The Bris in the Cellar

Rav Mendel Futerfas, a Lubavitcher chassid who survived fourteen years of Siberian exile and helped keep the Chabad underground network of Torah schools alive, once told this account. During World War II, the wife of a Russian general came to the Ribnitzer Rebbe with a plea. Her husband, a committed Communist, had refused to let their son have a bris, afraid it would damage his army career. When he was called up to the front, she sent word asking the Rebbe to come in secret.

Rav Mendel went with the Rebbe as sandak. They were rushed down to a cellar where the baby lay waiting. The Rebbe performed the bris, but the child began to bleed heavily, and no ointment or medicine would stop it. The baby turned yellow and trembled. His mother became hysterical and cried out that this was the reward for her sacrifice in bringing her son into the covenant of Avrohom Avinu. Then the infant lost consciousness, and the horrified mother fainted as well.

Rav Mendel recalled how frightened he was. They could have been killed if anything happened to the child, and worse, a death at a bris would have caused a terrible chillul Hashem. He looked at the Rebbe's face, which seemed to burn like fire. The Rebbe's head was thrown back and his hands were lifted toward Heaven in intense prayer. As he said the words "bedomayich chayi" ("by your blood you shall live"), the child, who had lain motionless and without any sign of life, opened his eyes, and the bleeding stopped.

Rav Mendel could hardly believe it and said aloud, "The Rebbe is performing miracles." The Rebbe turned to him and answered quietly that Eliyohu HaNovi, the malach who is present at every bris, was there, and that this had happened within his domain.