Jerusalem Prayer Group Credits Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar With Modern-Day Miracles

The article says historians still cannot explain why Erwin Rommel’s Nazi army suddenly lost at El Alamein, just before it could invade the Land of Israel. It then presents a religious explanation, claiming that on 15 Tammuz 5702, during a large prayer gathering at the gravesite of Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, the Orach Chaim, in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yisrael of Husyatin wept there together with Rabbi Sholom of Zvehil. According to the account, Rabbi Yisrael raised his hand and declared, “The oppressor will not control our land. The name of God was revealed to me above the grave. The Orach Chaim annulled the decree.”

The article says this belief in supernatural salvation is the basis for “Kollel Orach Chaim,” founded by Natanel Nami after a wealthy man from the community asked him to organize a minyan of yeshiva students to study Orach Chaim on his behalf for payment. Nami says that a few weeks later the man called back, excited, because the salvation had arrived. He says that led him to spread the idea through a daily Friday study group, pamphlets, and booklets, all aimed at connecting people to Orach Chaim’s teachings.

The piece argues that the study brings special merit, both as preparation for Shabbat and because it preserves Torah while people are busy with Friday preparations. It also cites a promise attributed to the Orach Chaim, quoted as promising wealth, long life, blessings, and whatever the soul desires, and says the group acts on the belief that he can help with poverty, illness, marriage, children, and other needs.

To illustrate that claim, the article says a Hassidic man in Ashdod was on the verge of total blindness, had been deemed unable to recover, and was even approved for disability benefits, but his name was included in the group’s prayers and his sight later returned. It also says a father who had sought a child for years asked that his son be mentioned at the grave before the Orach Chaim’s yahrzeit, and exactly nine months later, on Chol Hamoed Pesach, the son called to say he had been blessed with a baby boy.

The group says it also runs a special Purim kollel with 60 learners and a nationwide project distributing a subsidized “Orach Chaim HaYomi” book. It invites the public, ahead of the annual yahrzeit, to join its offerings for 42 shekels a month for a year, which include mention at the grave on the yahrzeit, 30 days of learning in their merit, a year of Friday study, and home delivery of the daily Orach Chaim book. A higher option for 100 shekels a month adds a special messenger who will mention subscribers at the grave every Rosh Chodesh eve for a year.