In this Times of Israel piece, Ronnie Katz Gerber, communications chair of Hadassah’s Los Angeles Metro Region, writes about the importance of friendship, particularly when friends are ill. She writes about an “organ call” she recently had with a woman she has been friends with for over six decades – that is, a telephone call in which the two friends talk about their aches and pains. Gerber has Stage 4 chromophobe cancer; her friend, Bette, has MS. The two women hit it off as kids in the New York City area and remained close after both wound up moving to Southern California. On their calls, they don’t spend much time on the “oys” and “gevalts”; they talk more about their day-to-day lives – grocery shopping, mahjong, bridge and, for Gerber, Hadassah events. When one or both have had a good day, they say so, although that is not always the case. Bette was recently in a car accident, and age and illness have slowed her down. As for Gerber, in February, she added COVID-19 to her other medical issues, experiencing a host of unpleasant symptoms and losing weight. It was not an easy month. But she could always rely on Bette’s calls. Whatever is going on in their lives, they are there for each other. Says Gerber, “Well, if that’s not friendship, what is?”
Ronnie Katz Gerber is a member of the HADASSAH WRITERS’ CIRCLE, a program of Hadassah’s Media & Public Relations Office that offers Hadassah’s volunteer leaders, members and professional staff a way to share their thoughts and feeling about Hadassah’s work in the United States and Israel.