A remarkable Hasidic story, made public by the well-known preacher Rabbi Moshe Weinbach of Beitar, centers on a chance encounter at the grave of Rabbi Shlomo of Zvehil in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Badr cemetery. Weinbach met the Zvehil Grand Rabbi there about two weeks ago, as the rabbi had come to pray at the tomb of his ancestor.
Weinbach took the opportunity to ask the grand rabbi to mention the name of a woman who had been waiting a long time for a match, hoping for a blessing that she should soon find a suitable partner. The grand rabbi treated the request seriously, went to the grave, prayed for her there, and then told Weinbach with confidence that she would soon establish a “faithful home in Israel.”
According to Weinbach, the answer came quickly. Just days after the prayer and blessing, a long-hoped-for marriage proposal surfaced unexpectedly, one that had not been considered before. The process moved with unusual speed, and this week, exactly two weeks after the blessing at the holy site, the woman’s engagement was celebrated, to the family’s surprise and joy.
Weinbach said the episode, which he shared with the public and reached the staff of Kikar HaShabbat, shows anew the power of the blessings and prayers of leading rabbis, and the spiritual significance of the graves of righteous figures, which, he said, do not turn away those who come to them seeking help.
