Light for Failing Eyes

Rav Moshe Weinberger, the Rav of Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, New York, heard this account from the man it happened to, and Rav Tal Zwecker heard it from him. The man was a learned Jew, but not a chassid, and his eyesight was slowly failing, rachmana litzlan. His family begged him to seek a blessing from Rav Yoel of Satmar, whose brachos were known for bringing wondrous help and healing. He refused. He was no chassid, he said, and he would not approach a Chassidic Rebbe.

Later, when his vision had dimmed so far that he could no longer learn Torah, the family persuaded him to go after all. They did not ask him to go because the Rebbe was a famed wonder worker. They reminded him that Rav Yoel was a great talmid chacham, and the Gemara teaches that a sick person should seek the prayers and blessing of such a man.

Rav Yoel advised him to learn the Chassidic sefer Meor Einayim, a title that means Light of the Eyes, and promised that it would help his failing sight. With each page he studied, more of his vision came back, until, Baruch Hashem, he could see normally again. A tzaddik decrees, and Hashem fulfills.