Amazing Miracle: The Kidney Stones Disappeared in the Blink of an Eye

The amazing and strengthening story of Rabbi Aharon Schwartz, which has been adapted into a short original film and has begun to spread throughout the world, is as follows.

"One day in April of this year (5779, 2019), it was in the middle of winter, I went to sleep at ten o'clock at night and woke up at two-thirty with terrible pain in my abdomen. I didn't know what it was; I was doubled over in a nightmare of pain and didn't know what to do. I felt like I was choking from the pain. I got down on all fours, and my wife woke up in a panic and asked me, 'Aharon, what happened?'"

"I thought my time was up; I thought I was going to die. I knew it was something internal. For two hours, I endured agonizing pain and didn't know what to do, until about four o'clock, when I called my doctor, Dr. Itamar Raz, with whom I also work."

"I told him, 'Itamar, I am suffering from terrible pain and I don't know what to do!' He asked me a few questions, and after I answered him, he told me that it was likely kidney stones. I asked him what to do about it, and he replied that in such a situation, only a hospital could help."

The story from the perspective of Dr. Itamar Raz

"At four in the morning, Rabbi Schwartz called me," begins Dr. Itamar Raz, sharing his perspective on Rabbi Schwartz's story. "'I have terrible pain,' he tells me. I told him it sounded like kidney stones and he must go to the emergency room immediately. He answered me that he had decided to go to the Rav (the great tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a). I told him to do what he felt was right, but to know that in order to treat this stone, only a hospital could help."

"A stone stuck in the kidney means two days of terrible pain with strong painkillers, like morphine and that whole family of drugs. In such a situation, one usually arrives at the ER, where they are later released for a CT scan through the HMO," Dr. Raz concludes his medical diagnosis.

I stopped by the Rav just before continuing to the hospital

Rabbi Aharon Schwartz continues, "I already thought I was going to be taken to the hospital, but I said that I wasn't going without seeing the Rav first. I said to myself, the Rav is usually awake at such hours, four or five in the morning, after a whole night of activity. It is likely that one can find him at one of the locations he visits in Jerusalem."

"I was in pain and trying to reach the Rav's gabbai by phone; at five o'clock, he answered me. It turned out the Rav was near my house. I told him I had to see the Rav, and I added that he should make sure to get me in quickly because I could barely move. I was sure I was on my way to the hospital; I packed a bag with clothes, and I arrived at the Rav's in terrible pain, barely able to move."

"Do you know what this is?" the Rav asked me

"B"H, they let me in quite quickly; they brought me into a meeting the Rav was having with people. I approached the Rav with great difficulty and said to him, 'Rav, I have crazy pain in my abdomen. The doctor says it is suspected kidney stones and I am on my way to the hospital.' The Rav answered me, 'What, really? Oy, oy, oy.' I didn't understand what the Rav meant, until he continued and said, 'Do you see the drops on the table? Do you know what this is?' 'Homeopathic drops,' I answered."

"'Bring the drops, do you have the strength to open them?' I answered yes. 'I don't believe you,' the Rav said quickly, 'Open, open, I don't believe you. Now put a drop on your tongue.' I put a few drops in before the Rav said to me with humor, 'If you die, let me know.' And he continued, 'Come at six-thirty for Shacharit prayers.'"

"I am looking and cannot find where it disappeared to"

"I kissed the Rav's hand, I went to leave the room, and I couldn't believe what was happening to me. I looked for the pain; I walked outside toward the balcony and realized I had no pain. I looked for that same bitter and terrible pain I had arrived with, at a time when I couldn't move—after all, I was on my way to the hospital. I kept looking for the pain and I just wanted to jump and dance with joy, to suddenly feel my body after two and a half hours of writhing on the floor in pain. I really wanted to dance, I wanted to jump; I couldn't believe it. I looked to see if maybe a little pain remained, maybe here? Maybe there? I scanned my whole body—no pain. Boom, in a second, all the pain flew away."

The doctor tells of the second phone call from Schwartz

"'I heard there was some miracle here!' Dr. Raz returns to summarize the event as it appeared from his side. 'Yes, do you remember that at six in the morning, after I left the Rav, I called to tell you that all my pain had disappeared?' answers Rabbi Schwartz. 'After you left the Rav, you told me that you took drops and everything passed, a wonder of wonders. There are miracles, there are tzaddikim in the Jewish people,' continues Dr. Raz. 'The tzaddikim are alive and exist; may it be His will that we merit to draw close to them, both to our holy Rebbe and to the tzaddikim who live in every generation.'"

"My Rav took the pain away from me in a second, it's amazing"

"It was simply completely over. I went from the mikvah straight to prayer; I waited for the Rav to arrive for prayer. The whole prayer was like fire and flames, shouting, B"H, as is customary. I forgot about this nightmare, that I had been blessed with kidney stones for two and a half hours. I took my own personal moral lesson from the incident, what Hashem was hinting to me during those hours. Everyone takes for themselves those thoughts, that teshuvah, that feeling that suffering should bring—a moment of teshuvah, a broken heart, and submission before Hashem."

"I had what I had, but apparently it was enough. My Rav took the pain away from me in a second, it's amazing," concludes Rabbi Schwartz with a smile.