The Miracle Worker

Last week I discussed in my article Imitation Inspiration the distressing reality that on the internet, nothing is safe. Even seemingly innocent “inspirational quotes” can come with heavy missionary pressure which can lead a person into heresy, G-d forbid! If someone has a real connection to God with emuna and personal prayer, nothing can lure them away – because they’ve already tasted the truth! 

Now I want to add another important tool we can use to keep us focusing on the truth and to keep us strong against the incessant pressures to turn away from Hashem that bombard us all the time in this world. And that is – connecting to the tzaddikim, righteous leaders, specifically through reading and telling over their miracle stories. 

The most famous miracle worker of modern times is, without a doubt, the Baba Sali, Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeira zt”l (see The Emuna of the Baba Sali). An incredible read that I highly recommend is Baba Sali Our Holy Teacher by Rabbi Alfasi, which has an entire section on miracle stories. 

If you think the Baba Sali is no longer in this world doing miracles, I would like to tell you a story. I watched the interview in Hebrew on Radio 2000 YouTube shortly after October 7, 2023: 

Do you know how the terrorists did not get into Netivot?! We have a surveillance video of trucks with terrorists turning around in the road for no apparent reason. Two terrorists dared to continue and made it as far as the Baba Sali’s grave. They were found dead outside the building, with no clear explanation how. 

 

One of the captured terrorists explained – there were 3 “angry sheikhs” standing in the road, screaming at them in Arabic to turn around and not enter Netivot. So, they did. The Israeli interrogators showed them pictures of different sheikhs and Rabbis. It turned out it was the Baba Sali, Rabbi Aburgel zt”l who is buried across the street, and a third tzaddik in the Netivot cemetery whose name I don’t remember.  

I’ve heard Rabbi Arush called “the Baba Sali of our generation” but he’s much more hidden, he generally hides behind stories of “I said thank you and saw miracles.” Not doubting that thanking Hashem brings miracles, but Rabbi Arush also is “involved”, let’s say. I know that from personal stories I’ve personally heard and seen and experienced myself.  

A “small” example – my son had a partially blocked ureter as a birth defect. He needed surgery at age 3. We told Rabbi Arush who put his fists in the air and yelled “No surgery! No surgery!” We repeated the test before scheduling the surgery, which is standard procedure, and the test was totally different. We were done in 20 minutes instead of 4 hours and the blockage was gone! The doctor came out and said “How did you fix it?! It’s impossible!” I said “Rabbi Arush!” 

In fact, when I was pregnant with this son, I went into early labor at 27 weeks. I was hospitalized for a week. Finally, we were able to do a pidyon with Rabbi Arush who had been out of the country. He said, “Patience.” The doctors changed their mind about two months of hospital bedrest on medication and decided to try a third time to take me off the meds. Those medicines, thank God, had stopped labor, but twice already I went back into labor after only a few hours off medication. I freaked out but my husband said, “If they changed their mind after the pidyon, trust HaRav.” Lo and behold, that evening I was back home and gave birth on time! As I was checking out of the ward, the head nurse said that in 25 years she had never seen a woman with contractions like mine ever go home pregnant. NEVER. 

We have incredible children’s books of stories of tzaddikim in our web store. Here is one example – The Tzaddik’s Blessing and Other Stories.  I recommend everything by this author (see the list of his other books in English on this same link). There are many in Hebrew, but many have been translated into English. And don’t just let your kids read them – everyone should read these stories! Or even better, read them to the kids and have quality time together!  

Personally, I love reading these stories. They are incredible strengthening in the foundations of Judaism – believe in Hashem, and emunat chachamim – belief in His righteous sages. Even more, they strengthen the critical emuna that nature has no power against God who created it, and breaks the rules of nature at will, effortlessly. In fact, this is one of the reasons why there is a commandment to remember the Exodus from Egypt and the Splitting of the Red Sea every single day – to remember that God is God on Heaven and Earth and there is absolutely no nature! He created the laws of nature for our benefit, and He breaks those laws at will for our benefit!!! 

Make sure you have a pidyon nefesh for you and your loved ones with Rabbi Arush! You can read here about a pidyon, it explains everything: Pidyon Nefesh by Rabbi Arush.  

For personal advice with your situation, feel free to contact me directly by email or phone (US number forwards to Israel). You can also donate online yourself and forward me the donation confirmation along with the names, and any questions. 

** 

Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of the university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.   
 
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.