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



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