The earthquake disaster in Turkey reached horrifying proportions.

And it's vitally important to read what the Chafetz Chaim said about earthquakes (and other disasters) in far away places and what it means for us.

You've probably received emails and read abundant articles and quotes about what the Chafetz Chaim said, why Hashem brings earthquakes to the world, and so on.

And yes, there are segulot and practical steps to take to help oneself and others during an earthquake, chas v'shalom.

But if you're starting to feel overwhelmed, just take a step back and bring it down to basics: temimut/temimus.

Be tamim with Hashem.

In our daily morning prayer service, the following is found in most Orthodox prayer books (and yeah, the English translation for line 3 got switched with line 4, but the Hebrew is fine):

Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshas Vaeira 5 – Always Enthusiastic revolves around getting back to basics.

It's all about really enjoying your prayers and also just the basic text of the Torah.

It's about looking at a verse with fresh eyes and saying, "Wow, isn't that just so totally awesome!"

Get emotionally involved in the text.

Probably all of us have some favorite stories from Tanach, a favorite verse or chapter of Tehillim/Psalms, a favorite prayer (or even a favorite verse from within a prayer).

Depending on our background, we connected to them as children or, if we only encountered them later, we connected to them as teenagers or adults.

Part of what held our fancy lay in the newness, the freshness of the experience.

(That happened to me as a teenager with Tehillim, which I wrote about here: part-i-books-that-changed-my-life-tehillim.html.)

As usual, Rav Miller combines his wittily related real-life observations (both the religious foibles & the religious successes) with practical tips for how to start heading in the right direction.

This post is shorter than usual. As I read through the dvar Torah, I just felt so good. From the initial sweet story of the Chafetz Chaim, I started smiling.

So I don't have stuff to pour out in writing this time. 

It just feels so nice to get back in touch with that initial appeal & fresh "ooh, shiny!" appeal—like a religious "Eureka!" moment.

Enjoy!

In the spirit of knowing that even a seemingly small spiritual act wields mind-blowing power...

Recently, a lovely person sent me the video clip of a wonderful frum woman (I don't know who, unfortunately) describing the experience of her great-nephew: 23-year-old Chaim Peretz of Mexico, the son of her nephew Moshe Peretz. (Yes, real names here.)

​Chaim received a phone call from a fellow Mexican Jew of around 60 years old, whom Chaim barely knew. This Jew invited Chaim to a seudat hoda'ah (a feast to show gratitude to Hashem after a miraculous event).

Upon arriving, Chaim met 17 other men whom he either did not know or did not know well.

As this disparate group of men chatted with each other, they asked each other, "Why are you here?"

The answer from each one was: "I don't know."

Chaim discovered they had nothing to do with each other and nothing to do with the man who invited them—just like Chaim.

They came only because this man asked them to come. After all, a seudat hoda'ah is a pretty meaningful & important event, even if you don't know the person.

Finally, the host began his explanation for the seudat hoda'ah and the seemingly random invitees.

He described how a bout of covid left him so sick, he ended up hospitalized for a month until his soul left his body.

In other words, he technically died.

When his soul left his body, he felt himself rise upwards until suddenly, his deceased mother grabbed his hand and said, "What are you doing here? Go back down!"

But he said, "Ma, I want to go back down, but I don't have the power! I don't have the strength!"

​Pointing down, she said, "Look, look! Look at that! THAT will give you the power!"

​And looking down, he saw 18 random men in random places saying Tehillim/Psalms for him at that very moment.

(Meaning, the ill man's name was probably publicized in the community to say Tehillim for him, and that's what these random men were doing at that very moment.)

​His mother continued, "Look! They're giving you the strength to go back down. Go! Go, they're giving you the strength."

​And he managed to return to his body & recover from his illness.

And the 18 random men he saw?

Those were the 18 men he invited to the seudat hoda'ah.

"And here I am recuperated," the host continued. "And I'm making this seudat hoda'ah to tell you of the power of the Tehillim, how much power it gives."

​And the most shocking part?

Chaim only said ONE chapter of Tehillim.

Just one perek.

Yet even that one perek made enough of an impression in Shamayim to show Chaim (among the others) as part of the group giving strength to the soul of this ill man...and contribute to saving the man's life.

Never underestimate the power of even ONE perek of Tehillim.

It doesn't matter who you are. Your prayer MATTERS.

The following is found in Kedushas Levi by Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev in 1798.

(The Chatam Sofer says that crying in front of the candles ensures your prayers will be answered.)

Each night of Chanukah holds a different & extra-special power for certain types of prayers.

It goes as follows:

• 1st night: Pray not to be lonely or depressed.
• 2nd night: Pray for shidduchim (getting married), shalom bayit (harmonious relations with your family)
• 3rd night: Good, happy, & healthy children
• 4th night: 4 Imahos/Matriarchs — to be a normal person in my 4 walls — of true essence
• 5th night: Chamisha Chumshei Torah — daven that your husband should be a talmid chacham & so should your sons & sons-in-law 

On the 5th night more of the Menorah is lit up; daven for more light in your life — daven for a revelation.

• 6th night: Simcha. Joy. You can have everything and still be sad...so daven for simcha.
• 7th night – Happy Shabbat. Zemirot & divrei Torah at your Shabbat meals. Shabbat is source of all blessing.
• 8th night - Daven for barren women to become mothers of healthy children.

8 is above nature – an extremely powerful day to daven.

The author also says that if you are planning to start something new — if you start on Chanuka — it will be blessed & more likely to succeed.

This is a follow-up post to this one:
the-view-of-a-non-breslov-wife-mother-regarding-rosh-hashanah-in-uman.html

One evening last week, my son's friend, the God-fearing motorcyclist, was riding down a street when a car unexpectedly & illegally turned into his lane (even though the motorcyclist had the right-of-way).

Unable to brake in time, the God-fearing motorcyclist hit the passenger side of the car at 50-60 kph (31-37 mph), totaling the motorcycle and banging up the motorcyclist pretty badly.

He was wearing a state-of-the-art helmet and a protective suit, which probably saved his life or at least saved him from more severe injuries.

He is still in the hospital with fractures & it took a couple of days for his memory to start functioning normally. But all signs indicate he'll recover well.

So the thing is...until recently, my son was always on the back of that motorcycle. The two loved riding around together.

My son had a good helmet, but no protective clothing.

And under normal circumstances, my son would be on the motorcycle with him at that time of evening.

So why wasn't he?

Over the past month, circumstances arose to cause my son to stop riding with his friend. In an unusual but welcome chain of "coincidences," my son found a better outlet for himself.

Also, looking at a photo of the crunched motorcycle, it clearly shows Hashem's Mercy that the rider isn't more severely injured than he is.

After all, I personally know of motorcycle accidents in which (rachmana litzlan) the rider was killed on impact, dismembered & bled to death, or literally broke his collarbone in two.

The deaths occurred despite the state-of-the-art protective clothing & helmets worn by the riders.

So what happened here?

Without ruach hakodesh, none of us can say for sure.

But some of us strongly believe their tefillot said with such kavanah throughout Rosh Hashanah in Uman, plus their passionately recited Tikkun HaKlali (said so many times throughout their week there) sweetened their dinim for the year ahead of them.

The inyan here is about tefillah b'kavanah from the heart.

THAT changes things.

Especially on a day as powerful as Rosh Hashanah.

Despite not being a Breslover myself, I've felt intrigued for years by the whole Uman-in-Rosh-Hashanah minhag.

Breslov writings have always spoken to my heart & soul, even though we are not Breslov chassidim.

I would even like to go to Uman myself to say Tikkun HaKlali at Rebbe Nachman's grave site.

On the other hand, I also had questions about leaving Eretz Yisrael for Uman to daven Rosh Hashanah by the kever (grave site) of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

(Like, if you want to spend Rosh Hashanah in a holy place, then what's wrong with the Kotel or the grave sites of Rachel Imeinu or Rebbi Shimon in Meron? Why davka Uman?)

Likewise, it's not clear whether Rebbe Nachman included those living in Eretz Yisrael in his directive to spend Rosh Hashanah at his grave site in Uman.

In fact, some Breslovers conduct a special gathering in Eretz Yisrael for Rosh Hashanah.

(For more on this, please see Rav Itamar Schwartz briefly discussing the issue here: question.bilvavi.net/blog/2021/10/09/uman-rosh-hashanah-5782/)

At the same time, I cannot deny the powerful experiences many encounter during Rosh Hashanah in Uman.

(A really absorbing compilation of the most extraordinary of these experiences can be found in The Stolen Light.)

Fortunately, one of my teenagers went to Uman for Rosh Hashanah this year (2021/5782), so we received a lot of insight into the whole dynamic.

We never expected this particular child to go. I have other kids more likely to go, kids who expressed a desire to go.

But never this one.

Yet around 3 weeks before Rosh Hashanah, he suddenly expressed a desire to go to Uman.

My husband & I offered to help him financially (even though he was working & could manage it), but we didn't think the trip would work out. After all, he didn't even have a passport.

But he simply started the process & it was so weird how things went.

Obstacles kept popping up, then immediately evaporated.

For example, the only appointments left for passports were after Rosh Hashanah.

Fortunately, a friend's mother worked at the passport office in Ministry of Interior, and she offered to help.

Unfortunately, she ended up not being able to get him an appointment.

Fortunately, there was another way to do it at the airport (a couple of weeks before the day of departure).

So he and his God-fearing motorcyclist friend got to the airport & waiting on line until the early morning hours.

Then just before his turn, they stopped accepting one kind of payment & only accepted a kind of payment he didn't have with him. (Can't remember which way it went, but it was credit card vs. cash).

He quickly said Rebbe Nachman's Tikkun HaKlali, and literally the turn before his, they decided to accept his form of payment.

"Rabbeinu was with me," said our son later. "Rabbeinu helped us."

My husband and I looked at each other. Did this kid just say "Rabbeinu"?

(Rabbeinu — our rabbi — is how Breslover chassidim refer to Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.)

They managed to get a flight with a 4-hour stopover in Turkey. (This was ridiculous because the flight was well under 2 hours from Eretz Yisrael to Istanbul & then again from Istanbul to Kiev.) But no direct flights were available at that point.

I was concerned because he gets headaches & dizziness when he doesn't eat properly & regularly, plus he doesn't like fruits or vegetables, which is all there is to eat for kosher food outside Jewish centers.

(But he ended up being fine from beginning to end, baruch Hashem. Lots of siyata d'Shmaya.)  

A week before the flight, he came down with a cough. And travel regulations also necessitated a covid test.

"I'm sure it'll come out positive," he moaned.

I thought so too.

Then he didn't get the results back on time. So up until the day before he needed to leave, we didn't know if he could actually go.

His flight was around midnight Saturday night and he only got the results back Friday afternoon.

And the test came back negative.

So off he went with his God-fearing motorcyclist friend and a few others to Uman, via Istanbul & Kiev.

The English-reading night-course he'd been taking came in very handy as he ended up being the only one in his group who could read or speak English.

The flight attendants on Turkish Airlines were amazingly patient & courteous, despite serious cultural differences & language barriers.

Or maybe by now, they're simply used to all kinds of Jews traveling between Eretz Yisrael & Kiev at this time of year.

For example, the flight crew told the passengers the plane would only take off in another 40 minutes.

So one of the Breslovers decided that was a good time to daven Shemoneh Esrei. 

And he was right.

Rather than standing during the flight or blocking a passageway, it's better to utilize the delay time on the ground.

Except that...the flight suddenly got bumped ahead & take-off was happening in another 10 minutes.

How often does that happen, that you end up taking off much EARLIER than announced?

The flight attendant tried very nicely asking the Breslover to take a seat & belt up, but he didn't even seem to hear her amid his lofty davening.

So my son nicely explained to her what was going on & approximately when the guy would be finished.

Unlike the American airlines making headlines in recent years, not one flight attendant yelled at or attacked the unwitting Breslover, nor called the police to have him removed.

They adjusted to the situation, the Breslover finished & sat down, and then the plane took off without further ado.

​On all my son's Turkish Airlines flights (4 in all, round-trip), the flight attendants showed a lot of sensitivity & accommodation toward the Uman-bound passengers, most of whom did not speak English. (My son ended up translating a lot.)

All the Uman-bound passengers were nice, but did not always understand what was going on.

​And yes, we later wrote a letter to Turkish Airlines praising them for their excellent service & outstanding flight attendants. 

It was a long ride from Kiev to Uman (around 4 hours), but the apartment my son shared with others was really nice.

Also, the atmosphere was extraordinary.

And back home, we could actually feel it!

I know that sounds weird, but we felt that a close family member in Uman uplifted our Rosh Hashanah back in Eretz Yisrael.

I guess it's the soul connection.

Not only that, but our son managed to get right up against Rebbe Nachman's tomb on the first day and say Tikkun HaKlali several times for each of us.

Because everyone else around him was davening at the top of their lungs, singing at the top of their lungs, and dancing for all they were worth, my son felt perfectly comfortable shouting each word of Tikkun HaKlali at the top of his lungs.

He is usually a pretty reserved fellow.

But that is the power of Uman: a certain spiritual liberation, a certain freedom of expression.

Anyway, it takes a long time to say 10 Psalms in that manner, but he felt great every moment of it. And he did it several times.

My son stayed in Uman for around a week & met tons of people he knew, from both his present & past, including former teachers.

He also adapted well to the Ukrainian mentality.

For example, while using an ATM machine, which he'd set to English, everything suddenly reverted to Russian.

And he could not extract his credit card.

At that moment, a Ukrainian man passed by, so my son asked him for help.

After taking a good, long look at everything, the Ukrainian claimed he didn't understand it either, and prepared to go on his way.

So my son handed the man 5 Ukrainian hryvni (60 agurot/19 cents), and suddenly, the man understood how to work the ATM!

He extracted my son's credit card with no problem.

Who knew understanding could be bought for only 5 hryvni?

My son also learned one should not look any of the numerous patrolling Ukrainian soldiers in the eye. If you do, they immediately ask you to empty your pockets & search you for contraband. Or whatever.

His cough subsided somewhat & immediately upon coming back to Eretz Yisrael, another mandatory covid test came back negative.

Then his coughing stopped completely, and yet another mandatory covid test given a week after his return came back positive.

"I don't get it," I said. "Now that he davka feels good, he's sick?" 

(That is a story for another time.)

So...since we are long past the whole to-Uman-and-back saga, and I've had lots of time to chew over everything, here are my conclusions:

• Rebbe Nachman's Promise

Before he passed away, Rebbe Nachman called upon 2 of his close disciples to witness a special vow:
"If someone comes to my grave, gives a coin to charity and says these ten Psalms, I will pull him out from the depths of Gehinnom. It makes no difference what he did until that day, but from that day on, he must take upon himself not to return to his foolish ways."

While the condition about refraining from returning to "foolish ways" goes lost on many, the promise itself proves undeniably compelling.

This is a strong pull for anyone serious about self-improvement & feels genuine concern about what will be with him in the Next World.

• What's so special about Uman?

Uman is a place where you can let it all hang out, spiritually.

You can shout prayers at the top of your lungs, sing out, dance in the streets, and so on.

Any inner joy you feel can be expressed freely at any moment, with no embarrassment or any other kind of restraint.

No repression whatsoever.

​Total freedom of spiritual expression.

No one looks askance at you for praying with loud fervor or for singing religious songs & dancing in the street.

Religious emotion experiences complete liberation.

This means someone like my son, a generally more constrained & quiet fellow, can access the heart in a way he never could before.

This also means you're never bored in Uman.

For example, there are always people dancing in the street. So if you feel bored at, say, 2:43 in the morning, you can simply get up and go join the guys already dancing there.

Another appealing aspect of Uman (which connects to the unbridled spiritual expression) is the unconditional acceptance of every Jew there, regardless of how he looks or his flaws or background.

You can go there as you are with all your issues...and feel comfortable.

And yes, this "anything goes" attitude enables unfitting behavior too.

There is always a downside to any good thing.

Klippah (spiritual impurity) always seeks to attach itself to holiness & spiritual purity.

But for someone who wants the truly spiritual experience particular to Uman (especially around Rosh Hashanah), that truly spiritual experience is terrifically accessible & almost impossible to access anywhere else.

• What is so special about Rosh Hashanah in Uman?

Because of the atmosphere described above, the davening ends up being an unparalleled experience.

It's much longer than at most other shuls around the world, but the atmosphere makes it exhilarating so you don't feel like, "Oy, this is so long! When do we get to eat already?"

Even guys who don't generally like davening or who don't even make it to a Shabbat minyan regularly find themselves heading out to daven with anticipation & then davening every single Rosh Hashanah tefillah with gusto.

Like my son said, there is nothing like answering Kaddish with 20,000 fellow Jews shouting the same words at the same time.

​Think about it: It's praising Hashem with one heart & thousands of voices together.

Also, because it's Rosh Hashanah, everyone is more or less in the same frame of mind, which contributes to the whole atmosphere.

• The Reality of the Post-Rosh Hashanah Uman-Attendee

Here was the big chiddush for me:

I realized, despite many compelling stories to the contrary, one should NOT expect a person to do teshuvah in Uman.

Even after Rosh Hashanah in Uman—and even though Rosh Hashanah is all about self-transformation & renewal at the deepest levels.

Miracles or salvations?

Yes!

I've personally known people who found a shidduch after davening by Rebbe Nachman in Uman or claimed to be cured of a disease.

I personally experienced spiritual "lifts" or little salvations when people davened for me in Uman—even before I knew they did it.

But for someone do actually do teshuvah in the way we think?

Well...listening to my son list all the people he met in Uman got me thinking.

Some of the people were in a good place spiritually speaking. And some were not.

Of the ones not in such a good place spiritually (and whom I knew from their better days), many had been to Uman before, yet remained in their less spiritual state (as far as appearances go, anyway).

Furthermore, I've known people taken as boys to Uman by their fathers, and who went to Uman as teenagers or older, and they either didn't stay so frum. Or they aren't frum at all. Or they even went to jail for some offense or another.

I'm not saying that's the majority—it's NOT!

But it seems the experience of Rosh Hashanah in Uman is the experience itself, and not any visible long-term imprint on the person himself.

Meaning, we all know tons of people who did teshuvah after:

• visiting the Kotel (that happened to me)
• spending Shabbat amid Orthodox hospitality
• listening to a Torah class
• attending a Torah class
• attending an Orthodox seminary or yeshivah
• reading a Torah book
• coming to Eretz Yisrael
• getting mentored by a caring frum individual
• seeing authentic frum behavior (kiddush Hashem, good frum Jews living their normal frum lives, etc.)

But we often don't know people (whether already frum or secular) who made a huge long-term change in themselves after Rosh Hashanah by Rebbe Nachman in Uman.

Come to think of it, I also don't know anyone who did teshuvah after davening at Kever Rachel Imeinu in Beit Lechem or Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron.

Or maybe people did, but I didn't hear about.

​For sure, people get their prayers answered at those places (although Hashem always reserves the right to say no).

Again, it's important to differentiate between:

• having prayers answered

and

• self-transformation/improvement (teshuvah)

I asked my husband & sons about this too.

(That sounds pretty narrow, but my sons are all different from each other with access to different crowds in society, plus my husband knows lots of different people around the country.)

One of my sons used to hang around with Breslovers & even went a couple of times to daven with the Breslov sunrise minyan in another city (courtesy of his friend's father who drove them there at around 4 in the morning).

And they all said the same thing: They also never met anyone who did teshuvah after davening by Rebbe Nachman in Uman.

So what does that mean?

Are the stories true?

Yes! 

If someone says they did teshuvah, they made a long-term change in their middot or lifestyle after davening by Rebbe Nachman...I believe them!

But I realize now that it's rare.

If it was something likely to happen, we'd know at least one person who did it.

But we don't. (Hopefully, you do. But we do not.)

Why is that important?

Because I wanted to go to Uman myself & send others there for purposes of self-transformation.

And I know others desiring the same.

And now I realize the intended purpose probably won't happen.

Again, it COULD happen. It occasionally happens.

But it probably won't & people should realize that before they invest so much time & money into it.

If a person wishes to go Uman to get prayers answered or for a heightened spiritual experience, then that's a very good reason.

Answered prayers & heightened spiritual experience are likely to happen during a visit to Rebbe Nachman's kever.

​And that's a good enough reason to go. (Or to send someone.)

​But not teshuvah.

So how do I feel about the whole "Uman Rosh Hashanah" experience now?

Very positively.

I would love for all my sons & my husband to experience at least one Rosh Hashanah in Uman.

There's profound value in extremely heightened davening, especially throughout such a critical time of the Jewish year.

Like I said, we could feel it back in Eretz Yisrael because we had a son/brother there.

The achdut & achvah & chessed & joy permeating the atmosphere (both emotionally & practically), plus the unparalleled opportunity for unfettered spiritual expression & truly accessing the heart (which Rav Schwartz says in harder for men than for women — and this is exactly what Uman gives men)...

...that is extremely precious.

And such powerful davening will always stay on a person's cheshbon, no matter what.

It stamps an imprint on the person's soul.

No matter what, he'll always have that spiritual heart experience in his portion, with all the reward & benefits that entails.

And I think that's very valuable & worth it.

Related post:
https://breslov.org/q-what-is-the-purpose-of-tikkun-klalli-and-why-specificaly-those-ten-psalms/

Hashem really does help us when we yearn to do the right thing.

For example, I found myself in an uncomfortable situation with a neighbor in regard to shidduchim.

I wasn't sure if I handled a situation properly, with proper respect & derech eretz.

I asked my husband & someone else, both of whom said I handled it just fine & the neighbors understood just fine, no problem.

I wasn't so sure.

Unfortunately, based on the dynamics & personalities involved, it was a situation in which apologizing or even just asking about the issue could make things worse; bringing it up could create a problem that, for the moment, existed only in mind.

So I spoke to Hashem about it a couple of times, requesting that He enlighten me about what I needed to do (if anything) and whether the situation really lay at rest or not.

I didn't invest hours of hitbodedut in this; just briefly explained my concerns & doubts, and asked for help, for a sign one way or the other.

And I did this only a couple of times.

The first happy indication occurred when I went to knock on another neighbor's door to request something—and right then, the married daughter of the neighbor (about whom I felt concern) came down the stairs with her young children.

She greeted me with cheerful warmth, giving no vibes of coldness or hesitancy.

This was the first sign that as far as this young woman went, everything was fine.

(The situation primarily involved her & her mother, so the fact that Hashem brought us to the stairwell at exactly the same time showed me how much He cares & orchestrates things to the second.)

But still unsure how my neighbor felt, I briefly asked Hashem again to help me figure things out.

A knock on the door Rosh Hashanah morning brought me face to face with that same neighbor. She held a platter of homemade dairy delicacies, which she handed to me with a gracious smile & a warm wish for a good year.

Thank you, Hashem—thank you for both the reassuring answering to my quandary and also for all the lovely cheesecake & alfajores!

Later, she sent her teenage daughter with a platter of succulently prepared meat, chicken, and rice.

​What a delicious relief!

Despite the influence of a culture that insists we be totally confident at all times & that many issues we encounter with others should be dismissed as "their problem" (as long as we've done our best—or at least assume we've done our best, even if maybe we haven't)...it's okay to feel nagging doubts.

We don't always know.

And that's okay.

Sure, the problem might lay within ourselves. Maybe insecurity, overanxiety, a sense of over-responsibility, and so forth.

But maybe not.

While society is quick to label such a person as "overthinking things," "overanxious," "co-dependent," "needy," "obsessive," "neurotic," "too sensitive," and so on, you are who you are & whatever level you happen to be on now.

And you need to deal with yourself where you are right now & sort things out in a way YOU can understand.

Side point: I also noticed that simply calling people names—including psychology labels—has never been helpful. It's not like people who, say, overthink things magically stop overthinking just because you tell them. Most people need help & strategies to overcome a behavior, and not just be told, "Here—this is what's wrong with you."

And that is indeed if there is actually something "wrong" with you, and not just that the other person finds you annoying because he or she resists thinking about others or examining their own behavior, and therefore accuses anyone who does of "overthinking things."

Reaching out to Hashem & saying, "Help me. I don't want to be a source of pain for another person. Please show me the truth of the matter"—this usually brings an answer because THIS is one of the things Hashem wants most.

He wants us to be nice to each other—sensitive, compassionate, and caring.

Hashem also wants us to make amends when we've stumbled.

It's important to know that Hashem helps regular flawed people, as shown above, and even without investing hours of prayer in the issue.

Sometimes, people don't bother trying because it seems too confusing or too complicated, or too much trouble.

And yes, sometimes it IS pretty confusing or complicated.

But before dismissing something as too confusing, complicated, or too much trouble, it's worth turning to Hashem as you would a truly trustworthy Best Friend, a Best Friend Who can & wants to help you with anything & everything.

Just a few brief words, expressing, "I feel bad about this, not sure if it's just me, and not sure what to do about it, but would really like some kind of indication how I'm supposed to proceed. If everything really is okay, then I'd like to know that for sure. If everything is not okay, then I'd like to know what's wrong & how to fix it."

So I didn't invest in the conventional methods to work out the above issue because I needed to know FOR CERTAIN, and no method was going to give me that certainty—except asking Hashem for help.

And I'm far from being on a high level, so I don't deserve direct intervention, but Hashem gave it to me anyway because He truly helps us do the right thing.

​He's Compassionate like that.  

For 2 other examples of how this works:
​​www.myrtlerising.com/blog/how-hashem-helps-scrub-the-slate-before-the-day-of-judgment

when-its-hard-to-say-youre-sorry.html

A wonderful reader just sent me the following information, indicating that today, the 23rd of Sivan (June 26 this year) is an auspicious day for tefillah. 

Why?

Indicated by the following:

• In Megillas Esther (8:9), the verse states:

ויקראו סופרי המלך בעת ההיא בחודש השלישי הוא חודש סיון בשלושה ועשרים בו... ויכתוב ככל אשר ציווה מרדכי אל היהודים... והעיר שושן צהלה ושמחה

On the 23rd day of the 3rd month--“Hu Chodesh Sivan” -the king’s scribes wrote all that Mordechai had dictated to them.
   

• Achashveirosh had permitted them to write in the letters--”Katov Be’eynechem--whatever is favorable in your eyes, in the name of the King...”

 

• On 23 Sivan, 355 BCE, Hashem overturned Haman's decree to destroy the Jewish people.

 

• The Luach Davar B’Ito writes that one should recite the relevant verses in Megillat Esther (Esther 8:3-17)

 

• The Lubavitcher Rebbe said, that this is a most auspicious day - as it says in the Megilla that on Chof Gimmel Sivan, "the scribes of the king wrote everything Mordechai commanded".

 

• The King also refers to the Melech Malchei Ha’malachim. 

 

• Every Yid can decree whatever he wants, and the scribes of the King will assure that everything is done according to his/her will.

 

• And from In the Days of Mashiach: 23rd of Sivan - Muchan L'Tovah:

In the name of the Makover Rebbe, Zt’l, the day is Mesugal [auspicious] for nisim v’niflaos [miracles & wonders], as implied by the Pasuk referred to above--“Now, write [on this day] about the Jews what is favorable in your eyes in the name of the King”--which also refers to the King of the World. Thus, just as Mordechai subsequently left the King with many royal garments (ibid., 8:15)…so can we!

(It's very worth reading the whole article.)

May we all find the opportunity to use this special day and may all our tefillot be answered l'tovah.

(And thank you, wonderful reader, who alerted us to this special opportunity.)

I just discovered this story now, in a lecture by Rabbi Yehonason Alpren, entitled The Witch Avoided Eye Contact with the Orthodox Jew:
video-tov.ml/watch/nmXfjGV5wNI 
(completely shemirat einayim-friendly, including no sidebar of images or ads) 

If you can't manage to watch it, here's a synopsis (spoiler alert!):

A frum friend of Rabbi Alpren was earning his doctorate in psychiatry at a university in America. 

At the end of the course, the staff introduced a variety of alternative practitioners to the students: a herbalist, a hypnotist, and so on.

One of the last practitioners ended up being a witch, who showed up for around 3 sessions with the class. 

​Throughout, she demonstrated how she used her powers for "healing."

​The frum student, who'd spent a year or two at a yeshivah in Yerushalayim, sat toward the left corner at the back of the lecture hall.

The witch explained her methods of black magic & spiritualism for "healing" people & "fixing" their problems, then ended the first session with an offer to demonstrate her powers.

​After requesting that everyone raise their hand, she turned to one of the students who raised a hand, stared at that student, then revealed something personal about what that student was thinking.

Everyone was shocked.

But the frum student felt suspicious. 

​At the second session, the witch performed the same demonstration again. Yet something about her behavior caught the eye of the frum student: When she asked for volunteers, she avoid the left side of the room—the side on which the frum student sat.

​He felt she was avoiding him.

After that second session, the frum student approached his professor and requested that at the next lecture, everyone should refrain from raising their hand; only the frum student would raise his hand to volunteer.

When the professor asked why, the frum student explained his feeling that the witch made every effort to avoid him, and he wanted to see what would happen if they left her with no other choice but him.

The professor agreed to this experiment.

So at the third session, only the frum student raised his hand to volunteer. 

But the witch refused to look in his direction.

Finally, someone pointed out the frum student raising his hand.

​But she still refused to look at the frum student.

​After a bit, with everyone staring at her, she felt compelled to turn and set her gaze on him.

​She turned white.

She vomited.

Then she fainted on the spot.

​Medical assistance arrived & revived her.

When asked her what happened, she explained that the first time she entered the lecture hall, she felt somebody inhibiting her powers—somebody sitting in the left-hand corner.

​"What's wrong with him?" they asked her.

"I can't read him," she said.

Why not?

"He believes in God and he prays to God," she said. "I can't touch him."

This left everyone dumbfounded.

Even more thought-provoking, a Jesuit priest sat in the same class.

Yet she only sensed an obstruction from the frum Jew.

Interestingly, she picked up on the Jew's belief & prayer when he wasn't even praying, not wearing tefillin, or doing anything else particularly religious. (But come to the think of it, he must have been wearing a kippah & tzitzit. So he was doing something religious at that moment, even though only the kippah would've been visible from her position.)

It's like the Shacharit he davened earlier stuck to him without his even realizing it.

And how much kavanah did he even daven with? Maybe a tremendous amount, maybe average, or maybe distracted...who knows?

If you pay attention to the words of Shacharit (morning prayer service), particularly the initial blessings & requests, you see a lot of heartfelt pleas for protection. Pitom HaKetoret (which not everyone says regularly) also provides powerful protection against all sorts of things—including kishuf (sorcery, magic, occult).

But there's still more to the story...

A year or 2 after the above incident, this frum student's rabbi took him to meet a prominent Rosh Yeshivah, one of the great Torah Sages of Bnei Brak (probably Rav Schach).

​Upon hearing the story, the Rosh Yeshivah said, "What are you so amazed about? Didn't you know the power of prayer? Do you know what you are, what happens when you pray to God and you believe in God? You have such enormous powers of holiness—you're a different person!"

​And that's a fundamental truth with which we often lose touch.

Related posts:

• Part 1: What's So Bad about Kishuf? A Look at Halacha, the Rational vs the Supernatural, the 80 Witches of Ashkelon, and the Machshefah Midwife of the Me'am Lo'ez

​

• Part II: What's the Problem with Kishuf?–A Torah Discussion of Witchcraft, Sorcery, and the Occult from Both the Rationalist & Supra-Rationalist POV

 

• Part III: What's So Bad about Kishuf? – What's Wrong with White Magic? LOTS!

This post has been a long time in the making because ever since my husband first told me the story, he graciously went back & forth between my questions and his friend's answers.

Also, while the friend (who is the grandson of the rav in the story) allows his family's real names to be used (and even published a book in Hebrew, which included the story below), I hesitate to use the real names only because certain aspects end up in a negative light (like how most of the rav's descendants ended up divorced, irreligious, dead, etc.).

It's a bizarre story, but the lesson rings clear in the end.

​So let's get started...

In Morocco, there's an area pronounced gutturally as "Dahra" (spelled in English today as "Draa").

It hosted a thriving Jewish community, producing quite a few rabbanim proficient in what some call "practical kabbalah."

For Moroccan Jews, Draa became the go-to place if you needed protective amulets. 

Family names like Edry, Edri, and Deri indicate Jewish families who come from Draa.

Anyway...a certain family headed by a talmid chacham came from Draa to Eretz Yisrael in the 1950s or 60s and settled in the North, not far from the Golan Heights (prior to 1967, when the Golan was still under Syrian occupation).

Before we continue with the family's personal story, we need to discuss the concept of spiritual protection within Judaism.

​Within Judaism, different levels of spiritual protection exist.

Many of our prayers contain protective elements: the morning blessings, Pitom HaKetoret (the Incense Offering), Shemoneh Esrei, the Bedtime Shema, and so on.

These are beautiful prayers & very holy, very humble, and beloved to Hashem.

​Prayer in general provides wonderful protection & blessing.

Objects of protection include a mezuzah on every doorpost of a home, holy books in the home, and so on.

Tsniyut (dignified & modest behavior & dress) provides both practical & spiritual protection for both men & women.

(Although men's tsniyus receives less emphasis, we tachlis see that every single major talmid chacham dresses with full modesty regardless of heat & humidity, and entire religious communities of men dress with full modesty and would never even entertain the idea of appearing on the street wearing, say, shorts no matter how blistering the sun.)

Learning Torah (and assisting others in learning Torah) remains one of the most powerful forms of protection.

Other Jewish concepts clearly provide all sorts of protection: shemirat halashon (guarding the tongue), shemirat anayim (guarding the eyes), and so on.

The Hebrew word shemirah can be translated as keeping, guarding, securing, or protecting.

All the above consist of following basic halacha, so people aren't doing anything unusual (although they're still doing something heroic & special) by performing the above.

So those are the standard types of protection and if you invest only in these for the rest of your life, you have made a wonderfully effective & holy investment.  

The next category is one that the vast most majority of Jews—including very holy Sages—tend to avoid.

And this category consists of appeasing impure entities (demons). 

Not everyone agrees it's even okay to perform acts of appeasement, but those who do rely on what Rav Chaim Palagi (1788-1868) wrote in Chapter 34 of Chaim BaYad. (Rav Chaim Palagi is best known for his halachic sefer Kaf HaChaim.)

At this point, I must thank my husband for reading through the difficult print & esoteric Hebrew in order to explain the ideas to me—couldn't have done it on my own. Thank you, Husband!

​In Chaim BaYad, Rav Palagi allows acts of appeasement, which he likens to appeasing human officials, like how we bow before a non-Jewish king—not because we worship him, but as part of cultural etiquette.

​This ranges from passive customs observed by all frum Jews—such as not sealing up a window in a room without making some kind of an opening in that same room—to other more proactive acts of appeasement not performed (or desired) by the majority of Jews.

It depends a lot on the holiness of the person performing the act.

Mostly, such acts aren't necessary (i.e., you're better off learning Torah or saying Tehillim), so it's best to stay away from the whole topic—which, as stated, exactly what the vast majority of Jews do: They stay away from it.

​Today, even if you hear of people seeking out these more proactive forms of appeasement (and most don't), it tends to be not-so-frum Jews seeking out rabbis to perform these acts for success in business.

The truth is, these traditional-yet-not-so-frum people would be MUCH better off guarding their eyes, davening in a minyan EVERY time EVERY day, and committing themselves to other fundamental halachot before turning to these types of appeasements.

Also, the minority of rabbis willing to carry out these acts (for a nice price, of course) aren't generally the best of the rabbinical lot...far from it, actually.

And it's questionable whether Rav Palagi himself would approve of their actions...especially regarding the price they demand in return for the "favor."

(Especially because, as stated, most of these people aren't so frum—barely or even not at all shomer Shabbat. Rav Palagi would certainly insist on their keeping the minimum of mitzvah observance and not only rely on mystical appeasements.)

​Another issue is where the more passive appeasement ends & a more proactive (and dangerous) role begins.

Judaism, being a truly pure & holy system derived straight from Hashem, definitely provides real protection.

That should be enough. We shouldn't feel the need for more.

Yet relying on that protection might make a person feel a bit too comfortable messing with these entities because he truly knows (unlike non-Jewish practitioners) how to best protect himself from harm.

The problem is that even the wisest of all men, Shlomo Hamelech, ran into trouble dealing with these entities.

​So ideally, Shlomo Hamelech's experience should be a lesson to everyone else.

Before we continue, we need to understand something about the very real fear Jews in Eretz Yisrael felt BEFORE we all saw how Hashem allowed us to emerge as victors (albeit with the agonizingly high price of many Jewish deaths).

Those of us who live with the modern history of Medinat Yisrael have become accustomed to miracles:

• ​The 1948 War of Independence? Hashem clearly on our side! How else?

 

• The 1967 Six Day War? An impossible & obviously miraculous victory!

 

• The 1973 Yom Kippur War? THANK You, Hashem, for yet again outdoing the impossible!

 

• All those scuds falling all over the place during the 1990-91 Gulf War? Of course hardly anyone got hurt—that's how it always goes!

(Yet what's missing in the hype over the early victories is the very real human toll. The Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael paid a very high price for these early miracles.)

But before these early miraculous victories occurred, things looked really bad.

REALLY, REALLY bad.

Vastly outnumbered by the surrounding countries, the massive enemy troops, the enemy's superior amounts of equipment & weaponry, plus the enemy's thirst for blood, vengeance, and feeling super macho...these attacks really seemed like they might be the end of the Jewish presence in Eretz Yisrael.

Remember, prior to the 1967 Six Day War, the Syrians held "the eyes of the country"—the strategic Golan Heights.

In addition, the threat of mass genocide & the savagery of the enemy soldiers struck fear in the hearts of Jews everywhere.

Stories of mutilation of the bodies of dead Jewish soldiers—and even more chillingly, reports of mutilations committed against live, but helplessly wounded Jewish soldiers (not to mention the horrific abuses committed against civilians)—imbued the Jews with desperate terror & dread.

​So this rav living with his family in the North, not far from the Syrian border, saw the situation prior to the 1967 Six Day War and felt compelled to help by any means possible.​​

​ANY means possible.

And he had means others did not.

So just to recap: Back in Draa, the rav already developed solid experience in communicating with entities for protective purposes.

He sincerely intended to help others.

I don't (nor wish to) know the particulars, but apparently, it takes two people to perform the communication because the initiator needs the hands of another person, through which he sees the entities & communicates with them.

So the rav used 3 different people: his daughter, his son, and one of his talmidim.

He had other sons and daughters and talmidim, but these 3 were the ones who assisted him.

Combined with this, the rav went along the Syrian-Israeli border and placed amulets meant to stop the Syrian troops via the use of demons.

This actually isn't such a bad idea if you think about it.

Rather than stationing Jews to face military onslaughts, station demons!

Charedim against the IDF draft can demonstrate with signs saying:

Leave yeshivah students alone!
Draft demons!
Demons must share the burden!
Nezikin tzrichim l'set banatal!

(What else could Lapid have meant when he said "hatzibur kuuuulo"—the entire public!—must share the burden of military service? Let's be fair & share the burden across the entire breadth of ALL populations! Ha!)

This method obviously has the potential to save human lives, plus enables the continuous learning of Torah by our precious young men.

Also, it would be a lot more entertaining to see the above signs in the anti-draft protests.

After all, we're probably all tired of the same old slogans.

​Anyway...

The rav from Draa clearly possessed only the best of intentions.

And indeed, Israel won the war.

At this point, my husband & I segued into an interesting discussion.

How much did the rav's efforts help stem the enemy invasion from the North?

I tended to think that the copious prayers going on at that time made the difference.

Plus, Hashem had His Plans. He clearly did not want the Syrians to win.

My husband of course agreed with this, but he also felt that the rav's entity-enlisting amulets still contributed something.

(He's very into the power of the chachamim.)

Certainly, my husband has good a point, but nonetheless, I tend to think the prayers and merits of Torah learning & other good deeds decided the outcome, not to mention the then-recent genocide suffered by the Jewish people only a couple of decades prior to the Six Day War.

In other words, I think the war & the land would've been won without the amulets.

Really, it's impossible to know their specific influence on the outcome, whether it protected the locals or nationally, or how much they protected at all.

So, I'm just stating the opinion of a small person, that I firmly believe in the power of the prayers & merits of that time, not to mention the tragic kaparah of the Shoah that preceded the Six Day War.

At this point, I feel beholden to provide a disclaimer to any Jew-haters out there who think that Jews are reptilians, utilizing black magic to exploit the "goyims" (learn proper Hebrew conjugation, bigots!), worshipping entities (clearly a projection of the crazed haters themselves because pretty much every other religion worships entities EXCEPT Judaism), and all sorts of other irrational accusations.

These entities are notoriously impossible to control.

They don't like human beings and the only way to control these entities is compulsion—meaning, against their will.

Holy & knowledgeable rabbis utilize the best of protection, but sort of like how even very holy people don't go walking off cliffs due to the effects of physical physics (i.e., gravity), very holy people also don't summon entities due to the effects of spiritual physics (i.e., the entities' insatiability & inborn compulsion to harm humans). 

This is why even holy & knowledgeable rabbinical Sages stay far away from this type of activity.

For example, a Sage in the Gemara decided to view these entities, took precautions to avoid harm, but was harmed anyway. (His fellow Sages helped him recover.)

So even the greatest & holiest people get no guarantee against the entities.

And even if these entities respect the holiness & purity of a Sage, it doesn't make them nice.

That's why in Minchat Yehudah (Parshat Miketz), the demon pretending to be Eliyahu HaNavi did not simply 'fess up when confronted by the holy tzaddik Rav Yehudah Petayah.

When directly confronted by such Torah greats as Rav Shimon Aharon Agassi & Rav Yaakov the son of the Ben Ish Chai, the deceptive demon did NOT say, "Aw, shucks...I simply cannot keep up the act any longer in the face of such good & holy people! No, I'm not really Eliyahu HaNavi, but simply a demon named Elijah. I sure am sorry about fooling everyone."

No, the demon kept up the deception until Rav Petayah tried to force him to translate a verse from Yirmiyahu 10:11 (a prediction of the eventual destruction of demons) and the demonic pretender got really angry & swore never to return—and he didn't.

So the vast majority of talmidei chachamim (and regular Jews) completely avoid them because they're icky & psychopathic—plus one is likely to pay an unbearably high price for any perceived benefit (as you'll unfortunately see in a moment).

So here's what happened to the rav & his assistants & descendants later:

The talmid, whose hands the rav used in summoning demons, fought as a frum soldier in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, during which his body was riddled with bullets—yet he miraculously survived.

The twentysomething son died while riding a motorbike, which suddenly drove straight off the road & crashed.

(I know this kind of thing happens with motorbikes, but he wasn't reckless, there weren't problems in the road that might lead to this, and witnesses said it looked like he suddenly just drove off the road for no reason.)

The rav died relatively early, like in his fifties, leaving his faithful wife a widow.

And while the rav ended up with around 100 grandchildren & great-grandchildren so far, hardly any of them are frum & nearly all of them divorced once. Their second marriages aren't so happy either, and the one or two who remained in their first marriage also aren't happy.

But the most bizarre & disturbing outcome affected his daughter Ora (yes, her real name), who was in her early twenties around the time of the following story.

It was Ora's hands via which the rav used to communicate with the entities (in addition to those of his son and talmid).

After the rav died, Ora made the occasional journey to Yerushalayim to deal with acquiring property the family wanted to own there.

Back then, the bus ride from the North to Yerushalayim took hours & depended on erratic bus service. It was a big help to the widowed mother that Ora took this task upon herself.

On her last trip, Ora got on the bus in the North—but never got off.

She simply disappeared.

Now, I know what you're thinking because I was thinking the same thing: Surely she must have gotten off the bus and THEN something happened, rachmana litzlan.

But no.

The family made inquiries on their own, plus they reported her disappearance to the police who launched an investigation.

She disappeared en route. She never got off the bus.

There was simply no sign of her and no sign of criminal or terrorist activity involved in her disappearance.

​So, being from Draa & having lived with the rav all these years, the widow suspected the involvement of entities in Ora's disappearance.

​Despite the distance & wearying journey, the rav's widow made her way to Yerushalayim to speak with big rabbanim there, but no one wanted to get involved.

As stated earlier, these entities are extremely harmful & difficult to manage. In contrast to non-Jewish practitioners (priests, shamans, occultists, etc.), even a genuinely knowledgeable rabbi does not want to deal with these entities for any reason (BECAUSE he understands how things really work—unlike the non-Jewish practitioners).

Finally, the widow went to a Druze practitioner of kochot hatumah (impure powers) in the North.

​These types of practitioners—whether you call them demonologists or priests or sorcerers or shamans or whatever—also deal with these entities, but with impure manipulations. And just like human manipulators, these entities don't mind putting on an act as long as the practitioner gratifies their demands.

​Lacking any real connection to Hashem, these practitioners get fooled into thinking they possess real powers.

So this Druze practitioner contacted some demons who informed him that Ora was still alive, but held by the demons. They abducted her from the bus.

​Supplied with this information, the widow again asked qualified rabbis for help, but none of these big rabbanim wanted to get involved in retrieving Ora because in order to do so, they'd need to contact the entities themselves and then engage in some kind of transaction to free her—which is obviously extremely risky.

After all, that's how Ora got snatched in the first place, and what rav wants to risk his own family's well-being?

However, the Baba Sali was in Eretz Yisrael at that time (1964-1984), so why not ask him for assistance? Sure, he lived way down south in Netivot, which was a VERY long & unreliable journey from the North, but worth it.

However, the grandson of the rav (who provided my husband with all this information) said he didn't know why they didn't contact him.

​In Yerushalayim, some very great & holy mekubalim lived at that time, but the grandson wasn't sure exactly which ones were consulted. He only knows that out of all the rabbanim consulted, no one wished to get involved due to the great danger to both themselves & their families.

As an interesting correlation to this demonic abduction, Rabbi Wallerstein gave a famous lecture regarding a story in the Kav HaYashar that occurred a few hundred years ago.

Just to summarize it: A mohel is called upon by a wealthy stranger who needs to make a brit milah for his newborn son.

The mohel travels with the stranger in a luxury carriage for miles & miles until they arrive at a city populated by mansions hidden in a valley.

As the mohel prepared the baby for the brit milah, the baby's mother confides that she is a Jewish woman kidnapped by demons as a young girl. The entire luxury town consists of demons and the baby's father is a demon too. 

She tells the mohel how to prevent being trapped there too, and the story ends happily for the mohel, but no more is known about the young Jewish woman who remains behind with the demons.

Though she clearly lived a life of luxury, it doesn't seem like she enjoyed it so much. After all, she helped the mohel avoid her fate while making him promise not to let on that it was she who revealed the secret to him.

It all reminds me of Rebbe Nachman's story The Lost Princess, in which the viceroy initially finds the banished princess trapped in the opulent environment of a palace, surrounded by delicacies & the finest in music & entertainment—yet the lost princess called the environment the place of the Lo Tov—the Not Good (often translated as "the Evil One").

And just as the princess eventually merited rescue from the place of the Lo Tov, may Hashem rescue all of us from the Palace of the Lo Tov too!

​But back to our story...

Judaism places a powerful emphasis on being tamim with Hashem.

It's stated outright in the Torah: Devarim/Deuteronomy 18:13.

Tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha.

We need to go through our lives with wholehearted trust in Hashem.

Apart from normal hishtadlus, we need to rely on sincere prayer from the heart & improving our deeds, delving deep into our heart & psyche to accomplish this.

Sure, Syrian troops are scary.

But the best way to fight them is through teshuvah, prayer, tzedakah, and physical hishtadlus (like advanced weaponry).

On the other hand, if the Israeli government ever decides to abandon their pursuit of yeshivah bachurim in favor of recruiting demons, that might be a good idea.

Except that instead of well-meaning talmidei chachamim, we could have the Torah-hating Leftists summon the demons.

For example, just imagine if Tommy Lapid would have said, "Yair, come here please—I need to use your hands for something..."

And then later, while being chauffeured to dinner with fellow kofrim at a non-kosher restaurant, Yair suddenly disappears from the limousine!

The chauffeur alerts the Lapids: "One minute I see him uploading anti-charedi rants to all his social media accounts, and the next minute—my rearview mirror shows an empty seat, except for Yair's phone lying there with the annoying beeps of unanswered messages!"  

​A search reveals no criminal or terrorist activity. Illegal interrogations of hilltop youth ("We've never even been within dalet amot of a limo or a treif restaurant—leave us alone!") reveal no leads.

Finally, they consult a Hamas shaman, who informs them: "He's been kidnapped by demons. They're forcing him to serve as ringmaster for their circus, where he must now wear a black top hat for all performances, which so reminds him of charedim, he cries  and tantrums all day long." 

But getting back to reality now...

In the same chapter mentioned above (Chapter 34 of Chaim BaYad), Rav Palagi mentions the disturbing behavior of a specific group of Jewish women who discovered certain machinations to communicate with demons and compel them to do their bidding.

Again, they probably meant well. Women in those times possessed no rights in non-Jewish society. Outside of prayer, even Jewish women possessed little control over most aspects of life.

(The truth is that every person lacks control over life, but modern developments fool us into thinking we possess a lot more control than we actually do.)

Finances, childbirth, health, and many other aspects of life lay far out of control.

Back then, poverty meant life-threatening deprivation & hardship. Furthermore, antibiotics, infusions for those unconscious & incapable of eating, anesthesia, proper knowledge & sterilization of germs, and many other developments lay far in the future.

Also, their surrounding Muslim culture also indulged in this kind of behavior, making it seem normal. (Sort of like how we're influenced by our surrounding cultures today, even when Judaism outright forbids these influences.)

When the local rabbanim found out about their activities, they put a firm stop to it.

That kind of thing is completely forbidden in Judaism.

But what intrigued me about that anecdote was how the women removed the mezuzot from their homes in order for their machinations to work!

Meaning, even though they went through effective machinations to communicate with these forbidden entities, the entities still could not enter as long as the mezuzot remained in place!

This alone shows the power of a mezuzah.

And what is a mezuzah?

It's so little & passive.

​All in all, it's a little piece of kosher parchment with the routine Shema prayer properly inscribed on it by a knowledgeable scribe (sofer), and rolled up into a little case.

(For basic information about the mezuzah, please see here.)

While some mezuzot reside in beautiful cases, many reside in simple plastic cases.

​Yet see what powerful protection they provide!

In Parshat Bo (I think), the Kli Yakar states the importance of not using Hashem's Name to accomplish things.

He addresses using Hashem's Name verbally, but with regard to our story, what was in the amulets stationed along the northern border by the rav?

Not sure, but usually amulets contain holy verses, holy names, etc.

There are different kinds of amulets.

But again, the main lesson here is to go tamim with Hashem.

Just keep on doing what you're supposed to & that's more than enough!

We see, despite the Draa rav's personal holiness & knowledge, the rav's extremely well-intentioned yet controversial efforts led to negative consequences affecting the rav's family at least 2 generations later and long after the rav's passing.

The fundamentals of Jewish Law & Jewish belief provide wonderful blessing & protection!:

• Guarding your eyes brings blessing & protection.
• Guarding your tongue brings blessing & protection.
• Guarding yourself from anger brings blessing & protection.
• Keep Shabbat & Shabbat keeps you! (It makes more sense in Hebrew. Basically being shomer Shabbat is shomer you. The observance of Shabbat provides blessing & protection.)
• Prayer—particularly heartfelt prayer—brings blessing & protection.
• Tsniyus (dignified & modest dress & behavior) brings blessing & protection.
• Learning Torah brings blessing & protection.

Hashem gifted me with a tough example of this:

Once, due to rushed & stressful mornings, I decided to drop Pitom HaKetoret from my morning davening. Though it's an incredibly powerful part of davening with many compelling segulot, it's not strictly necessary, particularly in the obligations of Shacharit for women...and anyway, I found myself unable to say it with decent kavanah.

​Within a couple of days, one of the few people I know with psychopathic tendencies started contacting me after YEARS of no contact.

I could not figure out what the person wanted from me, but I knew from past experience that this person meant harm covered by a veneer of innocence or helpfulness. This person derived pleasure from hurting others & causing profound emotional distress.

As common among such people, this person reeled in other unsuspecting "helpers" to participate when I tried to avoid interaction.

This person also excels at trapping others into a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" dynamic, making it impossible to reach a healthy response to the person's deviousness.

Fortunately, Chazal states that if you encounter suffering, you must examine your deeds.

So I did.

I realized that the whole distressing saga welled up shortly after I dropped Pitom HaKetoret from my morning davening. 

You can bet that I immediately made it part of my regular Shacharit again.

Right after I started Pitom Ketoret again, the entire distressing situation evaporated as if it never existed.

No one from that whole set-up contacted me again—neither the person nor the "helpers."

The entire time I'd been reciting Pitom HaKetoret, I hadn't seen any obvious blessing or protection.

It looked like it wasn't "working."

And anyway, I hadn't been saying it with much kavanah.

But the entire time, it HAD been protecting me—I just didn't know it!

Why?

Because if the distress doesn't occur, then how can you ever know about it?

So that was a big lesson for me. Talk about tough love!

Just keep on doing what you CAN do and what you SHOULD do.

​Even when not perfect, it still contains value & power.

Tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha.

That's more than good enough!

I just have to add a funny-spooky thing that happened in conjunction with the story of the family from Draa.

As my husband & I discussed the particulars of the story with the rav & Ora & everything else, two lights in our living room suddenly went out.

My husband and I looked at each other and he gave me a reassuring smile.

But as a joke, I put my hands to my face & gave a fake quiet scream, like how they do in the stupid horror movies. (I made it quiet because we live in an apartment and it would be onaat devarim to distress my neighbors by screaming for real.)

The truth is that those 2 lights are connected & have flickered out on their own a couple of times before. 

But then, my husband's kosher Hadran cell phone clicked on all by itself while lying on the table out of reach of either my husband or I.

As we listened to the duet emanating on its own from the cell phone, I said, "Gosh, who knew that demons also like music by Yishai Ribbo and Amir Dadon?"

But my husband pointed out that his phone contained mostly songs by Yishai Ribbo and that any random press of the cell phone would most likely elicit a song by Yishai Ribbo.

Also, he noted that sometimes the cell phone clicked on by itself.

That's true; I've seen it happen.

But the timing, during that particular conversation, was freaky.

And funny. We laughed.

Also, we have kosher mezuzot—so nothing to fear! 

And there you go.

Related posts:

• Temimus: Wholeheartedness is Necessary to Build Torah Institutions
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Mitzvah of Mezuzah
• The Theory of Absolute (one of several times Rabbi Wallerstein tells his story of gambling addiction & exit; his story starts at around 15 minutes)
• Torah Perspectives on Addiction (one of several talks Rabbi Wallerstein has given on his prior addiction and lessons learned; I think this is one of the times when he tells the mohel story from the Kav HaYashar)
• Past posts about Rav Yehudah Petayah & his book Minchat Yehudah