who are knowledgeable. He continued telling me that they told him to go to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital where there is a top doctor. He said he met this doctor and asked me what I thought of him. I told him I don’t know him or the field. He did not get the hint and continued talking until two in the morning. He literally pleaded with me to tell him something, but I could not advise him in something that I don’t know.
“This fellow continued as though he did not hear me, saying that the doctor at Hadassah affirmed the diagnosis of the previous doctors, but told him that in his department there is a waiting time of at least two years and in his present condition, he cannot wait. He advised him to go to the eye department at Assaf HaRofeh where there is a department head who is excellent. Once again, this fellow asked me if I know the department head at Assaf HaRofeh.
“At this point I got really annoyed and said, ‘Listen here, this has gone way too far. I’ve told you over and over that I am not at all familiar with this field! You have kept me on the phone for three hours and continue to stubbornly insist!’
“I finally caved and decided I would write to the Rebbe for him. I went to the office and wrote a letter. The Rebbe’s letter that I opened to was a letter that the Rebbe had written to … the director of the eye department at Assaf HaRofeh! The Rebbe thanked him and his students for treating someone … It’s not a letter that you can misinterpret!
“I got back to the man and told him that the Rebbe writes that he knows this director and he recommends him and his students.
“He went there and was treated successfully.”