I have been connected with Chabad Chassidus and the Rebbe for decades, since my youth. As part of my work with the Amana settlement movement, I would frequently invite Chabad lecturers from Shikun Chabad in Lod for the Torah classes and workshops that I organized. Their fervent faith would strengthen many women in coming closer to Torah and mitzvos, myself included.

Twenty-five years ago, we experienced an incredible and stirring miracle that connected us with the ideals of Chassidus and the Rebbe even more so.

This took place when my husband began to suffer from a chronic problem in one of his eyes. The suffering he endured was indescribable. He underwent several cornea transplants, but to our regret, the transplants were not successful and he continued to suffer from inflammations and infection. The most serious problem was the weakening of his entire immune system. After his third unsuccessful cornea transplant, it appeared that his condition had deteriorated much more sharply than on the previous occasions. He was hospitalized in an isolation room in the Tel HaShomer Hospital. All food was served to him on disposal dishes, and nobody was allowed to enter.

One day, the doctors requested that I come into their office, where they dropped the bombshell: “In light of our findings, based on the medical information we have collected thus far, we have concluded that the only available alternative is to remove the eye surgically.” Their statement hit me like a bolt of lightning. They requested my permission for the operation, but I felt that I simply couldn’t agree to this step.

The doctors gave me a few days to consider the matter and make a decision. I felt utterly alone. I could only see my husband through the glass, unable to speak with him directly.

When I came home bewildered and confused, I suddenly remembered that one very important factor had simply slipped my mind – the Rebbe! On more than one occasion, I heard about the exciting miracles and stories that took place in the merit of his blessings – why don’t I ask for blessing?

I immediately called Rebbetzin Devorah Ashkenazi and told her everything that had happened. She told me what I had already thought: I must call the Rebbe’s secretaries and ask for the Rebbe’s blessing.

At the first opportunity, I called the secretary’s office, related the whole story to him in detail, and asked that he submit our request for a blessing from the Rebbe. The secretary listened and then asked that I give him my telephone number so that they can get back in touch with us.

Impatient and filled with anticipation, I tensely waited to receive their call. A few days later, when I was at my mother’s house nearby, the children burst in and told me that I had a phone call from overseas. I quickly hurried back to my house and picked up the phone with a feeling of great respect and tremendous emotion.

One of the Rebbe’s secretaries was on the line. He told me to go to the hospital and ask to speak with a certain doctor (whom he mentioned by name), a Jew who wore a kippa and who was extremely warmhearted towards all matters of Judaism. The secretary then quoted the words of the Rebbe’s blessing.

I accepted the message with the utmost earnestness, and the very next day, I did exactly what the Rebbe instructed.

When I found the doctor, I laid the whole problem out before him, and then added that the Rebbe had sent me to him in connection with the matter. The doctor asked me to bring him all the relevant medical documents, and after reading every one of them in great detail, he determined that there was no need to operate.

He succeeded in calming me down by stating that according to the medical findings, it is his professional opinion that an operation is unnecessary – and surely not one similar to what his colleagues had advised.

I left the doctor’s office with mixed feelings – my joy at hearing the doctor’s opinion at war with the pain of seeing my husband lying in bed suffering, unable to leave his hospital room.

Suddenly my husband’s condition improved and he healed rapidly. Just two days later, the doctors in charge of his treatment surprised me by declaring that he would be released the following day.

Such a change in only two days – from the suggestion of difficult operation until his complete release – was simply extraordinary, and I immediately connected this with the Rebbe’s blessing. My husband was in fact released and sent home from the hospital without the need for an operation. While he still has slight problems with his eye to this very day, nevertheless, it did not need to be surgically removed (thank G-d) and continues to function –all in the merit of the Rebbe’s blessing.

Ever since then, my connection with the Rebbe has intensified. I understood that the Rebbe is not just another spiritual leader or famous rabbinical figure, but rather a leader of unparalleled stature whose decrees here below are fulfilled above, and his blessings are realized – one after another.