Miracle Torah

The story began about a year ago. A 14-year-old boy was diagnosed with a serious illness. This was in addition to the sad fact that he was orphaned of his father. He was a relative of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Lieder, a Chabad representative in Rishon L’Tziyon for decades, and the boy’s mother contacted him and told him the terrible news.

Rabbi Lieder wrote to the Rebbe about the boy’s medical condition and put the letter into a volume of the Igros Kodesh. The Rebbe begins the letter in a celebratory tone, “Surely the two Sifrei Torah that were sent from here arrived already and were received.” The Rebbe then added some points from a letter from the Previous Rebbe, when he sent a Torah to the new settlers in Kfar Chabad in 5709.

The day after he received this letter, Rabbi Lieder hosted his weekly Chassidic gathering in Kfar Chabad. That week, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Roth of Beitar Ilit was invited to speak.

During the gathering, Rabbi Lieder told the story about the sick boy and the letter that the Rebbe wrote about a Torah. Rabbi Roth nodded and said that where he lived, in Beitar Ilit, there were many people stricken by serious illnesses and in connection with this he told the story of the “Wonder Torah” in the time of the Baal Shem Tov, as a protection against troubles:

In the year 5512 (1752), many people in Mezhibuzh were sick with various illnesses. The situation deteriorated rapidly. Many of them were on the verge of death. The town was in an uproar.

The Baal Shem Tov was already known as a wonder worker, one who breaches the natural order, and some whispered that he could even revive the dead.

So the leaders of Mezhibuzh went to the Baal Shem Tov. He would surely arouse mercy for them and the heavenly evil decree would be rescinded. 

They went to the tzaddik and cried and begged him to intercede for them, but the tzaddik just sat there, deep in thought. He did not rush to respond to their request. After a few long minutes he stirred, and with a clouded countenance he said there was a big heavenly accusation against the Jews of Mezhibuzh which is why so many fell sick. Unfortunately, he could not help them.

The Baal Shem Tov bent his head and once again was immersed in faraway thoughts. After many minutes he said again that was unable to help and that the matter depended on the townspeople.

 “In the Shmoneh Esrei we pray, ‘and may the service of the Jewish people Your nation always be pleasing.’ The meaning of this is that the service of the Jewish people always creates the desire to weaken the decrees and cancel them, and it is the service of the Jewish people which stands constantly before Hashem to generate His goodwill, and this can find expression in two ways – in saying the letters in the Torah and Tehillim, and by writing a Torah in which all will participate.”

At that very gathering, the leaders of Mezhibuzh decided to write a Torah in which they would all have a share. The tzaddik called for his son, Rabbi Tzvi, who was a scribe, and told him to start writing the first two sheets of parchment.

The town leaders could practically swear that on that day the sick began to miraculously improve. The healing process took much more time, but the improvement began to be seen that same day. Not surprisingly, when the Torah was completed and joyously brought to the beis midrash of the Baal Shem Tov, everyone called it the “Wonder Torah,” for hundreds and thousands of miracles were associated with it.

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Rabbi Roth told this story and Rabbi Lieder listened. He realized that this was the meaning of the letter he had opened to in the Igros Kodesh in connection with the boy’s illness. A Torah scroll was the solution, and not one, but two!

He got up and announced that he was committing to having a new Torah written as a merit for the recovery of his relative.

Mrs. Chava Lieder met a woman during a course she takes. The woman’s brother, who is a mechanic, was working when a heavy piece of equipment fell on his head. He was critically injured and the doctors feared for his life.

When Mrs. Lieder spoke to her, she told her about the Torah they were writing for the recovery of the boy and suggested that she join with her family in the writing of the Torah as a merit for her brother’s recovery.

 Her brother underwent a complicated operation on his head. The family, fearing the worst, agreed to take part in the “Wonder Torah” and started raising the money. Every day there were slight improvements. On the day they delivered the envelope with the money for the Torah, the doctors announced that he would be released the next day!

During this period, Mrs. Lieder found out that her own mother had fallen and was badly injured. She was taken to the hospital, where doctors said she broke her pelvis and other bones. Due to her advanced age, this was particularly serious and she needed complicated surgery.

Mrs. Lieder suggested to her mother that she participate in the writing of the “Wonder Torah” which was being written for good health. Her mother agreed and donated a large sum.

A few hours later, the doctor treating her called and said that due to the danger in operating, they decided not to operate but to provide her with support treatment and then send her to rehab. “It will be a long, difficult rehabilitation,” he said. “Nobody can say how long it will take.”

The elderly mother began the rehab process, and miraculously, it was faster than anticipated. Less than four months after her fall, she was already able to walk and function without help. The doctors who initially treated her were astonished.

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A year after they started, Lieders held a dinner to mark the completion of the “Wonder Torah.” In the middle of the dinner, as the band played lively Chassidic tunes, Mrs. Lieder’s mother got up and invited her daughter to dance with her.

“That’s when I realized that my mother had fully recovered to the point that she could suggest that we dance as though nothing had happened,” said Mrs. Lieder. “When she said that, I suddenly realized the magnitude of the miracle that Hashem did for us and I knew what the merit was.”

As for the 14-year-old boy, within a few months after the Torah was completed his mother called to say that he was in remission and that the doctors pronounced him well.