An amazing firsthand miracle account
By Yaakov Touito
It was towards the end of the past summer, during an ordinary round of mivtzaim on the streets of Yerushalayim, when I encountered a Jew by the name of Yaakov Dilmoni. Yaakov is the political adviser for R’ Eli Ben-Dahan, Deputy Minister of Defense and Member of Knesset.
He grabbed me and told me that he has an amazing miracle story that occurred with him and the Rebbe MH”M. I asked him to wait a few minutes until I finished what I was doing, at which point we sat down in a quiet place and he began to recount:
It was seven years ago, in 5770, around Purim time, when I suddenly began to suffer from head pain. We are not talking about ordinary headaches, but intense head pain. The pain was centered mostly in the back of the head and spread out from there to the rest of the head. There was no way I could function in such a situation and I would spend a great deal of time lying down and resting; that was the only thing that mitigated the pain somewhat.
Over time, I visited many doctors for tests. They all told me that my situation appears to be serious. So what was the problem? That itself was a problem; nobody knew the answer…
During one of the tests I underwent, one of many, the doctor told me that the results were really bad and to the best of his understanding there was a serious imbalance in the body’s immune system. Obviously, this information did not do much for my state of mind, to put it mildly.
On the 3rd of Nissan I went for another exhausting test with a renowned doctor in Tel Aviv. Once again, the doctor said the same thing I kept on hearing from others, “The tests are not good. There are some less than pleasant estimations, but we have no exact information at this time.” I begged the doctor to at least give me some direction as to what might be involved, but he claimed that he was proscribed from telling me his speculations, as long as there were no conclusive and precise test results.
I felt like I was losing all hope. The uncertainty was the greatest torment for me.
Allow me to preface the next part of the story by saying that my family is very religious, but over time I had experienced a slight decline in my religious observance. I had no prior connection with Chabad, except for one occasion when I had written to the Rebbe via the Igros Kodesh during my army service.
When I left the doctor’s office that day, I was in despair. I have no idea why, but a vague memory popped into my head of that time when I had written to the Rebbe when I was in the army. I decided on the spot that the Rebbe was my only hope.
I went straight from the doctor to the Chabad House of Rav Motti Gal (now of blessed memory). The one who greeted me there was a young, pleasant man by the name of R’ Tzvi Ventura, a long-time worker in the Chabad House in Ramat Gan, who was always happy to help people write to the Rebbe. I asked him to help me write the letter because I had no idea of the protocol governing what to do and how to do it.
With his help, I wrote a one line note to the Rebbe, that I was suffering from terrible headaches and was asking for a blessing that the pains go away and that all should be well.
I randomly inserted the letter into volume 10, proclaimed Yechi Adoneinu, and opened to page 239:
It is my hope that at the time of the receipt of this letter of mine there has been an improvement in the health of the entire family and of hers as well, and as far as the migraines (in a footnote the Rebbe writes “head pains”) that she suffers from, in addition to the new medications that have developed in recent times, including a number of types of nicotinic acid, it would be worthwhile for her to acquire a mezuza that was checked and found to be kosher and to wrap it a few times in a cloth within a cloth, and to carry the mezuza with her (obviously at times when it is permitted to carry, unlike Shabbos, in a public domain). Certainly this will have a positive effect on her health, and Hashem should grant success to her and her husband that they should always impart good news all the days.
I was sitting there at the table and listening to the voice of R’ Tzvi Ventura, reading the letter loudly and slowly. I was in shock! I could see that the letter was directed at me, with a precise answer to the problem that was plaguing me.
The answer really shook me up, but at the same time I experienced a sense of elevation that I will never forget as long as I live. In that instant I felt like something had opened up within my soul. I cried, and I felt that the Rebbe was reaching his hand out to me and pulling me up. There was a feeling of my entire inner world being flooded with light, bringing me to a place that I had waited my whole life to reach – straight to the Rebbe.
On that very day, I traveled to Kfar Chabad and went into the Kehot bookstore. I asked one of the people working there if he knew where I could purchase a small sized mezuza.
A Chabad woman standing on line in the store heard my question, and she asked me if it was because of a letter of the Rebbe. I couldn’t understand how she would know that, and I answered that it was, in fact, the case that I had written to the Rebbe about a certain issue, and the Rebbe had written to purchase a mezuza.
She began to tell me that not long before she had been in the hospital. Her family wrote to the Rebbe for her, and the response was the same as mine. She then directed me to the sofer R’ Avrohom Kadosh, who sells such mezuzos. I went to him and purchased a small mezuza, which R’ Kadosh wrapped in two layers for me, exactly as the Rebbe wrote to do.
And then, miracle of miracles! The very next day, all the terrible headaches disappeared. Literally an open miracle.
The following week I went to the doctor in Tel Aviv, having made an appointment after he sent me for additional tests. I told him that I did not do the tests because I felt great. I didn’t get into the story about the mezuza. He was very angry at me and did not understand how I went from being a wreck who begged him to figure out what was wrong, to someone who waltzed in and said he was fine. He thought I was crazy.
I suddenly decided to ask him whether he heard of something called nicotinic acid. He thought a bit and then haltingly asked me, in a shocked voice, “Who told you about it? Whom did you speak to?”
I told him that it wasn’t that important and asked my question again. He insisted on knowing who told me about this medication, but I did not tell him. He said that just now it struck him that perhaps this is what could help my head pain.
I don’t remember his answer precisely, but he explained that it isn’t exactly a medicine, but a type of medical compound that is contained in a number of medicines, and one of its properties is that it helps the oxygen flow to the brain and blood flow in the veins. Now that he was thinking about it, it was definitely possible that the pain I had was from a blockage in the veins of the brain which resulted in lack of blood and oxygen to the brain.
After he finished his explanation, he said he wanted to give me pills that contain this ingredient for me to take for a few days so that we could verify their efficacy, but I told him that I didn’t need it since the pain went away and I was fine.
He was really convinced I was crazy and he tried to convince me to do additional tests or at least to take the pills, but I said with utter confidence that I didn’t need it; I was perfectly fine.
This doctor worked with a relative of mine and since the doctor was afraid for my well-being, he asked my relative to persuade me to continue with the tests so my condition wouldn’t worsen. Obviously, this did not help. I was confident in the Rebbe’s bracha.
A short while later I underwent comprehensive tests that had nothing to do with this story and the results showed that my immune system was balanced, and the rest of my bodily systems were stable.
***
The adviser to the Deputy Minister finished his story and said, “It is seven years now that the mezuza goes where I go, in Eretz Yisroel and abroad, always in my pocket. There is no way I will leave the house without it. I’ve had problems because of it at security in various places like airports and the Knesset but I don’t care. I feel the Rebbe’s bracha with me every day.
Ever since this story transpired, I have become very close to the Rebbe and his presence is apparent in every aspect of my life. I have begun to learn Chassidus, participate in farbrengens, and have even traveled to the Rebbe a few times. I also initiate mivtzaim and utilize my position to promote the Rebbe and his main message of Moshiach and Geula. My office is adorned with a huge picture of the Rebbe. I may not look the part, but I testify openly about myself that I am a Chassid of the Rebbe and do not have a shadow of a doubt that the heralding of the Geula is very close to coming to pass.
Yaakov Dilmoni concluded his story: I am telling you this, because the Rebbe wrote to me in an answer to a letter that I wrote today, that it is necessary to publicize miracles, especially personal miracles.