Rabbi Hirsh Altein suffered from a painful physical condition. Though all the doctors he consulted recommended surgery, his son, Rabbi Mordechai Altein, asked the Rebbe if his father should undergo the operation.

The Rebbe suggested he consult a specific physician who had treated the Rebbe, but implied that surgery was unnecessary and that the ailment could be treated with the application of an ointment.

Yet the doctor the Rebbe recommended also felt Rabbi Altein’s problem could be remedied only through surgery.

Rabbi Avraham Seligson, the Rebbe’s personal physician, heard about the matter and volunteered to offer an opinion. After conducting an examination, he agreed that the proper course according to conventional medicine would involve surgery. He reported this in a letter to the Rebbe, but stated that if the Rebbe advised that an ointment be applied, he would have a salve prepared.

The Rebbe advised Dr. Seligson to have the ointment prepared. Dr. Seligson did so, and Rabbi Altein’s problem vanished.