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Puah Delivers Hope for Couple on Purim

“This Purim was definitely going to be more relaxed this year,” I thought to myself on my way home from Megila on Motzei Shabbat. Then the phone call:

“Is this the emergency number for Puah?” a young woman asked tearfully.

The woman was undergoing time-sensitive fertility treatments the following morning – Purim day – and needed supervision in the hospital.

As medical technology has evolved, so has the need for halachic guidance, especially in an area so delicate yet vital to our community. When Louise Braun gave birth to the first “test tube” baby in 1978, the question immediately arose if such a technique might be employed by the Jewish community…

While many poskim felt the dangers of mixing genetic materials were too great, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu allowed it under strict supervision, and dispatched one of his talmidim, Rabbi Menachem Burstein, to investigate all the medical aspects of fertility treatments.

Rabbi Burstein threw himself into the task, and the result was the formation of Machon Puah in Jerusalem, a help center for couples dealing with infertility where they could receive halachic, medical and emotional guidance. The small staff soon grew to include twelve rabbis available to consult with couples in Hebrew, English, French and Spanish. Due to the halachic need to supervise genetic materials, a network of female mashgichot was created to literally “babysit” specimens in laboratories to preclude any chance of mixups.

Although the patient herself only needs to be in the lab a few hours, the mashgicha stays with the genetic material until the embryologist work with it is complete for the day. Then the petri dish is locked and sealed by the mashgicha. This process may take a whole day, depending on treatment.

Who would leave their family and friends, seudah, and stay in the quiet lab all day? Many mashgichot were already committed to shifts for another emergency case at a different lab.

Incredibly, thanks to our dedicated staff, with just a few calls, we had all the shifts covered. I took one shift as well.

Once there, I was scrubbing up and changing into the lab’s required cap, hospital gown and booties. Then the realization washed over me. 17 years ago, I had been in a hospital gown, Purim Sunday morning giving birth to my daughter Rebecca! Now I was in a hospital gown, giving someone a chance to experience this same joy and everlasting happiness.

It was the embryologist’s birthday as well, and we all counted all these signs as extra blessings for the couple so fervently awaiting a baby. I was amazed at the level of concentration and true dedication of the embryologists.

Considering how many treatments they work on each day, I wondered how they manage to keep this awareness keen. They answered that even at home, they continue to consider what needs to be done-that each treatment is a real person’s chance to have a baby.

All the fundraising efforts, all donations, really come to this-the couples trying in every way possible to have a child. It is Puah’s zechut to help make this possible in accordance with halacha and with love.

Watching my reflection, in the hospital gown, I felt this was certainly Hashem’s costume and message for me for the day! How many different costumes we wear daily, how many different roles we play. One day we wear the gown as Purim fun, or the gown in giving birth, as physician or as patient. It really doesn’t matter which role we play out, as long as we are doing Hashem's will.