I just wrote half a post, then erased it, not sure whether this was an appropriate forum to discuss the following in depth. I am going to make a short post about this, then another about normal Shiatsu stuff.

My wife’s cousin’s 13 year old son, Yehoshua, survived a terrible car accident this week. Despite many broken bones, etc., he is (incredibly) intact and coherent, and should be able to recover. He was however the only survivor in the car and has experienced severe trauma. Anyone who wants to add him to their prayers, his Hebrew name is Yehoshua Shlomo Peretz ben Hindy. Whatever your religious persuasion, or even if none at all, any good deed or coin given to charity dedicated to, or prayer for his speedy recovery, physical and emotional is deeply, deeply appreciated.

Rabbi Dessler writes in his work Michtav M’Eliyahu (A Letter from Eliyahu) that in the Heavenly Court, such deeds can really make a significant impact for a person in trouble. The logical reason for this, he explains, is that if it you hadn’t heard about this person and their story, if they hadn’t had this influence on your life however small, then this deed wouldn’t have been done. Therefore, they share the merit of that thing. This is the reason for so many customs of the sort in the Jewish tradition.

This terrible event has obviously shaken up my family a great deal this week. Even at the distance that I am, I am deeply affected by it. I decided after having written a lot more about it before that this blog isn’t the right forum for this topic. But I didn’t feel I could write about anything else without at least mentioning this, and if he and his family can be in your thoughts or prayers, I deeply appreciate it.

Clarification- no one else from their family was in the car. He had caught a ride with other friends of his, and one of their older brothers who was driving. All the people were however from the same small community.