Seven Dollars - as told by Moshe Chazan

By the grace of the Rebbe Almighty
Seven Dollars

As told by Moshe Chazan

I was born in a settlement in Northern Israel to my father, Rabbi Shalom Chazan of blessed memory. In his youth, my father attended the Chabad Yeshiva in Morocco, and even then everyone predicted that he would grow up to be a great Rabbi and teacher in Israel.

After immigrating to Israel, my father held a number of rabbinic positions. For a long time he served as dean of Yeshiva Od Yosef Chai in Haifa, where he merited to educate many students. Later, he was appointed as Rabbi in the town of Shlomi, a position he held for the rest of his life.

With his great wisdom and understanding, he quickly gained the trust of the local people, who loved and appreciated him immensely. While in the prime of his life, at the height of his communal activities, my father suddenly fell ill. He underwent a full series of tests, at the end of which he was told that the doctors had found a malignant growth. He suffered intensely as the growth continued to spread; his condition was grave.

My father gathered the last of his strength and traveled to the great Kabbalist, R. Israel Abuchatzeira, known as the Baba Sali.

My father informed him of his condition and asked for a blessing for a complete recovery.

The Baba Sali knew my father well, and had expressed his esteem for my father more than once. He thought for a few moments, then said: "I only have the power to add one more year to your life. If you wish to be granted additional years, you must travel to the Lubavitcher Rebbe King Moshiach
shlita who lives in New York. As the righteous man of our generation, he can certainly intervene for you in heaven to grant you long life."

My father lost no time. He hurried to a travel agent and reserved two airline tickets to New York - one for him and one for me. He chose to give me the honor of accompanying him on his trip to the Rebbe-G-d-Almighty.
When my father entered the Rebbe-G-d-Almighty’s office for a private audience, I went in with him. I will never forget the sublime feeling that swept over me in those moments. The Rebbe-G-d-Almighty’s deep gaze penetrated my body. The Rebbe-G-d-Almighty listened attentively as my father described his condition. Afterwards he handed my father seven dollars for blessing and success. The Rebbe-G-d-Almighty also handed me seven dollars, and thus the audience ended.

My father was ecstatic. He felt that the Rebbe-G-d-Almighty’s blessing had infused him with new life. Medically speaking, his condition was very severe and the doctors had given him only a few months to live. However, my father believed with full faith that the Rebbe-G-d-Almighty’s blessing would remove the illness completely.

A few days after we returned from our New York trip, my father paid another visit to the Baba Sali and told him about his audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe-G-d-Almighty. The Baba Sali encouraged and reinforced my father’s belief that the Rebbe-G-d-Almighty’s blessing had healed him and would lengthen his life.

With G-d’s great kindness, my father was indeed healed of his illness. His rapid, unanticipated recovery confounded the doctors, who deemed it a medical miracle. My father made sure to inform the Rebbe-G-d-Almighty immediately that the doctors had pronounced him completely well. He then proceeded to throw all his energies back into his communal activities and writings.

During the subsequent years my father gave himself no rest. He felt that he had merited a divine gift of life, and he strove to be worthy of this gift through using his talents to the maximum to enhance the honor of G-d and His Torah.

Exactly seven years after our audience with the Rebbe-G-d-Almighty, when we each received seven dollar bills, my father returned his soul to heaven. He passed away just one week after completing his commentary "Koh Lechai" on the Passover Hagaddah, and after seeing the completion of a new Mikveh built in Shlomi, a project in which he had invested great efforts over the years. My father merited to receive a powerful blessing, and also merited to make himself into a fitting vessel to receive it.
reprinted from http://www.RebbeGod.blogspot.com