“I went to Rav Scheinberg for a brachah for my newborn son. He gave me a brachah that everything would be fine”

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fter I wrote a story about Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg a while back, his son Rav Simcha Scheinberg called me to tell me he enjoyed the story and then shared another one.

Rav Scheinberg would come to America several times a year to raise money for his yeshivah. During those visits, people from all different walks of life would come to him to ask for brachos or advice. Rav Scheinberg would give the brachos the petitioners requested and ask them in turn to help support the yeshivah in whatever capacity they could.

One time, a young woman from a more modern background came to see the Rosh Yeshivah. She told him she had a new baby, just a few weeks old, who had been born with a serious eye problem. The doctor had explained it was possible the problem would correct itself, but if not, at one year old the baby would need major surgery that would not necessarily salvage his vision. Naturally, the mother was frightened and overwhelmed, and a relative had suggested that she ask Rav Scheinberg for a brachah.

Rav Scheinberg gave her a beautiful brachah and reassured her that everything would be fine: With Hashem’s help, her son would be healthy and so would his vision. The woman was enormously relieved, and in appreciation, she undertook to support one avreich for an entire year.

The woman had a brother who was learning in Eretz Yisrael. Each month she sent money to him, and he would bring it to Rav Scheinberg. At the end of the year, when the woman’s brother came with the last check, he mentioned in passing to Rav Scheinberg’s son that his sister was not very pleased. The week before, she had taken the baby for a checkup and the doctor had said the situation had gotten much worse. His eye had deteriorated and they would need to do surgery immediately, with no guarantee his vision could be saved.

The woman was understandably distraught After receiving Rav Scheinberg’s brachah and committing to help the yeshivah for a year, she had been sure all would be fine.

Baruch Hashem, the surgery was successful and the baby’s vision was completely fine. Together with a few siblings born after him, he grew up in a wonderful Modern Orthodox home. However, he turned out to be an atypical child. All he wanted to do was learn Torah; nothing else interested him. When the family went away on vacation and his mother would take the other children to amusement parks, he would opt out of the trips, preferring to sit and learn: first Chumash, then Mishnah, and eventually Gemara.

As a teenager, he told his parents he wanted to go to a full-time yeshivah, and seeing his genuine interest, they agreed. From there, he went on to attend one of the finest yeshivos in Eretz Yisrael, known for its rigorous schedule and high level of learning. He learned there with great hasmadah and quickly became known as the most outstanding student in the yeshivah.

A while later his rosh yeshivah called him in and asked him if he would consider a shidduch with his youngest daughter. The bochur and the girl met a few times and got engaged soon after.

A week before the wedding, the boy’s parents arrived in Eretz Yisrael to meet the kallah and her family. When they met the Rosh Yeshivah, he reiterated his pride in his talmid. “I have been so looking forward to finally meeting you,” he said, “and I cannot wait to ask you a question I have had ever since I met your son. What is your yichus that you merited to have such a child, a superstar in learning, a future gadol b’Torah, the pride and joy of the yeshivah? What was it that you did? Do you have special yichus? Maybe you come from the Vilna Gaon or the Chofetz Chaim? What is the special quality that nurtured such a son?”

The mother’s response was immediate. “No, we do not have any special yichus, not from the Chofetz Chaim, and not from the Vilna Gaon. We are very plain and simple people.” Then she shared with the Rosh Yeshivah what had happened when her son was a baby and had been diagnosed with a problem in his eye.

“Upon the suggestion of a relative, I went to Rav Scheinberg for a brachah for my newborn son,” she recounted. “He gave me a brachah that everything would be fine.

“At the time I was very was disappointed and angry when at the year’s end, the eye had deteriorated and he still needed surgery. But as I watched my son grow up and saw that the only thing that gave him any pleasure was learning Torah, I realized that the brachah had indeed been fulfilled, but it wasn’t the physical eye that was repaired. The brachah was fulfilled on his spiritual eye, the eye that would only find pleasure in learning Torah, the eye that was constantly growing in Hashem’s Torah.

“This was not something that we raised him with, but something that he was drawn to, and I attributed all this to the brachah of the Rosh Yeshivah. When he said that his eye would be perfect, he meant that his spiritual eye would be perfect. And that is why my son became who he is today.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1093)