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Wonders of Wonders
A selection of miracle stories, told by Rabbi Shneur Zalman Wilschansky, rosh yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim Lubavitch in Morristown, New Jersey. * From a t’shura given at his son’s wedding. * Part 1 of 2

CHECK AGAIN

A Belzer chassid who had a yechidus with the Rebbe asked for a bracha for a refua shleima for some medical problems he had. Suddenly the Rebbe asked him, "Do you have a prescription?" The chassid was surprised and said he did not. The Rebbe asked him again, "Do you have a prescription?" and again the chassid said he did not. The Rebbe asked him a third time, and finally the Rebbe asked him to check his pocket. The chassid put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a prescription he had gotten from the doctor a short time before.

When he left the yechidus, he said in amazement to those waiting outside that he knew for certain that he did not have a prescription before the yechidus, and that finding the prescription in his pocket was an open miracle.

WHAT WAS IT FOR?

A bachur who completed his studies in Morristown wrote to the Rebbe that he wanted to study medicine and become a physician’s assistant. He emphasized in his letter that this would cost a lot of money and that it took four years.

The bachur received the Rebbe’s positive answer. An excellent student, within two and a half years he finished his studies and successfully passed all his tests.

One day he found out that the Department of Health in the United States decided to cut the medical budget and had done away with the role of physician’s assistant. His world came crashing down. The bachur’s first thought was: why did the Rebbe agree that I enter this profession?

Some time later the bachur went to Atlanta, Georgia. He was struck by a virus so severe that it attacked vital systems of his body. The hospital he was in was in the heart of a non-Jewish neighborhood, and the doctors there decided he would make a good guinea pig. They gave him various injections that had nothing to do with his condition.

Since he was well versed in medicine, he began yelling that they shouldn’t be giving him those injections, and they should be trying other ones. The doctors realized they couldn’t fool around with him. The bachur later said, "The medical knowledge I acquired, thanks to the Rebbe, saved my life."

JUDAISM & CHOCOLATE

Four-year-old Yossi refused to wear a yarmulka. All attempts to get him to wear one failed. In despair, his parents wrote to the Rebbe about their strange problem and asked for the Rebbe’s advice and bracha.

They quickly received a reply. "Check and see whether the boy eats a certain brand of chocolate without a hechsher."

The parents investigated the matter and discovered that Yossi was eating this chocolate at a friend’s house. From then on, his parents were particular about which candies their children ate. At the same time, the child stopped his opposition to wearing a yarmulka.

JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT

For many years, the Rebbe would send shmura matza to certain rabbanim who lived in Eretz Yisroel, including Rabbi Aryeh Levine (A Tzaddik in Our Time) in Yerushalayim. The Rebbe sent the matzos with Rabbi Ezriel Zelig Slonim, a’h.

One year, when R’ Slonim came to the Rebbe for the matzos, as he always did, the Rebbe gave him a certain amount for each rav, but did not give any for Reb Aryeh. R’ Slonim was surprised. He dared to ask the Rebbe for matza for R’ Levine, as though perhaps the Rebbe had overlooked him. The Rebbe did not react, but added matza.

When R’ Slonim arrived in Eretz Yisroel he was shocked to discover that Reb Aryeh had passed away.

BUYING A CRIB

In a small house in a religious neighborhood of Yerushalayim sat a young couple discussing a serious problem. Nearly a year had passed since they had married and the loans they had taken to pay for an apartment weighed heavily on them. The woman would be giving birth in a few weeks, but they had no money to buy a crib.

The couple tried to come up with ideas of where they could get the money, but it seemed as though there was not one gemach left in Yerushalayim from which they hadn’t yet taken a loan. All avenues seemed closed. "We have no choice," said the husband. "We just can’t afford to buy a crib. We will just have to rely on our Father in Heaven."

A few hours went by and then there was a knock at their door. The husband opened the door and saw a Lubavitcher standing there. It was Rabbi Avrohom Chanoch Glitzenstein, who said he was there on a mission from the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He had a letter for them from the Rebbe!

The husband took the letter in amazement, for he had never written to the Rebbe and had no connection with him. He opened the letter and to his great surprise he saw bills that added up to 720 Israeli liras. The next day they purchased a new crib, which cost precisely 720 Israeli liras.

FULFILL YOUR OBLIGATION WITH A VERSE

Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, menahel ruchni of Yeshiva Torah VaDaas relates:

"A few years ago I had a certain problem that caused me much heartache. I decided to tell the Rebbe, and when I went for dollars, I told the Rebbe my problem. The Rebbe said, "May you fulfill your obligation by saying the pasuk "Lev nishbar v’nidkeh, Elokim lo sivzeh" (Hashem will not despise a broken heart).

"I was astounded to hear this. Only I knew that in recent nights, before going to sleep, I spent a great deal of time on that pasuk in the Krias Shma Al HaMita.

A FREILICHIN CHANUKA ON YUD-TES KISLEV!?

"This happened in Kislev 5750, when I learned in Yeshivas Karlin-Stolin in Boro Park," begins Avrohom Chaim Silver. "I decided to go to the Rebbe for Yud-Tes Kislev. On Sunday, I stood in line for dollars along with my friend, Benny Amar.

"When I passed by the Rebbe, I received a dollar along with a ‘bracha v’hatzlacha rabba.’ The Rebbe gave Benny this bracha: ‘A freilichen Chanuka,’ and gave him a long look.

"We were very surprised and wondered why the Rebbe varied from the usual bracha and why he was wishing a freilichen Chanuka when it was only the 19th of Kislev. Nobody could explain it.

"That week, Benny and I were walking on a busy New York street when Benny crossed without looking and was hit by a car. It was a terrible sight to behold. Benny lay there in the middle of the street, his head to one side, his hat, yarmulka, and glasses strewn about him. I stood on the sidewalk, rooted to my spot and thinking the worst.

"To my amazement, Benny got up, put on his yarmulka, hat, and glasses, and motioned to me to continue walking with him to shul! The shocked driver hurried over to Benny and offered to drive him to the hospital, but Benny demurred. "I feel fine, thank G-d. I’m not going to the hospital just for some little pains in my leg," he said.

"But the driver didn’t give up. He insisted that Benny get into the car and drive with him to the hospital. I joined them. Suddenly I recalled the Rebbe’s bracha from the beginning of the week. What would have happened if... What kind of Chanuka would it have been?

"The examination at the hospital confirmed Benny’s initial thinking that aside from a few scratches, he was fine."

THE CURE BEFORE THE FALL

A chassid who told the Rebbe about the birth of his son, and asked for a bracha for his other children, did not receive an answer. Three years went by. Out of the blue, a letter from the Rebbe arrived. The Rebbe blessed the parents for the birth of the child as well as for the upsherin, and then mysteriously ended the letter with "refua shleima."

The next day the miracle occurred: The child fell out of the fourth story window, yet the medics who arrived on the scene were amazed to see the child get up and walk around as though nothing had happened.

A CHITAS AND PUSHKA IN THE CAR

A chassid who had been in a car accident told the Rebbe about it and received the following written answer: "He should have in his car (Tanya, T’hillim, and a siddur) and a pushka."

At first, he didn’t understand why the Rebbe had put "Tanya, T’hillim, and a siddur" in parentheses. After a quick look in his car he realized that he had had those items in his car, but the pushka – which was usually in his car – was not there at the time of the accident.

HAPPY CHANUKA IN TISHREI

On Erev Yom Kippur, thousands of people passed by the Rebbe to receive lekach. The Rebbe wished each person a shana tova u’mesuka, but to one woman, the Rebbe said, "Chanuka sameiach."

"I couldn’t have heard it correctly," thought the woman.

Three months passed. On Chanuka, the woman realized that she had heard the Rebbe correctly. The woman had a heart attack on Chanuka and she had to undergo open-heart surgery without delay. As she lay in the recovery room, the woman remembered the Rebbe’s bracha.

AN EARLIER FLIGHT

"Rebbe, I am going to Eretz Yisroel next Wednesday and I request your bracha," said a woman in line for dollars. The Rebbe gave the woman a dollar "l’bracha v’hatzlacha," and added, "You will certainly give this dollar for tz’daka on Tuesday in Eretz Yisroel."

The woman left in a turmoil, for she had told the Rebbe she was leaving on Wednesday. The next day she was told that one of the airlines was offering inexpensive tickets on sale to Eretz Yisroel. The woman bought a ticket for Monday night, and on Tuesday afternoon she landed safely in Eretz Yisroel.

   


 


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