The Mysterious Ailment | Rabbi Shlomo Landau

Less than two years ago, there was a baby in Eretz Yisrael that developed Pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. The doctors were trying to treat it in the way that they usually treat it. But a day in, all of a sudden, the baby broke out in red splotches all over its body. The doctors were alarmed, but they were more alarmed when the splotches just spread from one end to the other, and the entire baby was one mass of red. Panicking, they called a consult of top specialists. There was a dermatologist there, and there was a pulmonologist there, and there was an allergist, and they discussed, and they examined, and they tried to figure it out, and they could not figure out what was wrong with this baby. One can understand how nervous and how panicky the parents were, if the doctors, the specialists don't know what's happening. What are we supposed to think? What's going to be with our little Yingele? Later that day, the father happened to have gone to Daven מנחה, and when he sat down to Daven, he saw that there was one of these Weekly’s called Be’er HaParshah, and he opened it up, and what he saw there blew his mind. There was a story there about a Bachur in Yeshivas Yakirei Yerushalayim, that decided during Chodesh Elul that he would try not to leave the building of the Beis Medrash so that he shouldn’t have Nisyonos, he shouldn’t have challenges in Shemiras Haeinayim. About two weeks in, all of the sudden, he developed a terrible skin rash, and he didn’t know what to do, he really had to go to the doctor, but he didn't want to leave. He says, listen, if I have to, I have to. But that day by מנחה, a fellow walks in to Daven מנחה in Yeshivas Yakirei Yerushalayim, and someone says to the Bachur, that guy’s a dermatologist. He’s a skin doctor, go over to him. So somewhat shy and nervous, he goes over and he says, “I have a skin ailment.” And the doctor looks at him, and he reaches into his pocket, and he pulls out a small tube. He says, "Don't ask me why. Today, while I was examining a different patient, I had a sample, and I put an extra one in my pocket. Put this on, and you’ll be okay.” The Bachur used it, and it was gone within a day or two. This father reads this, and he says, this is incredible. With a commitment to Shemiras Haeinayim, who knows what could happen? And he says, listen, I’m going through a hospital. I’m in the hospital hallways. I’m in the ward. I’m in the hospital hallways, I’m in the ward, I’m back and forth. There’s a lot of challenges of Shemiras Haeinayim. I’m being Mekabel on myself to try my hardest not to go to places within the hospital that I don’t have to go to, so that I can upgrade my level of Kedusha, I can upgrade my level of Shemiras Haeinayim. That night, a male nurse walks into the room. He takes one look at the baby, and he says to the father, “Are you giving him formula?” He says “Yes.” He goes, “You have to change the formula. Something is wrong.” “I have no say over my baby’s nutrition. He’s being very moderated.” He says, “Don’t say anything to anyone. The next time they come to feed the baby, ask for a different formula.” The father says, “Okay.” They come later to feed the baby, and the father says, “No, that formula is not good. Do you have a different one?” They said, “Yeah, we can give the hypoallergenic one.” By the next day, the baby’s rash had cleared away, and the baby was on the heal. One day of commitment to Shemiras Haeinayim and everything was clear. Think in our own lives, there’s definitely areas in our life that are somewhat splotchy. There’s things in our life that are unclear. With a commitment to Shemiras Haeinayim, with an upgrade in our Kedusha, we too, hopefully, can merit miraculous results.