Seventy Years of Life: The Chazon Ish’s Remarkable Blessing

Between 1949 and 1953, Israel was struck by a devastating outbreak of polio. In 1950 alone, 1,621 Israeli children were diagnosed with the disease. Polio attacks the nervous system, damaging motor neurons and often causing severe muscle weakness or complete paralysis. Many of the children did not survive, and many others were left permanently disabled.

Among the victims was a two-year-old boy whose parents had recently immigrated from Hungary and settled in Bnei Brak. His condition worsened rapidly, and the doctors had nearly given up hope. The medical team believed there was little chance the child would survive.

A Blessing Against All Odds

Brokenhearted and desperate, the parents turned to the Chazon Ish, the towering Torah leader of the generation. Known as a spiritual guide for countless people, he listened carefully as the parents described the child’s condition and the grim prognosis given by the doctors.

After hearing everything, the Chazon Ish responded calmly.

“The child can still live another seventy years.”

For the shattered parents, these words were like life-giving dew. At a moment when all hope seemed lost, the blessing of the Chazon Ish gave them strength to keep believing.

Remarkably, the child soon began to show signs of recovery. Although the illness had severely damaged his nerves and left lasting weakness, he slowly regained life and strength. Against all expectations, the boy survived.

Seventy Years Later

Years passed.

On 24 Tishrei 5780, seventy years after that blessing was given, the great gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ullman passed away at the age of seventy-two.

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ullman was that very child.

The boy whom doctors believed would not survive grew up to become a distinguished Torah scholar. Despite fragile health that reminded him of his early illness, he devoted his life to Torah with extraordinary diligence.

He served as a dayan in the halachic court established by his primary teacher, Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner, and later joined the senior panel of dayanim in Rabbi Wosner’s renowned beit din. He also headed the kollel for married scholars of the Satmar community in Bnei Brak and served as the head of the rabbinical courts in Modi’in Illit.

The blessing of the Chazon Ish had been fulfilled almost exactly.

The child whom doctors believed would not survive was granted seventy years of life, and he used those years to build a life of Torah, dedication, and service to Hashem.