Jews have an attitude of gratitude. That’s the gist of the story of the Holocaust survivor from Israel who donated money to buy a $1,200 medical bed for 102-year-old Krystyna Danko, a non-Jewish woman from Warsaw, who risked her life to save Jews from genocide. Danko is thought to be the oldest of the Righteous Among the Nations, still living. With age, she has lost both her sight and her hearing.

Naturally, Joe Erlichster, at 75, is no spring chicken himself. Why did he reach out to help? Because, said Erlichster, it is “Part of our duty as Jews to recognize what some brave souls in Poland and elsewhere did” during World War II.

 

Why did Danko help save Jews? Because she herself was an orphan who was raised by a Jewish family.  And that was the family she saved.

 

It was a small thing to buy her a proper hospital bed. It was something she needed to ease the day-to-day struggles with failing health. Let us hope it brings Krystyna Danko, a measure of comfort.