Four for Faith
How happy was the man who informed me that he and his wife were blessed to be expecting a baby. But their blessing was not ordinary in the least. It was quadrupled, for his wife was expecting four babies!
“After some testing,” he confided, his voice lowered and lacking some of its former enthusiasm, “the doctors are afraid that not all of the babies will make it. They suggest aborting two of the four, so that the other two will have a chance to be born healthy.”
He asked my opinion.
Obviously, each case must be dealt with individually, and one cannot take an example from any situation for his own issue. My advice to this man was that he should check into the halachic aspect of the matter. My opinion was that he should not abort at all. Rather, he should strengthen his faith in Hashem. Just as Hashem had placed four neshamot into his wife’s body, He would see to it that they would live and be born healthy.
The man acquiesced, refusing to obey the doctors.
With the progression of the pregnancy, the doctors tried to persuade the couple to abort two of the fetuses, so that the other two could live. The man came to me once again, asking for my advice. I told him, “Where there is faith and trust in Hashem, there is no room for danger! Hashem gives a woman the ability to carry children and give birth to healthy babies. He alone holds the key to life. Have trust in Him and do not be discouraged by the doctors’ words.”
This man was not an observant Jew, but he had firm faith in Hashem. He withstood the test and refused to abort.
This was not an easy challenge. The doctors warned him that at any given moment, his wife was likely to lose all four babies. But his steadfast faith stood by him and gave him the strength to cope with this challenge. In the merit of his faith, he received four beautiful, bouncing babies.
This reinforced his faith in Hashem even further. He made a complete turnaround and is now an observant Jew.
How great is the power of faith to bring blessing and miracle upon the one who trusts in Hashem.
