The fascinating story of Dr. Mordechai Menachem Mendel Glazman, the first doctor to examine the Rebbe the night of Shmini Atzeres 5738.
PART I
Not many know the name of Dr. Mordechai Menachem Mendel Glazman, a heart specialist from Toronto. He was the first doctor to examine the Rebbe the night of Shmini Atzeres 5738/1977, when the Rebbe suffered a heart attack.
“I quickly went to the Rebbe’s room,” said Dr. Glazman years later. “The Rebbe was pale and sweating. I immediately saw that his condition was serious. I told the Rebbe, ‘Rebbe, I think you are starting to undergo a heart attack.’”
Dr. Glazman’s acquaintance with the Rebbe went back 16 years earlier, to 5722, thanks to his good friend, R’ Yehuda Leib Meisel, who sometimes told his doctor friend miracle stories about the Rebbe. These stories moved him very much even though the doctor sometimes thought his friend was exaggerating. He once said directly, “I don’t understand your stories about the Rebbe,” or, in other words, I don’t quite believe these stories.
That’s when his friend realized he had to bring the doctor to the Rebbe. Some time later, Dr. Glazman was in the Rebbe’s room for a yechidus. The doctor wanted to speak about different matters that were on his mind, but the Rebbe wanted to discuss medicine and he had no choice but to obey.
The degree of the Rebbe’s familiarity with medicine amazed him. The Rebbe inquired about the most up-to-date discoveries and research that only recently were published in the most advanced medical journals in the world. The Rebbe was familiar with every detail that was published and wanted to clarify additional details about this research. “For me, it was out of the ordinary, for this was the tzaddik ha’dor, the Rebbe, not a doctor…” said Dr. Glazman.
PART II
The next time he was in New York, he had yechidus again. The doctor was agitated because he felt a heavy responsibility for his brother-in-law, his sister’s husband, who was seriously ill. Since the doctor had been orphaned at a young age, this brother-in-law was like a father to him and his poor health was very much on his mind.
He asked the Rebbe for a bracha, but it seemed the Rebbe did not want to talk about it. With great wisdom, the Rebbe diverted the conversation to other topics starting with Judaism and ending with medicine; it was only this particular subject that he declined to discuss.
“Afterward, I realized that the decree was sealed and could not be changed,” Dr. Glazman said sadly.
He had yechidus a year later, in the summer of 5723/1963, in the days leading up to the Chag Ha’Geula, 12 Tammuz. This time he was with his dear friend R’ Yehuda Leib Meisel, and this time, his friend did not need to convince him as to the truth of the stories about the Rebbe. Another friend, named David Mann, also joined them. The three arrived from Toronto.
The farbrengen for the Chag Ha’Geula took place Thursday night and the three of them decided not to return home for Shabbos, but to stay in Crown Heights and return home immediately after Shabbos.
In a rare display of warmth, the three of them were informed by the Rebbe’s secretary that they could have yechidus on Friday, Erev Shabbos afternoon. This was definitely an anomaly. They realized this wasn’t an ordinary yechidus but a brief encounter, for it was just a few hours before Shabbos.
The first of the three to go in was R’ David Mann. He spent a few minutes in the Rebbe’s room and left. Dr. Glazman was next. He also expected a brief conversation, but the Rebbe spoke to him at length. “I did not pay attention to the passage of time until the secretary, Rabbi Groner, opened the door and motioned to me that it was Erev Shabbos and I had to finish.”
The doctor wanted to step out, but the Rebbe motioned to the secretary to shut the door and let him stay. A few minutes later, the secretary opened the door again and once again, the Rebbe motioned to leave them alone. The secretary tried a few times until the Rebbe told him not to come in again. The doctor rose from his chair, feeling uncomfortable, but the Rebbe gently told him to sit back down.
He spent more than half an hour with the Rebbe, unaware of the minor drama taking place behind the closed door.
A crying woman had shown up and asked for an immediate meeting with the Rebbe. The secretaries explained that Friday is not a day for yechidus, and anyway, she needed to make an appointment which would be given to her first in a few months, because countless people were waiting for this precious opportunity. But she insisted on seeing the Rebbe right away and she looked extremely sad.
R’ Yehuda Leib Meisel, watching the scene, felt bad for her and he told the secretaries that he was willing to give her his turn. The secretaries knew that the prearranged yechidus was in itself highly unusual, but they had no reason to refuse him and so they reluctantly agreed. Before she went in, R’ Meisel gave her the notes and letters he had wanted to take in with him, and asked her to give them to the Rebbe.
“I saw her as she went in and from the look on her face it seemed that something terrible was bothering her,” said Dr. Glazman. “To my great surprise, she came out of the Rebbe’s room a minute later and it was hard to believe it was the same woman. She had changed completely and with a joyous look on her face she thanked R’ Yehuda Meisel for giving her his turn.”
After she left, the secretaries wanted to close the door, because it had been arranged from the beginning that only three would have yechidus, and he had given his turn to the woman. The fact that Dr. Glazman had stayed in the Rebbe’s room so long was also a problem, but R’ Yehuda Leib Meisel wasn’t going to forgo a golden opportunity. When the woman came out of the Rebbe’s room, he put his foot in the door and seeing this, the Rebbe motioned to him to enter.
Dr. Glazman related:
“After a minute or two, Meisel left the Rebbe’s room and began dancing in joy. I knew he had come to ask the Rebbe for a bracha for his business which was about to go bankrupt. I thought that even if the Rebbe had given him a bracha, that wasn’t reason enough for such a display of joy. I tried asking him why he was so happy, but he continued prancing about and mumbled something I couldn’t make out. For a moment I thought, after all, he was an older man, and maybe something happened to him …
“It took several minutes for him to calm down and with a big smile he announced that he hadn’t asked for a bracha for his business but for me! I didn’t know what he was talking about.
“At the time, I had only daughters, no sons, and I really wanted a son. My good friend had asked the Rebbe for a bracha for me. He hadn’t gotten just any bracha, but a rare promise with a prearranged time. The Rebbe told him that I would have a son within a year from that day.
“The Rebbe’s bracha made me very happy and less than a year later, the bracha came true.”
In the years to come, Dr. Glazman went to the Rebbe a few times a year, often bringing his son, who was born thanks to the Rebbe’s bracha. The Rebbe gave the child special attention. One of the incredible displays of that was when the boy came one year for Simchas Torah in 770. When the Rebbe noticed him, he told Rabbi Leibel Bistritzky to give the child the small Torah so that he could go around on one of the hakafos.
PART III
As mentioned at the beginning of our story, Dr. Glazman was the first doctor to see the Rebbe in those first difficult moments on the night of Shmini Atzeres 5738. “The Rebbe told me that he had not eaten that entire day, and he wants before anything else to go make kiddush in the sukka,” he recounts.
As the Rebbe made kiddush and ate in the sukka, he was accompanied by the doctor, who saw that the Rebbe was in the middle of a severe heart attack. Most respectfully, he asked permission from the Rebbe to have him go to the hospital, but the Rebbe wanted to return to his room.
In the Rebbe’s room, the discussion continued, during which the Rebbe revealed for the first time how he feels towards this sanctified space.
“I told the Rebbe that in matters of Torah and Judaism I obey the Rebbe, but in matters of medicine I am requesting that the Rebbe hear my view and go to the hospital. The Rebbe answered me, ‘In principle you are correct, but in my specific case, you don’t know all of the data and are therefore unable to render a final decision.’
“I asked the Rebbe, ‘What does that mean that I don’t know all of the data? What do I need to know? The Rebbe did not take any medication before today. This is something sudden that has transpired.’
“The Rebbe responded with a firm ‘no.’ And he added, ‘I prefer to remain here.’ Then he suddenly added in the form of a question, ‘Do you have any idea what has taken place here in this room, and on my desk?’
“I answered that I did not know but could imagine.
“To which the Rebbe replied, ‘I can’t begin to tell you what has happened on this table, but for me this room is holy of holies, and you are telling me to leave the Holy of Holies for a hospital?’
“After a brief pause, the Rebbe added, ‘The refua (healing) will come from here.’”