{"id":98909,"date":"2022-11-20T04:28:48","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T02:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98909"},"modified":"2022-11-20T04:28:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T02:28:48","slug":"a-brilliant-portent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/a-brilliant-portent\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brilliant Portent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A Brilliant Portent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When I was a young boy, I used to watch Father, zy\u201da, light many lamps in cups of oil in memory of the tzaddikim, may their memories be blessed. Father would light untold amounts of these lights, to the extent that he would often say that if he had eye problems, it was surely due to the smoke that emanated from them. Nevertheless, he would scrupulously light the wicks with unbridled joy and deep concentration.<\/p>\n<p>One day, Mr. Amram Ben-Chamou, a\u201dh, came to visit precisely when Father was lighting the candles. Mr. Ben-Chamou explained that he suffered from heart problems. The doctors had informed him that if he suffered another heart attack, no matter how light, he would die.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes the number twenty-six, which is the numerical equivalent of Hashem\u2019s Name, \u05d9-\u05d4-\u05d5-\u05d4, find favor in your eyes?\u201d asked Father.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes!\u201d answered Mr. Ben-Chamou.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn that case, Hashem will add another twenty-six years to your life, in the merit of the tzaddikim for whom I am now lighting candles,\u201d was Father\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ben-Chamou was pleased with these words and left with a spring in his step.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-six years came and went. Mr. Ben-Chamou was struck with a heart attack. His wife, who stood devotedly at his side, called me up to ask that I come and bless him with a complete recovery. I asked to speak with the sick man. He said to me, \u201cI want you to know, honored Rav, that I am on the brink of death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy do you talk like that?\u201d I asked, surprised.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour father, zy\u201da, blessed me that I live another twenty-six years. This coming Monday completes twenty-six full years from the time of that blessing. I am sure that I will die then. Nothing can help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>That very Monday, he returned his soul to his Maker. I was left with the lesson of the greatness of tzaddikim, who are able to decree what will be. Hashem fulfills their decrees, in the merit of their attachment to Torah throughout their lives. Moreover, this tale teaches the significance of lighting candles in the memory of the tzaddikim of old<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Brilliant Portent When I was a young boy, I used to watch Father, zy\u201da, light many lamps in cups of oil in memory of the tzaddikim, may their memories be blessed. Father would light untold amounts of these lights, to the extent that he would often say that if he had eye problems, it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":26144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1095],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-tzaddiks-word"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}