A Gift of Torah for a Sick Son

Rav Chaim of Volozhin, in his commentary to Pirkei Avos 1:1, Ruach Chaim, relates that a woman once came to the Taz crying and pleading. “Woe is me, Rebbe, my son is so weak he is at death's door.”

“Am I in Hashem's place?” the Taz asked.

She answered that she was calling out to the Torah that he learns and represents, for the Holy One and His holy Torah are one. The Taz said, “I will do this for you. I will give as a gift, for your sick son, the Torah that I am learning now together with my students. Perhaps in its merit he will recover and live, for the pasuk says that through it you shall live.” At that moment the boy's fever broke.

From this, Rav Chaim of Volozhin concludes, we see that one who learns Torah with the power of dveikus, attaching himself to Hashem, has the ability and merit to bring life to the dying.