A Berachah from the Heavenly Court

After the war a young man came to the Satmar Rav for a berachah. “What makes you think I can give you a berachah?” asked the Rebbe. The young man answered that someone whose opinion counts in heaven surely has the right to bless others. The Rebbe smiled and said that if the young man could prove that this was true of him, he would gladly bless him.

The young man told his story. Just before liberation, he and a friend had gone out looking for food for their starving brothers. The Nazis caught them and hanged his friend on the spot. He too would have been hanged, but he had once done favors for some of the officers, and they agreed to grant him one last wish. He asked to see his mother to say goodbye. After some protest because the women's camp was far away, they brought him to her. When she heard that they were going to kill him she fainted. As people tried to revive her, she woke and whispered to him, “You will live. You will live.”

As he was led to the gallows, American forces attacked and the bombardment sent the Nazis running for cover, and he escaped. After liberation he was reunited with his mother and asked how she had known he would live. She told him that when she fainted she had risen before the Heavenly court and seen many tzaddikim with long beards and radiant faces. She knew none of them until she saw the Satmar Rav, whom she remembered from her childhood in Romania. She cried to him, “Rebbe, Rebbe, save my son. Have mercy.” He answered, “Do not worry, he will live.” Then she woke.

“So you see, Rebbe,” said the young man, “my mother told me how much your opinion counts in heaven, and I am living proof.” “Well said,” said the Satmar Rav with a smile, and he gave him his berachah.