One evening, while hunched over my desk, my son, Roy, took out an old instrument from one of the desk drawers and asked with amazement, “What is this?” “A stethoscope,” I answered.
I looked at my son and the old instrument that I had once used as a young doctor at the hospital, and then I explained, demonstrated, and tickled. Together, we practiced listening to the voices of the heart, hidden in the body. We played, laughed, told stories, and interpreted the magical sounds heard through the wondrous instrument.
Then, in response to my son’s request, I gave him the stethoscope as a present.
The next day, when I came to pick up Roy from kindergarten, I was surprised to find him holding the stethoscope, explaining to the kindergarten teacher and all the children about the
instrument and the heart, telling them charming stories only a child could invent about a happy heart and a brave heart, a sad heart and an aching heart, about how and why the heart feels.
The rest of the story is told and drawn in this book and I invite you to read, learn, listen, play, and tell stories about the voices of the heart.
ד"ר אביב הירשנביין
Dr. Aviv Hirschenbein, MD is a trained Radiologist and a fellow at BIDMC Harvard medical school. Dr Hirschenbein works as a Senior Radiologist in Hadassah medical center, Israel and also teach young medical students. He is a member of the
