Shortly after Sukkos, 5774, while R’ Tzvi Dov Miller was teaching his class the parsha, he collapsed to the ground. As he was teaching them the words “M’im mizbechi tikachenu la’mus — From upon my mizbeiach you will take him to die,” words from Parshas Mishpatim requiring one to remove a murderer from avodas ha’Mishkan for punishment, he fell unconscious. Hatzalah was called, and they discovered that he had suffered from an aneurism.
Every day thereafter, the entire elementary school gathered to daven on his behalf, and B”H, his surgery was successful. A short while later, he was able to return home, but not in the same condition as before. He wasn’t in shape to return to his daily occupation.
After he awoke from his surgery, he shared with his father what he had seen while he was unconscious. “Standing before me in the beis din shel Maala were the parshiyos of Shemos through Yisro, demanding of me why I had forsaken them. Over the last 20 years of teaching, I felt that it was most beneficial that I teach my students Parshas Mishpatim. Though my grade’s learning was reserved for those other parshiyos, I focused on Mishpatim because there’s a lot of lomdus that I relate to much better.
“Still, in Shamayim, I was being taken to task for forsaking those parshiyos. They claimed that ‘missing us is missing part of a heart. We are the foundation of emuna, and omitting us is like omitting a life-supporting organ.’
“My life was about to be taken, but I appealed on three fronts: 1) Ein onshim elah im kein mazhirim — The Torah doesn’t punish unless one is warned, and since I was never warned, I rightfully should keep my life. 2) I wasn’t the only one who made the decision. The previous school’s principal didn’t agree with me, and he kept me to that curriculum. I tried changing parshiyos during his 20-year tenure, but he never let me. Only this year, when the school got a new principal, did he give me the approval to change. I therefore shouldn’t be held responsible. 3) Since I’ve been out for a number of weeks, my substitute is teaching those missed parshiyos, and so the students are learning the material.
“Hearing these claims, the beis din shel Maala agreed to let me come back to this world.”
On the 16th of Teves, 5780, six-and-a-half years later, R’ Tzvi Dov returned his neshama to its Maker. His father spreads the story to serve as illuy neshama for his child, R’ Tzvi Dov ben R’ Meir Eliyahu, and for it to serve as an inspiration to value the emuna that we get from the parshiyos of Yetzias Mitzrayim.
