Kiddush Hashem

I don't usually post e-mail forwards, but this seemed special.  I got this today.

A beautiful thing happened to me yesterday, and I thought I would share it.

Yesterday, after my last class of the day ended at NYU, I stood outside
chatting with one of my classmates on a corner. Another nursing student, a
woman I know by sight but not by name, walked over to me.

"You...you're a Jew, rigtht?" She said to me.

I said yes.

She asked me if I was from Israel, and I said no, though I had lived there
for a short time.

"I just wanted to say to someone from Israel...to any Jew really...thank
you, because Israel, they're the only ones really helping my country."

"Are you from Haiti?" I asked.

"Yes, and the Israelis are the only ones who brought X-Rays!" Here she began
to cry. "America that is so great and big and powerful and only Israel
brought X-Rays and are really helping..."

I asked her if her family was there, and she said they were all still there.
I didn't ask what had happened to them, and she didn't say. I hugged her and
gave her a tissue. She thanked me again. I told her she and her family would
be in my prayers, along with all the people of Haiti.

Every morning we ask Hashem to "crown Israel with splendor." I guess this is
what that means. No one has ever thanked me for being Jewish before! :) I
was so proud of the Jewish people and our capacity for chesed in that
moment, and proud of Israel. I am also grateful to the amazing people who
made that Kiddush Hashem, from Zaka to Hazolah to the decision makers in the
Israeli government. I am especially grateful to Hashem for letting me share
in it. Thought I should pass it on to you.

Lauren Stok