Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz related a story in Tiv HaHashgachah that someone had shared: I am happy to tell an exciting story that happened to me, and with this, to encourage Yidden to be careful not to hurt one another. As a child, others bothered me, but I also bothered others.
In my neighborhood, there was a man whose mind was a little weak, and we enjoyed annoying him and hearing his reaction. My mother always warned us that this was a severe Aveirah (sin) and it was forbidden, but as a child, I did not understand the depth of her words, and at every opportunity, I would bother him to get a funny reaction for me and my friends.
Some years went by and I got married, and Baruch Hashem, I started a family. However, our third child suffered from breathing problems, and the doctors could not find the source of this, and no treatment helped. With a broken heart, I wrote a Kvitel (note) and sent it to the Kever of the Baal Ha’yeshuos, Rav Moshe Moznitch, zt”l.
That night I had a dream and in the dream, the Tzadik told me to go to the grave of a certain man in Eretz Yisroel and ask for forgiveness. When I woke up, I remembered that this was the man who I had harassed as a child. Immediately, I called my father who lives in Eretz Yisroel, and asked for his help in arranging a Minyan so that he can Daven and ask for forgiveness for me.
My father agreed to help me, and after he went, he called me and emotionally told me that exactly on the day when he went with a Minyan to the grave, it was this man’s Yahrzeit! The Minyan said Kaddish and learned Mishnayos for the elevation of his Neshamah. The very next day, when my son woke up in the morning, he was completely healthy without any breathing issues at all! Baruch Hashem, the problem had gone away! This is the power of Tefilah and forgiveness!
Reprinted from the Parshas Lech Lecha 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
