Stories of the Rebbe and Health

Welcome to our weekly program, The Inside Story of Chabad in America, through the Mindel archives.

We find ourselves now in the month of Iyar. Iyar is a month of refuah, of healing. Iyar is an abbreviation: Aleph, Yud, Reish — "Ani Hashem Rofecha," I am Hashem your Healer.

Now, why is this month such an auspicious time for healing? It's not simply because Iyar is an abbreviation for that — that's not the real reason. There's a deeper reason why this is a month of healing. That's question number one.

Also, it says that the Torah gives permission for a doctor to cure — that means Hashem gives permission to a doctor, so when a doctor cures, Hashem helps him. So what's the difference between when Hashem gives permission to a doctor, and "Ani Hashem Rofecha" — I am the Healer? What's the difference? It's all from G-d.

So the answer is: when a person becomes sick, G-d forbid, and the person goes to a doctor, the doctor cures him. They always make a blessing — the doctor's hands — the doctor always says before the operation, "G-d, help me." So G-d helps him. In other words, the person is sick, and then he has the sickness, and sometimes he is cured. But a doctor can tell, for example, if a person has a heart attack and he's cured — there is still a blemish, you can still see that this person had a heart attack. It's still there, but he's okay. There's something there, but he's okay.

That's why — I think, I'm not sure — when the Rebbe had a heart attack, I don't think he bentched Gomel. I don't know if you have to bentch Gomel or not, you'd have to ask about that. But I don't think — I'm not sure — I don't think he bentched Gomel, because to bentch Gomel you have to be 100% cured. With a heart attack, you can still tell there is still something there with the heart.

That means Hashem gave the doctor the ability, and he healed the patient, but there's still something there. But when we say G-d Himself is the Healer, it means two things: number one, the person doesn't even become sick in the first place — Hashem brings the cure before the sickness. And even if he does become sick later on, you can't even tell that the person became sick.

So this is a month that Hashem Himself gives the cure. Why is this such an auspicious month? Because Iyar comes after the month of Nissan. Nissan is the month of miracles — as we say in the Haggadah, "Ani Hashem" — everything I needed, I did — "and not an angel" — everything was done directly, not through an angel. This miracle of Nissan, this "Ani Hashem," goes into the next month, which is the month of Iyar, and this is "Ani Hashem Rofecha." That's why Iyar is such an auspicious month for healing.

Now, talking about Hashem bringing the cure before the sickness — it reminds me of something I mentioned once, and I can mention it again. When the Frierdiker Rebbe was in Eretz Yisroel in 1929 — he left a few days later there was the Chevron Massacre, the Hebron Massacre. It was something like what happened on October 7th — October 7th — but it wasn't as big. Arabs came in and attacked, they killed them, they slaughtered them — a massacre.

The Frierdiker Rebbe was on the ship, and he heard about it, and he became sick. He became sick, they called [a doctor] — he fainted, I'm not sure exactly — so they called a doctor. There was a doctor, his name was Dr. Wallach. Dr. Wallach was a Yekke, a very religious doctor, from Yerushalayim. And they said, "The Rebbe is not well, can you come to the Rebbe?" He came, and I think he started to cry, [asking] forgiveness. He said, "I want to ask forgiveness, that I am on the boat — if I wouldn't be on the boat, you wouldn't have gotten sick. Because Hashem brings the cure before the sickness — so since I am here to cure, [you got sick]. But if I wouldn't be here, you wouldn't have gotten sick."

Talking about this — there was a person, he lives down in Flatbush. He always used to come every Sunday. He wasn't Chabad. He never took a dollar [from the Rebbe] — didn't take a dollar, never — but he wanted to help the lines. You know the big line outside, waiting for the Rebbe to give out dollars — he was part of it, to help straighten out the line. He liked that. Anyway, he never got a dollar.

One day somebody told him, "Why don't you get a dollar from the Rebbe? Go to the Rebbe, also get a dollar." He went to get a dollar, took a dollar, the Rebbe gave him a dollar, and then the Rebbe turned to him and said this dollar is for a refuah — even though he wasn't sick.

He ran to this house, he said to me, he says, "I don't know what to do." He told me — I said, "What can I tell you? We also get nervous — I mean, he's not sick." So Rabbi Mindel was sitting on this chair there, so I said, "Why don't you ask Rabbi Mindel?" So he told Rabbi Mindel, and Rabbi Mindel started to smile. He said, "You should be happy — because in case you were supposed to get sick, or even get very sick, and who knows if you would have come out of it, the Rebbe gave you [this dollar for a refuah]."

Anyway, he wasn't happy, but in the end — this was Sunday — by Wednesday he had an attack, they took him to the hospital. He had internal bleeding. He was there for a long time. He's 100% [cured] now, he's cured.

This reminds me — my [father-in-law] Rabbi Mindel — when the Rebbe had a heart attack, he just couldn't go in to the Rebbe. He didn't feel — I mean, the Rebbe couldn't speak. He had worked with the Rebbe at one table on all these letters and all the writings — he worked with the Rebbe together — and now the Rebbe couldn't talk. He couldn't bring himself to go in to see the Rebbe. So he called Rabbi Groner, and he said to Rabbi Groner, "When the Rebbe will feel better, call me — I want to go in when the Rebbe is feeling better."

Rabbi Groner called him one day, after four months. He went in to the Rebbe, and he told the Rebbe, "I am a guest" — because he hadn't seen the Rebbe for four months, when he used to see the Rebbe almost every day. [The Rebbe] said — meaning light, meaning — he said, "The light should shine on you." The smile that the Rebbe had when he said that was — he said he never saw that in all the fifty years.

So, since today we are in the middle of [the month of Iyar], the Rebbe should help that there should be a refuah to everybody who needs it.

Now I want to mention a few people who asked me to mention their names, because so many people listen to this program — and we'll all answer, and they'll have it — next week we'll continue our weekly program. Thank you.