The power of tefillah goes beyond nature, as is seen from the following story:
In a city near the home of Rav Akiva Eiger zy”a, there lived a Jew who became very sick with a serious illness. His family had him seen by the best doctors but they all said that there was no cure and his days were numbered. From day to day, his health deteriorated, and his family grew more and more despondent.
One day, news circulated in town that the king was going to be visiting the city. Whenever the king traveled, his entourage included the royal physician, and the family decided that they would try to get this expert doctor to examine the sick man and see if he could suggest a cure. And so it was. They managed to see the doctor and ask him to come to the sick man. However, after his examination, he too said that there was nothing he could do for the man.
Rav Akiva Eiger was also in that town at the time and he heard about the man’s plight. He asked to meet with the doctor and he told him, “May I ask you a question? If the king would have this same disease, would you also say that there was nothing you could do for him?”
The doctor was very shaken up by the question and he said, “I’ll tell you the truth. There is one cure for this disease. In the middle of the desert, in the area where dangerous, wild animals roam free, there lives a certain bird. If you can catch this bird and cook it, and give the soup to the sick man to drink, he will be healed.
“However, it would be almost impossible to catch this bird. The king has many soldiers whom he could send to ward off the wild beasts, identify the rare bird and catch it. For him, it might be possible. But it would be highly improbably for a regular person to get this done. That’s why I said that there is nothing I could do for this man.”
Rav Akiva Eiger thought to himself: Why is this man worse than the king? If a cure exists for his ailment, why wouldn’t Hashem send it to this Jewish man?
He went into his room and began to daven to Hashem, beseeching Him to send this Jew the cure he needs. As he stood there immersed in prayer, someone came to tell him that a strange bird had just landed on the street, the likes of which no one had ever seen before. He asked for the bird to be brought to him and for it be slaughtered, cooked into a soup and fed to the sick man. He also asked for the feathers of the bird to be saved.
As soon as the man drank the soup, his condition started to improve. He got a little better every day until he was completely healthy.
Several months later, the king’s doctor was again in the city and he decided to go see if the sick man was still alive. He went to his house and was amazed to see him walking around, hale and healthy. The man told him the entire story about the bird but the doctor could not believe it. The man then showed him the feathers he had saved, and the doctor confirmed that they did come from that bird.
The doctor was speechless with amazement. Finally, he said, “Now I see the power of Jewish prayers. Even for the king, it is extremely difficult to get ahold of this bird but Rabbi Eiger got it through the power of his prayers!”
