MIRACLES IN THE AUTO SHOP DISTRICT

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

You don’t have to be a shliach in a large city to create a revolution among Jews. It’s enough to take on a certain area, make regular rounds, establish connections with the local residents and workers, and you can achieve tremendous success. Rabbi Baruch Herzl Borochov, director of the “Igros Kodesh Center” in Rechovos, did just that when he began a regular mivtzaim route in the city’s industrial zone to help bring his fellow Jews closer to their Father in Heaven and the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. The following selection of amazing stories about answers received in “Igros Kodesh” illustrates this point.

A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT AND THREE CHILDREN

My family and I arrived in Eretz HaKodesh shortly after Gimmel Tammuz 5754. We joined the Chabad community of Rechovos, and in accordance with an answer from the Rebbe, I started spreading the announcement of the imminent Redemption and establishing connections with the local businessmen.

One day around the High Holiday season, I went over to the “Signon” auto repair shop in Rechovos’ industrial zone, run by two young men, Yossi Suissa and Moshe Malatshevi. When I came in, I found Yossi sitting in his office. After giving him a hearty “Shalom Aleichem,” I asked him if he would like to put on t’fillin. Yossi immediately agreed, but then I noticed that he appeared to be physically handicapped, particularly in his back. He was also dragging his left leg with a pair of crutches.

We began talking for a while, and Yossi eventually told me that it was a miracle that he was still alive. Four months earlier, during a trip to Turkey, he had been very seriously injured in an automobile accident and had been urgently flown back to Eretz Yisroel. He was forced to undergo a series of complicated operations that entailed inserting various plates and replacement joints in his legs and pelvis.

Yossi said that the damage to his left side was not healing properly, and the doctors were not very optimistic, to say the least.

I was concerned over the state of his health, and I felt that something had to be done to rectify the situation.

“Look,” I told him, “the doctors are given permission to cure, but G-d is the One ‘who heals all flesh and performs wonders.’ I’m certain that with G-d’s help, things will get better, and soon you’ll be able to run with two healthy legs. There’s a Rebbe; write to him and ask for a bracha.”

“Which Rebbe are you talking about?” he asked, his eyes opening wide.

“There’s only one Rebbe!” I replied.

“But the Rebbe…” he started to say.

“Yes!” I immediately responded. “The Rebbe is chai v’kayam. We are in a period of trial, testing our faith as we prepare to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu.”

I explained that even now we can turn to the Rebbe through Igros Kodesh, and we can merit to see wonders.

Yossi listened and became convinced. We sat down and wrote a letter asking for a full recovery beyond nature (since the doctors had determined that there was no logical hope for recovery). I suggested that he make a good resolution in Torah and mitzvos as a proper vessel to receive the bracha. He agreed to start putting on t’fillin and giving tz’daka to the Rebbe’s institutions.

We placed the letter in Volume 13, page 294, and received the following answer:

“In reply to his letter from Thursday, in which he writes about the accident he experienced, lo aleinu, I will mention him at the holy Tziyon…that everything should come to the best possible conclusion, and from now on, he will know neither pain nor anguish ch”v.

“It would be appropriate in the future that he should keep a siddur, a T’hillim, and even a Tanya in his car, along with a few booklets on Jewish subjects in the local language. While he’s traveling, he should look for opportunities to use these booklets to help those whom he meets to establish a foundation in matters of Judaism. Furthermore, when he’s about to rest and take a break from his traveling, he should say a chapter of T’hillim or learn a few lines from one of the aforementioned s’farim, thereby making his journeys into a shlichus for a mitzvah ‘as they go and upon their return…’”

After reading the letter, I told him with much encouragement that everything would undoubtedly work out, just as the Rebbe had promised.

I asked him to give me his t’fillin and mezuzos to have them checked. When it turned out that they were all unfit for use, he immediately ordered new top-quality t’fillin and mezuzos. Around this time, Yossi moved into a new apartment, and we organized a Chanukas HaBayis celebration, combined with a Chassidic farbrengen.

A few weeks later, the long-awaited change for the better took place. It was Purim, and I was making my rounds carrying sets of Mishloach Manos, when I came to Yossi’s workplace. As I entered the garage, I was astonished to see him running – without any support or equipment. I was stunned.

“Yossi!” I called out excitedly, “Are my eyes deceiving me?” He just smiled in my direction. “You see?” I continued with undisguised enthusiasm. “The Rebbe made a promise and he kept it!”

Ever since that amazing miracle, the connection between us has grown even stronger. Before Pesach, I brought him shmura matzos, and so it goes.

During another visit to Yossi’s garage, I noticed a boy there about eight years old. Yossi looked at me, pointed at the boy, and said, “This is my son, born thanks to the bracha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. His younger sister was also born with the Rebbe’s bracha – so don’t think that I have no idea who the Rebbe really is.”

I was quite surprised that Yossi had kept all this to himself. Now he began to open up his heart to me. He said that he and his wife had gone for some time after getting married without having any children. They went to numerous tzaddikim and kabbalists, visited holy gravesites, and consulted with fertility experts.

Then, a Chabad Chassid, a kashrus supervisor, entered the picture. He encouraged the couple to write a letter to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, in request of a bracha. With the Chassid’s help, they turned to the Rebbe, received his blessing, and their son was born.

In the years that followed, they longed to have more children, born naturally as was their son. Weeks passed, then months and years, and they turned again to tzaddikim and medical experts. However, the doctors again could only offer the same diagnosis they had given before the birth of their son. They expressed their amazement over the first birth, failing to give the couple any logical explanation for what had happened. After seven years had passed since their son’s birth, Yossi decided to write to the Rebbe again. He went back to the Chabad mashgiach who had helped him write the first letter, and in the merit of the bracha received from the Rebbe, Yossi and his wife were blessed with the birth of a daughter!

A few years later, during another visit to Yossi’s garage, I pulled out a sheet of paper and a volume of Igros Kodesh. When Yossi asked what I was doing, I replied that the time had come to ask for another child. Yossi smiled, as the request seemed to have no logical basis. I told him that I was surprised by his response, since he had already seen great miracles due to the Rebbe’s blessings.

“Fine, what do I have to do?” he asked.

“We going to write a Pan now to the Rebbe, and you’ll both agree to be more strict in your observance of the Laws of Family Purity.”

Yossi called his wife, Penina, to get her approval. While she initially laughed at the suggestion, she did give her consent.

Ten months after writing the letter, the Suissas were blessed with the birth of their third child, a healthy baby boy. They should be privileged to raise him together with his siblings to “Torah, marriage, and good deeds,” as pious and Chassidic scholars of our holy Torah.

This was one of the first well-publicized miracles that persuaded us to continue these activities in bringing Jews closer to the Rebbe by having them place letters in Igros Kodesh.

THE WAY TO CLEAN UP YOUR DEBTS

I came to know Yossi Barlev, the owner of a garage in Rechovos’ industrial zone, on my T’fillin Campaign activities.

When I entered Yossi’s garage for the first time to put t’fillin on him, he appeared a bit crestfallen, and I tried to perk him up with a few words of encouragement. He proceeded to tell me that he had some heavy debts, and he had recently purchased a large truck for street sweeping in the hope of getting some contractual work from the municipality. However, after buying the truck, the city contract never materialized, and the debts just grew larger.

I suggested that he should start putting on t’fillin as a means of hastening the Redemption and the revelation of Moshiach Tzidkeinu. I then told him a few of the countless miracle stories from the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, known far and wide throughout the world, adding that he could still ask for his bracha today via Igros Kodesh. My proposal was that he should write a letter to the Rebbe and, bli neder, make a proper vessel to receive his bracha by resolving to check his t’fillin and mezuzos and to put on t’fillin each weekday. In addition, I reminded him about the main foundations of the Jewish home: Shabbos, strict kashrus, and family purity.

I then explained about the unique quality attached to learning Chitas and the importance of keeping a Chitas in one’s home, car, and place of business, alongside a tz’daka pushka. In the same vein, I suggested that he share his profits with the Rebbe MH”M, giving at least a portion of his maaser to the Rebbe’s institutions, thereby fulfilling the decree of “Give maaser to become rich.” Yossi agreed.

I pulled Volume 11 out of my briefcase, and we started writing a letter to the Rebbe. We placed the Pan in the seifer and opened to page 316, Letter #3702:

“And may it be G-d’s Will that there should soon be fulfilled the concept of Merciful, Righteous, and [especially] Kind Father… As per his request, I will mention him…at the holy Tziyon of my revered teacher and father-in-law, the Rebbe, according to the content of his letter. And he will surely not refrain from informing me when he will have good news… ‘Tziyon shall be redeemed through justice’…With blessing.”

A few days later, as I was on my mivtzaim route, I passed by Yossi Barlev’s garage and continued traveling west. Suddenly, I realized that the street-sweeper was not sitting in its normal place.

I immediately turned around and headed back for Yossi’s garage. “What happened to the truck?” I asked Yossi, and he replied that the City of Rechovos had bought the truck.

With great excitement, I said that this was literally an open miracle, and I asked him to fulfill his promise! Yossi claimed that he had been blessed by other tzaddikim and kabbalists… However, I insisted that this was not a situation that began within the last day or two. While it’s true that he had received many brachos in the past, nevertheless, they brought him no salvation. In contrast, shortly after writing to the Rebbe, everything started getting better!

Without saying a word, Yossi smiled, rolled up his sleeve, and put on t’fillin to fulfill his promise. Similarly, he kept his word on his profit sharing and made a sizable donation to the mosdos of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

IN ASAF’S GARAGE

On Purim 5758, I went out in my mitzvah tank, taking along numerous sets of Mishloach Manos, sheets of paper for writing Panim, and of course, a pair of t’fillin. On this particular occasion, I also had with me Volume 22 of Igros Kodesh.

Arriving in the auto shop district, I came to Asaf’s tire repair store, gave him a set of Mishloach Manos, and proclaimed: “Yechi HaMelech HaMoshiach! On Purim, we increase in joy. However, you don’t look too happy. What’s wrong?”

“I have no reason to be happy,” said Asaf with an angry tone of voice. “Quite to the contrary, my creditors are hounding me, and I have about a thousand and one other troubles to deal with.”

After he put on t’fillin, I suggested that we see what the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, has to say. I decided to open the volume of Igros Kodesh to page 141, the numerical value of his name – Asaf. In his response, the Rebbe writes about his livelihood and how people are hounding him, etc.:

“And thus on many occasions, it seems that someone is pursuing him, even when it’s not always for real or at least not as severe as he thinks, and since ‘a person is close and partial to himself,’ therefore, he should seek advice from his friends in the area, particularly since, as he writes, the matter relates to his livelihood, those who reside in the area can also give him better advice.

“It is certainly understood and clear that daily conduct befitting the instructions of our holy Torah, the Torah of Life, and the fulfillment of its mitzvos, regarding which it is said ‘and live by them,’ draw forth the blessing of Alm-ghty G-d as is required, and Dovid Melech Yisroel has already said, ‘G-d is with me; I do not fear; What can man do to me?’

“Furthermore, strengthening one’s faith in Alm-ghty G-d, Who protects each person by Divine Providence, increases the blessing of Alm-ghty G-d and draws it forth as soon as possible. Sufficient for the wise.

“In addition, it would be correct that they check his t’fillin, and that on each weekday before the morning prayer – without considering the pressures of parnasa – he should set aside a few coins for tz’daka.

“With a blessing for good news in all the aforementioned.”

After Asaf heard this pinpoint answer regarding his situation, he asked me to come and take his t’fillin to be checked. In fact, the t’fillin were in need of some repairs and corrections, and these were taken care of right away.

Since then, Asaf has had a smile on his lips, and everything sounds and appears quite different.

IN EFFI’S GARAGE

After finishing my visit with Asaf, I moved on to Effi’s garage, carrying my sets of Mishloach Manos and a pair of t’fillin. Effi suffers from a variety of weight and digestive disorders. I told him about the Divine Providence that we had just seen from the Rebbe’s answer to Asaf, and we decided to try the same method to help him as well.

We opened the volume of Igros Kodesh to page 91, the numerical value for “Effi.” In the first letter on the page, the Rebbe suggested that he strengthen his connection to Hashem and he promised to pray for him at the Tziyon of his father-in-law.

In the second letter on the page, the Rebbe gave a clear response:

“After a lengthy interval…in which he writes about the state of his health and the opinions of the various doctors on the matter…In general, it’s not understood, as it is a known fact that a diet helps [in the treatment of] an ulcer, and if you stick to its requirements, it can not only reduce the pains, it can also cure the ulcer. In addition, taking the pills will hasten the cure, strengthen the state of health, and supplement the vitamin deficiency etc. caused by the diet.

“And since all this is not indicated in his letter, it would perhaps be appropriate to check this out and speak again with the doctor treating him.

“It is incumbent upon man to act according to nature, and Alm-ghty G-d, Who heals all flesh and performs wonders, will send forth His command and heal him through such-and-such a person and such-and-such a treatment.”

Effi stood there speechless.

As time passed, he eventually bought a pair of strictly kosher t’fillin – “arba al arba” (4 x 4).

IN GUY’S GARAGE

My next stop was “Guy’s Garage.” I told the owner about the previous cases of hashgacha pratis encountered at similar businesses during the day, and he was swept up by the excitement and faith in the Rebbe. He then asked if we could open the Igros Kodesh according to the numerical value of his name – 14 (Guy, as well as Chabad). Here too, the results were amazingly similar: While the first letter on page 14 was most meaningful for him, the second one positively astounded him. In this letter, the Rebbe wrote in very stern language that while Divine Providence had arranged for him to build a Jewish home with relative ease, he was evading the issue…

With incredible accuracy, the Rebbe’s letter described his situation. He had been acquainted with a young Jewish woman for some time, but he wasn’t in any rush to marry her. Now, as a result of this reply, he resolved that they would get married at a good and auspicious hour.

The wedding did in fact take place between Purim and Pesach, in accordance with the Rebbe’s instructions, despite the fact that the whole concept of writing to the Rebbe in Igros Kodesh was totally new to him!

As the time for Mincha approached, I was thinking that perhaps I should head back to town and daven in the Chabad shul. However, my wife called and asked me to go urgently to Soroka Hospital in Beersheva to visit a friend of her parents who had been hospitalized during their stay at a hotel near the Dead Sea.

This friend, whose name was Uri, had been transported to Soroka due to a sudden hemorrhage. The doctors determined that an absolute miracle had taken place, and he had literally been minutes away from death. After undergoing an emergency operation to correct the damage, he was moved into the recovery room for a series of follow-up examinations.

It was evening when I finally came to his room at Soroka, and the entire family was there at the time. After introducing myself, I gave him Mishloach Manos and spoke with him about the importance of getting his t’fillin and mezuzos checked, and strengthening the foundations of the Jewish home. I also told him about how the Rebbe gives miraculous answers in Igros Kodesh. I described the chain of responses received that day by Rechovos’ auto mechanics according to the numerical value of their names.

At this point, I noted that the numerical value for “Uri” is 217, the same as the word “HaRabi” (the Rebbe). Thus, I took Volume 22 and opened it to page 217, and there appeared an answer from the Rebbe MH”M, continuing from the previous page:

“Greetings and Blessing! In reply to his letter…about the state of his health and the pains in his joints, together with previous treatments, etc.”

The Rebbe then suggested consulting with prominent experts, even if they’re from overseas, concluding: “And may it be the Will of Alm-ghty G-d, Who heals all flesh and performs wonders, that there should be an imminent recovery through an appropriate doctor and an appropriate treatment – and from Him – Alm-ghty G-d – nothing is hidden.

“With a blessing for good news.”

Uri and his family became very excited by this precise reply and bracha. Naturally, the mezuzos and t’fillin were checked and repaired, and we’ve been in close touch with one another ever since.