One Saturday night, shortly after the Sabbath ended, the phone rang in the home of Rabbi Leibl Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary. It was an elderly chassid, asking for a blessing for his wife. She had been in hospital for several days, and her condition was critical.

“Would Rabbi Groner ask the Rebbe for a blessing?” the chassid asked.

Rabbi Groner offered some words of reassurance, but told the chassid that it was often difficult to establish contact with the Rebbe on a Saturday night. He would try, but if it was not possible, he would pass on the message first thing Sunday morning.

As Rabbi Groner had suspected, he was unable to contact the Rebbe that night. Sunday morning, as soon as the Rebbe came to 770, Rabbi Groner told him of the chassid’s wife. The Rebbe listened, and told Rabbi Groner to call Rabbi Chodakov, the Rebbe’s senior aide.

Rabbi Groner got Rabbi Chodakov on the line. After speaking to the Rebbe for several minutes, Rabbi Chodakov told Rabbi Groner to call the chassid so that he, Rabbi Chodakov, could communicate a message from the Rebbe.

Several moments after Rabbi Chodakov spoke to the chassid, the old man called Rabbi Groner back and told him the entire story.

His wife had been ill for several days. On Friday night, her condition had become so desperate that the doctors abandoned hope. Early Saturday morning, however, her condition took a sharp turn for the better. Nevertheless, as soon as the Sabbath ended, the chassid had called Rabbi Groner to ask for the Rebbe’s blessing. During the interim, her condition continued to improve, and the doctors were confident that she would recover.

“Rabbi Chodakov said the Rebbe had instructed him to tell me that my wife’s condition had begun to improve about 5:00 a.m. Saturday. He emphasized that, in case I might think this was due to other factors, I was to tell you that her recovery came about because someone had thought about her at that time.”