PART I
The story began in Adar of a year ago. A young bachur, only fourteen years old, was diagnosed with a serious illness. This was in addition to the sad fact that he was orphaned of his father. Since he was a relative of R’ Yosef Yitzchok Lieder, a busy shliach in Rishon L’Tziyon for decades, the boy’s mother contacted him and told him the terrible news.
R’ Lieder wrote to the Rebbe about the boy’s medical condition and put the letter into a volume of the Igros Kodesh. The page he opened to had a letter addressed to “Our brothers, the Jewish people, the settlers of Nachalat Har Chabad, among the many immigrants who are settling in our holy land, may it be built and established speedily in our days.” The letter is dated, “the day after Shabbos HaGadol, 11 Nissan 5729.”
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 Rebbe Rayatz, when he sent a Torah to the new settlers in Kfar Chabad in 5709.
The day that R’ Lieder wrote to the Rebbe was a Wednesday. Thursday night he arranged, as he did every week, the Thursday night farbrengen in the small zal of 770 in Kfar Chabad. That week, R’ Menachem Mendel Roth of Beitar Ilit was invited to farbreng.
During the farbrengen, R’ Lieder told the story about the sick boy and the letter that the Rebbe wrote about a Torah. R’ 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 segula against tzaros (troubles).
PART II
5512. That year was remembered by the residents of Mezhibuzh for many years to come.
Many people in Mezhibuzh, men, women, and children, were sick with various illnesses. The situation deteriorated rapidly. Many of them were on the verge of death. There was not a home without one or two sick people and the town was in an uproar.
In situation such as this, the leaders of a city would go travel to the tzaddikim to ask them to arouse heavenly mercy. But this time, all they needed to do was travel a short distance to the home of the wonder worker, the Baal Shem Tov, and ask him to plead on their behalf and stop the epidemic. The Baal Shem Tov was already known as a wonder worker, one who breaches the natural order, until 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. If he prayed on behalf of Jews who lived far away, surely he would pray on behalf of his fellow townsfolk.
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. His eyes were fixed on a distant point and he seemed absorbed in his cogitation.
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 town leaders could not believe what they were hearing. Did the Baal Shem Tov say he could do nothing for them? The man who regularly broke all the laws of nature couldn’t pray?
“Rebbe, save us!” they cried out. “You see for yourself what is going on here, with not a single house without a sick person. The situation is getting worse from day to day. Do something! Plead! Knock on the heavenly gates!”
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.
“On the townspeople!?”
The tzaddik nodded. “You have the ability to save those who are sick, to weaken or even cancel the evil decree,” he said.
“In the Shmoneh Esrei we daven, ‘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 T’hillim, 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, R’ 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 and not just in one house. 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.
***
R’ Roth told this story and R’ 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 z’chus for the recovery of the boy who was his relative.
He began the search for a sofer, a Chassid and yerei Shamayim, who would be willing to take this job. The next day, he saw an ad by a sofer who was interested in selling a Torah that he was in the middle of writing. R’ Lieder called him and got the information. They arranged to meet on Chol HaMoed Pesach. Since they were not allowed to sign a contract because it was Chol HaMoed, they arranged that an advance payment would be made immediately after Yom Tov.
When their agreement was written and signed, the sofer sent a text to R’ Lieder which said, “I am flabbergasted that out of the 245 pages of the Torah, I am up to page 190 (equivalent to keitz – end). May this be a good sign for us and an end to all our sorrows. Also on that very page, in Parshas Pinchas, there are the words, ‘and the plague ended.’”
PART III
Mrs. Chava Lieder:
“There was an irreligious woman who sat next to me during a course that I take. Her son became a baal t’shuva and a Chabad Chassid. At one of the sessions, I saw that she got a phone call. She listened for a long time and she turned white. She apologized to all present and said she had to leave.
“We later learned that her 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 I spoke to her, I told her about the Torah we were writing for the recovery of the boy and I suggested that she join with her family in the writing of the Torah as a merit for her brother’s recovery.
“She said she would discuss it with her relatives. I said that whoever sponsored a page of the Torah would enter a raffle for a dollar from the Rebbe that was given ‘l’bracha v’hatzlacha.’ Whoever donated two pages would be entered into a raffle for the z’chus of having the Torah housed wherever he wanted.
“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 this classmate called and reported to me that her brother was improving and yet the doctors still did not know what would be. ‘Time will tell how he will improve,’ they said.
“One day, I met with her at her request for she wanted to give me the money for the Torah. She was convinced that this played an important role in her brother’s healing. Ten minutes after she gave me the envelope, her phone rang. Her sister-in-law, the wife of the injured mechanic, was calling to say that doctors just announced that her brother would be released the next day!
“The connection between the donation that the family gave for the Torah and the good news that came unexpectedly was obvious. Emotions ran high.”
PART IV
One day before Lag b’Omer, Mrs. Lieder had an unexpected phone call. On the line was her father who said that a few hours earlier, her mother, Rivka Har-Gil, 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 refua. 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. By Elul, 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.
***
On Motzaei Shabbos VaYakhel, the Lieders held a dinner to mark the completion of the “Wonder Torah.” In the middle of the dinner, as the band played lively Chassidishe niggunim, her 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 z’chus was.”
As for the relative, by last Av his mother called again, to say that he was in remission and that the doctors pronounced him well.