Editor’s Note: In honor of her bat mitzvah, Moriah student Tali Gribetz raised $5,000 to build a custom-designed mobile art cart filled with art supplies and a special bulletin board to display patients’ drawings and paintings at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at HackensackUMC. The cart will be used specifically in the PICU. Tali and her family dedicated the cart to their friend Evan Levy z”l who always had a smile for everyone. He passed away after a courageous fight.
Art is something that always brightens my day. In the months leading up to my bat mitzvah, I was grateful to be able to help the wonderful not-for-profit organization ArtWorks continue their mission of transforming the healthcare experience of pediatric patients through the arts. By providing children and young adults battling chronic and life-threatening illnesses access to creative and performing arts programs, ArtWorks also provides a vehicle for healing, communication, self-expression and personal development. I asked my friends and family to help me raise the $5,000 it costs to launch a custom-designed mobile art cart, filled with a year’s worth of art supplies and a special bulletin board to display patients’ paintings and drawings. With their tremendous generosity, I was able to reach my goal in no time.
Not long after my bat mitzvah, my little friend Evan Levy passed away after a courageous fight. He was a patient at this very hospital and spent lots of time here. I heard stories from his family about how he used to paint and draw while he was recovering from his treatments and how, despite his illness, he never stopped smiling. This is amazing to me. We learn in Pirkei Avot that we are supposed to “receive everyone with a cheerful face.” The great 20th-century Rabbi Avraham Karelitz, also known as the Chazon Ish, explained why: Our inner feelings affect only us, but the face we show to the world affects the mood and happiness of those around us too.
Rabbi Yisroel Salanter said that our faces—and our expressions—are like public property; they give us the power to help or harm everyone we meet. Evan was only 4 ½ years old—too young to have studied these ideas and consciously make the effort to put them into action. And no one would have expected him to. But he somehow understood anyway, and was blessed with the gift of not having to force it. His smiles were natural and constant, and definitely infectious. His disposition was a blessing, but also a gift to those around him, as it put everyone at ease and gave them strength. I thought that dedicating this art cart in Evan’s memory would be a perfect way to help keep the smiles coming. Hopefully, this art cart can help put smiles on other children’s faces, and strengthen them for whatever challenges they face.
Thank you to my friends and family, whose generosity and support helped bring this art cart to the children in the PICU at Hackensack Hospital. Thank you also to Amy Sokal, for all her help arranging this launch, and for her tireless dedication to ArtWorks.
By Tali Gribetz
