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Shortly after we moved into our new apartment this past Lag Ba’omer, I looked out the kitchen window and noticed there were aleph beis stickers on one of the apartment windows of the building facing us. We understood that there must be a Jewish family living there, but we had no idea who it was, and didn’t get around to finding out.
That summer, we took the kids to the park. The kids were already tired and kvetchy on the way back, and so we thought that we had overstayed and should have left earlier…
But just as we were returning home, we saw ambulances near our building, and my husband noticed there was a frum woman pacing back and forth nearby.
I jumped out of the car to find out what happened…
She told me that her 5 year old son just fell out of their window on the 4th floor! (Actually out of that same window with those aleph beis stickers… which I hoped was a good sign that there would be a happy ending!)
She said that as long as the Drs didn’t come out of the ambulance, it meant that he is still alive, and there is still hope.
We quickly posted everywhere to please say tehillim for little Moshe ben Miriam, and there are no words to describe the incredible feeling of unity and strength that came from watching people from all over the world, who just a moment ago were complete strangers, now joining together to daven for little Moshe, as if he was their own son or brother!
I understood that Hashem made sure we returned home just at that moment, because had we been home already, we would probably not even have known what happened, and would not have been able to offer our help or support…
After about 40 minutes, which felt like an eternity, the doctors in the ambulance managed to resuscitate him Baruch HaShem, and stabilise him enough to head out to the hospital with his mother.
In the meantime, I ran upstairs to get a tzedakah box and coins and sheva mitzvos booklets to give out to the police and all the people standing by, before going up to their apartment to support the traumatized sister, and bring their mezuzahs in to check.
When Moshe arrived at the hospital, his first head scans looked really terrible. It looked like there was no working brain left chv, which meant no chance of ever functioning normally again, even if he were to survive…
But little Moshe’s strong mother Miriam, like Moshe Rabbeinu’s sister Miriam, was filled with faith and trust. She fully believed in the power of everyone’s prayers, and that Hashem would surely make a miracle for her family.
After that first major surgery, the doctor asked the mother if there were a lot of people praying for this boy? He said that he felt like Hashem was guiding his hands the entire time, and that the surgery was way more successful than anyone could have anticipated!!
They planned to have Moshe rest for a while, and said that they would let him wake up on Monday.
We were all so grateful and hopeful, but when Monday came, and they tried to wake him up, nothing happened! He just wouldn’t regain consciousness! It was the greatest letdown!
Understandably, his mother started to get nervous, but when I wrote into the Rebbe, the letter I opened to was about “Tracht gut vet zein gut” and so it was clear that we needed to remain strong and positive.
I called the mother, and told her the story of the Rebbe’s advice to my mother’s cousin, when she was in a similar danger, which you can read here, http://myencounterblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/304.-Toldos-5779-Email-Updated.pdf
I promised that bl”n I would be happy to arrange and host his seudas hodaah, and that I would already start planning and preparing!
That Wednesday night, at a community farbrengen, Mrs. Chani Lazar handed me a tiny zip lock bag, and said that it was for Moshe ben Miriam.
Inside there was some dust from the wood from the floor of the Rebbe’s room, which Rabbi Chaim Sholom Halbershtam gathered when they scraped the floor after Gimmel Tammuz.
Rabbi Halbershtam once shared, at the end of a farbrengen, that there was once a bachur who fell out of a window of the 3rd or 4th floor of the dorm on 1414 President Street. The doctors said that it was over - that there was nothing they could do to save him chv!
When R. Halbershtam heard this, he sent the bag with the dust from the Rebbe’s floor to put under his pillow, and the next morning, the bachur miraculously woke up and started recovering!
Someone from Russia, named Siman Tov, who was present at that farbrengen, asked R. Halbershtam to give him a little bit of the dust, and Siman Tov always kept it with him…
When he heard what happened to Moshe Ben Miriam, he gave it to Rabbi Sholom Lazar of Sochi, to pass it on to his parents when he would come to Moscow, so they could pass it on to Moshe’s mother.
I called Miriam to explain everything to her, and to ask if there was anyone coming to visit that I could send the bag with.
She gave me the contact of her friend Yudit, but when Yudit came to pick it up, I realized that she would only be going to the hospital the next morning, since she asked if she could put it near her own sick son in the meantime, even though she is not chabad.
I felt really bad that it wasn’t being delivered right away, but it was already too late to change anything, so I agreed and trusted that little Moshe would “hold on” until he received it.
Thursday morning when I opened my phone, I saw that Miriam had sent very anxious texts throughout the night…
The night was an extremely difficult one for Moshe! Not only was he still unconscious, but he had terrible fever, which is a very dangerous sign after surgery… and things looked like they were getting worse chv.
I quickly started working on the Seudas Hodaah more actively, trying to stay strong…
And then suddenly, around 1pm that Thursday, Miriam posted the miraculous news! Moshe suddenly woke up! And he was TALKING! He was asking about his brother and sisters and nanny! His brain was working! He remembered everything!
I can’t describe the feeling of gratitude and relief upon hearing the amazing news! I started crying tears of joy, singing and dancing, and announcing it from the rooftops…
And then suddenly I realised, wow! I need to check if it’s connected to what the Lazars sent from the Rebbe!!
I couldn’t reach Miriam, so I called her friend Yudit instead, to find out if she had delivered it. She told me that yes, she gave it to her just 2 hours ago at 11am, because that’s when they were first allowed to meet.
I messaged Miriam to ask her if she had used it, and heard her reply in a voicenote,
“Да, как только я положила, он проснулся и заговорил” -
“Yes! As soon as I put it near him, he woke up and started talking!”
I got the chills! I was speechless! I couldn’t believe the clear miracle of the Rebbe that we had just witnessed! It was the first time that year that I could see the “Pelaos Arenu”, the revealed POSITIVE wonders that we were waiting for all year! There’s no way to describe the emotions you feel when you see it in front of your eyes. It was one of the greatest, most joyful, moments of my life!
I saw once again, how the Rebbe, the leader of our generation, is truly the Rebbe of EVERY single Jew in our generation - even those who are not officially Chabad & not connected with Him in an open way. While everyone’s prayers surely helped, the miracle came specifically through the Rosh Bnei Yisroel, the Head of the Jewish People, for Hashem set up the world in a way that the Rebbe is the channel for ALL blessings, both material and spiritual, to each and every person.
And I thought, that while the Rebbe revived little Moshe ben Miriam in the literal, physical sense, the Rebbe has revived, and continues to revive, our entire generation in the spiritual sense!!
Even when it seems that we have fallen, that all hope is lost, and that ch”v things are only getting worse… we know that in one instant, the Rebbe will wake us all up from this dream of Golus! He will gather us all together to Eretz Yisroel, and bring us all home to the 3rd Beis Hamikdash!
May it be right now!
