I arrived in Ukraine as part of a kiruv venture. One morning, I woke up with a terrible pain on the side of my head – something that cannot be described. I went to the local doctor in the sleepy Ukranian town. He checked me and said, “The uppermost vertebra of your spine moved out of place.”
His diagnosis was correct, but he couldn’t do anything more. He said I would probably need surgery to correct the problem, but the surgery had a very high risk of damaging nerves that could render a person incapable of walking.
I called my father-in-law, who is well-versed in the field of medicine. I held the phone on the other side of my head while groaning in pain, and I asked him what or who he thought could help me.
“There is an excellent doctor in Ramat Gan who sees me. I’ll talk to him and see what could be done.”
A short while later my father-in-law called back and said, “The doctor is coming to you tomorrow, with Hashem’s help.”
I was in such pain that I did not even register what an amazing thing I had just heard. Why would the doctor travel all the way to Ukraine to see me the very next day? I waited impatiently, and he arrived like a redeeming angel. His treatment was simple and wondrously short. He touched the painful spot, gave a push with his finger, and said, “Good, the bone has returned to its place. Come see me when you get back to Israel, and I’ll give you another two treatments.”
Now that I had calmed down a bit, I realized that the doctor worked for a living, and I had to pay him. “I need to pay you” I told him, “but I have no Israeli money here.”
“You should be well,” the doctor said with total sincerity. “Don’t you understand what’s going on here? How is it that I got here on a direct flight from Israel. Don’t you think someone needs to pay for the flight?”
This threw me for a loop. I am really not a man of means who can pay for two flights.
But the doctor did not allow my confusion to last. “I’ll tell you what happened. There are two very wealthy people who live in this area, and they invited me to come treat them. They paid for my flights and for the treatments, according to their standards, so you don’t have to pay anything at all.”
“We both see the Hand of Hashem here,” he continued, “how hashgachah has manipulated things so that I flew in just today, and that the two patients asked me to come see them later on, so that I was able to come to you early without rearranging anyone’s schedule. So let’s continue to rely on the Ribbono shel Olam. The amount that those wealthy people paid covers your treatment too, as well as the other treatments that you’ll receive in Israel. All the best, and best of health!”
Now I knew clearly Who is the Doctor Who is truly taking care of me. He is the Doctor of all flesh, Who does wonders, Who sent His good messenger to heal me.
