SUGAR CUBES FOR AN EASY BIRTH

By Nechama Bar

Dovid, a Lubavitcher Chassid, was sitting in his office in Boro Park, busy with his work. The door suddenly opened and in walked a Hungarian Jew.

When Dovid looked up and saw him, he was happy to see an old friend. They hadn’t met in many years. They schmoozed, and the friend said he had lived in Eretz Yisroel for a few years, and had now moved to the United States. As they spoke, he noticed a large picture of the Rebbe hung prominently on the wall. The man stared at the picture and looked moved.

“I must tell you who your Rebbe is. I was a witness to an extraordinary story. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I would not have believed that such miracles could take place nowadays.”

Dovid listened silently, happy to hear another miracle story of the Rebbe. This is what the friend told him:

On the moshav where I lived was a woman who suffered from difficult births. Every birth was complicated and dangerous. The weeks before a birth were full of anxiety for her and the community would pray that all go well. She spoke with many g’dolei Yisroel of various groups in Eretz Yisroel and went to the graves of tzaddikim, but nothing helped.

The miracle I am about to tell you happened shortly before another birth. Many complications arose and the situation was potentially fatal. She heard that in New York lives the Lubavitcher Rebbe and he does miracles. Many were saved through his blessings, she was told.

She wrote a letter to the Rebbe and told him about her earlier, difficult births and the current complications, and asked for a bracha that all would go well and she would easily give birth to a healthy child.

A short while later, she received an answer from the Rebbe. The Rebbe told her that near the moshav where she lived was a spring with a factory nearby. Every day, people worked there from the morning until five o’clock. When work was done for the day, her husband should stand in the entrance of the factory and look closely as the workers left, counting them one by one. When the tenth one passed, he should follow him.

The couple found this quite strange, but the husband decided to do it, with absolute trust that in the Rebbe’s words lay their salvation.

The same day they received the letter, the husband walked in the direction of the spring. As the Rebbe said, there was a factory. The husband waited for five o’clock, wondering who he would meet and how the person would be able to help his wife. Maybe it would be a doctor who would have a solution to his wife’s problems?

The gate opened and the husband stood there alertly. The first worker was coming out, followed by a second, a third … and then the tenth. He looked like the others, nothing out of the ordinary. He wondered whether he made a mistake in counting and decided that no, he had counted carefully.

He did not have much time to think. He had to do what the Rebbe said and follow the man. He walked behind him, being sure not to lose sight of him at the corners. The worker stopped at the door to his home, an ordinary looking house. The worker walked in and closed the door without noticing that anyone had followed him.

The husband stood there, wondering what to do next. Then he decided that since the Rebbe told him to follow the worker, he had to continue doing so. He knocked at the door and the door opened. When he was asked what he wanted, he said he had to meet with the man who just returned from work.

After a few minutes, the man came out and asked what he wanted. The husband began telling his story. The worker wondered, “Why did you choose me; I’m not a doctor?!”

The husband explained how the Lubavitcher Rebbe told him to stand at the entrance to the factory at the end of the workday and to follow the tenth worker. “You are the tenth worker and I am sure you have the solution to our problem.”

“It’s unbelievable,” said the worker. “It’s impossible to hide from the Rebbe. Even when I am here, on the moshav, as a simple worker, the Rebbe sees me.”

He went inside and returned with sugar cubes. “Take these sugar cubes. You should know that your wife already gave birth. The birth went easily and you have a healthy son. But take these sugar cubes if complications arise in the future. If your wife encounters difficulties, give her the sugar cubes. She should eat them and all will be well.”

The husband parted from the hidden tzaddik and happily went home. When he arrived there, he was told his wife had given birth to a boy and he found the family celebrating.

***

The friend finished his story, leaving Dovid openmouthed. Then he added, “If I read this in a storybook or heard it from a stranger, I would have had a hard time believing it. But I was a witness to this story when it happened. Now you understand why I was so moved to see the picture of the Rebbe on the wall.”

***

If sometimes the Rebbe’s prophecies and instructions seem impossible, we remain convinced that there is no mistake and what we need to do is carry out the instructions with complete trust.

May we soon see the fulfillment of the Rebbe’s prophecy of the coming of Moshiach!