(L-R) Avraham Aviram and David Seigel

A hospital is not just for healing. Sometimes, it is a place to get reacquainted with long lost friends. So it was for 79- year old David Seigel of Herzliya and 75-year old Avraham Aviram of Petah Tikvah. They had not seen each other for 60 years when an unexpected, fateful meeting at Rabin Medical Center reunited them at last.

While lying in his bed, David was in the mood for something sweet. When he walked out of his room, he met Avraham who heard his request and said he would be happy to bring David some chocolate from the cafeteria. The two began talking, and from his accent, David understood that Avraham was Romanian. Shortly afterwards, they discovered they were from the same town, had lived across the street from one another, and had been good friends during childhood.

Their paths could have crossed many times before. Both had immigrated to Israel in 1945 and had passed through the same refuge camp in Cyprus at the same time. But it took a hospital visit at Rabin Medical Center to rekindle their old friendship and to reminisce about their childhood in Romania. Now that they have reunited, they plan never to lose contact again.