Saida is in her eighties. She is a widow and lives alone. She had a caregiver a while back but the caregiver robbed her of her savings and left. We met her three weeks ago for the first time, although she had come for help in previous weeks. We were asked if we could deliver the food to her. To say her left leg gives her trouble is an understatement. It looks more like it makes a left turn at the knee. I am not sure how she gets around but she apparently manages with a cane.

She has a sweet spirit about her and a smile and a laugh that is sweet as well. She likes to talk and talk but between the three of us that took her home today, we may have understood ten percent of what she said. We told her we don’t speak Hebrew but that did not slow her down one bit. She would talk and smile and we would all smile and laugh.

She needs our help, even more than the food we bring her; she needs someone to talk to, someone willing to spend time with her. At most homes we deliver food to one of us takes the food while the other stays in the running van. Saida is one of the few houses that the van gets turned off because we will sit a spell. With her bad leg she still finds the strength to get up, get cups and a bottle of cola or juice and insist we sit and have a cold drink before we continue our deliveries.

What we do is more than just delivering food to people. Yes we bring food but it is a smile, a hug, some companionship and hopefully the love of Ha’Shem and a bright spot in their day; that light Ha’Shem has put in our hearts.

We may not be able to say more than a few words but a smile and a hug don’t need an interpretation; laughter needs no translation, they are the same in any language. The love of G-D is a wonderful thing; it’s even more wonderful when you share it with someone. You may not deliver food to people each week but a batch of cookies to a neighbor or a pot of soup to someone that is sick will open that door to deliver that hug, that smile, that laugh, the message that someone cares and is thinking about you, just like G-D cares for you.