Seeing the Light
The Gaon, Rabbi Chaim Walkin, shlita, Mashgiach of Yeshivat Ateret Yisrael, approached me at my daughter Sara’s wedding. He told me he suffered greatly from problems with his sight. Since a chatunah is an auspicious time for prayer, and a wedding of one of my children would surely evoke the joy of my ancestors, he felt it was a most fitting time to ask for my blessing on this occasion.
- With HaGaon Rabbi Chaim Walkin, shlita, Menahel Ruchani of Yeshiva Ateret Yisrael
I was taken aback by his words. “Surely the merit of your Torah study has the power to protect you,” I said.
The Rav replied that his case was complicated. In order to be extricated from it, he needed my blessing, especially at this momentous time.
I was very moved by his words. “The merit of your faith in the tzaddikim and your self-negation before them, in spite of your esteemed status, will stand by you. B’ezrat Hashem, you will merit good sight in both eyes.”
Throughout the following two years, despite our efforts, we lost touch with each other.
On the day that my daughter, Sara, gave birth to her son, Rabbi Chaim Walkin phoned me and informed me that with Heavenly kindness, his eyesight had been completely restored. It was a medical miracle which left the doctors confounded.
There is no doubt that the Rav regained his eyesight in the merit of his tremendous righteousness. He is a man of many merits. Yet he did not feel any shame whatsoever in asking for a blessing in the merit of my ancestors. This act of self-nullification surely enhanced his storehouse of merit, awarding him with a medical miracle.
