Mind Reading 3

Moshe Ben-Chaim


Reader: My friend called another friend on the phone, this friend was speaking to a rabbi known for his kaballah. this rabbi tells the lady "the lady who just clicked in to the phone call and started telling her things about her and she must come to him quick there is a great danger.
 
Now my friend who is a yemenite and not a pushover told me how this rabbi told him everything about him and hit it a direct bullseye. he told him to pick a letter out of an envelope and before he picked told him the letter, when my friend picked this letter the rabbi said check the envelope all letters are different. his rabbi was not only able to predict this persons past but told him if he does so and so 48 hours later so and so will happen by the way it did happen like that the rabbi gave my friend different types of amulets of different malachim to safeguard him.
One night his daughter woke up and told her father she saw a malach sitting on her sisters bed watching her sister. (this girl had no idea the parents went to this rabbi)
 
I am thinking to go to this rabbi to see what this is all about what do you think?
Is it against the torah to go or is it like the ramban holds, a science (people used to read clouds or listen to the birds to tell the future) Thank you.
 
 
Mesora: First rule, don't believe everything you hear. Many people tell stories over again and again, greatly distorting the original, which itself may be a fairy tale that was taken by a few as literal. These ridiculous stores are constantly repeated. Unfortunately, these stories replace truth and become the belief of many Jews.
 
This rabbi clearly violates Torah laws. I do not have to explain what he does. Although if you wish, see Saadia Gaon in Emunos v'Daos where he refutes magic, explaining the Egyptian "magicians" as using slight of hand. He says they had no powers.
 
If halacha and reason opposes this 'rabbi', he can claim to lift buildings, and I still wouldn't follow him.
We are bound not to seek satisfaction for our insecurities by these types of prohibited methods. Rather, the Torah teaches that these are all false, and against God's desire that man use his mind in all areas.
 
You must know, catering to the instinctual need for security hurts a person in the following ways:
1) It directly violates God's words, diluting the reverence owed to the Divinely given Torah.
2) He will be incapable of directing his life appropriately when the "false notion" no longer works.
3) It teaches an unfair view of God, as this position of relying on "mystics" implies that God selected only these few mystics to have a monopoly on how the remainder of mankind makes their life decisions.
4) It cripples him from using his mind, so in future scenarios, he will have no intelligent resources to help himself out of his problems.

 

 
I am certain you would not quit your job if this rabbi told you to do so. Even if he guessed the truth once or twice, you still would not place your sustenance at risk. Why? Because you wisely realize that this rabbi's tricks aren't following reason, and lack proof of duplication.
 
"Reason" is necessary in guiding one's life. Reason is consistent. Since you desire a consistent livlihood, you must follow a realistic path to obtain it. Hopefully, you would not quit your job at the behest of a rabbi. This proves to you the indispensable need for "reason" inherent in the human mind. Following "false notions" and "tricks" is a deadly path and destroys the mind.
 
For this reason, you would not quit your job, even at the behest of this rabbi. I feel this proves to even you, that reason is the only course the human mind can accept. Following tricks that cannot be repeated consistently is not something for which we are ready to place our lives on the line.
 
A girl seeing a "malach" is definitely a proof,...that the girl has imagination! Tell me, how does she know what a malach is that she can distinguish it? Should I also believe my friend's son if he says he saw a monster?
 
People believe what they wish, just as King Saul believed he heard Samuel talking to him from the dead. Saul felt it was true. If King Saul can make that mistake, we certainly can!
 
These tales attract our emotions. How does the Torah teach us to react? To study human nature, to understand our instincts, to see through fallacy, and to guide these drives away from beliefs in falsehood, towards realization of reality.


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