Less Than a Bag of Sugar

There are moments when a mother just knows. Not because a test told her, and not because anyone explained it—she simply feels that something isn't right. She's a mother.

Moran had a moment like this in her 22nd week of pregnancy when she went to get checked near her home, only to hear the hardest words imaginable: premature rupture of membranes, accompanied by the medical recommendation to "terminate the pregnancy." If she didn't, the situation could lead to a hysterectomy, birth defects, and severe danger to both mother and baby.

She wasn't ready to listen. Not because she didn't understand how dangerous the situation was—but because inside her was already someone she loved with all her heart, and she wasn't prepared to give up on him without a fight.

Moran and Doron didn't give up. They came to us at Laniado all the way from the Golan Heights, and instead of surrendering, we decided to fight together for every extra day. For every extra hour.

After two weeks of hospitalization, it seemed the battle was over. The nurse came in, examined her, and... the baby’s foot was already out. Within minutes, Moran was rushed to the operating room. They checked for a heartbeat, and the tiny heart was still beating❤️

As the delivery began, the late Rabbi Amos Guetta asked them to recite Psalm 20 together. But in those moments, Moran was unable to speak the words herself—so the nurse from the high-risk pregnancy unit read them for her. From that moment on, those words became their anchor. They recited them again and again—when things were hard, when it was terrifying, and when tomorrow remained uncertain.

And so, at just 24 weeks and 3 days, a tiny, adorable baby was born weighing 800 grams—less than a bag of sugar. A size so small a single hand could almost hold him. Yet from the very first moment, he possessed a strength that words can barely describe.

Then began the real journey: 130 days in the NICU. Day after day, Doron and Moran came. Sometimes with great hope, sometimes with overwhelming fear, but always with prayer. They saw ups. They saw downs. But above all, they never gave up.

They had hoped so deeply that the late Rabbi Amos Guetta would merit to be the Sandak at their son's brit milah, closing the circle, but sadly, he passed away before he could. When the time came to choose a name, they picked one that contained everything they had been through: Gabriel Yehuda—"God's Strength." Because that is exactly what it was, from the very first moment to the last.

And yesterday, after 130 days of the hospital being their second home, Gabriel Yehuda left Laniado for home weighing 3.14 kg—healthy, developing beautifully, and with just a little oxygen support that he is expected to be weaned off of soon.

Doron and Moran—your faith, your patience, and the strength you showed every single day of those 130 days touched all of us here.

A special thank you to the team at the Women and Maternity Department who treated, operated, and accompanied them from the very first critical moment.

Thank you to the dedicated NICU staff, and to Eti Litig, the head nurse in the NICU, who walked alongside the family day in and day out.

And to Dr. Arie Simmonds—thank you for being there from the very first moment until the happiest one of all.

This is why we get up in the morning ❤️