The Leg Too

Before Rosh Hashanah, a Yid came to Reb Yankele with his son and a kvittel (a written request for a blessing). After reading it, Reb Yankele remarked strangely that he would not want to be in this Yid's shoes. He then gave special attention to the boy. He asked him to sit beside him, stroked his face and cried.

The father became alarmed, and when the gabbaim heard the remark, they insisted that the Rebbe bless the father and son with a special berocha. After a while Reb Yankele said that Hashem would help and that all would eventually be good. Then, inexplicably, he lightly slapped the boy's right thigh and added, "The leg too."

After Rosh Hashanah, tests showed that the child had leukemia, Heaven forbid. He underwent extensive chemotherapy, with numerous miracles along the way, and he recovered. During one cycle, the doctors found that the marrow in the boy's right leg was not healing properly, and they advised an aggressive form of treatment that might lead to amputation.

The father remembered the Rebbe's extra berocha of "the leg too." He asked the doctors to use the lesser treatment, even though they did not hold out much hope for that course. A tzaddik decrees, and Hashem fulfills. Within a short time the leg healed completely without the aggressive treatment, and the doctors were amazed and said that it had come directly through a miracle.