והסיר ה’ ממך כל חולי וכל מדוי…(עקב ז:טו)

Hashem will remove from you every illness and all the bad maladies.

The Chassid Reb Avraham Yehoshua Herbst z’’l related that when he was a young bochur, he learned in the Yeshiva Tiferes Tzion in Bnei Brak, and he used to walk every Friday night to Tel Aviv, to the tish of Maran, Reb Aharon of Belz zt’’l.

Since the tish finished very late, Reb Avraham Yehoshuah used to sleep overnight in the Beis Medrash on a hard, wooden bench.  Shabbos morning, when the Bilgorai Rav zt’’l came to daven, he noticed the young bochur rise from the bench with aching bones.

With a warm, fatherly smile, the Bilgorai Rav approached him and asked how he was faring and if his shoulders weren’t aching from sleeping on a hard bench. The bochur’s shoulders were aching, and before he could respond, the Bilgorai Rav placed his hands on the bochur’s shoulders and started to massage them gently. The bochur started feeling some relief, and the Bilgorai Rav continued massaging until the bochur felt completely better.  When the Bilgorai Rav was done, he wished the bochur, “You should never have to experience shoulder pain for the rest of your life!”

Reb Avraham Yehoshua concluded that while serving in the army, where he spent nights sleeping on cold grounds, he never experienced pain!”

Filed under Parshas Eikev | Reb Aharon of Belz