Yesterday morning, I did not notice whether I got up on the right side or the left side of bed, but it seemed to me that it was the wrong side. The minute I awoke I felt that my lips were swollen. The feeling was uncomfortable, and the way it looked was even worse. I was very scared, and I davened to Hashem to send me a refuah.
I went to the doctor, and his eyes widened when he saw me. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “I hope the creams I give you will help.” He wrote prescriptions for three types of creams and sent me to the pharmacy. I realized that the doctor knew as much as I did about what had happened to me, and he was simply trying things out and waiting to see what the effect would be.
The pharmacist told me that he had serious doubts as to whether the creams the doctor prescribed would help me; so I immediately made an appointment to see a different doctor. Perhaps for him my condition would be nothing new. Perhaps he would already know from his experience how to take care of my puffed lips.
When I got home I shared my sorry findings with my wife, and she added that “your left hand is also swollen.” Indeed, it was very conspicuous. My left hand had swelled up badly.
This was truly strange – unnatural, and very scary. What mysterious disease did I have? And how was it that it was attacking only my lips and one hand? I hoped that the rest of my body would be okay and that I wouldn’t suddenly discover swelling in another place.
“I think it’s connected to something,” my wife said. It wasn’t easy for her to continue sharing her thoughts, but I urged her to tell me what she had in mind, because this was pikuach nefesh; I was ready to deal with any related unpleasantness.
“It might be connected to the fact that sometimes you talk while wearing tefillin.”
She worded her rebuke gently; unfortunately, until yesterday, it had happened only very seldom that I did not speak idle words while wearing tefillin.
“Maybe if you commit to not speaking when you’re wearing tefillin, it will help.”
I made a true kaballah from the depths of my heart to be careful about this matter. From that moment on – meaning from the next time I would don tefillin – I would not speak at all while wearing tefillin!
The next morning, amazingly enough, there was not a trace of the swelling. Everything had disappeared as though it was never there. I was literally a proof to the L’shem yichud prayer we recite before putting on tefillin: “He is the power Who controls the upper and the lower worlds.” (Since then, I have been paying much more attention to this prayer every day.)
