Did You Post Yet

Just over a year ago, my seven-year-old niece was diagnosed with a terrible illness. Chana bas (Mushka) Yehudah Leib Kesselman lived with her family in Greenville, South Carolina, as emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and despite the many mitzvot and prayers done in her honor by family, friends, and complete strangers around the world, this week she was taken from us. 

Every single day since her diagnosis 13 months ago, the entire book of Tehillim has been recited at least 10 times through 10 different Whatsapp groups, spread across the entire globe. That's 1500 chapters each day, totaling approximately 585,500 over the 13 months, in her honor.

My wife and her sisters, stayed on top of the Tehillim campaign, making sure everyone did their part. "Did you do your Tehillim yet? Did you post it to let everyone know?" my wife would remind me daily. 

Towards evening, as she was cooking supper, bathing the kids, and putting them to bed, the busiest time of day, my wife was still keeping half her mind dedicated to making sure everyone was doing their part—their Tehillim, their good deeds, their prayers, for our sweet little niece.  

For 13 months we begged, pleaded, and demanded that G-d perform a miracle and restore her health, but tragically, that was not His plan.  

Every day for the past 13 months I have added an extra 10 chapters of Tehillim after morning prayers, for my dear niece Chana. During this time, every email I sent out, every newsletter I printed, every holy thing I did, was dedicated to ensuring a full and speedy recovery for this sweet seven-year-old girl. 

And this week, at the funeral, I cried. I cried for her short life, for her parents' grief, for the siblings who will not remember her. I watched her being lowered into the ground, and my vision clouded with tears—tears for Chana and the suffering she had to endure, for her parents who have been through something no parent should ever experience, and for all the people who watched her slip away despite the massive amounts of prayer and good deeds performed in her merit. 

We are taught that the power of prayer is tremendous. Although we begged G-d for a miracle, we beseeched Him to take away her illness, this was not to be. 

But we know that as Chana is greeted by the Heavenly court, she takes with her all the pages, words, and hours of Tehillim that were recited in her honor. We know that the countless mitzvot done in her merit accompany her, as the angels greet her, and take her to a place where she will know no more pain.  

May her neshama have an aliya, and may her parents, siblings, and extended family find comfort.