Midwives and obstetricians at Israel’s busiest maternity ward deliver seven pairs of twins in a single 24-hour period.

By Abigail Klein Leichman, ISRAEL21c

The maternity department at Shaare Zedek Medical Center is the busiest in Israel, handling more than 22,000 births every year at its main and satellite hospitals in Jerusalem.

Yet even here, the arrival of seven pairs of twins – that’s 14 babies, all doing well – in a single 24-hour period between July 12 and 13 was a noteworthy event.

For those with a more spiritual bent it’s also a lucky number. In numerology, 14 represents new beginnings and positive change.

A hospital spokesman told ISRAEL21c that this represents a new record for the medical center. “In recent recorded memory, the previous high was five [sets of twins in one day],” he said.

The birth mothers included Jewish and Arab women from Jerusalem and beyond.

One of the moms, Ma’ayan Luzon Peretz, said she’d come “from afar” to deliver her “two sweeties” because she’d had a previous positive experience giving birth at Shaare Zedek.

She arrived for the big occasion in style, with the nails of one hand polished blue and the nails of the other pink, in honor of the son and daughter she was soon to deliver with her husband at her side.

Another mother told reporters that she had waited 12 years for her first child, and now, three years later, was excited to add a pair of twins to the family she and her husband had yearned for so long to build.

Shaare Zedek has six maternity wards in all: four at the main Shaare Zedek Medical Center campus in Beit HaKerem and another two at downtown Bikur Cholim Hospital, a dedicated maternity hospital.

In June 2022, ISRAEL21c reported that identical twins Yael Yishai and Avital Segel gave birth to baby boys on the same day at Shaarei Zedek.

The medical center recently opened a boutique maternity hotel where new mothers can spend a few pampering days with their new baby after being discharged from the hospital.

Throughout Israel, 178,000 babies were born in 2022 according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

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In a historic move, the Supreme Court on Sunday approved surrogacy for single men and same-sex couples. The ruling will take effect within six months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG5M489uZmI

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“I have to go down on my knees for honoring you for having 12 children,” Rivka Ravitz said Biden told her.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Rivka Ravitz, chief of staff for outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, said that she was shocked when U.S. President Joe Biden knelt and bowed before her during a meeting at the White House on June 28.

“I was pretty shocked,” Ravitz said Sunday morning on Talkline with Zev Brenner.

Ravitz said that she was fortunate to have a photographer with her in the Oval Office that day. “If not that, no one would have believed me,” she said.

She described the meeting in detail, beginning with Biden greeting Rivlin very warmly with a hug.

The two leaders were having a “nice small chat” when Rivlin pointed towards Ravitz and said, “This is my chief of staff. She is very Orthodox, and you won’t believe how many children she has.”

Biden asked how many, and Rivlin answered, “12 children.”

“And he [Biden] was like going, ‘Wow, I can’t believe it. That can’t be. Are you sure, 12? Is that true?'” Ravitz said.

Ravitz said that she answered, “Yes, that’s true. There are 12, and there are even some grandchildren already.”

Biden then told her that he was from a Christian family, she said, and he began to talk about his mother.

Then he said, “You know what? I have to go down on my knees for honoring you for having 12 children,” before lowering himself to the floor on one knee and bowing his head.

Ravitz said that Biden also attempted to shake her hand, but Rivlin quickly explained that she is very religious and doesn’t shake hands with men.

“Well, you have to see my mother,” Biden told her, and they walked across the room together to see a photograph of the president’s mother on a small table.

Ravitz told Talkline that she had been thinking a lot about the experience since last week.

“The president of the United States, the most strong state in the world, to whom did he bow to? A mother of 12 children for her being a mother,” she said.

Ravitz wasn’t the only Israeli woman that Biden was happy to see during the meeting.

In his official remarks to the press, Biden said, “Well, I’m really happy to have President Rivlin here. And I don’t want to — it’s not technically appropriate, but I — I’m so delighted his daughter is here.”

“She’s in the back right there. And I got to — I got to meet her and talk about our kids and grandkids and all the like,” he said.

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Eitan Biran, who lost his parents, brother and great-grandparents in a cable car crash in Italy in May, has been informed that his family is gone.

By Howard M. Riell, World Israel News

Relatives are consoling five-year-old Israeli boy Eitan Biran as he grapples with the reality that his parents, brother and great-grandparents all died in the cable car disaster that he survived.

The tragedy took place on May 24 close to the summit of Mottarone Mountain in the northwestern Piedmont region of Italy.

According to reports, the boy is being comforted by an aunt, paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather and other family members who have traveled from Israel. He is also reportedly under the care of a psychologist.

The family’s attorney, Cristina Pigna, told the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa that Eitan is “slowly learning what happened from his relatives and from the psychologists who are supporting him. He has found out about the consequences of the tragedy in the manner agreed upon by doctors, specialists and family members. We are talking about a long and delicate process.”

News of the accident shocked the world. The cable car in which the Biran family and others were riding had almost arrived at the mountain-top station when the cable holding it broke. The car slid backwards and plummeted at an estimated 100km/h before slamming into trees. In all, 14 people died.

Three individuals — the owner of the firm that manages the ride and its chief technician and technical director — were arrested soon after on suspicion of having tampered with the emergency brakes in order to keep it from being closed down.

Following the tragedy, the youngster was flown in critical condition to nearby Regina Margherita children’s hospital in Turin, suffering from injuries to his chest and abdomen.

The Biran family had relocated from Israel to northern Italy in 2018.

Attorney Pigna told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, “This will be a long and complex process. He is improving physically but there is no clear indication as to when he will be released from the Torino Hospital and be able to return to Israel.”

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