Hardly a day goes by that there isn’t a plea made for a donation to the latest GoFundMe for someone who has suffered a setback. We in the Jewish community are fortunate in that our local charities immediately step up to the plate when they are made aware of a family or individual who is in need.
It seems to me, however, that there is an area in which we are lax, and that is when it comes to teaching our children as they grow into young adults and begin their own life as married couples. We should be teaching them the necessity of immediately procuring life insurance. I did read of one rav who makes it a point each time he meets with a young couple prior to the wedding to instill in them the need for doing so.
Similarly requests are frequently made for young bochurim who suddenly pass away leaving a grieving wife with one or two babies and an empty bank account. Why in the world did they not think of taking out life insurance the second that they realized that they were becoming parents? Fathers who suddenly die either by an injury or illness, leaving large families and teenage children, are frequently guilty of never having taken out any type of insurance to see to it that their family would be taken care of in such an awful scenario. As I am writing this, quite amazingly, I received a telephone call about a young man who passed away in Eretz Yisrael from a sudden illness, leaving eight children and one on the way. I was told that there is a fund to help the children with their future weddings.
Are we becoming a generation that always depends upon others to come to our rescue? Don’t we have a responsibility to make sure that our families will not be in need in case anything happens to us?
I remember my husband and I talking about insurance as a young couple. At first it seemed far-fetched to us but then we realized what it would cost if anything were to happen to one of us. The investment was well worth it. There is always the old war cry that the money is wasted if it is not used. Believe me, that it is well worth the “wasted” money.
Naivete plays a great role in people thinking that nothing will ever happen to them. I am amazed that there are still people who think that way. Just recently I had a phone call from a “young” man (60) from Montreal whom I know very well. He was diagnosed with a heart condition which can easily be rectified with a surgical procedure. The entire conversation was me trying to convince him that he was lucky that until now he had never suffered anything medical. All that he kept repeating was wondering how anything could ever happen to him. He was totally despondent over the fact that he was in this situation. I became infuriated as I related to him the many cases of people he and I knew who had gone through traumatic medical episodes at much younger ages.
My friend was extremely angry at the first cardiologist he saw because he felt as though he could have handled the situation very differently. The second cardiologist who is treating him is at least 15 years younger than he. When I mentioned that his younger doctor’s wife was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at least 10 years ago he was astounded. Yes, there are still people who cannot fathom that bad things could happen to anyone. You do not have to be a “rasha” to suffer. This fact many of us acknowledged many years ago.
My suggestion would be that prior to buying the bedroom sets, and the special bookcases for the seforim, and the Shabbat dishes as well as the ones for the week, BUY life insurance. It has a purpose.
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].
