King Khalid of Saudi Arabia, recuperating in the Cleveland Clinic Hospital from double bypass heart surgery, performed in the hospital last week, has expressed his good wishes to the entire Jewish community of Cleveland, as reported in the latest issue of the Cleveland Jewish News.
The good wishes were expressed in a letter to Rabbi Armond E. Cohen, of Park Synagogue, in response to a letter from the rabbi to the King in which the rabbi expressed his hope and prayer that the King would enjoy a full recovery from his operation, the second heart operation Khalid has undergone in the last few years at the hospital.
Earlier, a prayer for the recovery of the King had been recited at Sabbath services at Park Synagogue, along with a like prayer for Israeli Premier Menachem Begin, who was in the hospital briefly and has since been released.
Cohen said the King’s expression of thankfulness, good will and good health directed to him and through him to the entire Jewish community of Cleveland came in a letter from Mohammad Noyser, who identified himself as president of the King’s private court. Cohen said he also spoke by telephone with Noyser in which the King’s private sentiments were reiterated. Khalid had the surgery on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Oct. 3, and is reported to be recovering satisfactorily.
The Jewish Community Federation earlier had denied rumors that the King had given instructions he was not to be attended by Jewish doctors. However, there are no Jewish doctors in the hospital’s department of thoracic and cardio-vascular surgery which was in charge of the surgery performed on the King. There are, however, several Jewish physicians in the hospital, among them some who have attended members of the royal Saudi family.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
