Heartfelt: The Holocaust Grandfather Appears to Paramedic and Asks, "Why Aren't You Saving the Child?"

A very moving story, which appeared this week in the 'Mishkan Moharan' bulletin, brought a remarkable tale that occurred 33 years ago, immediately following the funeral of the holy Baba Sali zt"l.

Immediately after the funeral, five righteous Jews made their way home in a single car, among them an 11-year-old boy, the son of the Rebbe of Spinka residing in Bnei Brak.

The measure of judgment was very great at that time, and at some point, the driver lost control, resulting in a very severe accident where the car crashed completely, and all four passengers - Rabbi Blass from the Chevra Kadisha, Rabbi Margalit, founder of 'Yad Ezra', Rabbi Weiss the son of the Spinka Rebbe, and another learned Jew named Berkowitz - were all killed.

The 11-year-old son of the Rebbe of Spinka was severely injured.

When the paramedic arrived at the scene and saw the state of the child, he didn't even want to begin treating him. He thought to himself: 'It's hopeless. Everyone here is dead, and it looks like the child is too. I see his condition, it's bad. His limbs are nearly out, the injury is complex.'

The child was taken in critical condition to 'Hadassah Ein Kerem' hospital, while, in the meantime, his family in Bnei Brak arranged to bury the father, the son of the Spinka Rebbe.

However, a significant halachic question arose: the family, aware of their 11-year-old's dire condition, hesitated to cause public trouble by holding two funerals one after another. So, there was a question whether it was better to wait for the child to pass as well before conducting both funerals. When they reached out to the Rebbe for advice, he strongly opposed it. "Do not wait for the child to die," he decisively told the mother. "You have eight children, go be with your child who is in the hospital. You won't sit shivah."

The paramedic burst into tears and said, "It's him, the man who stood by me and encouraged me to treat the child."

At the funeral of his son, the Rebbe cried out and pleaded loudly: "Master of the universe," he cried, moving all present. "You wrote in your holy Torah 'Him and his son, you shall not slaughter on the same day,' so please have mercy. Today the father, my son, became a public offering; should his son also die with him on the same day? I ask that what you wrote in your Torah be fulfilled here in this world."

And miraculously, the 11-year-old began to recover day by day until he was entirely out of danger and discharged from the hospital.

When this happened, the family remembered the paramedic at the scene and sought to thank him for treating their son. After extensive efforts to locate him, the family discovered he was a non-religious Jewish man from Ashkelon who grew up in Morocco and was unfamiliar with Spinka Chasidut.

When he arrived at the family's home, they all asked him why he treated the child despite initially deciding there was no chance of survival and that he wouldn't take action?! Then, this precious Jew shared that, in the first moments he saw the child, he indeed decided in his heart not to save him. But then, he recounts, an old Jew appeared before his eyes and asked him why he wasn't treating the child.

"I told him that the situation seemed hopeless, and it looked to me like he would die," the paramedic recalled. But the old Jew insisted: "At least try," he told him. "Treat him, give him help as you learned. Try to save him."

At those moments, something 'snapped' in him, and he began to provide aid to the child, as he had learned. Even though he didn't believe the situation would improve, he did everything he could to stabilize him until the ambulance arrived.

Then, one of the family members rushed to a room and returned with a photo album.

He flipped through the pictures when suddenly the paramedic burst into tears, pointed at a certain photo, and said: "It's him, the man who stood by me and encouraged me to treat the child."

The paramedic had never heard of the Rebbe Hakal Yitzchak of Spinka, who was martyred for the sanctification of Hashem during the Holocaust. The child was saved thanks to the grandfather who died for the sanctification of Hashem and was granted the special permission to appear to the paramedic to save his grandson.

(The story was published courtesy of Rabbi Tzvi Nakar).