Manchester – At a private house in Whitefield, north Manchester, on Sunday, people were spilling out of the front door, crowding onto the path, and queuing, in their hundreds, for more than four hours.
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The attraction? A sweet-faced, bearded rabbi, Moshe Taub, who has electrified communities up and down the country.
Visits from dynastic rabbinical leaders are commonplace in the strictly Orthodox community. But Rabbi Taub, the Kalover Rebbe, is different. His Hungarian family of Chasidic Jews, representing generation upon generation of Torah-true rabbis, was all but wiped out in the Holocaust. The rabbi, now in his early 70s, was born on the Hungarian border with Romania while his parents were on the run from the Nazis.
Post-war, the survivors of the Kalover sect vowed to share their Chasidic teachings with non-observant or secular Jews.
There is a Grand Kalover Rebbe in Jerusalem, but Rabbi Moshe Taub, who heads the US branch of the sect, and is based in Brooklyn, New York, makes dozens of trips a year, reaching out to those who would not normally come into contact with him.
On his first British tour last week Rabbi Taub visited London, Leeds, Manchester, and Glasgow.
At Manchester’s King David High School pupils were offered a two-minute meeting to receive a blessing or Chasidic proverb. One sixth-former said the students thought the rabbi was “some kind of magic man. The blessing was a nice thing, but I wasn’t interested.”
But one 17-year-old Yavneh student at King David, Gideon Kershner, reported being “in shock” that within a minute of meeting him, Rabbi Taub mentioned a deep secret about his personal life.
The teenager said: “He said some general things, like I should learn more about Judaism. But then he held my hand and looked me in the eye. I was shocked. I came away completely taken aback. It was a bit scary – someone you’ve never seen before and he just reads you. He spoke about something only I know. It was something specific. The fact he said that thing to me was extraordinary.”
As news of a bearded wise man spread, 150 people filled Prestwich Hebrew Congregation’s banqueting suite. Prestwich’s minister, Rabbi Dovid Eisenberg, said he had accepted the rabbi’s visit “because he is an example of warmth and acceptance of less observant Jews,” but the turnout far exceeded expectations.
On Monday, a spokesman for Prestwich’s Holy Law Synagogue said 700 people had bought tickets to meet the rabbi. President Anthony Haber said the rabbi did not ask for any money “but sat for hours to help people”.
Mr Haber added: “Rabbi Taub seemed to know a lot of things about people. He told one kid, in his early teens, that he should do his best to cry less. There was no way he could have known that, but the kid does cry quite a lot. He told another boy, don’t follow in your father’s footsteps. That boy’s father had been the sort of person you wouldn’t want to follow. The rabbi simply seemed able to read people.”
Stephen Goldman, 59, said Rabbi Taub seemed “on a different level to other rabbis. He travels all over the world to give blessings. I’ve got some illnesses, so I came to get one.”
Tony Levene, from Prestwich, went to the private house in Whitefield to seek a blessing for his son, five-year-old Joey, who suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a terminal condition.
He said: “I just went along because a friend suggested it. I must say, he was a very spiritual person. He spoke very quietly and calmly. He asked me a few questions about whether I kept Shabbat, or did I wear tefillin. I simply said, my son’s got a terminal illness and can you just kindly say a prayer, and he did. I didn’t believe in asking the rabbi for a miracle, just could he ask to make it easier for my son. In a mad sort of way, I do have faith in that.”
There is a special yichus to meet such a heilege rav. However, I’m always curious whether the “revelations” about the person seeking a baracha are real or more imaginary in the mind of the individual. Whatever the case, it reinforces the emunah of the individual so thats all that counts, without regard to reality.
My heart missed a beat reading how those young kids look at him as an old fashioned ‘Miracle Maker’ but he does what he does best and no nobody else does it, after all seeing 600 pple one single night and asking them to put on tefilin and shabbes is not a think I can offer an alternative.
I would like some mechanech educatinal expert to comment about this whole mystical cultish holiness style that maybe works on the moment but can backfire afterwards.
any miracles contriubuted to him?i am very curious
you won’t find someone more cynical than me (see some of my VIN posts) , but I must say, this Rebbe did tell me something very specific that he had no earthly way of knowing, and that no one walks away from the Rebbe without feeling that the Rebbe cares a great deal for them.
He also does not push Segulos, magic, etc. Just emphasizes Torah,Tfilla, in a very wonderful way.
Nisht Avek Tzi’Machen Aza Yid
the reason why this rebbe is so successful is because, unlike many others, he’s not here to get your money. his sole purpose of traveling around the globe is to be Mechazek Yidishe Neshomas
keep it up, Rebbe
to bubii # 3
I’m curious abt why you care, yesterday you didn’t believe in gedolim or rabbis being above us. have you finally seen the light? I hope so, for your sake
the reason he is so successful is because he is simply honest nonjudgemental and not materialistic, and very very few people like him exist you can count them on one hand.
Someone who is very skilled at “reading” people can sometimes “guess” their secrets by external clues they give. It is not “magic” but it is a skill that sensitive people can exploit. This is not to diminish the greatness of the Rebbe, if he has developed this skill then it only shows how advanced he is in relating to the feelings of others.
Definitely my favorite Rebbe today – I love all the rebbes but this man is unique
I have known the Kaliver Rebbe when he was a young man in his early thirties; he came to our School in Stamford Hill every week to test us on what we learned that week,
He was and still is a wealthy real estate investor (he dose not take money from any one) he always was a kind and gentle man who cared and gave from his time and money to help other Jews
When his father the kaliver rebbe passed away 35 years ago he moved to the U.S.A and left his real estate empire in the hands of a trustworthy person who mismanaged it and the banks foreclosed on his holdings it was Friday morning when he learned about it for a moment he was grief stricken than he said has ham gives and takes, he got dressed in his Shabbat clothes and said to every one I am makeable Shabbat early and on Shabbat one is not allowed to grieve and by motzi Shabbat he never spoke about it again
His real estate empire in New York survived and flourished, from that he covers his travling expenses and gives a lot of charity.
May has ham bless him till moishach arrives
To #’s 1 and 10 and any skeptics out there: this holy man – and there are a few others besides him – have a chush, call it a sixth sense if you will, that enables them to “see through” a person. It is a gift from Hashem given to these humble and pious souls with which they were meant to help Yidden. Those who have witnessed their uncanny perceptions firsthand will vouch for what I’m saying. Others – don’t knock it, it’s real, very real.
About 6 years ago, the Kalover Rebbe came to my community. A friend of mine insisted that I should meet the rebbe so he could give brochas to my children. When my older son walked up to the rebbe for a brocha, he touched my son’s cheek and told him to stay away from anger. I was shocked because my son can have a very bad temper.