By Rabbi David Sutton
Hacham Ezra Attiya and the Saba Kadisha
Rabbanit Bolisa Attiah was not a woman who complained. Thus, when she bent over in pain, low moans escaping her lips, her husband, Hacham Ezra, the revered Rosh Yeshivah of Porat Yosef, knew that this was serious, and he insisted that she visit Shaare Tzedek Hospital.
The doctor, an expert surgeon, was sympathetic but unyielding. “It’s gallstones, I’m afraid,” he said. “We’ll have to operate.”
These were grim words to hear in those days before antibiotics, when so many operations ended in infection and death. Hacham Ezra and Rabbanit Bolisa thanked the doctor for his advice and left the hospital, determined not to agree to the risky surgery.
For three days Rabbanit Bolisa suffered excruciating pain; by the fourth day, the pain was unbearable. Hacham Ezra sent their oldest son, Yitzhak, to speak with the doctor. He returned with the doctor’s final word: “There is no choice. We must operate.”
With a heavy heart Hacham Ezra accompanied his wife to the hospital. He left her in the ward and then he and a student journeyed together to the cemetery on Har Hazetim. There, at the grave of (Hacham Shlomo Eliezer Alfandari, 1826-1930) the Saba Kadisha, the great and holy Chief Rabbi of Damascus and, later, Safed, he poured out his heart. “What do I have in this world except teaching and learning Torah?” Hacham Ezra wept. “And if, Heaven forbid, something terrible happens, I will not be able to learn anymore...”
Surgery was scheduled for the next day. With the dawn’s first light Hacham Ezra arrived at the hospital. It was far too early for visitors, and he pulled over a stool next to the doorway and recited Tehillim. A short while later the surgeon strode briskly up the stairs. He stopped short at the sight of the scholar.
“Hacham Ezra? What are you doing here?” the surgeon asked. “The operation isn’t scheduled until much later, and visitors aren’t allowed in for some time.”
“I don’t mind. I will sit here and say Tehillim.”
With a respectful nod, the doctor turned into the hospital. Not long afterward he stood by the bedside of Rabbanit Bolisa, wanting to check her one last time before she was prepared for surgery.
He stared down at the patient. Pulse, blood pressure, color; everything was normal. The pains had disappeared.
The surgeon consulted with another doctor and the ward’s head nurse, and then turned to Rabbanit Bolisa.
“I’m postponing the surgery. I want to do another x-ray, since it seems the situation has changed, and the x-ray department is very busy. You can go home now, and come back tomorrow for the x-ray.”
Still weak from her ordeal, Rabbanit Bolisa knew she couldn’t get home unaccompanied. “How will I return to my house?” she asked.
The surgeon smiled. “Your husband, the Hacham is downstairs waiting for you.”
When Rabbanit Bolisa told Hacham Ezra the news, his eyes lit up with joy. The Rabbanit’s eyes, though, were filled with tears.
“Why are you weeping?” he asked her.
“I know why I am cured,” she answered, her voice thick with emotion. “Last night, as I lay in the hospital bed, the Saba Kadisha came to me in a dream. He said, ‘Why are you causing your husband such sorrow? Why are you preventing him from learning Torah? Go home and get better!’”
And, as the next day’s x-ray clearly showed, Rabbanit Bolisa had indeed listened to the Saba Kadisha: she was completely healed, and went on to live with her husband for many more healthy years. (Stories of Spirit and Faith)
Reprinted from the Parashat Naso 5785 email of Rabbi David Bibi’ Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
