During his final year, Reb Yehoshua of Belz zt”l underwent surgery in Vienna. Before the surgery, Reb Yehoshua asked the doctor, a non-religious Jew, if he believed in Hashem. The doctor replied, yes. Reb Yehoshua continued asking, “Do you believe in Moshiach?” The doctor responded, “No, since it says that Moshiach will be a pauper riding on a donkey, how will a poor person scare the other nations?”
Reb Yehoshua lifted his long eyebrows and fixed his holy eyes on the doctor. The doctor became so frightened that the surgical knife dropped from his hand. Reb Yehoshua explained to him, “If I, a simple person, can startle you so, then Moshiach will surely cause a panic across the world.”
The doctor became a baal teshuvah and escorted the Rebbe back to Belz by train. Midway, Reb Yehoshua said Shema and was niftar. (The doctor merited to be the tenth person in the minyan as the Rebbe’s neshama departed this world.
Reprinted from the Parshas Yisro 5786 email of The World of Belz.
