The following story took place on a Friday at the beginning of the year. Each Friday, I would go out to a public place on 'mivtzayim', the Lubavitcher Rebbe's mitzvah campaigns, to persuade fellow Jews to perform Mitzvot.

I went out on my regular weekly route with my friend, Yisroel Noach Friedman, to ‘Merkaz Giora,’ a main shopping and business center in Tzefat. After about an hour of laying tefillin with numerous fellow Jews, young and old, a middle-aged man passed by our stand. We asked him if he would like to put on tefillin, but he declined with a rejecting wave of his hand. Since I noticed that his refusal was somewhat hesitant, I tried to share a few words with him and explain the great value in putting on tefillin.

As he listened to my pitch, he softened up a bit, introducing himself as Moshe E., who had recently undergone some major upheavals in his life. According to his story, he had five complicated heart operations during the last year alone, and his doctors saw no hope for his recovery. He spoke with deep pain, and I sympathized totally with him and his plight. In the meantime, he had rolled up his sleeve and asked to put on tefillin.

As he removed the tefillin, he continued to relate his story with a heavy heart. It turned out that he was not only troubled about the five heart operations that he had recently undergone, but his doctors had informed him that he would have to go through more surgery, even more complicated than the others. If that wasn’t enough, his wife had decided that she wanted a divorce, and he had just heard from the courts that she was suing him for half of all his possessions, including a firm demand for sole ownership of their house.

Due to his difficulties, he also found himself out of a job. He had just been fired from work, and therefore, was forced to accept help from friends and acquaintances, something he never believed he would ever do. Because of all these events, his troubled soul found no rest.

We suggested that he write to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for advice and a blessing, and place the letter into a volume of Igrot Kodesh, the Rebbe's published letters. At first, the man had doubts about the efficaciousness of writing to the Rebbe, but after a little explanation about its great importance, he accepted the idea.

He sat on the side and with the utmost solemnity, he wrote about all that he had gone through over the past few years. The answer that he received appears in Vol. 14, p. 426:

“I happily received his letter from 7 Adar I, in which he writes about the improvement of his health and that they have already settled in an apartment. May it be G-d’s will that the general state of order, in connection with matters of livelihood, will also be realized very soon, as he desires…

 “Awaiting good news in all the aforementioned, and may it be G-d’s will that just as he and his wife have seen the kindnesses of G-d Alm-ghty up until now, so they will find only goodness and kindness in their current place in proper order with health and broadening knowledge."

There was no need to explain the answer to him, as the words were absolutely clear. The Rebbe addressed every one of his difficulties: health, his relationship with his wife, and their financial situation.

This fellow was stunned. “How can it be that I write a letter to a book, and my answer is right there?” he cried.

We hadn’t seen him for several months, when suddenly one day, we met him on the street. He recognized us first, and rushed up to greet us.

 "You won’t believe it," he called out excitedly, "The Lubavitcher Rebbe is a giant among giants! Everything worked out so quickly, I’m still in shock and sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure that it’s for real!

"My wife suddenly decided to drop the court case against me, and has returned home to live with me as she did before. Two weeks ago, still puzzled over what had brought her to change her mind, I arrived at the hospital for my sixth operation. A few days earlier, I had already made all the mental and physical preparations for the medical procedure. Yet, to my amazement, after undergoing a series of pre-surgery x-rays, the doctors informed me that based on the findings revealed by the x-rays, they saw no need for an operation..."