Posted on 07/26/2011 3:06:30 PM PDT by NYer
ASHDOD, Israel (AP) — A few evenings every month, some of Israel's wealthiest and most powerful people can be found in a living room in this seaside city, waiting to have a few minutes with a rabbi they see as an advisor, guru or miracle worker.
Yoshiyahu Pinto is slightly stooped, his long beard and hair unkempt. He looks older than his 38 years, and speaks so softly you have to lean in to hear him. His remarkable rise in recent years has turned this living room of floral-patterned chairs and gilt sofas into an intersection of influence extending to Israel's parliament, where a former defense minister believes the rabbi helped him emerge from a coma, and to high finance, where a real estate broker says Pinto steered him away from a bad deal that would have lost him millions.
People come seeking the rabbi's blessing or his counsel on their business deals and personal lives. Pinto has no business training and did not study at university. But he has "wisdom that is unlimited," said Israeli businessman Ilan Ben-Dov, the majority shareholder in the cell phone company Partner, who has been consulting the rabbi regularly for five years.
"He has not only his own life experience, but that of all of the generations that went before him," Ben-Dov said. "Any attempt to describe him falls short of the reality."
The veneration of rabbis said to have miracle powers has a long history in Judaism, existing uncomfortably alongside a deeply rooted rationalist tradition.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Wonder Rabbi Powers, Activate !!
Shape of. . . a Mogen David !!
Form of. . .a bottle of Maneschevitz. . .
(evil grin)
Never heard of him.
Maybe you aren’t rich and famous enough ;-)
“He has not only his own life experience, but that of all of the generations that went before him,”
Wisdom can be inherited??
Boldfaced words may indicate what is often one of nature's warning signs.
Thanks NYer.
He’s wonder bred.
“Maybe you aren’t rich and famous enough ;-)”
That or unwilling to be caught up into the Shul of What’s Happening Now.*
*I actually have no clue about this guy; he could be wise beyond his years due to intense prayer, wisdom from G-d, and continual study of Torah. But I bet he’s a con man who talks like a fortune cookie and people figure out what they want to hear.
Reminds me of some wisdom from Lazarus Long, a character created by Robert Heinlein:
Priests and shamans are the world’s SECOND oldest profession.
Nothing good ever came from miracle working rabbis in their 30s.
I don’t get the reference.
Is it a slam at the Lubavitcher Rebbe? I think he was in his 50s when he became popular.
Think back a couple thousand years.
Let's hope the Rabbi is correct. Surely, things must improve sometime.
Yeah, this guy is probably Jesus.
Oh, gotcha.
I assumed you were talking about some of the Chabad folks who are/were convinced the Rebbe is/was/might yet be the Messiah.
Rather extreme, and a good example of how a really, really, really good Rabbi can be mistaken for the Messiah by a people who are impatient.
(Heck, I was hopeful there for a bit.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.