In 1985, when Chaya Rivka, the eldest daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman, Chief Rabbi of Migdal HaAmek, Israel, returned home from school with a swollen eye, the rabbi and his wife thought nothing of it. But her eye continued to swell until it began oozing pus and blood.
Chaya Rivka was sent to specialists all over Israel, but none of them could pinpoint the problem. Some said it was an allergy, some said it was an issue with the eye itself, and still others said it was a skin problem. Meanwhile, her eye continued to get worse.
Soon after, Rabbi Grossman had occasion to visit the United States. While there it was suggested that he see expert ophthalmologist Dr. Albert Hornblass, ofblessed memory, about his daughter’s eye. The Rabbi went to Dr. Hornblass and gave him his daughter’s medical file, and explained all the details of his daughter’s case.
The doctor replied that he could not make a diagnosis based on the file alone; he needed to see Chaya Rivka in person. Rabbi Grossman promptly arranged a flight for his daughter, and she arrived early the following morning.
Chaya Rivka’ s flight landed at 6 a.m. and as soon as she got off the plane, she asked her father to take her to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe’s usual routine was to arrive at his office every morning at ten. At that hour people would line up along the walkway leading to the office to greet the Rebbe or to receive a blessing.
When the Rebbe’s car pulled up, Rabbi Grossman decided to stand directly in the Rebbe’s path, to make certain he would notice him.
Sure enough, the Rebbe saw him and realized something was wrong.
“Rebbe!” Rabbi Grossman called, “This is my daughter, the one I wrote you about with the eye problem. She needs a complete recovery. Could the Rebbe bless her?”
The Rebbe looked at her, then said, “Check the mezuzah immediately, and she will have an immediate and complete recovery. May you merit to raise her to Torah, marriage, and good deeds.”
Rabbi Grossman wasted no time in calling home to Israel to have the mezuzah checked. His wife brought it at once to their scribe, and what he found was shocking. In the phrase “between your eyes,” the word ainecha, “your eyes,” had been rubbed out. His wife immediately affixed a new and kosher mezuzah.
The rabbi hung up the phone, and went to pray the morning service. After he finished, he met Chaya Rivka, who told him her eye felt strange. She decided to take a nap. When she woke up, her eye had miraculously returned to normal.
They had already obtained an appointment with Dr. Hornblass for that afternoon and decided to keep it. When the doctor examined Chaya Rivka, he was amazed. He had no explanation for how her eye had healed spontaneously over the course of a short nap.
Rabbi Grossman told the doctor about the interaction with Rebbe and the miracle with their mezuzah.
Eighteen years later, Rabbi Grossman was invited as a guest of honor to a community in New Jersey. On Shabbos, when the rabbi entered the synagogue, a Jew praying in a tallis raced over to him, and began to hug and kiss the rabbi.
It was Dr. Homblass. Weeping, he told the rabbi, “I saw the miracle of the Lubavitcher Rebbe with your daughter, and I saw that there is a G-d.”