A man once told me he had dreamed an unnerving dream. He dreamed that his left arm was amputated and he remained with only one arm. It crossed my mind that this man was not strict with the mitzvah of tefillin, which one is commanded to wear on his left arm. I asked him about this, and he confirmed my conjecture. For the past four days, he had been remiss in the mitzvah of tefillin.
I explained that Hashem deals with people measure for measure. Since he damaged the mitzvah connected to the left arm, his arm was in jeopardy of being cut off. I added that he must have had great merits to his credit, to be given such a clear signal in advance of the punishment. The dream remained intact in his mind so that he should rectify his oversight.
The man accepted my words. He truly regretted his wrong deeds and undertook to be punctilious with the mitzvah of tefillin, as we are commanded.
