A Piercing Prayer
An old friend from Bnei Brak once asked me to bless him. As I looked at him, I saw great danger lurking before him. I looked down and saw a nail lying in the street. I picked it up and declared, “If this man is slated to undergo any sort of danger, let this nail be atonement for him.”
I buried the nail in the sand and then removed it. I did this procedure a number of times, asking Hashem to allow this nail to take the place of the marked man. I myself had no idea why I was led to do this unusual act. Then I placed the nail in his hand and took leave of him.
A few days later, the man phoned me in France. “I have no idea what is so great about the nail you gave me,” he began. “But I was just now in a serious car accident in Yerushalayim. Baruch Hashem, I emerged unscathed.”
I myself did not know the power of the nail. Maybe its purpose was to plant in me the thought to pray for this man, in the merit of my forefathers, thereby saving him from all harm.
