A Medical Miracle and a Shofar’s Cry
In the month of Elul, 1963 (5723), Rabbi Yaakov Leif underwent open-heart surgery. At that time, such procedures were in their infancy and considered experimental and highly risky. He was hospitalized at St. Jude Hospital in Milwaukee and operated on by a skilled surgeon who had the courage to perform a procedure many other doctors feared.
With Divine assistance, the surgery was a success. Upon his recovery, Rabbi Leif wished to thank the doctor personally. Knowing the doctor had no prior connection to Judaism, the Rabbi brought his Shofar to the office. He explained that he was a "Baal Tokea" (one who blows the Shofar) and wanted to express his gratitude through its sound. The doctor was visibly moved by the haunting, ancient sound, and the Rabbi spent time explaining its spiritual significance.
A Soul Bound to Books
Rabbi Leif’s greatest passion was for his Sefarim. His library was his most precious possession. His love for learning was so intense that he was known to keep a book on the passenger seat of his car, glancing at it during red lights (a habit not recommended for others).
When it came time to return home from Milwaukee after his long recovery, he packed several large crates of his beloved books to accompany him.
The Case of Mistaken Identity: The Rabbi and the Athlete
Due to his weakened state post-surgery, the airline staff arranged for the Rabbi to fly in first class. Rabbi Leif was a man of very large physical stature. On the same flight was a young, famous basketball player—Lew Alcindor (who later became known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
Because of the Rabbi’s impressive size and the respectful way the staff treated him, the flight crew mistakenly believed he was a famous basketball star traveling in disguise. When the plane landed, the family picked up the luggage, but upon arriving home, they were shocked to find that the crates did not contain books. Instead, they were filled with high-end electronic equipment—top-of-the-line tape recorders and television sets.
The airline soon confirmed the error: Rabbi Leif’s crates of holy books had been switched with the luggage of Mr. Alcindor.
The Loss and the Discovery
The Rabbi was devastated. To him, those books were like his children. A week of agonizing uncertainty passed until the phone rang. A man named Walter Long was on the line. He explained that while driving on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, he saw objects flying out of the window of a car ahead of him. He stopped and found Hebrew books scattered across the highway. Inside one of them, he found Rabbi Leif’s name and phone number.
The Rabbi was overjoyed to have his books back, but deeply pained that they had been treated with such disrespect—thrown out of a moving vehicle onto the road. In a moment of pain, the Rabbi remarked in Yiddish: "The hand that did this—the hand that threw these holy books—should be punished."
Measure for Measure
A few days later, news broke that during a game, Kareem suffered a significant injury to his hand (breaking it after striking a goalpost or backboard in frustration). The family couldn't help but notice the "measure for measure" nature of the event, connecting the injury to the disrespect shown to the holy books.
