Hannah's Christmas Miracle

I know very little about her; even Matt, her own son, is not sure if she was born on August 29, 1926, or August 26, 1929. Judging by his age and that of his brother, I believe she was born in 1926. I am a writer and a student of human nature. I care to learn about people; where they come from, what they think about what they do. Matt, on the other hand, is an accountant who deals with numbers all day long. He is also an accomplished artist, but he doesn't have the same desire to learn about people as I do.

To me, it is very strange that a son would not know the birthday of his mother. For him, things like birthdays are not that important. He tells me his mom does not celebrate birthdays. However, there was a time that she did celebrate one very special birthday.

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I cannot imagine what it was like for a Jewish girl growing up in Iraq, a Muslim country. All I know is that when Hannah was 14, her family hired an Arabic language teacher to teach her Arabic. They felt that learning Arabic would serve her well, and so it did. Years later, she married that Muslim man and had two boys: Matt and his older brother, Munir.

The family was considerably wealthy. Hannah's husband was a well respected lawyer and a pillar in his community. The boys had the best that life could offer, and were very much loved. Much to his chagrin, their father also knew that one day his sons would grow to be men and would have to serve in the Iraqi army. Being a peace-loving, God-fearing man, he did not want that for his boys. Therefore, a plan was set in place so that the boys would study in England and get away from Iraq for good.

Since Munir was four years older than Matt, he left for England when Matt was still a young child. Matt continued to prosper at home. At six years old he played chess and held intelligent conversations with his father's friends. His intellect surpassed his tender years. When he finished elementary school, Matt placed first in the Iraqi school system. He also had plans for studying in England and becoming a doctor, like his older brother.

When Matt reached England, he attended one of the best schools for foreign students in the country. He worked and studied hard to achieve his dream. He had big plans that were well within his reach until the day his entire world changed forever.

At 15, when his illustrious future should have been waiting in front of him, his life almost came to an end. He was hit by a car and left for dead in the middle of an English highway. The driver sped by without a second thought. Hannah and her husband flew to England to be with their son. The doctors said the prognosis was bad. They didn't expect Matt to live.

As any mother will tell you, doctor's prognosis or not, a mother never gives up on her son, and will try any means to keep him with her. Hannah was no exception. Here she was, a mother of two boys living in a different country, and one of them – her youngest, her baby – was about to die. She just couldn't wrap her mind around that concept. It just couldn't happen.

The family visited Matt every day while he was in a coma in the hospital. The English nurses were very compassionate with Hannah. She was a grieving mother in a strange new land, and she could not speak English. There was so much that Hannah did not know or understand about the West and England in particular. But one thing she did know was that it was December, Christmastime for people in the West.

The hospital was decorated for the Christmas season and everyone was in a festive mood. And there she was, a Jewish woman married to a Muslim man with a dying child in a Christian hospital. Sometimes, life could be ironic like that.

Rather than cursing this strange new land for putting her son in such a terrible situation, Hannah embraced the customs of the country. She prayed to the god of the Christians, whom she had known to be a simple rabbi all her life. She prayed to Jesus, and begged that if he spared her son's life, she would celebrate Christmas from that point forward.

Matt survived the accident. He came out of a coma nine months later, but his struggle was not over. Once again, the doctors said that the prognosis was dismal. He was not expected ever to walk again. The muscles and tendons in his legs were crushed beyond repair. But the family did not give up. Matt did not give up. Hannah did not lose her newfound faith in Jesus, and continued to pray to Jesus for the continued health of her son.

After two years of intense physical therapy and six major operations, Matt still walks with a limp and uses a cane, but the miracle is that he walks.

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How did the family turn out? Matt and his parents immigrated to Canada. Then, years later, Matt's father returned to Iraq to die in his homeland. Matt's brother is a prominent doctor and chief of staff at an American hospital. He is married to a Christian woman and has two children.

Matt is divorced from his first wife, a Jewish woman, and has two grown children. He is now my fiancé and lives here in Montreal. After all those operations and the time spent in the hospital (more than two years), he lost his desire to be a doctor. He chose to be an accountant and a painter instead.

Hannah has been a widow now for more than 15 years. She celebrates both Chanukah and Christmas. She lives with Matt. To her dying day, she will never forget the miracle she received that Christmas back in 1963 and one day she will meet the great rabbi in the sky who gave her back her beloved son.

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