The Birth No One Can See: Finding Faith in the Midst of Illness

Sometimes the most profound changes in a person’s life are invisible to everyone around them. The late Rebbetzin Neustadt shared the story of a young mother facing a serious illness—and the unexpected perspective that helped her see even the most painful chapter of her life differently.

A Journey She Never Expected to Take

“Some time ago, I met with a lovely young couple who wanted to know how to get through the difficult period that lay ahead of them,” Rebbetzin Neustadt recounted.

The wife, a young mother of seven, had been diagnosed with a serious illness and was about to begin a grueling series of treatments. The couple was strong and determined to do everything they could to make it through the storm that had suddenly entered their lives.

During their conversation, the woman explained that she had chosen to undergo her treatments in the middle of the night so that her children would be exposed as little as possible to her absence from home.

“When I leave at 2:00 in the morning with my husband in a taxi on the way to the hospital, I remember those beautiful nights when we called a taxi and hurried to the delivery room,” she said. “And now...”

“And now what?” Rebbetzin Neustadt asked.

“Now there is no birth. There is no new life entering the world, no baby, no wonderful news, and no joy. There is only a harsh treatment entering my body, bringing with it difficult side effects.”

“A Birth Is Taking Place Here”

Rebbetzin Neustadt listened to her and then offered a completely different way of looking at those nighttime journeys.

“And still, a birth is taking place here,” she said. “New life is emerging.”

“What do you mean?”

“Along with the difficult, slow drip, a person can also experience a birth of the self—a spiritual birth into a new level of love for Hashem, of refining the soul, of accepting Hashem’s will with love, and of finding the strength to remain connected to Him even through suffering.”

Her words transformed the image of those nighttime taxi rides. The destination was no longer a delivery room, and the journey was one the young mother never would have chosen. Yet even within that painful reality, something new could still be born.

The Birth No One Else Can See

Not every birth can be held in our arms. Some of the greatest transformations in life are the ones no one else can see.

They take place quietly within the heart, in the middle of a journey we never expected to take—in the moments when a person continues to turn toward Hashem, continues to believe, and discovers new depths within herself even when she does not have all the answers.