Rabbi Shalom Schwadron
This remarkable story was told to Rav Schwadron by a rabbi from America. He served as the rabbi at an American hospital. One day, a young Jewish man who had been very seriously injured in a car accident was brought there. After examining him, the doctors reached a grim conclusion: there was no hope for the patient, and he had only hours to live. When they checked his documents, they found the address of his sister, who lived nearby, and immediately summoned her. His sister arrived and, sobbing at her dying brother’s bedside, said that they had an elderly father who lived in a nursing home. The rabbi immediately went there to bring the old man to the hospital to say goodbye to his son. Concerned for his health, the rabbi did not tell him what prognosis the doctors had given his son. He decided that the father would look at the patient and understand everything himself.
Upon arriving at the hospital, the father approached the bedside of his unconscious son, but to the surprise of those accompanying him, he showed no signs of grief or even worry. The rabbi decided that he had not understood his son’s desperate condition and asked one of the doctors to speak with him. The doctor addressed the old man and gently explained that, according to their assessment, his son had only a few more hours to live, no more. But this, too, had no effect on the old man—he remained completely calm. The rabbi spoke to him again, but to his astonishment, the old man said: “I’m going home.” Seeing the rabbi’s surprise, he calmly added: “He will recover.” The rabbi began to suspect that, because of his advanced age, the father no longer understood what was happening. Once again, he tried to explain gently: “You understand, his condition…” “His condition, his condition…” the old man grumbled. “He will be well, and I’m going home.” Noticing the expression on the rabbi’s face, he added: “Do you think I’m out of my mind? Then I will tell you why I am so certain that everything will be all right.
I am from Radin; I lived there at the same time as the Chafetz Chaim. When he was preparing to publish his work, the Mishnah Berurah, he first gathered a group of baalei batim (Jews who do not spend the entire day studying Torah) and asked them to study from the manuscript to see how understandable it was to ordinary Jews—for they were precisely the people the book was intended for. I was one of that group. Several times, I had the privilege of studying the Mishnah Berurah in his presence, and the righteous man was pleased with my learning. For this he blessed me: first, that I would be granted a long life. But I am only 76 years old now, and that cannot yet be called a long life. And the second blessing was that my children would not die in my lifetime! Now, look: if, G-d forbid, my son were to die now, how could these two blessings both be fulfilled? So it is clear that he will live, and I can go home without a worry…”
After hearing this story, the rabbi did not argue and took the old man home. The next morning, he hurried to the hospital and first asked about the patient’s condition. “It’s remarkable!” the doctor exclaimed. “The patient has regained consciousness! Only yesterday, every indication was that he would die, but now he is better!” A few hours later, during their rounds, the doctors noted in amazement: yes, a miracle had occurred, and the patient now had every chance of recovery! Two weeks later, the patient was discharged from the hospital—completely healthy.
It is no surprise that the Chafetz Chaim’s blessings had such power. But the strength of an ordinary Jew’s sincere faith is remarkable. There is no doubt that the depth of this pure faith in the righteous man’s words helped the miracle occur!
Prepared by Rav Yisrael Spiegel translation – M. Klimovskaya