Welcome to the Daily Holy Story. Many years ago, in the city of Yerushalayim, there was a great rabbi named Rav Yechiel Michel Stern, who was the Rav of the neighborhood called Ezrat Torah. He was a great posek (halachic decisor) and a holy rabbi. One day, it was revealed that he had a medical problem in his intestines and his gallbladder. The doctors were very pessimistic about the possibility of curing his illness. Three prominent doctors, famous in the field of intestinal problems, concluded that Rav Yechiel Michel Stern would need a very complicated operation. It would change his entire life because it was necessary to remove one of the organs in his intestines. Personally, he felt that he was in danger. He didn't feel that he could continue his life normally like other people. On the other hand, he had to go through with the operation because, without it, he wouldn't be able to continue living. When he realized that he had no choice, he scheduled the operation. The closer he got to the date, the more pressure he felt, and the more difficult it was for him to go on.
On the Friday night before the operation, he had a surprising dream. In his dream, he saw a person he had not seen for 42 years. Forty-two years earlier, Rav Yechiel's custom was to visit elderly people who were all alone in old age homes. At that time, he was extremely close to Rav Aryeh Levin, who was very famous for his chesed (acts of kindness). Following in Rav Aryeh Levin's footsteps, Rav Yechiel went to the old age homes. On one occasion, while visiting an old age home, he came across an elderly man who seemed to be in pain and suffering. Rav Yechiel asked him, “Can I help you?” The elderly man said, “No.” Rav Yechiel then asked, “What is hurting you?” The man answered, “I haven't been able to go to the restroom for a few days. My whole body is hurting.”
The Rav turned to the nurse and asked, “There's a man here who hasn't been able to relieve himself for maybe three or four days. Why don't you do something about it?” The nurse answered, “It's very complicated. Only the hospital can help this elderly man. The problem is that we contacted his children and told them to take him to the hospital, but they are refusing. They insist that taking their father to the hospital is the responsibility of the nursing home, and the nursing home refuses to take him. As far as they're concerned, it's the responsibility of his children.” When the Rav heard this, he decided to take action. He ordered an ambulance and took the elderly man to the hospital. The doctors took care of him, and the next day he was able to return to the nursing home.
When the Rav left the hospital, the doctor who had taken care of the old man came over to him and started scolding him, saying that he did not know him and that he had not treated his father properly. “If you had waited one more day, it would have reached his heart. He would have passed away,” he said. Because the Rav didn't want a desecration of Hashem's name, he explained to the doctor that the man was not his father and that he had voluntarily come to the hospital with him to help him.
In those days, Rav Yechiel was a young avrech (married yeshiva student) in yeshiva. He received about 500 lirot (liras) every month to live on. The ambulance and the elderly man's medical care cost 300 lirot. The Rav went to the nursing home—the old age home, rather—and asked for the names of the children. He realized that the man was from a very important family, a very famous family in Yerushalayim. So he contacted the children, told them what had happened, and asked them to reimburse him for his 300-lirot expense. The children said they didn't understand why he had gotten involved in something that had nothing to do with him. They felt it was the responsibility of the old age home to take care of their father, and therefore they didn't believe they needed to reimburse him. The Rav said, “No problem. I will manage with the 200 lirot I have left for my family's livelihood.”
Weeks passed. Every time Rav Yechiel Stern visited the elderly man, the man thanked him from the depths of his heart. On one visit, Rav Stern realized that the old man was in pain again. After asking a few questions, he realized that the problem had returned. Once again, there was an argument between the children and the old age home. Rav Stern decided to take the elderly man to the hospital by ambulance again, and he paid the expenses. The elderly man was treated at the hospital and returned to the old age home. This happened maybe five or six times. Finally, the last time, the children sent one of their sons-in-law to the rabbi to reimburse him for his expenses. Then they started taking care of their father. Rav Stern forgot about the episode completely.
Forty-two years passed, and now the man appeared to Rav Stern in his dream. He told him, “It became known to me that you are in pain. I went before the court above in heaven and told them, ‘How is it possible that someone who did a kindness for me should be harmed in the same organ that I was harmed in?’ The court above agreed with me. I have come to tell you that you should have the operation, and everything will be fine.” The dream ended, and the Rav woke up. He remembered the dream and the image of the man he had seen 42 years earlier. He understood that his surgery would be successful and that it would not have to change anything in his life. All of a sudden, a sense of calm came over him.
His children came and saw that he was a different man from the one they had left on Friday night. He was relaxed, singing Shabbat songs, and the happiness of Shabbat was on his face. They asked him what had happened, and he told them about the dream. He told them he was sure everything would be exactly as the dream had said. On that Shabbat, he told them, “This is what it means when we say in our prayers: Even a kindness that a person forgot from forty-two years ago, HaKadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One, blessed is He) does not forget, and gives him reward even forty-two years later.”
The operation was successful, as promised in the dream. The three doctors who came to see him after the operation all agreed that it was an open miracle. They said they were shocked to find that, even with the illness in his intestines, they did not have to remove any organs. After the operation, Rav Stern went to some great rabbis of that time. They expressed how wondrous it was that he had become healthy, and said that it was a tremendous mitzvah (commandment) to publicize the chesed that HaKadosh Baruch Hu does with His creations. He always gives reward to those who do give. Have a wonderful, wonderful day.