R’ Chaim Efraim Dabush, a fifty-five year old Jew from Mazkeret Batya, received the gift of life through a revealed miracle from the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. He was critically injured when he fell from a height of five floors in a building in Phoenix, Arizona. The doctors didn’t give much hope for his survival, declaring that at best he would live as a vegetable r”l. Yet, exactly fifty-three days after his accident, on Yud-Tes Kislev, he was released from the hospital. The open miracles accompanying this amazing incident and subsequent rehabilitation caused dozens of Jews to make good resolutions and embrace a life of Torah and mitzvos. A real Baal Shem’ske story in honor of the Alter Rebbe’s yahrzeit, Chaf-Dalet Teves.
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
R’ Efraim dancing at the Seifer Torah dedication in his honor. Rachamim Dabush: “Six months earlier, my father was barely alive and it seemed highly unlikely that he would ever dance again. The doctors who cut out 80% of his right brain lobe said with absolute certainty that he wouldn’t be able to speak or understand, and he would be completely paralyzed on his left side. However, the miracle occurred. We made a Seifer Torah dedication three months ago and my father danced with the Seifer Torah himself!”I heard the following story during a Shabbos evening meal with Raz Chen, a Chabad Chassid living in Crown Heights. Raz is one of many Jews who did t’shuva or became significantly stronger in their Torah observance over the past year due to the amazing incident that we retell here. When I heard the first fragmentary details to this story, I realized that this was truly a most unique event. Later, I spoke with R’ Rachamim Dabush of Phoenix, Arizona, the eldest son of Efraim Dabush, the Baal HaMaaseh. As he gave me the whole story in great detail, it became clear that this was something totally unimaginable. There are moments and experiences in life when we simply feel G-d’s presence in a most revealed manner. This incident was an example of one of those experiences through which we can again learn to appreciate every moment of our shlichus in this world.
Since R’ Efraim Dabush was unconscious during most of the developments of this miraculous event, we spoke primarily with his son, Rachamim, and other individuals involved in the story.
FALLING THROUGH THE ROOF IN PHOENIX
R’ Rachamim Dabush, member of a traditional Jewish family from Mazkeret Batya, is a partner in a business that manufactures and markets Dead Sea products. While the manufacturing process is carried out in Eretz Yisroel, marketing is done all over the world through a warehouse which they maintain in a five-story building located in Phoenix, Arizona, where Rachamim lived. A year and a half ago, Rachamim’s father, R’ Chaim Efraim, arrived to spend some time with his son. During this visit, they detected some water leakage in the warehouse building, and his father, who worked in the field of building and construction, decided to go up on the roof and take a look at the problem up close.
“My father went up there together with two Mexican workers to find the source of the leakage. The roof had skylights, and at a certain point, as these two workers checked something elsewhere on the roof, he r”l fell through the skylight for some reason unknown to this day. This was a fall of about sixty feet that left no chance for survival of any kind,” Rachamim recalled.
“The first miracle was that under each of these skylights, there was usually a hard cement floor. The one exception was the skylight through which my father fell. Under that skylight stood a wooden table, and it turned out later that this significantly lessened the intensity of the impact. Naturally, the table was smashed to pieces, despite the fact that it was made out of very strong wood.
“At that moment, I was on my way to the office when they informed me of what happened. I quickly arrived at the site of the accident, and I found my father crumpled and bleeding on the floor, critically injured. The paramedics arrived within two minutes, and they said that although the hospital is only three minutes away, there was no hope of getting him there alive.”
ARRIVING AT THE HOSPITAL
“Miraculously, my father was still alive when he arrived at the Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, a first-class hospital. He was immediately brought in for an MRI examination of his entire body to determine the extent of his injuries before admitting him to the operating room. The surgeon came out and said that my father was in critical condition. He cautioned that the surgical staff couldn’t make any promises: the procedure could take hours, and chances were that he wouldn’t make it ch”v. Two hours later, the surgeon came out again and said that there was some cranial bleeding in several places, and my father had also sustained a fracture in his back between the shoulders.
“‘We aren’t touching the back, because we first need to stabilize his condition,’ the doctor said as he summed up the situation that first anxious day. ‘We have completed the first operation, and now we’re moving him into the intensive care unit. We’ll see what happens.’
“We started davening and saying T’hillim. A minyan was organized in the hospital, and our Chabad friends in Eretz HaKodesh also recited T’hillim on his behalf,” said Rachamim with much emotion. “Within a couple of days, about twenty people had gathered in our home. My mother, sisters, and uncles had arrived from Eretz HaKodesh. It was an amazing atmosphere of family unity, faith and hope, despite the tremendous anxiety. We were also joined by members of my wife’s family, the Ben-Shabbats, and I owe them my deep thanks and appreciation for their support during those difficult times.
“From a religious standpoint, I had already become involved with Chabad four years earlier through my brother-in-law, R’ Yaakov Ben-Shabbat from Tzfas. This close involvement also grew with the influence of Igros Kodesh after I saw numerous miracles. It started with simple advice that the Rebbe gave me. He even informed us in advance about my wife’s expected pregnancy, adding that we should name the child after the leader of the generation, and this is exactly what we did.
“Rabbi Dovid Vaknin, family friend and rav of the Galilee settlement of Menachamia, also played an important role in my growing connection to Torah and mitzvos. At the start of my journey along the path of t’shuva, I was only wearing tzitzis and I told him that I had stopped smoking and watching soccer matches on Shabbos. ‘Take the plunge,’ Rabbi Vaknin said. ‘If the water’s cold for you, do what you feel you can. However, if it’s warm and pleasant, stay in the water.’ I’ve been keeping Shabbos ever since.
“During the entire process with my father, he stood by our side. However, four years ago, I was still in the process of taking those small steps towards full observance, and as a result of what happened to my father, I became even more committed. Not long after the accident, I resolved to begin growing a beard, while my wife decided to cover her hair.”
OPERATIONS AND PRAYERS
“At this stage, after the first operation, my father remained in intensive care for about six or seven hours. Suddenly, the surgeon arrived and said that the test results showed serious pressure on his brain, and there was a need to operate again to drain the blood. He explained that the chances were eighty percent that he wouldn’t survive the procedure, expected to last five hours. It would undoubtedly harm the central nervous system’s control over the power of speech, comprehension, and memory, etc. Therefore, he was certain that even if my father lived through the surgery, he would remain in a vegetative state r”l. While the prognosis seemed extremely grim, it also occurred to me that G-d had made a miracle. This doctor, who had been on duty when my father arrived at the hospital, specialized in back and brain surgery [the two areas where my father had been injured], and was considered one of the five best surgeons in the world. He was a native of Iran, an atheist who didn’t believe in anything spiritual. I knew that only a miracle could save my father, and this expert physician was merely the tool to bring it about in accordance with the ways of nature.
“Two days had passed since the second operation, yet my father’s condition remained unstable. The doctors were even talking about a possible third brain operation. After they managed to stop the internal bleeding in the first two operations, they made some additional MRI and CT exams. These tests revealed that there was a large quantity of dead brain tissue present as a result of the blow he received. The doctors reached the conclusion that they had to remove eighty percent of his rear right brain lobe, controlling his ability to speak and understand, move his left side, and more.
“The doctor explained that this time, our father would have to undergo intensive brain surgery. Therefore, we had to make a critical decision. If they would operate, there was a slim chance for his survival; if he did survive, the operation would surely hamper his ability to function. However, if they didn’t operate, he would have little hope and might die ch”v before they had a chance to reschedule surgery. I prayed to G-d that He should help me make the right decision. As the eldest son, and with the consent of my mother and sisters, I decided in favor of operating.
“Two days before the surgery, my brother-in-law, R’ Mordechai Ben-Shabbat, wrote to the Rebbe about the situation. In an amazing and unforgettable reply, the Rebbe related directly to the medical situation, writing that we must be strong in our faith in G-d, start making good resolutions, and also influence others in order that things will get better.
“We did numerous spiritual activities to hasten our father’s recovery. Beyond those resolutions my wife and I made, many friends and other family members made their own personal commitments in their mitzvah observance, such as keeping Shabbos, putting on t’fillin each weekday, separating challah dough, reciting T’hillim, refraining from drinking non-kosher wine, and more. The main thing was for my father to be well. For example, my business partner, Elad Gottlieb, decided to observe Shabbos, and he has become stronger in this observance ever since. My cousin Raz became a full-fledged Chabad Chassid, and there are many more examples.
“The operation was a success, taking only an hour and half, as opposed to the three hours they expected at the outset. After the operation, he was returned to the intensive care unit. This was already beyond nature, something far more than I could possibly handle. If it wasn’t for my wife, Oshrat, who gave me her constant support in dealing with our three children at home, I don’t think I could have coped with the pressure of those critical hours and days.
“After writing to the Rebbe, my father’s condition continued to improve. Although he remained unconscious and hooked up to a respirator, he was alive and growing more stable each day. The cranial bleeding had stopped, and there was no need for any additional surgery, although we still didn’t know the extent of the damage caused in the process.”
THE REBBE PROMISED: GEULA ON YUD-TES KISLEV
“Three weeks before Yud-Tes Kislev, after two or three weeks of anxiety, agony, and prayer, his condition was classified as stable. While my father was still comatose, his condition had stabilized and his life was no longer in danger. At this stage, the doctors declared that the time had come to perform surgery on his back. This would be a most complex operation that could take as much as eight hours. Their plan was to take a bone from someone else’s body to replace my father’s broken one, setting it in place with special screws. The Iranian doctor brought me a picture of my father’s broken back. It showed a literal gap between two portions of the broken bone, and this is what they had to repair.
“The doctors scheduled the operation to take place in another three days. We again wrote to the Rebbe MH”M, and again the response contained numerous brachos, including one about a farbrengen on Yud-Tes Kislev. I no longer knew what to think: Yud-Tes Kislev was in another three weeks, and my father was still in a coma with a broken back…”
UNCOMPROMISING TRUST AND A REVEALED MIRACLE
In my conversation with Rachamim, he relived those fretful events; his eyes suddenly welled with tears as he recalled the intensity of this miracle. After I paused to allow him to compose himself, I asked him to continue his story.
“Three days later, the doctor decided to take some final updated x-rays of my father’s back before bringing him in for surgery. I don’t know how to explain it, but I was suddenly imbued with a feeling of absolute trust in G-d, and with the Rebbe MH”M’s bracha, I knew that everything would work out. ‘My Rebbe gave a bracha that my father would return to his old self and be completely healed,’ I told the doctor. ‘You may be a great surgeon, but you’re only an emissary!’ The self-assured doctor replied: ‘I’ve been in this profession for twenty-five years, and there is no chance that your father will have a full recovery. With a fracture of this type, he absolutely will not walk again. If you want, keep praying; if your prayers are answered, it will only make my job easier.’
“With even greater determination, I told him, ‘My father will walk again, the Rebbe promised! Just know that since you showed me the x-ray pictures, I have been praying that the next time you take an x-ray, you will be stunned to see how the bone has healed.’ The doctor’s reply was short and to the point: ‘Your father is in a coma, motionless. There’s no chance that it will heal.’
During his Shacharis prayers on the morning of the operation, Rachamim davened with tremendous fervor, pleading with G-d that He should prove to this non-believing doctor that He, only He, is the Healer of all flesh. His faith in his father’s recovery and the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s brachos by the time which the Rebbe himself had promised grew more intense.
The doctor arrived that afternoon as planned to prepare for surgery, and took another x-ray of R’ Chaim Efraim’s back. Suddenly, he went up to Rachamim, totally stunned, and said: “I don’t know what you did, but I’ve been a surgeon for twenty-five years, and I’ve never seen such a change within three days in someone who hasn’t moved from his bed. The bone has slipped back in place!!” Rachamim elatedly looked at the new x-ray pictures and thanked G-d as he raised his hands heavenward.
The astonished doctor saw Rachamim’s reaction and added, “I don’t know if you’re a sorcerer…but I’ve never seen anything like this.” Incredibly, the operation lasted only three hours, less than half the expected time, as the bone had healed on its own. “The operation’s over – and I believe has been most successful,” the doctor said at the end of surgery.
“However, my father was still comatose, and Yud-Tes Kislev was rapidly approaching.”
HE WOKE UP!
Rachamim and other family members were still very anxious about what was about to happen. A few days passed and Rachamim told his wife Oshrat: “I just want to see my father open his eyes. The first words I’ll say will be, ‘Give thanks to G-d because He is good, for His kindness is eternal.’”
A few days later, Rachamim was sitting in the hallway near his father’s room, waiting with great anticipation for the moment when he might open his eyes. There were always two attendants on duty in the intensive care room, along with three doctors on each shift. The attendant who usually sat right next to R’ Chaim Efraim already felt like a member of the family.
At a certain point, this attendant came up to Rachamim and said, “Maybe try and speak with your father in your native language. I talk to him in English, but he doesn’t understand.”
“‘Are you kidding me?’ I told him. ‘My father’s in a coma.’
“‘What are you talking about?’ he replied. ‘He opened his eyes!’
“I went inside and saw his eyes wide open. The wonderful moment that I had long been preparing for had finally arrived! With great emotion, I said, ‘Give thanks to G-d because He is good, for His kindness is eternal,’ Rachamim said as he recalled that deeply stirring moment.
“We wrote a third letter to the Rebbe with a report on the improving situation. In the Rebbe’s reply, he mentioned making a meal of thanksgiving for the medical miracles that G-d had done.
“While the situation had improved, it still appeared far from good. Yet, the Rebbe was writing to us about making a meal of thanksgiving! I felt that the Rebbe meant a seuda on the day of Yud-Tes Kislev itself.”
RELEASE FROM THE HOSPITAL ON YUD-TES KISLEV
The representatives of the Harel insurance company, which issued the overseas medical insurance policy to R’ Chaim Efraim before his journey, were constantly waiting for the doctors’ consent to fly him to Tel HaShomer Hospital for treatment in Eretz Yisroel. Yud-Tes Kislev was getting closer, and there was only a week and a half remaining before the auspicious day.
“My father opened his eyes, but he still didn’t respond. Then he moved a finger and another finger, and everyone was very excited. At this point, I had already decided to start organizing a meal of thanksgiving on Yud-Tes Kislev, both in Arizona and in Eretz Yisroel. I called my cousin, Ayala Chadad, who had resolved to light Shabbos candles and separate challah dough to hasten my father’s recovery. I asked her to make a farbrengen at our grandparents’ home in Moshav Yatzitz. I told her to order catering and a tent, a sufficient quantity of tables and chairs, and I even offered to send her money. She began to organize the event, and some time later, she called me in a state of total amazement. She said that all those she approached to provide services either did not want to take a fee or would charge only cost price once they learned the purpose of the event. In the end, she paid for the event herself out of maaser money that she had decided to start giving in honor of my father’s recovery. The Rebbe’s shliach at nearby Moshav Ganei Yochanan, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Prodnashetsky, became actively involved in helping to organize this event. It was a great success.”
In the meantime, the insurance company obtained the consent of the doctors in the United States to transport Efraim to Eretz Yisroel. This would be a special medical flight costing seven hundred thousand dollars! The company told Rachamim that there were two dates to schedule this flight. The cheaper option [and naturally preferred by the insurance company] was a few days before Yud-Tes Kislev, while the more expensive option was on the day of Yud-Tes Kislev itself! Rachamim, who was confident that the Rebbe’s miracle would be fulfilled, informed them that they could do as they saw fit, but his father would travel only on Yud-Tes Kislev, because that’s what the Rebbe decided!
“Due to certain technical reasons, the cheaper date for the flight didn’t work out logistically for the insurance company, and Efraim was flown to Eretz HaKodesh for rehabilitative treatment at Tel HaShomer Hospital when he was conscious and his life was no longer in danger, on the auspicious day of Yud-Tes Kislev 5774.
“Needless to say, a seuda of thanksgiving was held both in Arizona and on Moshav Yatzitz…”
SIFREI TORAH IN HIS MERIT
“After the miracle that we were privileged to see with the back operation, we resolved to dedicate a Seifer Torah in honor of our father,” Rachamim recalled. “This Seifer Torah is the fourth one we had resolved to dedicate, and we decided that this scroll would be written as an expression of thanks for the miracles that had happened to our father. Rabbi Shlomo Besso, the rav of Moshav Yatzitz, had written the three previous Torah scrolls and we wanted him to write this one as well. He said that by Divine Providence, he was already working on a Torah scroll that no one had ordered yet. If we wished, he would designate this one for us. He said that he could complete the Seifer Torah within two or three months.
“At Tel HaShomer Hospital, an amazingly dedicated medical staff treated my father and accompanied him through the process of rehabilitation. My mother, Rachel Dabush, remained constantly by his bedside, as did many beloved members of her family who came to her assistance whenever needed. My younger sister helped at home, and my older sister living in the north came to the hospital twice a week. We still didn’t know what to expect. Even the doctor at Tel HaShomer said that our father would probably not speak or understand anything again.
“Slowly but surely, I began to realize the extent of the miracles we had experienced. Then suddenly, it hit me: My father had been hospitalized for exactly fifty-three days, similar to the number of days of the Alter Rebbe’s imprisonment, which ended on Yud-Tes Kislev! The Rebbe knew everything in advance, and this realization filled me with absolute faith that my father would be completely healed!”
When the Seifer Torah was ready, the scribe, Rabbi Shlomo Besso called to say that we needed to make a dedication ceremony. Rachamim replied that he would do so only if his father could participate in the event. “I asked Rabbi Vaknin, and he said that we shouldn’t delay the dedication ceremony. I didn’t know what to do. I decided to seek the advice of Rabbi David Abuchatzera from Nahariya. ‘Don’t dedicate the Seifer Torah until your father can dance with the scroll!’ he instructed.
“Six months earlier, my father was barely alive and it seemed highly unlikely that he would ever dance again. The doctors who cut out 80% of his right brain lobe said with absolute certainty that he wouldn’t be able to speak or understand, and he would be completely paralyzed on his left side. However, the miracle occurred. We made a Seifer Torah dedication three months ago and my father danced with the Seifer Torah himself!” Rachamim summed up happily.
“About two weeks ago, my brother-in-law, R’ Mordechai Ben-Shabbat, dedicated another Seifer Torah in my father’s honor, this time to 770. This was a special Seifer Torah, rescued from the Holocaust and restored by an expert Torah scribe.”
AN ACTUAL INFLUENCE UPON DOZENS OF JEWS
“This story brought many people closer to G-d and the Rebbe, people who had never even thought about saying a chapter of Psalms. Friends and family members resolved to keep Shabbos, put on t’fillin, recite T’hillim, and more. People who were never inclined to embrace matters of religion and Yiddishkait became complete baalei t’shuva. To this day, we continue to hear about new cases of spiritual fortitude. Even I, who was then in the midst of a similar process, became a full-fledged Chassid of the Rebbe.
“The Rebbe has a way to reach every Jew, a fulfillment of the eternal destiny, ‘And you shall be gathered, one by one, children of Israel.’ My father’s life hung by a thread r”l, and today, thank G-d, he functions, speaks, and understands as he completes the final stages of a most unnatural rehabilitation with the blessing of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, against all the doctors’ predictions.
“I feel that the Rebbe is looking upon all of us and saying as it were, ‘Wake up already! Do t’shuva and accept my sovereignty, because I’m coming…’
“I don’t know why this all happened, but I do know that many Jews were aroused to greater observance of Torah and mitzvos as a result.
“My cousin, Raz Chen, who was then living in California, decided to start keeping Shabbos and grow a beard. Today, just one year later, he is a Chabad Chassid in every respect and has moved to Crown Heights, where he learns Chassidus on a regular basis. This is one example among many…
“We must arouse ourselves with joy and not wait, G-d forbid, for something bad to arouse us!”