SOUL READER VS. PALM READER

A Jew who gave a contribution to a Chabad institution requested the Rebbe’s bracha to find his bashert, after trying twice to establish a Jewish home - and failing. In an amazing answer from Igros Kodesh, the Rebbe reminded him of an incident that took place decades earlier when he was a young boy, thereby changing his life and freeing him from a terrible emotional trauma.

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

THE PURITY OF ‘BEIS CHINUCH LUBAVITCH’

_{For several years now in Kfar Chabad, alongside the two longstanding Talmud Torahs, there has been a third Talmud Torah al taharas ha’kodesh - ‘Beis Chinuch Lubavitch.’ The founders of this institution are a group of young avreichim, acting in accordance with clear answers they were privileged to receive from the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, via Igros Kodesh. “Our motto: The establishment of an educational institution with its material and spiritual administration in accordance with the instructions of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach,” explained school administrator Rabbi Nesanel Zeiss.}

_{There are plenty of examples. In contrast to educational institutions required to meet government standards that occasionally go against the spirit of Chabad, Beis Chinuch Lubavitch is a private institution that requests no government assistance. It can have classrooms with less than twenty-five students. Similarly, classes studying Gemara have only twelve students - according to the approach of the Alter Rebbe. These are just two among many examples. “The feeling is that it is the Rebbe who runs the institution,” adds Rabbi Zeiss.}

_{It’s clear and quite obvious that running an institution according to such standards demands that the administrators are constantly involved with collecting money, a responsibility that mainly falls upon Rabbi Zeiss’ shoulders in his role as school administrator.}

_{We now come to the amazing miracle story that became known several weeks ago, quickly spreading throughout many Chabad communities at farbrengens and other public events. Rabbi Zeiss says that he feels that the Rebbe is running the institution, and when you read the following story, you will properly understand that this is not just some emotional reaction.}

PALM READING? TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE!

_{“We periodically publicize among our friends about a special collection to raise funds for the institution, promising to write to the Rebbe for each of them via Igros Kodesh in request of a bracha for all they require. Among our many friends and supporters is one of my relatives, a young Jewish man who has a secure material existence, though his personal life has been very difficult.}

_{“During the previous decade, he has been married and divorced twice. Since then, he has been looking for his true life’s partner - without success. The trauma of two failed marriages and the long period of search had caused him much sadness. He would go around in a state of deep depression.}

_{“Last year, shortly before the Holiday of Redemption, Yud Beis Tammuz, I sent out an appeal message to all our friends and supporters, including to this young man. He immediately got back to me and promised to make a generous contribution. However, he also asked me to write a letter to the Rebbe for him in request of a bracha to find his bashert.}

_{“I happily agreed to oblige. Since we knew one another quite well, I didn’t need to ask him for any personal information. After he made a good resolution, I sat down to write a letter to the Rebbe on his behalf. The answer appeared in Vol. 9 on pg. 227. In his reply, the Rebbe mentioned that it is forbidden to rely upon the predictions of a palm reader, because we must act in a manner of ‘Be wholehearted with Hashem, your G-d.’ Therefore, we must act in accordance with G-d’s command, including the vigorous search for an appropriate spouse.}

_{“When I receive an answer for someone, I don’t act as an interpreter. Instead, I let him read it for himself, as it was meant for him. Thus, I e-mailed him a copy of the answer, which reads as follows:}

_{In reply to his letter from the 20th of Tammuz, I was shocked to read that he had heard the opinion of a Jew familiar with the art of palm reading, who told him that he saw in the lines of his hand that he has been troubled in matters of shidduchim, etc., and he had asked him for his opinion. His inquiry into this topic is most puzzling, since this is in contradiction to the Holy Torah, the Eternal Torah of Life, the only means by which all worldly matters can be brought together in both a general and specific sense. Each individual must strive to marry a wife, as is explained clearly in Talmud and according to the first and latter halachic authorities, and he should totally divert from all said and those who say in contradiction to the Shulchan Aruch, for the Torah even governs reality, and in particular as he should do this with the appropriate vigor. Furthermore, all those who wish to purify [themselves] (a matter which is done by conduct according to Torah), they help him – in the plural, both Above and below, both beyond nature and within nature, and Alm-ghty G-d will grant him success in giving good news in this matter with joy.}

_{“When I finished reading the letter with him, there was quiet on the line. After a few moments that seemed like an eternity, he gave a deep sigh. ‘How did the Rebbe know?’ he cried. ‘I don’t believe how an answer so clear can come out of a seifer?’}

_{“Once he had calmed down from the shock that gripped him, he presented the details of his personal story. Twenty years earlier he had turned to an expert in palm reading and asked him to predict his future until the day of his death. After this person checked the lines of my hand, he looked at me and declared, ‘You will never succeed in getting married, and you surely will not establish a Jewish home.’ The young man departed from the palm reader very depressed.}

_{“As time passed, he tried to forget about this prediction. Yet, the palm reader’s words continued to haunt him for years to come. Every argument he had with one of his wives was a painful reminder, eventually resulting in the break-up of his marriages. Subconsciously, he believed the prediction of the fortune teller that he would never have a normal family life.}

_{“Suddenly, the Rebbe MH”M comes along and writes a letter rejecting this out of hand. He declares that a Jew does not act according to the predictions of palm readers - only according to Shulchan Aruch. This world runs according to our Holy Torah, not palmistry. Therefore, he should totally forget about this false prophecy and begin looking with great vigor for a suitable wife with whom he can establish a proper Jewish home.}

_{“The Rebbe’s answer had clearly filled him with a renewed sense of hope. Within a few days, he again began his search for a proper shidduch, and in accordance with the Rebbe’s instructions, he did so with much drive and vitality. A few months later, I got a phone call. I heard this young man’s voice on the line, and he wanted to share some very good news with me. It turned out that he had just become engaged, and he and his future wife were preparing to set a date for their wedding.}

_{“When I heard who the kalla was I was shocked. I knew her, and the two of them were total opposites. Later, I spoke with this woman and she told me, ‘You know, Rabbi Zeiss, if people would have asked me a while ago if I could have envisioned building a life with my husband, I would have told them that the very idea was completely ridiculous. Our natures are as different as heaven and earth. Personally, I don’t know how it all happened.”}

_{* * *}

_{Rabbi Zeiss concluded his story with much emotion. “Today, several months after the couple got married, everyone around them is amazed how their lives together have gone so well and in an aura of such tremendous domestic harmony. Indeed, I know who’s responsible for that… Through his marvelous guidance and his bracha, the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, removed the ominous prediction of that palm reader.”}