Dr. Avrohom A Seligson: Rebbe's Personal Physician

00:00 Kesher to the yahrtzeit of my father, , Chof Chei Shvat. We'll discuss the background of my father in medicine as he studied in Europe, and stories that took place with the Rebbe that he was zecher to experience over the years. My father studied in various universities in Vilna, in Strasbourg, and at the age of twenty-five, he already had a doctorate in medicine. And he was also doing research in new topics in medicine. One field was endocrination, and he wrote his findings, and he was also in touch with a top neurologist who was one of the top in the century, Professor Harvard Cushing in Yale University in Connecticut, and there are letters of correspondence between them. After the war, he received his license to be-- practice in the United States. When he met various doctors who he became acquainted with in New York, one of them writes in a letter that he has an original mind to come up with new discoveries after researching in different aspects of medicine. Chassidim that knew him well mentioned to me that they, that he could have continued in his life with research in the medical field, but because of his good heart and devotion, he chose to practice as a doctor. My father once sent someone of Anash to visit a certain doctor in Manhattan. The doctors in Manhattan held very highly of my father as a senior doctor, respected him very much, and at times also consulted with him. When my father sent once a certain patient to

02:26 an expert in that field, this expert was amazed, figuring that my father only saw selected patients. And here, in this case that he saw in front of him, saw my father was dealing with all kinds of different patients, different situations. And this amazed that professor, that , that my father is attending to all despite his greatness, uh, that he could have been a professor in a specific field. Now we'll discuss some short stories that took place between the Rebbe and my father. There's one time that the Rebbe came out of his room with a telegram in his hand. In the telegram, it was relayed that there was a person that was sick with a certain illness, and the Rebbe asked my father if there is a solution, if there is something in the medical field that can help this person. Father looked at the telegram and said as far as he knows, there was nothing new yet in the medical field for this problem. In general, my father was very on top of the new developments in the medical world, constantly read and was updated. The Rebbe went back to his room, and then a while later, the Rebbe came out again. My father understood that the Rebbe wanted a doctor should pass him-- should pass the verdict that there is something in the medical field. And my father answered yes. The Rebbe smiled and returned back to his room. I remember once waiting outside of Seven seventy. Everybody was waiting for the Rebbe to

04:21 go out of his room, to go home, and it took longer than usual. And after a while, the Rebbe came out, and then I also met my father. My father told me the Rebbe just called him in and, uh, showed him a letter from someone that has a, uh, health issue and asked my father if he could look into it, if there's any solution, anything new in the medical field. In general, letters that my father wrote to the Rebbe about certain issues received quick responses from the Rebbe. It was on his letterhead and, uh, uh, the address on the envelope, the return address was my father's address, and that received priority attention by the Rebbe. Another story was once at a farbrengen Shabbos Nitzavim, Tov Shin Chof Daled, uh, late nineteen sixty-four. The Rebbe then spoke sichas and a maamer. In the middle of the maamer, Chassid Rabbi Yonah Gorodetsky did not feel well. When the Rebbe concluded the maamer, Rab Shmuel, the father-in-law of Rabbi Gorodetsky, approached the Rebbe and told the Rebbe about it. The Rebbe asked my father to check him out, Rabbi Gorodetsky, and he checked him out and said everything is all right. The Rebbe then said, "He is a doctor, and if he says it is nothing, it is truly nothing." It was once in the middle of a maimer. The Rebbe was delivering a maimer, Podeh v'Sholem Tov Shimchov. That's late 1959. He was a Yitas Kistof Habringen, and one of the Chassidim fainted. The Rebbe stopped middle

06:19 of the maimer. And here on the audio, the Rebbe calls my father. My father came, and he checked out the person, checking his pulse. And we hear the Rebbe saying, Yohev le Yode, gave him his hand, which this is based on the Gemara in Brachos, that the Gemara says in regards to two sages that met. One visited the other who was ill, and he asked him, do you want the pain? He says, I don't want the pain. I don't want the reward for the pain. So he says, give me your hand. He gave him his hand, and he became well. This is what the Rebbe was referring to, Yohev le Yode, when my father checked the pulse of this person. The family Rebbaskin, Rabbi Avraham Arnen and Rabbi Gavriel Rebbaskin, Zolzain Gesund, told me a story in regards to their father, Rabbi Getzel, Alav HaShalom. That it was many years after a certain surgery that Rabbi Getzel Rebbaskin experienced. The Rebbe told him, Daloi Dokteidim, finishing with Dokteidim, no more doctors. Once, before traveling to Gan Yisro, Camp Gan Yisro, where Rabbi Getzel worked with his wife, Rabbi Getzel was the mashgiach, his wife was the cook, and her mechotenister, Mrs. Doberaskin, Alav HaShalom, was also the cook, and Rabbi Getzel would be there through the summer. So he asked the Rebbe if he can visit my father just to check himself out before the summer. On the other hand, the Rebbe told him, no more doctors. So he asked the Rebbe, what should he

08:07 do? So the Rebbe said, you should visit him with the condition that you will only speak with him in inyonim of learning, inyonim of Torah, but not about medicine. The hemshech to the earlier installment regarding my father, Alav HaShalom, we're continuing now with installment number two, and we'll discuss additional short stories. My father once told me that while sitting at the Rebbe's fabringen, someone not from Chabad observed the Rebbe coughing very much and asked, who is the Rebbe's doctor, and why doesn't he do anything about it as to tell the Rebbe what to do? My father responded, I am the doctor, and we don't tell the Rebbe what to do. There were occasions when the Rebbe had a strong cough. My father knew what the problem was, and he would prescribe a medication that the Rebbe should have ready at any time he wished. It would then be filled in the pharmacy and brought to the Rebbe. The Rebbe son once said, Where can I find a doctor like Dr. Zelikson? As soon as he hears my husband, the Rebbe, coughing, he prescribes a medication. The Rebbe always wished that there should be privacy maintained around him and especially relating to his health. It was once after my father visited the Rebbe at his home, and the Rebbe was about to return to 770. The Rebbe told my father that he should not come in the same time to 770. People should not figure, Azir kumt fumir, that you are coming from visiting me. Another

10:20 aspect in the relationship between my father and the Rebbe was in the inion of learning. In the beginning of the Neseas years, or maybe earlier, there were occasions that my father would speak in learning with the Rebbe at the entrance of the Rebbe's room. My father had a very big gishmak in the Rebbe's fabringens and felt this is the Yire Shamayim that a person receives in Navedas Hashem. I heard once from a young man who had high fever, and he asked my father if he should go to shul. My father responded as follows, with such a high fever to go to shul. The young man then asked, what about going to the fabringen, to the Rebbe's fabringen? My father told him how not to go to the fabringen. This reminds me two stories that come to mind. The Rebbe once asked a person after Shabbos why he wasn't at the fabringen, and the person answered that he had fever. The Rebbe asked, how did he know? The Hasid said that he measured. The Rebbe continued, who asked you to measure? On another occasion, the Rebbe, when he was informed that a Hasid was laid up with a cold at home, the Rebbe answered, instead of laying with a cold in bed, he should have come here to warm up amongst Hasidim. To clarify something inaccurate in an article about my father, which was published in a weekly magazine last week. My father had two methods how he cured people, as some of his patients related

12:18 from their experiences. When a patient would come to my father, my father would at times ask if he was sent by the Rebbe. It happened once or more times that after the visit, the patient would tell my father that he was sent by the Rebbe. My father was not pleased with this because when one came from the Rebbe, he had a different manner how he cured the person, simply in higher than a natural manner. Once a patient came with an ongoing problem after seeing many doctors to no avail. My father asked him if he was sent by the Rebbe. When the patient told him that he was not sent by the Rebbe, my father examined him and immediately told him that the issue is not as the other doctors diagnosed it, but it is a completely different problem, and he cured him. On Mitzayim Kipper, a patient came to my father for a health issue. My father told him, "Tonight, I am not giving medications. I'm giving lekach." This story happened many times with various people from whom I personally heard this fact. The Rebbe once asked my father, "Barabim in public, from what will he have panose, a livelihood in the upcoming redemption if everyone will be well then?" The Rebbe answered, "They will come to you and you will, after examining them, tell them that they are fully healthy."