This story happened on Simchat Torah 5758, in the middle of the recitation of Hallel. The Gaon Rabbi Natan Einfeld shlita felt pain in his left leg. The pain intensified until he was unable to participate in the Hakafot, and he barely dragged himself to accept aliyah to the Torah. In his essay Minchat Natan on Aggada, he recounts at length the details of the story, how he was carried home in a wheelchair, the agony of the inferno, and how the doctor examined him at the end of the holiday. He screamed at every touch of his leg. Eventually, he arrived at the hospital, where at the end of a series of X-rays – he was diagnosed with a terrible illness in his leg. Now they were added to the physical anguish, and he turned to Rabbi Elimelech Firer, shlita, who referred him to Prof. Dekel of Ramat Gan. In the meantime, he sent a messenger to Maran Hagaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, to pray for his recovery. After an examination, Prof. Dekel mockingly rejected the diagnosis of the terrible disease, but claimed that with proper treatment, the pain would be forgotten after six weeks, but that physiotherapy would be needed for a whole year!
A week had passed since Simchat Torah. The anguish was increasing, while the pills - and even the injections – did not ease the pain. It was on Thursday when his wife went shopping for Shabbat, and he suggested that she lock the door from the outside because he was unable to access the door anyway. Suddenly there was a loud knock from the door, and it was Rabbi Epstein – the trustee of the house of Maran Rabbi Kanievsky shlit"a – who exclaimed: "The rabbi is downstairs in the car and wants to go up to visit! "In the end, the brief visit took place behind the locked door. On one side, the Rabbi Natan stood and cried out: "Rabbeinu, I have terrible suffering!" And beyond the door came the wish: "Rabbi Natan, a complete refuah! A complete remedy! "From there, Rabbi Natan turned to the balcony to look at the great guest returning to his car, and once again the wishes were heard, "A complete recovery!" When the car drove away, he entered the house and suddenly noticed that he was walking on both legs, "Is it possible? Not! This is nothing but imagination! I lifted my left leg – and nothing, no pain... I felt it with my hand, I remembered how I had cried bitterly last night, when the doctor touched my leg lightly, and now, nothing... There is no pain."In response, he burst into a spontaneous dance that was all thanks to God. Only ten minutes later did his wife enter the house and find the patient... Dancing! "I'm completing the dances of Simcha Torah,” he explained to her. Rabbi Natan immediately called Rabbi Epstein to update Maran HaRav Ach Shlita – and when he finished hearing this, he said simply: And what is the wonder? After all, this is an explicit Gemara: "Do not make the blessing of a layman easy in your eyes”!
