In November 1996, a vision of a Rabbi appeared to me. He motions to come find him. The Kabbalist Rabbi was in Jerusalem. This is known as an Invitation from a Tzadik. There are many Rabbis in Jerusalem. How do I find him? Emuna and Bitachon, belief and trust in Hashem. These are important concepts, and G-d will test them for you.
I traveled to Jerusalem hoping to find this Rabbi even though I didn’t know his name. At the hotel where I was staying, the concierge suggested I try the Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem to find a Kabbalist. I walked the streets looking for a clue to the location of the Rabbi. This search is crazy, I thought as the doubt began to creep in. Suddenly, another flash of a vision, as the Rabbi beckons me. I thought he must be nearby.
A man gets out of his car, and I bravely ask him if he knows of a Kabbalist Rabbi in the neighborhood. Without hesitation, he points across the street and says, “Rabbi Khadoury”. Astonished that he had my answer, I quickly sought the Rabbi. Marching across the street into the yeshiva, I naively asked for a meeting with the Rabbi. “Do you have an appointment?” The assistant bombarded me with questions. “You can’t just walk in from the street and expect to see the Rabbi. He is a big mekubal.” I do not even remember my answer, but we went back and forth. I was persistent and suddenly he stopped abruptly with a jerking motion, as if he were being hit over the head by an angel and said, “I will take you”.
He brought me to a small house in the back of the Yeshiva and through crowds of people, all waiting to see the Rabbi. We went to the front of the line and I heard whispers “Who is she? She must be important.” He escorted me up the ramp to the porch that led into the house. “Have a seat, he motions towards a round table. Can you tell me what is your question?” asks the student seated at the table. I was dumbfounded for I didn’t have a question nor did I know why I was invited to see the Rabbi. “Here, write it down, he insisted” I scribbled “What is my mission?” It just came into my thoughts. Later it occurred to me that may be the reason I was there, to learn more about my mission.
The answer came back from the Rabbi twenty minutes later in the form of a special prayer called a kamia. It was accompanied by a list of instructions to put the prayer in water. Torah is represented by water, and I must drink the water before a certain time. The amulet is for protection, and I wore it close to my heart for the rest of my journey. After I left the house a woman that saw me go the front of the line asked me if I got to meet the Rabbi. “Not exactly, he does not meet with women and only speaks in Hebrew they told me. I would really like to see what he looks like.” She whispered as if revealing a secret, “He prays at a nearby shul, and she gave me the address. You can see him there.”
I arrived early to shul in anticipation to see the Rabbi do the prayer service and sat in the upstairs woman’s section. The Rabbi was davening in the center of the sanctuary. He looked exactly like my vision. A prayer shawl(tallis) covered his head. Soon the service was over, and the Rabbi was ushered out of the sanctuary and into a private room. I tried to get near, but he was rushed by all the women that had just davened. They surrounded him with handwritten prayers clamoring “Bless me Rabbi, bless me”. Suddenly I remembered that I forgot my shawl and returned to the balcony. I looked into the sanctuary and saw a man sitting in the Rabbi’s chair. He was davening as I turned for just an instant to pick up my scarf. When I turned back, he was gone. Was he even real? Suddenly I knew what I must do. I tiptoed into the Sanctuary and sat in the Rabbi’s chair. I was transported into a state of bliss, which seemed to have lasted for 30 minutes. As I came back to wherever I was there was one of the Rabbi’s assistants motioning to me to leave. Obligingly I left knowing that I had completed this part of my mission. I got whatever I needed from the Rabbi.
Well, the skeptic in me has to say that something happened because of that experience. I wandered into the Old City through the Jaffa Gate. The Tower of David was near the entrance and I decided to join the tour. The guide explained, “This is not the original level of the City of David, he pointed to a dug plot. That is the original level.” I descended the small ladder and set foot on the soil. An eruption of memory burst into my consciousness. I was transported back in time to witness the destruction of Jerusalem as I stood outside the walls of the city. I heard the screams behind the walls and saw the flames shoot out from the walls. I wandered into a darkened theater where a documentary was being shown and sobbed for hours. Painful emotions were released with the gut-wrenching sobs from the depths of my soul. I learned that what I saw was historically accurate. I remembered from deep within my soul. A tremendous healing just took place and moved me to the next part of my mission.
Rabbi Yitzchak Khadoury was a master Kabbalist born in Baghdad, Iraq (ancient Babylon). The exact date of his birth is not known. He passed in the year 2006 and was believed to be 108 years old. The illness that overtook him was Pneumonia which affected his organs and due to his age, he was not able to recover. He was very respected and well-known; thousands attended his funeral in the streets of Jerusalem.