Ariel Finberg

Aloha, my name is Ariel Finberg.  Last November, while I was preparing for the biggest day of my life – my Bar Mitzvah – I started to experience a very bad sore throat. On Monday, just days before the ceremony, my father took me to my pediatrician, Dr. Shimokawa, who said she had never seen a worse strep throat.

The next day my mother took me to Urgent Care where they gave me intravenous antibiotics to control the infection. By now, my throat was almost completely closed and my voice was gone. The “Monospot” blood test showed I had mononucleosis. Relatives were flying into Maui for the Bar Mitzvah. Considering that the ceremony had to be scheduled according to the Jewish calendar precisely when I turned thirteen, as well as the money that was committed to the event – canceling was NOT an option.

Wednesday, I was back in Urgent Care for a second round of I.V. antibiotics. Thursday, 48 hours before the ceremony, I still couldn’t swallow or speak. Yet, I attempted to prepare by chanting (or in my case “squeaking”) “Ki Mitzion” :

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 “Out of Zion will go forth God’s Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

When my mother heard these words, she KNEW that I would be healed.

On Saturday, I sang from the Bible, and no one even knew that I had been sick. I partied that night with my cousins, and danced nearly every dance the next day at my celebration. I never had any more of the symptoms of mononucleosis.