Yehuda Landau grew up in Bahia Blanca, a seaside resort in southern Argentina.
The strongest Jewish memory from his youth was his Bar Mitzvah.
On his 13th birthday, his mother took him to shul, “according to an ancient Jewish custom.”
He was given an Aliyah to the Torah, and put on Tefillin for the first time in his life… and the last time for many years to come.
As an adult, he became a popular radio host.
He felt happy and secure, but with his assimilated background, he was very skeptical about Yiddishkeit… until a Shaliach of the Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Friedman, came to town.
Gradually they got to know one another.
They had many arguments and discussions that lasted deep into the night.
Yehuda liked Rabbi Friedman.
He was the first person Yehuda had ever met who really lived up to his beliefs. A lot of people talk about their beliefs. Rabbi Friedman really meant it.
Still Yehuda was still very hesitant about becoming observant.
In 1988 (5748), three years after he had met Rabbi Friedman, Yehuda and his wife celebrated the birth of twin boys.
However as time passed they noticed that one of the children, could not open one of his eyes. The doctors said that he had a ‘lazy eye.’
They tried various methods of fixing the problem... but nothing helped.
They took the child to the biggest eye doctors in Buenos Aires.
When the boy was three, they operated surgically… but that too did not work.
One time, by chance, Rabbi Friedman left a Chabad publication in Spanish in Yehuda’s house. One of the stories caught his eye, and he read it from beginning to end.
It was about a wealthy man who had never been blessed with children.
His Chabad rabbi had often urged him to go to 770 to ask a blessing from the Rebbe, but the man always found an excuse not to go.
How could a blessing from a Rabbi help, when the biggest doctors had failed?
Also he didn’t want to be embarrassed by being asked for a big donation.
Our feet take us where we are meant to go.
Once, when the man was in New York, he “accidentally” met his local Rabbi on the street.
Now he had no excuse.
Together they went to 770.
When they got there, they were told that the Rebbe was not seeing anyone at that time.
What a let-down.
“Don’t worry,” his Rabbi said. “It’s almost 3:15. Soon the Rebbe will daven Mincha. We can stand here in the hallway by the elevator. When the Rebbe walks by, you can ask a brocha.”
At 3:40, as Mincha finished, the door opened, and the Rebbe came out.
The man took a step forward.
Then suddenly he just broke down, crying bitterly. “Rebbe,” he said, “what is all my money worth if I have no children?”
The Rebbe asked him, “Do you put on Tefillin?”
The question caught him off guard. “N-no,” he replied. “I am not religious.”
The Rebbe smiled, “You are a businessman.
I am also a businessman.
I will make a deal with you.
You should put on Tefillin, in which it is written, ‘V’shinantom l’vonecha, - And you shall teach the Torah to your children,’ and in the merit of this important Mitzvah, Hashem should bless you with children.”
It was the most moving religious experience of his life.
The man began putting on Tefillin, and a year later his wish was fulfilled when his wife had a baby boy!
What a story! Yehuda was amazed.
That same night Yehuda had an extraordinary dream. In his dream he saw the Rebbe standing in the middle of the room, looking at him with a kindly gaze.
"Why are you so sad?” the Rebbe asked.
At first Yehuda was afraid to look at the Rebbe, and could not answer. Then in his dream, he told the Rebbe that it was because of their son’s health.
The Rebbe smiled and said, “Does your son wear Tzitzis?”
He shook his head.
“Let him wear Tzitzis, and everything will surely work out in the best possible way. ”
In his dream, Yehuda wondered, how could Tzitzis help his son’s eye condition?
Then the Rebbe said, “In the Torah it says about Tzitzis, ‘You should look upon them.’
If you will do your part here, Hashem will surely do His part from Above.”
Suddenly
repeated by dovid shalom Pape
Suddenly, Yehuda woke up. He was covered in a cold sweat. He felt very confused.
He had not yet begun to wear Tzitzis himself, and he really didn’t want to start.
He was astonished by what the Rebbe said in his dream.
He had never known that it said you should look at the Tzitzis.
It was only when he checked up on it in a Siddur, that he found out that it was exactly as the Rebbe had told him in his dream.
He was torn. He desperately wanted his son to be well, and his dream seemed very real. But how could he give his son Tzitzis, when he didn’t want to wear them himself?
A fierce struggle was taking place in his heart.
Shortly after that, he met a trusted friend, Rabbi Yossi Benshimol, in Buenos Aires. Yehuda told him about his dream.
“Look Yehuda,” his friend said, “It’s all in your hands now.
People can dream about a lot of things, but when a person dreams about the Rebbe, it’s not just his imagination.
The Rebbe told you how you can help your son. If you don’t do it, it’s your responsibility.”
Yehuda spoke to his wife about his dilemma.
She had a good idea. She said, why not get a pair of Tzitzis and start wearing them... just for a test period... at home... just to see how it feels.
Ok. He did that.
But as soon as the children saw that he was wearing Tzitzis, they said they also wanted to wear Tzitzis, and demanded a pair for themselves. That was the end of the test period.
Four months later, Yehuda took his son to the eye doctor for a follow up visit after the operation.
Suddenly doctors were rushing into the examination room from all sides. It made him very nervous! Had something terrible happened?
Then the top doctor came out and said, “Mr. Landau, What did you do? Did you try something that we don’t know about? Did you do some alternative kind of healing?”
Yehuda shook his head. What was the doctor getting at?
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” the doctor said. “Your son sees just fine. It’s as though he never had a problem. I’ve been the Head of this Department for many years, but this goes beyond anything I ever learned or experienced in medicine. Your son’s problem with his vision is gone!”
Yehuda was overcome with happiness to hear this great good news.
He told the doctor about his dream.
“Mr. Landau,” the doctor said. “Your dream is totally unreal; but it is more real than what has happened with your son. His condition is completely cured!”
Several years later, in 1995, Yehuda joined a group from Argentina, that was making a trip to 770. It was arranged that they should be admitted to the Rebbe’s room.
Yehuda was sure that this would be a special experience, and decided that he would say Tehillim (Psalms) the entire time.
But when he came to the Rebbe’s room, he was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion and could not say a word.
No one could understand what was happening to him, and he could not explain.
He recognized the room. It was the same room in which he had seen the Rebbe in his dream… the same bookshelves, the same desk, the same chair.
Eventually Yehuda and his family moved to Israel, where they live now. His son’s vision is perfectly normal.
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