The hits just keep on comming... Mila quest 2010

So just when I thought the worst was over... we run into another problem: bilirubin. It is the stuff that makes babies yellow. Yellow babies(according to halakha) for mila is bad. We are not allowed to circumcise yellow babies. Erev Shabbat the Little Guy's bilirubin levels were, while somewhat elevated, within the realm of circumcisability(yes I just made that up). Unfortunately for various reasons we had to check him again yesterday morning. The level had jumped to 13.8. The cut off is 12. So we called Rabbi Mahpoud(the man when it comes to mila in Israel) explained the situation to him, and followed his advice which was to put the baby in the sun(oh what fun that is in Israel where everyone thinks they know better than you and the Gedolei Yisrael how to parent your child), feed him as much as he will eat and have him tested again that evening. So here is the quandry... do I immediately jump on the phone and start telling all of the informed(since we don't invite) guests what was happening or do I wait until after the second check. With the advice of some Rabbanim we decided to wait until after the second check which was supposed to be around 6PM.

Next hit... Israeli socialized medicine. Sure they will tell you that you can come to your authorized clinic at 6pm for the necessary check, what they don't tell you is that lab is closed from 4pm-7pm, and once you have waited until 7pm you also find out that they only do bilirubin checks until 4pm. So you have to go down to floor one to get authorization from another bureaucrat before going to fight the bureaucracy on floor 4 to get the necessary paperwork to authorize you go somewhere else to get the much needed check on the other side of the city. Then you go there(Bikur Holim maternity ward). However, they cannot admit you for the check you so have go to the emergency room. Just when you think that you are finally getting somewhere, you find out that your clinic didn't give you all the necessary paperwork. So you can either truck back across the city, OR you can pay out of pocket for the necessary information. Having decided that time is somewhat of the essence and hoping for the best, we decide to pay out of pocket.

Ok... so now we are getting somewhere right? You poor poor fool. Of course you can't actually have your baby checked in the emergency room. Don't you know that there is so much bacteria in the air in there that if you were to take him in it would kill him... INSTANTLY!! So you have to get the necessary forms and be discharged from the emergency room, so that you can go back over to the maternity ward, to be admitted there, wait in another line, and finally get your test. To find out what, that it is now 12.7... An improvement to be sure, but not enough of one.

The problem with Gedolei Yisrael is that most of them don't answer their own cell phones. Their shamashim do that. So I find myself tearing back across the city as fast as my two legs will carry me, madly dialing shamash after shamash to try to get the word out. The problem is that it is already after 9pm(yes a five minute check took over three hours to complete... it still astounds me that thinking Americans actually voted for a system like this... but that is another post entirely). Why is 9pm a problem, well, most of the Gedolei Yisrael also daven Netz minyan(read early). Many rise for tikkun hatzot(middle of the night) and learn until said minyan. So 9pm is typically after bedtime. I managed to get to one Yeshiva which has a late Sunday night shiur by the Rosh and other Rabbanim and inform them, and we managed to get in touch with another Rosh Yeshiva.

However the Gedolim count that was not reached was... two Rabbanei HaIr(granted of Moshavim), Two Roshei Yeshivot, two Dayyanim from the Rabbinut, and four Dayyanim from the Jerusalem B"D. So that left me making apologies, though mostly understood, it was still a rather embarrassing moment. Just kept reminding myself that humility at times comes through humiliation. May it all be for a kappara.