68. A Bewitching Story: In order to appreciate my next story, I want to first tell a story told by Rabbi Yosef Wineberg a”h, who travelled the world as the Rebbe’s shliach. Although in today’s age such stories are much less prevalent than in the past, there are still such things happening and especially in South American countries (I believe in Africa as well) where people are very heavily involved in the occult. In a certain South American country there was a woman who was a large donor to Lubavitch institutions through Rabbi Wineberg’s efforts. One day she shared the following story with Rabbi Wineberg: Her husband had died and after the period of mourning, she needed to get her life back in order, especially her financial situation. Her husband basically had left all the necessary documents and papers in order, and so it was generally well organized. However, when she came upon a certain aspect of the finances, one that was related to a large amount of money, she could not find the necessary papers anywhere. After her futile attempts to find these documents were exhausted she wrote a letter to the Rebbe explaining her dilemma. She wrote that knowing that the Rebbe is a holy man, who knows all, can the Rebbe please tell her where she can find these necessary documents. When she received no reply from the Rebbe, she wrote again, yet received no reply. Seeing no other option, she decided to turn to a local practitioner of witchcraft or necromancy, who had earned the designation as the most powerful and successful person dealing in the occult in that place. She was able to “call up the dead and converse with them.” When she approached the woman with her request, that she contact her husband and ask where the documents were, the witch asked her to remain in that room and she would go into her back room where she would (do whatever she did to) conjure up the woman’s deceased husband. After a while, the witch returned. Her face was completely white and in a trembling voice she told her that she was sorry but she could not help her. This woman saw that something awful must have happened to the witch when she was trying to reach her husband, so she begged her to tell her what happened. At first, the witch refused to tell her, but at the woman’s refusal to accept her “no,” the witch finally relented and told her the following tale: As she was preparing to conjure up the dead husband, a rabbi appeared to her and told her to discontinue her efforts because this woman was under his jurisdiction. The woman thought, “why should I listen to this rabbi?” and continued to connect with, (what chassidus refers to as,) the powers of klipah(unholiness.) The power (demon) that she contacted warned her not to ignore the rabbi. So she turned to a deeper power, who also warned her off. She refused to give up and continued to contact even more and more powerful demons, each time with the same result. Finally, she approached the most powerful of these unholy demons who also told her to back off. When she asked why, this one told her, “Since the Maharal of Prague, (the creator of the golem,) there has never been such a powerful force against the spirits of impurity, as this rabbi.” After the witch finished her story, the woman who had come to her felt bad that the witch went through, what was obviously such a traumatic experience, decided to pay her for her trouble. When she opened her wallet, a picture of the Rebbe, which she always carried with her, fell out. The witch began to shriek and pointing at the picture cried out, “that’s the rabbi who stopped me!” Now to my story, although not as dramatic, it definitely made a strong impression on us. A family moved to Birmingham, Alabama from South America, while I was on shlichus there. The father was a doctor. They had two children, a boy of 11 or 12 and a very sweet 9-year-old girl named Chaya, who unfortunately, had the dreaded “Big C.” Chaya was in the same class as my daughter Chanie and they quickly became very good friends. Our families became quite close and I used to learn Tanya, twice a week, with the mother. Of course, we had written asking for the Rebbe’s brachos for Chaya, especially before each of their trips to Memphis, Tennessee for treatments. One day she came and told me the following story: Before a certain operation that Chaya had to undergo, her mother (Chaya’s grandmother,) called her daughter from South America and told her that she had gone to a well-known local witch and asked for her help for Chaya. The witch told her to tell her daughter to prepare Chaya on that Thursday night. When putting Chaya to sleep she should cover her with a white sheet, and at midnight the witch would come to Chaya and perform what was necessary to cure her. But the sheet was necessary for the witch to have a physical “achiza” (something to grasp onto) so that she could do what she had to. So the grandmother called to make sure that Chaya’s mother would cover her with the white sheet on that Thursday night. Chaya’s mother had started learning Torah and getting closer to her Yiddishkeit, and although in the past she might have done this, she felt it was not allowed for a Jew to do this. She had asked for the Rebbe’sbracha and therefore felt no need to come onto the “powers of unholiness.” She had no intention of following through on the “preparation” that the witch required and she promptly put it out of her mind. That Thursday night her son, who slept in the same room with Chaya, came running to his parent’s room, knocked, and asked to climb into bed with them. His mother was surprised since he had never done that before, but she didn’t think too much about it and just moved over to make room for him. In the morning she turned to her son and asked what had happened -- why did he come into their room that night? He replied that he had suddenly felt that there were people in the room and he got scared. At that point, the mother remembered her mother’s telephone call and with fear ran into her daughter’s room. She was relieved to find her daughter sleeping peacefully in her bed. Later that day, her mother called from South America and asked why she had not prepared Chaya. The witch had told her that she had come to Chaya, but since she had not been properly prepared there was nothing she could do. Sadly, for all who knew her, eventually Chaya finished her mission and sojourn in this world and Hashem recalled this precious neshama to His bosom.
68. A Bewitching Story: In order to appreciate my next story, I want to first tell a story told by Rabbi Yosef Wineberg a”h, who travelled the world as the Rebbe’s shliach. Although in today’s age such stories are much less prevalent than in the past, there are still such things happening and especially in South American countries (I believe in Africa as well) where people are very heavily involved in the occult. In a certain South American country there was a woman who was a large donor to Lubavitch institutions through Rabbi Wineberg’s efforts. One day she shared the following story with Rabbi Wineberg: Her husband had died and after the period of mourning, she needed to get her life back in order, especially her financial situation. Her husband basically had left all the necessary documents and papers in order, and so it was generally well organized. However, when she came upon a certain aspect of the finances, one that was related to a large amount of money, she could not find the necessary papers anywhere. After her futile attempts to find these documents were exhausted she wrote a letter to the Rebbe explaining her dilemma. She wrote that knowing that the Rebbe is a holy man, who knows all, can the Rebbe please tell her where she can find these necessary documents. When she received no reply from the Rebbe, she wrote again, yet received no reply. Seeing no other option, she decided to turn to a local practitioner of witchcraft or necromancy, who had earned the designation as the most powerful and successful person dealing in the occult in that place. She was able to “call up the dead and converse with them.” When she approached the woman with her request, that she contact her husband and ask where the documents were, the witch asked her to remain in that room and she would go into her back room where she would (do whatever she did to) conjure up the woman’s deceased husband. After a while, the witch returned. Her face was completely white and in a trembling voice she told her that she was sorry but she could not help her. This woman saw that something awful must have happened to the witch when she was trying to reach her husband, so she begged her to tell her what happened. At first, the witch refused to tell her, but at the woman’s refusal to accept her “no,” the witch finally relented and told her the following tale: As she was preparing to conjure up the dead husband, a rabbi appeared to her and told her to discontinue her efforts because this woman was under his jurisdiction. The woman thought, “why should I listen to this rabbi?” and continued to connect with, (what chassidus refers to as,) the powers of klipah(unholiness.) The power (demon) that she contacted warned her not to ignore the rabbi. So she turned to a deeper power, who also warned her off. She refused to give up and continued to contact even more and more powerful demons, each time with the same result. Finally, she approached the most powerful of these unholy demons who also told her to back off. When she asked why, this one told her, “Since the Maharal of Prague, (the creator of the golem,) there has never been such a powerful force against the spirits of impurity, as this rabbi.” After the witch finished her story, the woman who had come to her felt bad that the witch went through, what was obviously such a traumatic experience, decided to pay her for her trouble. When she opened her wallet, a picture of the Rebbe, which she always carried with her, fell out. The witch began to shriek and pointing at the picture cried out, “that’s the rabbi who stopped me!” Now to my story, although not as dramatic, it definitely made a strong impression on us. A family moved to Birmingham, Alabama from South America, while I was on shlichus there. The father was a doctor. They had two children, a boy of 11 or 12 and a very sweet 9-year-old girl named Chaya, who unfortunately, had the dreaded “Big C.” Chaya was in the same class as my daughter Chanie and they quickly became very good friends. Our families became quite close and I used to learn Tanya, twice a week, with the mother. Of course, we had written asking for the Rebbe’s brachos for Chaya, especially before each of their trips to Memphis, Tennessee for treatments. One day she came and told me the following story: Before a certain operation that Chaya had to undergo, her mother (Chaya’s grandmother,) called her daughter from South America and told her that she had gone to a well-known local witch and asked for her help for Chaya. The witch told her to tell her daughter to prepare Chaya on that Thursday night. When putting Chaya to sleep she should cover her with a white sheet, and at midnight the witch would come to Chaya and perform what was necessary to cure her. But the sheet was necessary for the witch to have a physical “achiza” (something to grasp onto) so that she could do what she had to. So the grandmother called to make sure that Chaya’s mother would cover her with the white sheet on that Thursday night. Chaya’s mother had started learning Torah and getting closer to her Yiddishkeit, and although in the past she might have done this, she felt it was not allowed for a Jew to do this. She had asked for the Rebbe’sbracha and therefore felt no need to come onto the “powers of unholiness.” She had no intention of following through on the “preparation” that the witch required and she promptly put it out of her mind. That Thursday night her son, who slept in the same room with Chaya, came running to his parent’s room, knocked, and asked to climb into bed with them. His mother was surprised since he had never done that before, but she didn’t think too much about it and just moved over to make room for him. In the morning she turned to her son and asked what had happened -- why did he come into their room that night? He replied that he had suddenly felt that there were people in the room and he got scared. At that point, the mother remembered her mother’s telephone call and with fear ran into her daughter’s room. She was relieved to find her daughter sleeping peacefully in her bed. Later that day, her mother called from South America and asked why she had not prepared Chaya. The witch had told her that she had come to Chaya, but since she had not been properly prepared there was nothing she could do. Sadly, for all who knew her, eventually Chaya finished her mission and sojourn in this world and Hashem recalled this precious neshama to His bosom.
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