Rabbi Akiva Eiger, known for his brilliance in Torah and his boundless compassion, made it his practice to visit the sick regularly, offering them comfort and encouragement. One day, he entered the home of a man whose condition had deeply deteriorated. The doctors had tried everything and had already given up hope. But Rabbi Akiva Eiger did not.

He remembered that the royal physician — the doctor who treated the king himself — was expected to be passing through the area. Using his connections with influential members of the community, he arranged for the doctor to examine the man.

The king’s doctor came, examined the patient thoroughly, but finally said with sadness, “There is nothing I can do. The case is hopeless.”

Rabbi Akiva Eiger looked him in the eye and asked, “Tell me honestly — if the king himself had this illness, would you give him the same answer?”

The doctor paused. “No,” he admitted. “There is one possible cure. But it is so rare and difficult to obtain that only a king could even attempt to find it. There is a specific type of bird that lives deep in the desert. If it is captured and prepared in a precise way, it could potentially heal this illness. But who can find such a bird? A king could send a hundred hunters, spare no expense, and maybe — just maybe — succeed.”

Rabbi Akiva Eiger heard those words and turned to Heaven.

“Ribono Shel Olam,” he cried, “How can it be that Your child, a Jew, is worse off than a non-Jew? If a flesh-and-blood king can send hunters to search for salvation, surely You, the King of all kings, can bring the healing that this man needs!”

At that very moment, before his tefillah had even fully ended, the window flew open — and in came a bird.

Not just any bird. The exact species described by the doctor. The cure, hand-delivered by Hashem Himself.

The bird was prepared precisely as required, and the man recovered.