Rabbi Pinchas, Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Yochanan, in the name of Rabbi Menachem affirm: in the future all the offerings will be annulled except for the thanks offering and all the prayers will be annulled except for the thanksgiving prayers (Vayekrah Midrash).

Rabbi Ch

iya bar Abba says: the miracle granted to the sick is greater than the one done to Hanniah Michael and Azariah. The furnace that was supposed to annihilate them had been lit by men and therefore can be extinguished but the fire that consumes the sick emanates from heaven and who would be able to put it out? (Nedarim 41).

This text, and a few others, came to my mind when I was hospitalized in a critical condition. I was surrounded by a “swarm” of doctors arguing vehemently on my case, each one defending his point of view and here I was, among them like a still stone, a mute unable to utter a sound – my eyes turned towards them, imploring pity. To all my questions there was no answer. They all avoided speaking to me. I, then, understood that my recovery was not in their hands; even to bring relief to my pains was beyond their capabilities. And all those that came to visit me implored Heaven to have pity on me and cure me by the merits of the tzaddikim.

I came to understand that I was given into the doctors’ hands – simple human beings whose powers are so limited and what I needed was the infinite help of the One Blessed Be His Name. So I said to myself: who will help me if not myself? Who will care for me more than I? Then, with a broken and bruised heart, I lifted my eyes to Heaven to the Healer of all flesh who performs wonders. Tearfully I beseeched Him: “Master of the Universe, please don’t forsake me, don’t leave me in the hands of human doctors for it is from You will come my recovery. Cure me O G-d and I’ll be cured, my condition is so desperate. There is no help, no deliverance but You.”
Then I recalled what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Greater is the prayer of a sick man for his own sake than anything else. And the desperate prayers of Israel after Achashverosh’s decree were greater than all the forty nine prophets and seven prophetesses.

Thus, I thought of appealing to upright advocates: the tzaddikim wise and capable of performing miracles. And, in such a way, I shall pray in this world and they will plead my cause in the upper world. And I said in my heart: “If G-d gives me life and delivers me from my distress, ‘bli neder’, I shall write a book on the merits of the tzaddikim, on their virtues and their holiness.”

Such stories are precious and dear in Heaven as valuable as the ‘Maasei Merkava’ (secrets of the divine Throne), according to the holy Haari. And if they are pleasant to G-d, they certainly are so in the eyes of the tzaddikim themselves: thanks to the reminding of their merits, they are raised higher and higher in the upper spheres and in their intense joy will plead the cause of the narrator of their merits. And the Holy One Blessed Be His Name acts according to the will of those that fear Him even to the point of annulling His Own Will to the benefit of their will. For His Glory is revealed through the recounting of their miracles.

Blessed He Be Who listens to our prayers. He heard my prayers not because of my merits but thanks to the merits of my ancestors and of those tzaddikim whom I implored. He gave me back life and health; Blessed He Be Who gives life to the dead and cures the sick.
Here I come today to bow down and prostrate myself before the Holy One to glorify Him with my tongue, my mouth and my broken heart. Were I as strong as a rock, as old as Matushelach, I would still be unable to thank and glorify the Blessed He Be not even one for thousands and thousands of the goods He granted me from my birth to that very day.

May it be for me according to the saying of our Sages (of blessed memory). “Whoever was granted a miracle and sings a song of thanks is assured that all his sins will be forgiven.”

And since then, I took upon me to publish this book with His divine Help. He helped me to bring my thoughts into writing and so today I have the great privilege to say the blessing deserved to a finished task: “Blessed He Be Who gave me life and sustenance to reach to that day. May He grant me more of His Kindness and allow me to write and publish more Torah insights and comments that could be of good use for all Israel, praying not to arrive covered with shame in the future world.”

Amen and may it be G-d’s will.

Rabbi Rahamim writing his books, generally the night,
when the many visits and the phone calls of the day ceased.
He could then type, of only one finger, on his old typewriter... He was then quite old!
But isn't it written :“G. gives the force to the one who is exhausted,
and grants the power to the one who does not have any more resources...”