Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Are these rabbis mystics — or ‘prophets for a profit’?
When doctors told Lynn Keller her daughter might not make it through the next 24 hours, she knew exactly whom to call.
Instead of tracking down yet another specialist, the Upper East Sider contacted a Hasidic mystic in Brooklyn. It was right before the Sabbath, and she asked him to pray for her Lael, who was dying of toxic hepatitis.
The 30-something made a complete recovery.
“She was as jaundiced as a grapefruit,” Keller recalls. “But, by the end of Shabbat, her condition receded. It was just like that.”
They prefer matzo balls to crystal balls, but these rabbinic mystical masters — highly spiritual Hasids and fervent Kabbalists who are considered to have a divine power — have members of the tribe falling over themselves for blessings and advice on everything from health to business.
“I’ve grown up around mystics my entire life,” says Isaac Shteierman, a 27-year-old business strategist from Flatbush, whose family often sought readings and blessings. Payment varies, he says — anything from $20 to $500 or, for those with little disposable income, a challah board or a painting.
The rebbes’ services are especially in demand the weeks before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year that begins Wednesday, ushering in the Days of Repentance.
Not surprisingly, these mystics don’t advertise and you need a recommendation to get in. The rabbi who came to Keller’s rescue 10 years ago is as private as he is sought after, and asked The Post not to use his name.
He’s sitting in his tiny office in Crown Heights, surrounded by scholarly volumes. It’s a fitting setting for the 40-something rabbi, considered by many to be a great mystic. He himself shrugs off these supposed supernatural powers.
“We’re all mystics — we’re all mystical creatures,” says the father of 13, stroking his long gray beard. “Anybody can be where I am.”
Then again, some rabbis are wary of mystics, especially those they consider “prophets for profit” who offer business tips.
“There’s nothing wrong with going to a tzaddik [a holy person] for a blessing,” says Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the Orthodox rabbi, TV host and author (“Kosher Lust”).
“But . . . any implicit understanding that he has a direct channel to God is engaging in a form of deception,” he adds. “There are a lot of charlatans, taking advantage of a lot of people. They’re offering a Jewish rabbit’s foot.”
Tell that to Danielle Pashko. The Upper East Sider, who’d just undergone surgery for cancer, was sitting across the table from a rabbi four years ago when he gave her an unsolicited reading.
Not only did he tell her he knew of her surgery, but he also told her the cancer wouldn’t kill her, as it had her mother. “He told me all this without me having to say a word — I was flipping out,” says the nutritionist.
Since then, she’s returned again and again to the rabbi, who she says hit on things he couldn’t possibly know about — including the ulcer that a gastroenterologist diagnosed a few days after the rabbi did.
He also gave her a small piece of paper for protection that she’s kept in her wallet ever since. And she says that when she tried to give him $18 as a thank-you, he rejected it.
Another rabbi, Rav DovBer Pinson, waves off any talk of prophetic visions — despite eager followers who haul themselves to Brooklyn at all hours to see him and ask his advice.
“It’s not innate psychic ability,” he says, suggesting his greatest skill might be the power of positive thinking.
“I give the blessing and the blessing is there,” he says. “The more you trust things will be good, it will be good.”
http://nypost.com/2014/09/23/uncovering-the-mysteries-of-mystical-rabbis/
Instead of tracking down yet another specialist, the Upper East Sider contacted a Hasidic mystic in Brooklyn. It was right before the Sabbath, and she asked him to pray for her Lael, who was dying of toxic hepatitis.
The 30-something made a complete recovery.
“She was as jaundiced as a grapefruit,” Keller recalls. “But, by the end of Shabbat, her condition receded. It was just like that.”
They prefer matzo balls to crystal balls, but these rabbinic mystical masters — highly spiritual Hasids and fervent Kabbalists who are considered to have a divine power — have members of the tribe falling over themselves for blessings and advice on everything from health to business.
“I’ve grown up around mystics my entire life,” says Isaac Shteierman, a 27-year-old business strategist from Flatbush, whose family often sought readings and blessings. Payment varies, he says — anything from $20 to $500 or, for those with little disposable income, a challah board or a painting.
The rebbes’ services are especially in demand the weeks before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year that begins Wednesday, ushering in the Days of Repentance.
Not surprisingly, these mystics don’t advertise and you need a recommendation to get in. The rabbi who came to Keller’s rescue 10 years ago is as private as he is sought after, and asked The Post not to use his name.
He’s sitting in his tiny office in Crown Heights, surrounded by scholarly volumes. It’s a fitting setting for the 40-something rabbi, considered by many to be a great mystic. He himself shrugs off these supposed supernatural powers.
“We’re all mystics — we’re all mystical creatures,” says the father of 13, stroking his long gray beard. “Anybody can be where I am.”
Then again, some rabbis are wary of mystics, especially those they consider “prophets for profit” who offer business tips.
“There’s nothing wrong with going to a tzaddik [a holy person] for a blessing,” says Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the Orthodox rabbi, TV host and author (“Kosher Lust”).
“But . . . any implicit understanding that he has a direct channel to God is engaging in a form of deception,” he adds. “There are a lot of charlatans, taking advantage of a lot of people. They’re offering a Jewish rabbit’s foot.”
Tell that to Danielle Pashko. The Upper East Sider, who’d just undergone surgery for cancer, was sitting across the table from a rabbi four years ago when he gave her an unsolicited reading.
Not only did he tell her he knew of her surgery, but he also told her the cancer wouldn’t kill her, as it had her mother. “He told me all this without me having to say a word — I was flipping out,” says the nutritionist.
Since then, she’s returned again and again to the rabbi, who she says hit on things he couldn’t possibly know about — including the ulcer that a gastroenterologist diagnosed a few days after the rabbi did.
He also gave her a small piece of paper for protection that she’s kept in her wallet ever since. And she says that when she tried to give him $18 as a thank-you, he rejected it.
Another rabbi, Rav DovBer Pinson, waves off any talk of prophetic visions — despite eager followers who haul themselves to Brooklyn at all hours to see him and ask his advice.
“It’s not innate psychic ability,” he says, suggesting his greatest skill might be the power of positive thinking.
“I give the blessing and the blessing is there,” he says. “The more you trust things will be good, it will be good.”
http://nypost.com/2014/09/23/uncovering-the-mysteries-of-mystical-rabbis/
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