Behar: 5784 - "Worthy is Rabbi Shimon to be relied upon": A Holocaust survivor who took a bullet in his back and was left paralyzed, until Reb Tzvi Grinwald brought him to Rabbi Shimon…

00:01 Speaker 1 We are just days away from Lag BaOmer, the day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s passing. Rabbi Tzvi Greenwald tells an astonishing story that happened at Rabbi Shimon’s resting place—even though this year we cannot go there. A book about him recently came out, and he witnessed the story firsthand. He tells it this way: It was in 5708, during the War of Independence. He was fighting in the ranks of Lehi. Many new immigrants had arrived in the Land of Israel after the World War. Many had lost their families—their entire families—in the Holocaust. They arrived here, and because there was a war going on, some were drafted immediately. One young man had lost his whole family. He came to the Land of Israel and joined Lehi, serving alongside Rabbi Tzvi, whom they called “Teacher Tzvi.” They gave the new recruits a quick course in using a weapon. Many were killed in the war without even having been registered. There are graves marked only “Unknown,” because they did not even know their names. They were drafted at once and sent to the front, and some were killed. That young man was serving alongside Rabbi Tzvi Greenwald in Lehi. During one operation, a sniper shot him in the spine, and he was left paralyzed.

01:40 Speaker 2 That young man?

01:41 Speaker 1 That young man. He was left paralyzed. He couldn’t move his arms or legs. He could speak, see, and hear, but his arms and legs were completely paralyzed. They immediately took him to the hospital on Mount Scopus. The soldiers who brought him there left because they had to return to their unit. There was no one to visit him or look after him; he had no family. Not a single member of his family was left. Weeks and months passed, and he lay there. The doctors had nothing they could do. He was paralyzed. Rabbi Tzvi and another man from the community decided to take him under their wing, taking turns visiting him twice a week. They kept coming. Before Lag BaOmer, after he had been lying paralyzed for months, with the doctors at a loss and no way to help him, Rabbi Tzvi came to visit. The young man told Rabbi Tzvi Greenwald that back when he was still abroad and wanted to move to the Land of Israel, he had always dreamed of coming to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron. If there was anything Rabbi Tzvi could do, he wanted to be with Rabbi Shimon on Lag BaOmer. Tzvi Greenwald thought it over and said, “Listen, in a few days we have an operation in the north. I’ll come and take you to Rabbi Shimon.”

02:58 Speaker 3 What do we have?

02:59 Speaker 1 Lehi had an operation in the north. “I’ll come and take you.” On the morning of the 32nd day of the Omer, the eve of Lag BaOmer, Rabbi Tzvi arrived with an old truck and three other soldiers. He went to the medical staff and said, “We want to take him out for a little fresh air.” The staff said, “Please, by all means, take him out.” They carried him out, put him in the truck on a mattress they had brought, and drove to Meron. In those days, the journey to Meron was very difficult, especially in a beat-up old truck like that. It took them almost a whole day. Toward evening they arrived in Meron. They carried him on the mattress into one of the halls there at Rabbi Shimon’s resting place and laid him in a corner. Rabbi Tzvi left him a bag of food and said, “We’ve brought you here to Rabbi Shimon. We’re going out on an operation. When we finish, we’ll come back and take you home.” They carried out their operation and returned for him. They came to the corner where they had laid him and looked. The mattress was empty. The young man was gone. Rabbi Tzvi says—he was there; he witnessed it firsthand—that he was stunned. Where was the young man? He went looking and saw him standing by Rabbi Shimon’s resting place, praying. Rabbi Tzvi says he nearly fainted. He went up to him, took hold of him, and said, “Tell me what happened. How did this happen?” The young man told him that after they had left him there on the mattress, he began thinking about everything he had been through: all his hardships in Europe, all the labor camps. After the war he had traveled all over Europe, looking for any surviving member of his family. No one was left.

05:00 Speaker 1 Then he decided to move to the Land of Israel and build a family again. He came here, and now he was thinking about everything he had been through and the condition he was lying in. As he thought about it, he began speaking as though he were talking to Rabbi Shimon, telling him his whole story. His dream had been to come to the Land of Israel, and here he was in the Land of Israel—in this condition. He kept talking to Rabbi Shimon like that, and then he burst into tears. He couldn’t stop. He cried and cried and cried. Suddenly, he felt a tingling in his fingers and toes. Until then, he had felt nothing at all in his arms and legs. He began to feel that tingling, and then, little by little, waves of warmth passed through his whole body. He tried to move his arms and legs and saw that he could. Then he used his arms to try to get up. He managed to rise, went over to the resting place, and stood there praying. In short, they took him back to Jerusalem. A few days later, he came to the hospital to tell the medical staff and the nurses, who had cared for him with such devotion. When they saw him walking on his own two feet, they nearly fainted. This man was walking! They thought they were seeing a ghost. The young man later married and started a family. He lived in the community of Tochales near Kfar Chabad and grew close to Chabad. Rabbi Shimon is worthy to be relied upon in a time of need. May he intercede on our behalf—Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai—for all the Jewish people, and especially for the security forces, the wounded, and the hostages. May we hear good news.

06:47 Speaker 4 Amen. Yasher koach, yasher koach.

06:50 Speaker 1 Of course.