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Weekly Chasidic Story #965(s5776-37 / 15 Iyar 5776).
From the desk of Yerachmiel Tilles <editor@ascentofsafed.com>
The One-Eyed Electrician at Meron
Connection: Seasonal -- Meron - Rashbi.
The One-Eyed Electrician at Meron
The students in the school in Ramat Gan were astonished. The man wearing the
uniform of Hevrat Hashmal - the Israel Electric Company
- who had come to explain to them the dangers and safety precautions involved
in electricity use, was wearing a black eye patch over one eye. Perhaps they
thought he was a wounded war veteran?
But when he gave the same talk a week later in the elementary school of Kfar
Chabad, he no longer wore the eye patch. After he finished, one of the teachers,
Rabbi Chayim Ben-Natan, invited him to wrap tefillin. The man accepted
with alacrity. When he finished saying the Shma Yisrael prayer and removing
the boxes and straps with the rabbi's help, Meir (not his real name) offered
to tell Ben-Natan his story.
For many years he has suffered from diabetes. Recently, he developed a painful
eye problem and a loss of vision in one of his eyes. As this was diabetes-related,
the doctors all insisted that no cure is possible. His most recent doctor gave
him some salve to put on the bad eye to ease the pain, and a black patch to
cover it so as not to compromise the vision of his remaining good eye.
His incomplete vision made it impossible for him to continue working as a technician.
Instead, the IEC trained him to give presentations to school children about
electricity.
One time he was driving in the Galilee to an appointment at a school in Carmiel.
On the way, he called his office to check in and confirm the directions. His
supervisor, a religious Jewess, upon hearing his location, recommended that
he detour to one of the holy burial sites in the North of Israel and pray there
for an improvement in his condition.
"Why not?" he thought to himself. "It can't hurt." And off
he went to Meron, to the burial site of the great sage of the Mishna
and Zohar, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
As he stood there praying with one hand on the tomb marker (clearly this was
not on Lag b'Omer! -YT), he heard a man at a nearby table groaning and
repeatedly crying out, "Hashem, G-d, help me, please! In the merit of Rabbi
Shimon, help me now!"
When Meir finished his own prayer, he turned away from the tomb marker. The
man who had been crying out stared at him in wide-eyed amazement, and suddenly
grabbed his arm! "Praise G-d! Give thanks to the Al-mighty. My prayers
are answered. Rabbi Shimon sent you to me!"
"What are you talking about?" Meir said calmly. "Nobody sent
me here."
"It's true. It's true!" proclaimed Uri (not his real name) loudly,
refusing to release Meir's arm. "I have a wife and five children at home
and no electricity. I've been praying for hours to get my electricity back,
and here you are from the Electric Company." He pointed to the IEC insignia
on Meir's uniform. "Clearly you were sent here to help me. Now give me
back my electricity!"
Uri explained that his electricity had been cut off because he owed thousands
of shekels in unpaid bills, which he could not afford to pay. He then resumed
demanding that Meir give him back his electricity, speaking louder and louder.
Meir tried to explain that the nature of his job was in no way related to Uris'
problem, not technically, not financially. None of his disclaimers helped. Uri
would not relent in his belief that "obviously" Meir had been sent
by Heaven and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai to help him get his electricity restored.
Despairing of ever being able to make Uri be sensible, and in danger of being
late to his assignment, Meir finally asked Uri for the number of his account.
Uri showed him his most recent bill. Meir said, "Look, let me step outside,
and I'll call someone very important in management, check what the situation
is, and try to arrange something for you."
Uri grinned in anticipation and stepped back. Meir went out, used his IEC internal
communication device to check Uri's account, verified that he owed 2500 shekels
and
paid the entire bill with his own credit card number!
Returning inside, he told Uri, "Okay, it is all arranged with the company.
You can go home. In two hours you will have electricity." Uri pumped Meir's
hand enthusiastically. He couldn't thank him enough. "You see," he
said, "I was right that Rabbi Shimon sent you to me."
Meir went to his car, shaking his head in amazement at his own spontaneous kind
deed. About ten minutes, later, half way to his destination, he had to pull
over to the side of the road. His bad eye was itching so badly he couldn't wait
any longer to remove his patch in order to rub his eye. Taking off the patch
with his right hand, he moved his left hand towards his eye to massage it, when
all of a sudden he realized that he was seeing through the windshield with the
eye that had been under the patch. Seeing normally! His vision was fully restored!
The various doctors that Meir had been seeing could not believe their own eyes.
"This can only be a miracle,'' each one proclaimed, even if it was not
clear that before this episode they believed in miracles. Meir smiled, understanding
the simple formula: If you provide light for another Jew, G-d will provide light
for you. And also, as the Talmud states, "Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai can be
relied on in desperate situations."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Heard from several Chabad Chasidim in Tsfat, including the brother of
Rabbi Ben-Natan in the story.
Biographical note:
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, one of the most important sages in Jewish history,
lived over 1800 years ago. Teachings in his name abound throughout the Mishnah,
Gemorrah, and Midrashim, while the Zohar, the primary source text
of Kabbalah, is built around Rabbi Shimon's revelations to his inner circle
of disciples. During the hours before his passing, on Lag b'Omer,
he disclosed the "most sublime" secrets of Torah, in order to ensure
that the day would always be an occasion for great joy, untouched by sadness
because of the Omer period and mourning for him. The seminal importance of the
Zohar in Jewish thought and the annual pilgrimage to Meron on Lag b"Omer
are testimonies to his success.
Connection: Seasonal -- Meron, Rashbi
Yerachmiel
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