Stories from my Apartment Building, part I

Well, there is the elderly widower on the top floor, who has 12 married children living in Jerusalem or the surrounding areas. He has some physical ailments that make it uncomfortable to travel and visit his children. So the children came up with a rotation where each one of them moves in, with their entire family, once every 12th weekend, just to keep him company and show him how much they love him. During the weekend visit (they all bring their own food and pots and pans for the visit), the mother of each of the 12 families will cook meals for the grandfather and leave them in his fridge so that he can have home-cooked food all week, until the next of his married children visits with their family and leaves him the next week's meals. He has a granddaughter whose family lives outside Jerusalem, and since she has to study in the city, she sleeps there during the week, keeps him company, and keeps the house clean. 

Then there's the extremely learned Rabbi and his wife from the 6th floor who constantly call us and check up on us to see that we're okay (in a kind and sensitive manner, not invasive). He is well past 70, but teaches Torah every day to many devoted students, as he has done for the last few decades. On Shabbos he can be seen climbing the 12 half-flights of stairs to his apartment, with a smile on his face.

Then there's my landlady. We live right next door to her, since our apartment was originally part of her own. She lost her second husband, our noble and gregarious landlord, this past winter. He passed away suddenly, due to a blood infection. But seeing her living life day-to-day is remarkable. She is always looking out for us, she brings us a warm potato kugel every Friday afternoon. She often goes swimming, she works as a nurse, and she always has a smile and a kind word for us. She has many children and grandchildren of her own who sing so loudly and happily on Shabbos that it reverberates through our adjacent windows. All of the members of this woman's family are in mourning along with her this year for their husband/father/grandfather. But there remains so much palpable strength in her spirit that it strengthens their spirits by extension. 

There are many more outstanding individuals in this apartment building- to be continued.