How a Mother's Fall Became Her Child’s Miracle

This story was told by Rabbi Moshe Sherr about something that happened during his childhood.

“I was a little boy, sick with a very high fever,” he recalled. “My mother, may she rest in peace, called the doctor to our home. After checking me, the doctor quickly wrote a prescription for urgent medication. But my dear mother had no money to go get it.”

She did everything she could to gather even a few coins and finally managed to scrape together just enough. With determination, she went to the pharmacy, hoping to save her son.

When she arrived, the head pharmacist wasn’t there, but his assistant agreed to give her the expensive medicine in exchange for the few coins she had. Holding the precious glass bottle that was supposed to help her child recover, she left, relieved and grateful.

But as she rushed home, something heartbreaking happened. In her hurry, she tripped and fell and the medicine bottle shattered into pieces.

She stood there on the street in tears. She had no more money, and the medicine was gone. Still crying, she carefully picked up the wet bag with the broken glass and made her way back to the pharmacy.

By this time, the main pharmacist had returned. When he saw her so distraught, she explained what had happened. She told him she had no way to pay again but begged him for another bottle. “I’ll come clean the pharmacy at night if I have to,” she offered through her tears.

The pharmacist gently took the bag, sniffed it, and paused. Then he quickly disappeared into the back room. After a few minutes, he returned with a new bottle of medicine in a fresh bag.

Then, with emotion in his voice, he said something she would never forget:

“There must be special angels watching over this child. The medicine my assistant gave you by mistake wasn’t medicine at all. It was rat poison. If your son had taken it, he might not be alive.”

Rabbi Moshe said his mother repeated that story to him many times over the years. Her words stayed with him always: “You understand, Moishe’le, when I fell and the bottle broke, I thought it was the worst moment of my life. I thought everything was lost. But I learned that sometimes when you think it’s the end Hashem is actually starting to save you.”

A powerful reminder that what seems like a disaster may really be the beginning of a miracle.