Ashdod, Israel – AP Report: Rich and Famous Flock to Wonder Rabbi

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     In this Monday, July 11, 2011 photo, a man kisses the hand of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, center, as he attends a wedding in Lod, central Israel. People, including some of Israel's wealthiest and most powerful, come seeking Pinto's blessing or his counsel on their business deals and personal lives. The veneration and consulting of miracle rabbis has a long history in Judaism, existing uncomfortably alongside a deeply rooted rationalist tradition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)Ashdod, Israel – 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 adviser, guru or miracle worker.

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    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. In Israel, the phenomenon used to be identified mainly with poor Jews of Middle Eastern origin. But in recent years, it has spread to the country’s secular elite, bringing into the limelight a number of rabbis who have an aura of otherworldliness as well as PR operations sophisticated enough to make sure their otherworldliness is well known.

    Pinto’s star currently shines the brightest.

    On a recent Thursday night – one of the several times a month Pinto sees visitors here – an Associated Press reporter waiting for several hours for an audience was joined by millionaire businessmen, professional soccer players, a few seemingly ordinary people, and one of Israel’s most famous singers, a pop diva who goes by the name of Rita.
    In this July 11, 2011 photo, Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, center, attends a wedding in Lod, central Israel. People, including some of Israel's wealthiest and most powerful, come seeking Pinto's blessing or his counsel on their business deals and personal lives. The veneration and consulting of miracle rabbis has a long history in Judaism, existing uncomfortably alongside a deeply rooted rationalist tradition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
    People who do not wait in line for anything wait in line for Pinto. Leaning against a wall, near the door to the rabbi’s office, was Jacky Ben-Zaken, the real-estate tycoon who told a reporter last year about Pinto’s last-minute advice to abandon his planned purchase of a company.

    Tzipi Livni, the opposition leader, had been here two weeks before. Billionaire Nochi Dankner, who owns Israel’s largest holding company and a daily newspaper, is a regular.

    Pinto is a scion of two rabbinical dynasties. On his mother’s side he is a great-grandson of a famous Moroccan-born mystic known as the Baba Sali.

    Pinto began amassing followers as a young man in the Mediterranean port city of Ashdod, helped by his family heritage and reputation for uncanny insight into human behavior. Some of those followers saw him simply as an unusually wise man. Others believed his wisdom was supernatural, that his blessings had power and that he could see the future and heal the sick.

    His fame slowly extended into the upper reaches of Israeli society, with the help of savvy assistants who cultivate celebrities and reporters.

    The rabbi has a ministry, Shuva Israel, that funds Torah and charitable work and owns the rabbi’s house in Ashdod. It also has property in midtown Manhattan, where Pinto, apparently unhindered by the fact that he speaks no English, has developed a large following and where he now spends most of his time.
    In this July 11, 2011 photo, followers surround Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, center right, during a wedding in Lod, central Israel. People, including some of Israel's wealthiest and most powerful, come seeking Pinto's blessing or his counsel on their business deals and personal lives. The veneration and consulting of miracle rabbis has a long history in Judaism, existing uncomfortably alongside a deeply rooted rationalist tradition. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
    The rise of wonder-rabbis among the wealthy and influential here is linked to a more general rise in religious sentiment in Israel and to New Age trends, said psychologist and sociologist Yoram Bilu of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A visit and donation to the rabbi offers an experience Bilu termed “instant redemption,” with none of the intellectual or practical demands of the actual religion.

    Bilu ties it to the uncertainties of Israeli life: “Israeli businessmen operate in a very stressful, unpredictable environment, and the whole society is in a permanent state of emergency.”

    Pinto stands out in part because he is more accessible to Israelis turned off by organized Judaism, said Shalom Yerushalmi, a veteran political analyst for the daily Maariv who considers himself one of the rabbi’s followers.

    Unlike most ultra-Orthodox rabbis, Pinto does not press his secular adherents to observe Jewish law and rejects the mixing of religion and government, he said. Pinto has also spoken out to condemn racism against Arabs.

    But not everything about the rabbi can be explained, said Yerushalmi: “I think he’s connected to places that we don’t even know about.”

    Israeli lawmaker Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, credited Pinto with helping him survive a near-fatal bout of pneumonia in March.

    Pinto came to his hospital room when he was comatose, said Ben-Eliezer, who is 74. “I didn’t see this, because I was almost in the next world. He sat next to me for between four and five hours, crying. Then he stood up and said to the people in the room – he’ll wake up tomorrow morning.”

    And so it was.

    When the rabbi showed up at an opulent wedding this month, his name was whispered like that of a rock star among the upper-class Israelis in the hall. One man asked him about a potential investment in a 1,500-unit housing project outside Tel Aviv.

    “Go for it,” said Pinto.

    After a long wait in Pinto’s living room, an assistant hurried a reporter into the rabbi’s office, past the envious glances of supplicants left outside.

    The rabbi spoke softly and seemed distracted, as if he had just arrived from another world but was pleasantly surprised to be here.

    When he spoke, it was in simple-sounding Hasidic parables interspersed with astonishing streams of name-dropping that encompassed politicians, businessmen and celebrities in Israel and the U.S.

    The U.S. economy, Pinto predicted in an aside, “is on its way up.”

    Asked why a millionaire might consult with him, Pinto replied with a story.

    Once there was a king whose throat was sore. His advisers told him to drink oil, but this made things worse. Doctors told him to drink vinegar. This made it even worse. Then a simple old man suggested that he should just drink water, and of course this had been the solution all along.

    “People create their problems,” Pinto said. “The rabbi’s job is to explain, with love, that these problems are only small things. People think these things are great, but they are not.”


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    37 Comments
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    12 years ago

    Why does he cater to the rich and famous, and not the poor and unkown?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    There are many who really believe what many of us may consider buba mesias and they are entitled to do so. However, if you have real problems on complex issues you probably ought to rely on experts in that subject area rather than some rav who holds himself out as a “mystic”. Its not apikorsus but certainly has some elements of machashefa.

    DRSLZ
    DRSLZ
    12 years ago

    The rabbis who really are “in the know” do not see PR firms.
    We live in a society wherein a “quick fix” is the seeming solution to everything. Don’t put in the effort, don’t learn, don’t pray, just go to a mystic and get what you want. Instant gratification, Jewish style.

    KVETCH
    KVETCH
    12 years ago

    I belive its all hog wash. all these “wonderworking rabbis .should be lije baseball cards with “all” averages on the back including their failures in advises

    12 years ago

    Rebbe worship, Kabbalist worship, idol worship, it’s all the same avoda zora. Very dangerous path to be on.

    Why does it seem more obvious when it’s a sephardi and not some Eastern European?

    Emes-
    Emes-
    12 years ago

    Quoting Rav Shach ZTK’L. The source for all berochos is the adherence of Shabbos Kokesh with all it’s fine details .

    cbdds
    cbdds
    12 years ago

    I have seen Rabbeim including Chassidic and two Rabbi Pintos.
    There is some power hat can not be easily explained.
    #2 PLEASE READ This is not to say that you should not go to an expert first, but think of this as an extra.
    #1 PLEASE NOTE I went to see this Rabbi Pinto as a plain person. It seemed the Rabbis handlers were telling him that I might not be important but he was ignoring them. he does see plain people.

    Nussi
    Nussi
    12 years ago

    Was in Israel went to rav david told him I had a court case coming up he promised me I would win went to a few others got same promised not only did I lose the judge wiped the floor with me it was a blowout like 50 to nothing oops

    inspireme
    inspireme
    12 years ago

    R’ Pinto officially charges nothing, though I doubt you’d find someone who wouldn’t leave a donation when visiting. And that’s the custom with ANY Rabbi who’s advice, not to mention time, you seek out. I’ve been to him, I was certainly a ‘no-one’ but waited no more/less than anyone else in the room, including the wealthy. The skeptics who post so quickly here are no doubt skeptics of most/many things in life, so how much more so is it expected that they would be skeptical of anything that is more spiritual than physical/tangible. I know several people who have had some pretty unbelievable encounters with this Rabbi, and I’ve had my own – also with others. Before the usual bashers on this site bash, why don’t they go and try experiencing for themselves? As the saying goes though, you have to believe in some things in life in order to see and receive them. A skeptic usually sees a mirror where a more open-minded individual and believer will see a window.

    tromwell
    tromwell
    12 years ago

    are they famous because most off them take the yarmekels off when they leave

    Track5
    Track5
    12 years ago

    Whenever i’ve a problem,whenever I need something or whenever I need help I go to my rebbi, the rebbi of all rebbi’s,הקדוש ברוך הוא hashem,he dosn’t charge any money,no hand kissing & no lines ,he listens to me & helps me right away .

    12 years ago

    First of all beleiving is most important ,,,, when getting a blessing you have to believe it will help than it will…also I started learning “ohr hachaim” daily and had seen mamesh miracles ……. It pays to try

    TheDrZ
    TheDrZ
    12 years ago

    It is easier not to believe than to believe. That’s why people are so quick to bash these things…

    12 years ago

    To number 6 you seem like an am haaretz in Torah . Was Moshe not a rebbe was vayaminu bhashem uvmoshe avdo

    12 years ago

    And to whom are women that need advice supposed to go???

    bubii
    bubii
    12 years ago

    i see bozos have alot of credibility among the rich and famous,it all makes sense the weirder you are the more youre accepted what a perverted world we live in.

    PeterChamor
    PeterChamor
    12 years ago

    Better he should use his reputation to do what he can to lead the secular towards frumkeit.

    oiber-chacham
    oiber-chacham
    12 years ago

    what a CHILLUL HASHEM,these ripp-off artist’s give YIDISHKEIT a bad name.
    these out and out swindlers and charlatans,take advantage of a lot of desperate ignorant and superstitious people to relieve them of their hard earned money,they are no better than the hundreds of these gipsy fortune tellers scattered all around manhattan.
    will not be surprised at all,if one day we wake up and read,that this guy has been arrested and is behind bars.

    CHAIM.S

    Aryeh
    Aryeh
    12 years ago

    Only a vessel without holes can hold water. Often, the Rabbis require that one first correct aspects of themselves in order to receive the blessing. They don’t ask for money, but as with anyone seeking advice from a professional, one can expect to get what they pay for. See Gemara Brochos.

    12 years ago

    The Chafetz Chaim’s son, said that his father was different than the other
    Rebbes, who perform Mofsim. By Rebbes it is Tzadik Gozer V’hakadosh
    Boruch Hu mekayem.By the Ch Chaim it was the opposite Hakadosh B”H
    Gozer v’hatzadik mekayem