Weekly Chasidic Story #895 (s5775-18 / 28 Tevet 5775)

Connection: The first two of the four sections in the Torah where the mitzvah of tefilin is mentioned constitute the conclusion of this week's Torah reading ("Bo").

A Bar Mitzvah on the Way to Heaven

I (Rabbi Aaron Wolf) am on-call at many hospitals in Chicago where I am committed to respond when emergencies arise. One Monday, I received a call from a local hospital requesting that I visit an elderly gentleman who was doing very poorly. Doctors had told his children that it was just a matter of time. The man was in his 90s.

When I arrived at the hospital the patient was not responding and I stood at his bedside saying the Shema and various Psalms. The son, who had come from out of town, was eagerly waiting to speak to a rabbi. A granddaughter was there as well. The son showed an interest to sit and talk with me so we decided to sit down in the lounge where I was hoping to give him words of hope and strengthen his faith in these very difficult moments.

He began by telling me that in the past couple of days, his ailing father requested having a bar mitzvah and he didn't know how to fulfill his father's wishes. When I asked the son if his father specified how he wants to celebrate his bar mitzvah, he responded "My father asked to put on tefilin."

Later, I was told by the son that his father had refused to go to synagogue his entire life and had never put on tefilin. Now, at this age, moments before his demise, he had an interest in putting on tefilin and "becoming a bar mitzvah." The son told me that he still wasn't sure whether or not his father was acting like the same "cynical dad" or indeed became a sudden believer. It was only after his father kept asking him day after day that he decided to call a rabbi and perform his dad's bar mitzvah!

"I cannot put on the tefilin with your father," I told the son. I explained the son since it was already dark and tefilin are worn during daylight only. "If your father will be 'up to it' I will gladly return in the morning," I continued. When the son told me that his father goes in-and-out of this unconscious state, I had hope that by the morning he would be responsive. I suggested that I would call him at 6:30 a.m. to get an update of his father's condition.

In the morning the son asked me to come to the hospital since his father was now conscious and responding. Here, I must add that the next day was the day of a gigantic blizzard here in Chicago. A ten minute ride to the hospital turned into a 60 minute trip accompanied with blowing and drifting snow. Every minute felt like an hour with the uncertainty of the ailing man's condition. I hoped that he would still be conscious when I arrived.

When I finally arrived and entered the hospital room I saw a face lit up and eyes wide-open. When I asked the patient if he wanted to become a bar mitzvah, he answered, "Yes."

"Do you also want to put on tefilin," I asked? Again, his answer was yes.

It was with great difficulty that the man put on the tefilin. He was in excruciating pain and to lift his arm and head was a tremendous struggle.

When I realized the pain he was suffering, I asked him again, "Are you sure you want to continue?" And he again responded yes. He repeated the Shema Yisrael prayer* with me and finally concluded the first paragraph.

At that point everyone in the room began to sing "siman tov u-mazal tov" (a song of celebration and congratulations-ed.). The man had a big smile on his face expressing his joy and pleasure. I cannot describe the scene nor the reaction of the nurses and the doctor who stood by.

Later that afternoon, the man told his son, "I am now a bar mitzvah." Those were his final words. Forty minutes later he passed away.

The hospital staff, aware of this story, agreed that this was an event they had never experienced before. I have visited tens of thousands of patients over the past 30 years and I have never witnessed such an emotional experience as that.

"Because of the new hospital personal privacy laws (H.I.P.P.A. laws) I am unable to mention any names or the name of the hospital, but this story is touching and true and everyone with whom I have shared it agrees.
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Source: Supplemented by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition on //lchaimweekly.org (#968).

Biographical note:
Rabbi Aaron Wolf, one of the Lubavitcher emissaries in the state of Illinois, is the director of the Chicago Mitzvah Campaigns.

Connection: The first two of the four sections in the Torah where the mitzvah of tefilin is mentioned constitute the conclusion of this week's Torah reading ("Bo").

* Editor's note: Judaism's most basic prayer, which also includes the latter two of the four sections in the Torah where the mitzvah of tefilin is mentioned.

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Yerachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.

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