One of my first Rabbinic posts was in Birmingham, Alabama. While living there, my curious two-year-old daughter managed to reach the container of cotton swabs and inserted one deeply into her ear,” related Rabbi Moshe Stern, Rabbi of the Shaarei Tefillah congregation in Toronto, Canada. “We were devastated when the doctors informed us that she had apparently suffered permanent loss of hearing. She underwent two complicated, but unsuccessful operations to repair the damage. ‘There is nothing more we can offer,’ the specialists said.

“We asked the Rebbe for a blessing. Surprisingly, he suggested that we check our mezuzos, especially the one in the child’s room. Only a few weeks earlier I had purchased excellent new mezuzos for nearly every room in our house.

“I removed the mezuzah , but there was no need to have it checked professionally. The very first word, Shema ‘Hear’ was defective.”

The Rebbe also advised us to search for a doctor in a different city to continue the treatment. We discovered a doctor of international renown in Memphis, Tennessee.

After the ‘hearing’ of the mezuzah on my daughter’s door was repaired, the doctor performed an operation that enabled her own hearing to improve.