Jerusalem – The Internet was abuzz with accounts of a mysterious woman in black named Rachel who several times warned Israeli soldiers in Arabic not to enter booby-trapped buildings. Was the story real, as claimed? Who was the saving angel?
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
According to Rav Shmuel Eliahu, the chief rabbi of Tzefas and a teacher at the religious nationalist Machon Meir in Jerusalem, the mysterious woman was no less than Rachel Imenu herself. His father, the mekubal and former Israeli Chief Rabbi, Rav Mordechai Eliahu, confirmed that the woman was our matriarch coming to help her beleaguered descendants.
After a hospitalization of months, one of the first stops that the discharged Rav Eliahu took was at Kever Rachel. He visited the shrine a total of three times
Rav Shmuel Eliahu was asked by his yeshiva dean if the reputed mysterious woman was in any way connected to his father. Rav Eliahu was reluctant to ask, since his father usually dismisses these kinds of allegations. But he recalled that the Iraqi mekubal, Rabbi Shalom Mutzafi, had a vision of Rachel Imenu praying when he had gone to pray at her shrine during World War II when the Germans were poised to conquer the Holy Land. So he decided to ask his father.
Rav Mordechai Eliahu confirmed that he had visited the shrine to implore Rachel Imenu to awaken mercy for her children. When his son told him about the mysterious woman who had saved Israeli soldiers, Rav Mordechai replied, “Did she mention that I sent her?”
However, not everyone is happy that assistance with contemporary military conflicts is being sought from tzadikim of past generations.
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, the head of the hesder yeshiva in Petach Tikvah and a founding member of the Tzohar rabbis organization, says that stories of mythical saviors can lead to a crisis in one’s faith. Rabbi Cherlow studied under religious nationalist roshei yeshiva Rabbi Avraham Shapira and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, although his current ideology differs from them. He is a leader in the Hesder yeshivot network and the “Datim haHadashim” movement in Israel.
Rav Cherlow was asked on his Moreshet web site about the mysterious woman who helped soldiers, and his reply was, “Stories about Rachel Imenu are completely unnecessary… the Torah commands us to keep our distance from various forces and communicating with the dead, and to cling to life.
“Every intelligent person would assume that this story didn’t happen and it was invented in the head of someone who found gullible people he wanted to manipulate. The world of faith demands that a person should above all be critical and not accept fanciful stories without first investigating and verifying them.
“It’s a shame that people naively believe such stories, which destroy a person’s faculties of intelligence, and his ability to reach proper decisions. Moreover, such stories can even bring a person to a crisis in faith. For instance, why didn’t ‘she’ come to save other people?”
Rabbi Cherlow said that even in the event that the story had taken place, “the Torah commands us to keep away from communicating with the dead and to cling to life. The Torah wants us to admire the Jewish people’s heroic courage and elevated conscience, and to realize that Hashem is behind them and He is the One Who gives us strength to succeed. Every story that attributes success to “supernatural forces” distances a person from this perception.”
He concludes, “The Torah tells us ‘Be wholehearted with Hashem your G-d.’ Leave all these fables about Rachel Imenu and cling to proper choices in life and taking action in G-d’s world. That’s the
ver kalecht doo, er tzi er?
With all the troubles of klal yisroel, the stories about the rabbonim blocking a needed hospital expansion in Ashkelon because of a fear of moving some old bones, efforts to expand the draft deferrals for newly married men, etc. don’t the rabbonim have better things to do than debate such bubba meisas. At these times, we need torah scholars who set an example by their actions of achdus and constructive efforts to address the real problems of EY in terms of national security, poverty, hunger, huge disparaties in educational opportunities and treating all yidden, whatever their derech, with respect. Instead, they are debating these fairy tales about a black shrouded woman who magically appeared and seemed more like a character out of a bad movie with a name that sounds more like a felafel stand in bnai brak.
This is called jabber. Why is the story in anyway contradict the dictum of Tomim Teheye or dealing with spirits. How Hashem chooses to save us or with which messengers is his His issue. I’m not saying the story is true. But his taking this stance reflects that he has a different agenda here……which may be appropriate in and of itself
According to R. Cherlow, all the storiesof Eliyahu HaNavi appearing over the centuries should be abandoned as imaginary?
Even if we should not seek to communicate with tzaddikim of the past, why must we absolutely deny the possibility that this story is true as told?
לא ימצא בך מעביר בנו ובתו באש קסם קסמים מעונן ומנחש ומכשף וחבר חבר ושאל אוב וידעני ודרש אל המתים כי תועבת ה’ כל עשה אלה ובגלל התועבת האלה ה’ אלקיך מוריש אותם מפניך תמים תהיה עם ה’ אלקיך
There shall not be found among you any one that makes his his son or his daughter pass through fire, one that uses divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer or a charmer, or one that consults a ghost or a familiar spirit, or communicates with the dead For whosoever does these things is an abomination to HaShem and because of these abominations HaShem your Gd is driving them out from before you. You should be whole-hearted with HaShem your Gd.
Rabbi Chertov should get his facts straight . I went through the story several times and did not find anyone communicating with the dead. Unless he considers Rabbi Eliyahu’s visit at the gravesite of Rachel Imeinu communicating with the dead. In my view this was a heavenly miracle to save some Jewish soldiers from falling into a deadly trap set by Hamas. Yes! I do believe in heavenly miracles.
I am an avel having lost my Avi only months ago. I had never dreamt about my Abba prior to his petira. I have had three dreams of him. The first is my seeing him talk to our family all together. The second was of him sitting alone in a dark room in tears bocheh. The thrid was of him talking to me in conversation I don’t remember the nakudos at all. What does this mean?
Here now is the problem.
Most frum yidden will believe the old stories, all of them, but refuse to believe the new ones. Next generation will believe the old ones, including the ones that are now new, but deny the new ones.
What is left to debate is, what does this show us?
We the people are rational, upon telling us something from time back, since it is not b4 our eyes we tend to look away, and believe irrational.
However, to the rational person, its all the same, from 100, 1000 years ago, or yesterday.
So before you deny the rachel story be ready for the journey.
For the typicle person its easier to believe.
Someone please post for my knowledge what was Rabbi Cherlow’s stance (and actions) regarding the disengagement from Gush Katif?
We say every Motzei Shabbos regarding Eliyohu Hanovi: Ashrei mi shenosan loi Sholom vehichzir loi Sholom. Is seeing Eliyohu Hanovi bubba meisos? Therefore it is not beyond the pale to have seen Eliyohu Hanovi; especially after a soldier has done Teshuvah before embarking on his dangerous mission. Again if it is true or not I don’t know, I would first need confirmation or at least a name of a soldier who can be asked; but nevertheless that it could have happened is not in question. It has absolutely nothing to do with the prohibition of “Doiresh el hameisim”.
This story is false. If it was true, we would have the names of the soldiers who saw this apparition, and quotes from them. Please, let’s grow up.
Our sages ask: “Why did Yacov bury Rachel on the way to Efras,
rather than carry her body to the ancestral plot in the Cave of
Machpelah?” They explain that Yacov had a prophetic vision of the
Jewish people passing Rachel’s burial place as they were exiled from
Yerusholayem and led to Babylon. Whereupon Rachel would intercede on
their behalf and her prayers would be heard:
A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter wailing,
Rachel weeping for her children…. Thus says Hashem: “Withhold
your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears. Your work
will be rewarded…. There is hope for your future…, your
children will return from the land of the enemy.”
Similarly, on his way with the spies to Israel, Calev paused in
Chevron to pray at the Caves of the Patriarchs. These prayers saved him
from becoming embroiled in the unfortunate plot of the spies.
To this day, people make their way to pray at Rachel’s Tomb in
Beislechem, at the burial place of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in the
Machpela Cave in Chevron, and at David Hamelech’s Tomb.
Indeed, until the recapture of the Kosel in 1967, it was at David Hamelech’s Kever that Jewish pilgrims to Yerusholayem would choose to pray.
Similarly, the graves of other righteous men and women, both in
Eretz Yisrael and in the world at large, in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi
communities, have served as places of prayer for our people.
We are witnessing the breakdown of the rule of Halacha and the honor of the Torah and the rise of the Erev Rav.
This is the reason our Sages warned us in Talmud Sanhedrin about the years just prior to the revelation of Moshiach . . . and why they were grateful to Hashem that they would not live to see it.
Yidden: Be strong and of great courage! Learn and pray and strengthen yourselves!
What we see here is a rational Rav willing to speak out.
If Rabbi Eliyahu confirms the story, then one may rely on him to bellieve it.
For those conversant with these type of stories, there are many credible ones which occur from time to time.
One such incident happened to me, when a “rabbi” appeared to help me and later, it turned out he did not exist (according to the information he gave me about himself). This occurred in a small city with a limited frum resident population.
Hudo L’aShem Ki Tov.
Is it possible that this story with Rochel Imeinu happened.? Why not?
Does it hurt to believe it? Definitely not!
Could it help us? Yes, it gives us tremendous chizuk.
I guess it’s like chicken soup. It can’t hurt.
IF the story was not verified by reliable people then . . .
But a former Rishon L’Zion? With all due respect to the Rav who criticized the story he does not appear to have knowledge of Torat HaNistar. If he did he would not have made these remarks
People were not communicating with the dead…..It was more that the dead were communicating with the people.
I hate all these negative rabbis…. as the Baal Shem Tov predicted – before the geula, the rabbis will impede the redemption.
“I hate all these negative rabbis…. as the Baal Shem Tov predicted – before the geula, the rabbis will impede the redemption.”
I think hating other jews, even in jest will slow the redmption even more
True or not, I love the story!!
Why would Rachel Imenu speak to the Israeli soldiers in Arabic?
>>For instance, why didn’t ‘she’ come to save other people?”
Mama Rachel only appeared three times as we know it, because Rav Mordechai Eliyahu went to her tomb only 3 times. Imagine other Yidden doing the same beseeching her involvement on behalf of the Klal, she might be able to receive permission to help more.