Rabbi Sholom Dovber Kalmanson, emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Cincinnati, Ohio, related this story.

“Rabbi Kalmanson?”

The man on the other end of the line sounded distressed.

“My daughter has started getting involved with all kinds of religions. She is now studying in Cincinnati. Please get in touch with her and have a talk with her to clarify some of her religious dilemmas.”

Rabbi Kalmanson got in touch with the girl, and was indeed able to help her clear up her inner confusion. Rabbi Kalmanson never met her father, David, but the girl’s relationship with Chabad became ongoing and consistent.

One day, Rabbi Kalmanson received another call from the family, not from David this time but from his daughter.

“Rabbi Kalmanson,” she said in tears, “my father suddenly went blind and the doctors don’t know how it happened or how to restore his sight. You must help us!”

Rabbi Kalmanson tried to calm her down, and he promised to write to the Lubavitcher Rebbe immediately and ask for a blessing. The answer he received was, “Consult with friends who are doctors.”

Rabbi Kalmanson conveyed this response to David, who went to additional doctors. However, they all said they could not find the root of the problem and so had no treatment to offer him.

The family consulted again with Rabbi Kalmanson, who reminded them of the Rebbe’s advice to speak to a doctor who was a friend. They met a doctor who fit that description, and he said that he had recently read in a medical journal about a doctor in New York who was working on developing a method for treating certain types of blindness.

“Maybe his approach will work in your situation,” the doctor told David.

At first, David didn’t want to travel to this doctor. He was despondent and offered his resignation at work, but the company refused to accept it.

After a lot of convincing on the part of Rabbi Kalmanson, David finally agreed to visit the doctor suggested by his friend, the doctor. He went to New York and underwent an examination. The results showed that his case perfectly fit the approach developed by that ophthalmologist.

“The cure entails a complicated surgery,” said the ophthalmologist. “It will take six hours. Then you need to rest for a few days, after which I will insert new lenses in your eyes, and after a few more days you will see again.”

An operation was scheduled, and on the appointed day David’s wife waited outside the operating room. Thirty minutes went by and the doctor appeared! She fainted on the spot for she assumed the operation had failed.

After she had been aroused from her faint, the doctor told her, “I started operating on your husband, and after half an hour I realized that I had finished whatever I had to do. I was completely bewildered. How could this be when the operation is supposed to take at least six hours? I opened my books again to see if I had forgotten anything and saw that I had done everything I was supposed to do. I have no explanation for this. It’s simply a miracle!”

When David came out of anesthesia, he discovered that he was able to see, without any additional procedures. The doctor asked him, “Who told you to come to me?”

David said, “An emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote to him about my situation, and he gave me his blessing and advised me to speak to a friend who is a doctor. That friend referred me to you.”

“The Rebbe? Who is he?”

“Don’t you know? Rabbi Schneersohn of Brooklyn.”

“Ah, Rabbi Schneersohn. You should have said so. Now I understand everything. He has already arranged a number of miracles for us.”