Rabbi Sends Holy Apparition, Saves Troops, Son Claims

Where is Rabbi…

…Yudel Rosenberg when you need him?

Ynet reports:

Rabbi Eliyahu: I sent Mother Rachel to Gaza
Former chief rabbi responds to rumors of woman appearing before troops, warning them of danger in Operation Cast Lead, says, 'The story is true, I sent her'.
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner: A sucker will believe anything
Kobi Nahshoni

Two days have passed since the ceasefire in Gaza took effect, and one of the most widespread legends of the days on the battlefield has received rabbinical approval. On the last days of the war, rumors spread about a woman presenting herself as Jewish matriarch Rachel appearing to IDF soldiers and warning them of explosives, booby-trapped houses and terrorist ambushes within the Gaza Strip.

Former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, who is considered one of most prominent religious leaders in Israel, recently prayed several times at Rachel's Tomb for the safety of the troops. When asked about the rumor, the rabbi said, "The story is true. I sent her."

Due to his illness, the rabbi has not been giving his weekly sermon in recent months, but has been replaced by his son, Safed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu. In Monday's sermon Rabbi Eliyahu junior commented on the rumor, saying, "If I hadn't heard this story with my own ears, I wouldn't be able to tell it, but I met the head of a Yeshiva who told me, 'This is not a fabricated story. I know the man this happened to'.

"He gave me the man's name, and then asked, 'Say, does this have anything to do with the fact that Rabbi Eliyahu left the hospital and went to Rachel's Tomb before the war? He went there once, twice, three times, and didn't go anywhere else'.

"To be honest, I was afraid to ask the rabbi," Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu continued. "When we go to him with such stories, he always throws us out, so I approached him with caution. I told him, 'Father, you know, they are saying such and such happened in the war. Should we believe? Should we not? Is it true? Is it a lie?'

"He looked and me and said, 'Yes, it is true. I told her, I told Rachel there is a war, don't stop yourself from crying, go before the Holy one blessed be He, pray for the soldiers that dedicate their souls for the people of Israel, that they may strike and not be stricken.'

"I said to him, 'Then you should know that she really did appear there," and he asked, 'Did she tell them that I sent her?' This story that I am telling you is fresh and hot!"

Rabbi Aviner: These things need proof

Despite the craza caused by the rumors, there are some who are not so quick to believe the story. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner commented on the legend in his video blog saying, "On such matters they say, 'A sucker will believe anything'."

According to Aviner, Rachel is with the Jewish people at all times, and there is no need for any evidence to show that she revealed herself to anyone personally.

"There are two types of extremism," Aviner continued, "One type of extremism is to deny miracles, and another type of extremism is to believe when anyone tells you about a miracle that there really was one.

"We may have been imagining. Sometimes a person imagines things, a sane person. Sometimes one is under pressure, tired, hungry, and thinks he sees something that isn't there, and later fosters it in his memory. This is called FMS – false memory syndrome."

"It may have been a gentile woman. There are also good Arab women – not all of them are, but there are some. And maybe someone dreamed up this idea to strengthen faith, and to say, 'you see? There are people that go to war and there are people that don't go to war but they pray, and because of them, Rachel came to save us.' That's why such things need proof."

Aviner summed up his speech saying, "There were soldiers that fell in battle and Rachel was not there.

"There were also soldiers who won battles due to their great dedication and wisdom, and courageousness to fight, and Rachel was not there, meaning, Rachel was not there in the image of a woman guiding them and telling them go this way, go that way, shoot from here, shoot from there."

UPDATE 9:40 am – Josh Waxman has traced the hoax to the blog of a kiruv 'professional,' Lazer Brody.

Comments

[rabbi yaacov]

Rabbi Aviner is a wise man.

[Hometown Postville]

It's likely that more than just one person prayed to Rachel. If the soldiers felt a presence that gave them moral support, it is G-d they should be praising. The truly humble do not call attention to their deeds or claim responsibility for what only G-d can do.

[Archie Bunker]

The Wall St Journal noted once in an editorial that pathological Liberal liar and former CNN "investigative reporter" Peter Arnett bears an uncanny resemblance to the Creature on Young Frankenstein.

[Paul Freedman]

The son could be making it up. The father is incommunicado.

[josh waxman]

the quote in the article, "The story is true. I sent her." is not an accurate translation. it was separately that the story is true, and separately a rhetorical question, possibly in jest, "Did she tell them that I sent her?" You can see this on the video for yourself.

That said, the story, as it is being told over, has several marks of being an urban legend. There may be some kernel of truth to the story, that an Arab woman (because of righteousness or self-interest) tried to prevent the soldiers from walking into certain houses, and perhaps even moved from house to house using tunnels Hamas constructed, and that the houses were booby-trapped. But that she spoke in Hebrew, that she said her name was Rachel or Rachel Imeinu, or that she actually was, are in all likelihood untrue. And Rav Eliyahu's "endorsement" tells us nothing.

You can see my analysis of all of this here:

http://parsha.blogspot.com/2009/01/did-rav-eliyahu-confirm-miracle-of.html

KT,
Josh

[Boruch]

My family has heard stories of the similar vein from strangers who knew our family in Turkey and Greece. Our great uncle was a MaKacabel, and the FRirst Chief Rabbi in Greece, and Turkey. When family tells stories, it is one thing, and when you hear these same stories from total strangers that grew up in the same towns in Turkey, and Greece, they take another turn. Yes I believe in these things, and the POWER OF PRAYER FROM RIGHTEOUS INDIVIDUALS.

[uncle joe mccarthy]

Boruch

when i was a kid, strangers told me the story about evil people putting razor blades in apples on halloween...didnt make it true

this is an attempt to turn this war into something it was not

it was bad when the anti religious zionists denied the miracles which occured during 48, 56 and 67...their denial that hashem had anything to do with them not being totally wiped off the face of the planet, has allowed them to rethink their entire being in the land of israel

to create miracles when there are none to be found is equally wrong

thank god that more soldiers were not killed or injured, but no rabbi conjured rachel

what god did was work with the hearts of fatah, who relayed intel what homes were boobytrapped, and where snipers were hidden

those fatah members are now paying with their lives...and no matter what they did in the past...they deserve admiration for those acts

[ML]

Archie makes a comment having nothing to do with the post and makes an ad hominem attack.

Bravo! And think of the Torah you could be living!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Even the Catholic church demands proof for alleged miracles. I believe in the righteousness of Mother Rachel, but we are not to rely on miracles. Maybe it's Wendy, Caspar's friend :-)

[A, Nuran]

And I've heard stories that no mosques were destroyed during the huge tsunami a few years ago, that visions of the Virgin Mary protected Catholic soldiers and that diseases are routinely cured by invoking Jeebus' name. Although in the last case I must point out what Charles de Gaulle observed at the huge pile of canes and wheelchairs at Lourdes "Not one wooden leg."

This sort of superstitious magic is a firmly-rooted part of human psychology. We seek to control that which is beyond our control. So we invent rituals and imagine intervention by spirits that make us feel protected from chaos and in control of the cosmos.

The yiddishe talibani can't even take the physical steps necssary to help prevent rocket attacks such as joining the Army. So they go OCD over the top about the state of the mezzuzahs, something which they can control. They can't claim direct credit for soldiers surviving a battle. So they make themselves believe that Rabbis are demigods who wield Divine Power over the physical world and spread rumors about how Their blessings (and the prayers of Their faithful) protect the soldiers more than rifles or helmets.

It's pathetic, really. But it's also very human and difficult to eradicate.

[maven]

Boruch:

In Turkey, Persia, and other countries in that area, it was Serach Bat Asher who tended to be the miraculous apparition. I suppose nowadays, if Serach Bat Asher showed up, most people would say "who are you"?
If one looks through the literature, one won't find magical appearances of Rachel Imenu in this way. And I don't understand, why not Leah, Rivka, or Sara?
Other than the midrash about her burial site, this would be another contre-factual thing (ie, something that is presented as old, but is really new, much like Edith Piaf songs translated into Ladino and then recorded by amateurs as old songs from their nonnas) that Hirhurim readers will tell us we have to believe or we are merely orthoprax, not orthodox.

[Paul Freedman]

Yochanan: Wendy, Caspar's friend? Couldn't be, at the least that whole arrangement is an Isur Yichud ;-)

[Derech]

So is Mother Rachael the same thing as Virgin Mary (aka Istar et al?)

[maven]

I once had a schizophrenic Jewish patient who explained to me that Halloween came about because in reality, at that time of year, the spirit of Mother Rachel permeated the atmosphere, etc (its very hard to reproduce schizophrenic speech).

Anyway, as I wrote above, the folkloric apparation who would save people, etc, was Serach Bat Asher.

[Archie Bunker]

ML must really be getting desperate if he has to resort to attacking me over the Peter Arnett comment.

Even CNN saw fit to fire that liar and Saddam collaborator.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Derech: Esther is Ishtar, and Mordechai is Marduk.

Maven: If we're not Orthodox, or even Orthoprax, perhaps we're Paradox.

[Al]

Ok Ok Ok.. I have to admit it.. It was me dressed up as a woman telling the sodiers what to do !

Come on.. I can not beleive the things I am rqading here.. 'Aviner continued, "One type of extremism is to deny miracles'".. is that extreamism ? to deny the complete suspention of reality as it exists ? It always seems to be somehting that no one can validate in any substantial way... if miracles exist, then they exist in impact on the world not in mechanism... Ihope you all know that god did not make a dead woman literally appear on the battle field. Its way more likely that a good muslim woman decided to help.. but that would be less interesting, wouldnt it.

Finally.... where is this old rabbi and what is his illness ? Is it Alzheimers ? Is he dillusional ? That would be the more likely explinaiton for his statements.

Now that I have done.. bring on the condemnations.. tell me how odd it is that I do not want to assume that fantasy like things happen in the battle field... but tell the families of the dead soldirs where Rachel was for their kids... enough already with the fantasies.

[maven]

YL:

I think by definition we are, if we both have the right degree. But I think we fall more into the "viaducts" category (marx bros reference alert).

[ML]

Archie: How was what I posted an attack?

Delusions of grandeur, indeed.

Now what were you posting of consequence again?

[Rachel Batya]

I don't know why you guys are missing what's right in front of you. Obviously, it was I who appeared to the troops.

[maven]

So, RB, are you the cause for Halloween?

[Rachel Batya]

No. I was going to be, but they insisted on all the garish costumes, and I said, well then, forget it. I guess someone else got the gig.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Maven: Good one!

[Isaac Balbin]

I don't really care who was responsible, but if anyone thinks they have connections, please ask them to get Gilad Shalit out of there.

[Coconuts]

Vy a duck?

Holy apparition? everybody knows there ain't no Sanity Claus...

[Holy Cow]

Shmarya, you may find this interesting. It gives the name of the person whose fellow soldier claims having the conversation with Rachel.

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/2009/01/he-saw-rachel-imenu.html