London rabbi spooked by ghost
Rabbi Amar. Tikkun needed Photo: Haim ZachThe Rabbinical Centre of Europe tackles complicated halachic questions sent by the rabbis of the continent on a daily basis. But nothing prepared the RCE for a recent query by a London rabbi, who sought the center’s help in getting rid of a ghost he said was dwelling in his new residence.
The RCE’s Response department in Israel, which provides halachic answers to the questions of European rabbis, was approached by Rabbi Levy Yitzhak Raskin of London on behalf of a fellow rabbi who asked not to be identified.
“In the last months he has noticed a foreign presence in his new home,” Raskin described in his letter. “Closed windows have been opened; he’s been hearing knocking, and so forth.”
According to Raskin, when the distraught rabbi turned to his congregation for help, “they confirmed that these strange events have occurred in the past, and estimated that the noises were caused by the ghost of a rabbi… who was the synagogue’s first rabbi and passed away 40 years ago, and is now seeking tikkun for his spirit.”
According to the congregation members, the founding rabbi would occasionally visit the house in order to see how his community was doing.
Upon receiving this query RCE member Rabbi Mordechai Biton immediately forwarded it to Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri.
Rabbi Amar ruled that two tikkun prayers – one for the house and the other for the deceased rabbi’s soul – should be recited in order to resolve the matter.
Rabbi Batzri offered to include the rabbi’s name in his yeshiva’s biannual tikkun prayers for the dead, or to instruct Rabbi Raskin how to hold such a prayer in London if necessary. “If this doesn’t help, it’s a sign that this is a different ghost that may be misleading them, and we’ll discuss how to handle this later on.”
Full source: YnetNews
Written by Javier Ortega - javier@ghosttheory.com
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Interesting similarity between this story and the one from Maylasia posted the day before. In both cases, no one questioned the validity of the claims, they simply offered what they considered appropriate help.
Marie,
I’m sure this is why most church officials are strict when it comes to exorcisms.
Most people assume, but never really seek further explanations.
Reminds me of the “I am six” Paranormal State episode. Have you seen it?
I don’t watch PS, not a fan of any show that uses seances and ouija boards. That stuff is too dangerous to be tossed around as entertainment. And isn’t Ryan one of the guys who made that documentary about the gold-rush era hotel? An hour and 45 minutes of nothing, then a board flies at them in the basement and they run screaming. Even funnier than Brian’s famous “Dude, run!” from GH!
Anyway, the Rabbi’s congregation was already aware of the presence.The new guy just needs time to adjust.If this ghost has been visiting off and on for 40 years, they’d probably know if it was evil.
I actually like the fact that ghosts are culturally acceptable in both of these instances. No eye-rolling or bad jokes at the expense of the people who reported the experience. This, to me, is part of being an open-minded sceptic – allowing for the possibility of ghosts without declaring every strange sound paranormal OR dismissing them out of hand.