Lubov, by Julian

Hi, I'm Julian, and I want to tell a story of an elderly woman I visited, who touched me.  On Wednesday, I and three others met Lubov, a 92 year old Jewish woman who has not left her bed in seven years. Lubov is completely alone; she has no husband, children, or living relatives. She relies on Hesed to meet her most basic needs for food and for any and all human interaction. Without Hesed, she would be completely alone. When Lubov became bed-ridden, all she could do was read, write poems, and watch TV to pass the time. When I visited her, she leaned over to me and in a quiet whisper told me that she would reveal a secret. She had written a book of poems about life, death, love, family, nature, and every subject you can imagine. Although they were in Russian and difficult to understand (I’ve got one year of college Russian under my belt), the way she read them and the look of pure joy on her face was enough for me to understand what these poems meant to her. This was the first time she had ever read these poems out loud, and the fact that she revealed them to my peers and me, made me feel just as happy as she was because I was able—just by listening—to make her day better. In fact, the poems were so good that at the end of the session, I asked her if I could copy her poems so that I could take them home with me and spread her story. Today, she cannot even read or write because her eyesight has deteriorated.