In a shul in Ashdod they performed some ritual today in which they did the hoshanos, yes from Sukkos, with their lulavs and esrogs, to call for the downfall of Hamas.

בלולב והדס נביס את החמאס. תיקון מיוחד בביהכנ"ס הריב"ז באשדוד עם ארבעת המינים pic.twitter.com/oaQuApARJB

— משה ויסברג (@moshe_nayes) October 22, 2023

According to Israel Hayom, a mekubal is claiming to have declared over a month ago already a specific date on which we, in Israel, would be free from CoronaVirus.

According to Rav Netanel Shariki, a rav and mekubal form Netivot, on March 17 Rav Shariki wrote that he is praying for the decree to be revoked.. and that after Pesach the Corona plague will slow down and by Lag B'Omer it will be finished, with God's help and with the merit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Just as 2000 years ago he stopped the plague so today he will stop the plague before Lag B'Omer.

From his mouth to God's ears. Amen!

After a series of tragedies throughout the city of Bet Shemesh, in which 4 children have died within a short period of time, each from different causes, some people are thinking there is a curse, or a plague, on the city.

After consultation with Rav Bentzion Mutzafi the mayor of Bet Shemesh, Moshe Abutbol, went out with a minyan of local avreichim and chanted the chapter of "Pitum HaKetores" in each of the four corners of the city.

The concept is a kabbalistic one based on the writings of the Zohar that during a time of plague or war one should say Pitum Haketores at each of the four corners of the affected place, and will thereby see salvation. This solution is tried and tested.
source: RBSN and Kikar

I guess it can't hurt. Seems at least harmless to me. And it is cheaper than any practical solutions (eg redesigning the roads) might be.

Here and there I have seen a sprinkling of articles, each time quoting a different rav or mekubal making a prediction, or stating a vision or prophecy of sorts, as to the results of the upcoming elections in the USA.

I have not kept track of it until now, but as the elections get closer I seem to be seeing more of these, piquing my curiosity. I started looking around to compare statements by different mekubalim, and I see that they have not all been predicting the same results. I would think that if they are all receiving their information from "Above", the information would not be contradictory.

Thankfully, I didn't have to look hard and compile the lists by myself. TOI has an article, as does Kikar, quoting opposing mekubalim each with different visions of the results of tomorrows elections. You can see who predicts what in the linked articles, as I am not going to break down the list.

I am not quite sure how this is supposed to work. After the results are in, do we know which mekubalim are better and which have a weaker connection? Do we know which are real and which are frauds? Do we conclude that they are not stating any visions or "inside information" but just their best wishes, hopes, and evaluations, just like any armchair pundit on blogs (like this one) or on Facebook, but don't really know any better than anyone else? Is it just a best guess?

what is one to think when confronted with opposing kabbalistic pronouncements?

police officers up north charged with arresting and booking the charlatan Ezra Sheinberg have been complaining about his behavior. Sheinberg has been cursing them and threatening them with spiritual anger (not sure how to translate "kpeida").

Some of the police officers are nervous and upset about this, especially the religious ones and the others who "believe".

Personally I would suggest that they have nothing to worry about. He has proven himself to be nothing but a charlatan. He isn't a mystic or a holy man. His curses won't harm anybody.

A mysterious cat appeared yesterday in the beis medrash of Yeshivat HaMekubalim, headed by Rav Dovid Batzri, in Jerusalem.

It wandered in and then made itself comfortable on the "Kisei shel Eliyahu" at the front of the beis medrash, and it snuggled up against a sefer that was on the chair - a volume of Yalkut Yosef, written by the Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzchak Yosef.

After a number of failed attempts to chase it out, one of the avreichim approached the cat and said 3 times "you are forgiven". The cat then left the beis medrash.

Avreichim said this "warning sign" happened because the yeshiva recently decided to shut the beis medrash at 10 PM every night, due to a shortage of funds, causing much bittul torah.
(source: Kooker)

Usually such stories are attributed to the animal being a reincarnation that needed forgiveness for a previous sin or failing. They took it to indicate a shortage in their learning hours due to the beis medrash being closed at night earlier than before.

I would guess that the cat left the yeshiva and made its way over to the Gerrer yeshiva beis medrash. It was announced yesterday that the Gerrer Rebbe and his advisers have decided to shut the beis medrash at 9:30 PM now so that the students will not stay up too late learning and will instead get a good nights sleep. Good move or not, I do not know, but I am impressed that they think the only reason students stay up late at night is for learning, and not talking in the dorm or hanging out, reading or whatever...

I guess these mekubalim who held a special secret prayer service for the successful election of Mitt Romney didn't do such a good job... or maybe Mitt Romney just was so problematic himself that even the mekubalim couldn't help him!!


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This pashkevil was put up to protest activities in Meron by the kever of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai...


This was protesting a group led by Rabbi Dr. Phillip Berg to the grave.

According to the report on bechadrei, they were upset that the group included women dressed immodestly and women who said the kaddish.

Somehow I do not believe this is the first time the Bergs have taken their group to Meron, though I do not remember hearing about such protests in the past...

I think the world is upside down. Arab despots are looking to rabbis for blessings and divine assistance to help them continue leading their countries and protect them from attack?

Do they suddenly think their own clerics and imams and holy people are not good enough and they have to seek out Israel's holy rabbis and mekubalim?

It was just publicized that Libyan President Moammar Qaddafi had asked, 25 years ago, Rav Pinto from Kiryat Malachi for an amulet to protect him. At the time, after refusing at first, he eventually prepared the amulet from a combination of afikomen matza, esrog and channukah oil, and Qaddafi was saved from the missile attacks by US President Ronald Reagan. (source: Kikar)

Was it because of Rav Pinto's amulet? I don't know, but some people are convinced that it was. Has Qaddafi survived the latest western attacks on his country until now also because of the amulet? It is impossible to know, but some people believe he is being protected by it.

And if Moammar Qaddafi is not enough, after all he is eccentric and possibly even Jewish, now something stranger is being publicized. Syrian President Bashir al Assad has reportedly been asking and inviting Israeli rabbi and mekubal Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto of Ashdod to come to Syria on a trip to visit hoily grave sites and daven on behalf of the government and offer spiritual protection. Assad supposedly gauranteed him complete protection and kosher food. (source: bhol)

Contact was first initiated through Jack Avital, the head of the Jewish Syrian expat community in the UNited States, who is reportedly friendly with Assad and maintains a good relationship to the benefit of the remaining Jewish community in Syria. After initially refusing, Assad persisted in his request and has even sent the Syrian Ambassador to the US to invite Rabbi Pinto. Supposedly he is still refusing to go.

What would you do with 500 bottles of water? What about 500 bottles of kabbala water?

Madonna/Esther - no longer the Material Girl

Reports have it that Madonna was recently in Berlin for a day, and upon locating a hotel to her liking, her people insisted that the hotel must renovate and paint her room or else she wont stay there.

From The Holy Scoop:

Her camp told the hotel that Madonna was going to be in town for one night and wanted to stay at the hotel, but she “doesn’t want to sleep where other people have slept.” Seriously. They actually said that.

“Madonna doesn’t like to sleep where other people have slept,” a hotel source told Closer magazine. “She needs all new things – a new bed, fresh paint, new lights. So we renovated the whole room. We have never had a request like this before.”

The total cost of renovating the room? £15,000! Keep in mind it probably cost the hotel more money to renovate the room than she actually paid for the room for the night.

And that’s not all. “We also had to provide 500 bottles of Kabbalah water [which is blessed by a rabbi] for Madonna and her entourage,” the source added. What the hell do you do with 500 bottles of water when you’re only in your room for one night?

She spent most of the day in and out of her room so unless she was showering with the water (I wouldn’t put it past her) there’s no way she could have gone through all of it.

What would you do with 500 bottles of kabbala water? Maybe she is making a business out of it and selling the bottles. Maybe she bathed in the water, or passed them out as gifts to the people in "her camp" for them to drink.

I never understood how people can be so picky and specific. I mean, one night in a hotel and she insists on them renovating and painting the room a specific way? With food I kind of get it - people are on special diets or certain foods are more agreeable with someone than other foods, they want something familiar and not have to worry about how their body might react to new foods when they have meetings and events to be part of. But to insist on a hotel room being painted a specific way for a one night stay? It says the renovations cost more than what she paid for the room - so they didnt even charge her for fulfilling her requests!

Rav Nir Ben Artzi is a bit of a strange bird. He is a kabbalist, so that might explain his seeming strange to most "regular" people. He has been known to predict the future, whether correctly or not I dont know though his followers say he foresaw the 9/11 attacks. He has also declared himself as the mashiach on a number of occasions.

Ben Artzi disappeared for a while (4 years I think), supposedly he was abducted. He came back, or was released, over a year ago, but has mostly kept out of the limelight since then, not making public appearances.

He has now made his first public prediction since the abduction. Here is what he said:
People should minimize their travel, even stop it completely, if possible. The whole world is in danger. if one must travel for work, parnassah, or for a miztva or for bringing Jews back to Eretz Yisrael, that is fine. But not just for travel - there is no protection because the shechina is not in chutz la'aretz.

He then claimed the strange weather in the USA is a result of the demands on Israel to freeze construction. They first demanded it, so Hashem froze over New York. They demanded again, so He froze over New Jersey. Whenever they talk about a freeze, Hashem brings to them strong winds for them to have to deal with.

The floods are increasing in Australia. More countries will be flooded over and disappear from the world. There are problems with airplanes and flights, causing mix ups and confusion. Many radar systems and satellites have been messed up. Strange things will continue to occur around the world, birds falling out of the air, fish washing up out of the sea. All this is the hand of Hashem. Nobody can stop Him.

The economy around the world will continue to fall apart. The Chinese think they will conquer the world, but they will soon be hit badly. China was strengthened in order to bring about the downfall of the American, Russian and European economies, but then China will also come apart. (source: Bechadrei)

What do we do with this type of information, besides for changing travel plans? Believe it? Ignore it? I guess a good idea is to use it, whether true or not, even if skeptical, as an impetus for teshuva.