Shlomo Galster, a Chabad Hassid from northern Israel, contracted COVID-19 more than a month ago and was hospitalized at Ha'emek Medical Center in Afula. On Thursday morning, his family was informed that he was on his deathbed and it was time for them to say goodbye.
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Medical workers on the medical center's COVID unit realized that time was short, and it was unlikely that his family would arrive in time to recite the traditional "Shema Yisrael" prayer.
Then head nurse on the COVID unit, Ibrahim Maher, who had been treating Galster since he was hospitalized, stepped in and recited the Shema for him, without knowing by heart the precise wording of the Hebrew prayer.
"I knew he was a religious man and it was important to him that his family pray with him," Maher told Israel Hayom. "I don't know the entire prayer exactly, but I knew how important it was that he hear the words 'Shema Yisrael.' We knew him and his family. We were fond of him. We prayed with him, for his own sake and his family."
"It was clear to me that he wanted us to recite the Shema prayer for him. We have one God," Maher continued.
Maher said that when Galster's family arrived at the hospital, they already knew that he had passed.
"It was important to me that his daughter would know, and maybe it would console her and the family a bit that at least we managed to recite the Shema," he added.
Galster's daughter told Israel Hayom: "It was a difficult, sad day. My father never stopped talking about the devoted care he received and how thankful he was to Maher and the entire team."
