Did Rav Eliyahu "Confirm" The Miracle of Rochel Imeinu In Gaza?

Snort. He did no such thing. Or if he did, it does not mean much.

Let us start with the story, though it has all sorts of variants. Apparently, some soldiers in Gaza were going to enter specific houses, three consecutive times, and were asked not to by an Arab woman named Rachel. When they searched the houses, they found that they were booby-trapped. The claim is that this was Rachel Imeinu.

Some points:

(1) Does her name being "Rachel" mean that it must have been Rachel Imeinu? For all we know, it might have been Rachel Corrie! ;) Or better yet, it might have been a random Arab woman whose name was Rachel. Yes, apparently some Muslims also bear this name, not surprising because it has a Biblical basis. See here for a Muslim woman named Rachel. Or maybe this detail, like many others, was added by some idiot. After all, this account has no mention of the name Rachel.

Yet see how Shiloh Musings reports this Urban Legend:

When he asked her who she was, she replied that she was Rachel Imeinu, and she wanted to protect and save the soldiers.

and compare with this account, from Life In Israel:

No one knows who she was. She disappeared as quickly as she had appeared. One soldier asked who are you, and she said Rachel. Other soldiers heard her say this.

So if the story happened, it is possible she just said Rachel, and then other people expanded this to Rachel Imeinu and her also saying explicitly that she was acting to protect and save the soldiers.

{Update: See that R' Lazer Brody, who spread previous hoaxes, was the initial one posting on this. And in this story, the woman does not say her name. But he writes:

Who was that woman? Sounds to me like Rachel Imenu...

And so this was the likely genesis of that particular detail.
}

(2) Did we hear of this directly?

Well, we do seem to have this direct testimony, though I have not heard it directly. To cite Shiloh Musings, which got several details wrong:

This testimony was provided by one of the Golani Brigade soldiers who was injured, and later reported the incident in the hospital. The soldier was interviewed on Galei Tzahal [Israel Army Radio].

If he was injured, then I guess Rachel did not do her job so well. Did this soldier directly talk to Rachel?

Others have it from the mother of one of the soldiers:

‘My son is in the Givati Brigade, and his unit’s job is to clean out areas around Gaza City.

Meanwhile, how does Rav Shmuel Eliyahu know the details of the story? Well, we have:

Recently, a story has been circulating about Rachel Imeinu, who appeared to soldiers in various places, and saved them from booby-trapped houses. A great Rosh Yeshiva told me that it was true, and that he knew the man told the story, and told me his name.

This is thus indirect, kind of like friend-of-a-friend. Similar "confirmations" occurred by the hoax about the black student who was a victim of the attack on Merkaz HaRav (where the source was purportedly a rebbe in the Yeshiva), and similar confirmations in the hoax about Rav Kanievsky warning of people being in bomb shelters on Chanukkah (where it was again purportedly from a person X who spoke to Rav Kanievsky). Here, he does not say the name of the "great Rosh Yeshiva," such that we can confirm details from him. I am sure the great Rosh Yeshiva exists. And the great Rosh Yeshiva told him the name of the man in the story, and that seems to be enough for Rav Shmuel Eliyahu. He should call the man in the story himself, and confirm that it occurred, and confirm the specific details. Or ask the great Rosh Yeshiva whether he heard it from the man himself, or whether from someone in the man's family or shul, etc. As it is, and as it was for the two aforementioned hoaxes, there is entirely too much potential from broken telephone and misunderstandings or who did what.

And what does it mean "that it was true?" That it was Rachel? Which version of the story is he endorsing?

(3) How did the woman appear and reappear in different houses, if not via a miracle, and if not for her being Rachel Imeinu?

Well, there are tunnels between the houses:

The soldiers thought she probably came somehow through the tunnel network that Hamas had set up between houses, and one of the soldiers even yelled at her… Then they went to a third house – and the same woman appeared again. This time, all the soldiers froze.

And indeed, as per another account, there were tunnels:

A little while later, it turned out that the old woman was right: the houses were booby-trapped, and they had openings to tunnels. The houses exploded, and the soldiers' lives were saved!

So she could have simply run from one house to the next via tunnels.

(4) If it was really an Arab woman, why would she do this?

There are a number of possible reasons. One, she could have been a righteous woman who did not like Chamas and did not want soldiers walking into a booby-trap.

It is also possible that she had family in these houses, or she or relatives or friends owned these houses, and that Hamas, which likes to cause civilian casualties so that they can wave them at the cameras, booby-trapped the houses hoping or not caring about civilian casualties or damage to property. The woman was trying to protect loved-ones, or her home, and so warned the soldiers so as to prevent the explosion.

Thus, to explain the reason:

and started yelling at them in Arabic, ‘Ruchu min hon – Get out of here! It’s dangerous!’ The troops thought she might be trying to protect her family, but they didn’t want to take chances;

(5) Did she speak Hebrew or Arabic?

According to one account:

Outside one house, a woman dressed in black appeared and started yelling at them in Arabic, ‘Ruchu min hon – Get out of here! It’s dangerous!’

So she spoke Arabic. According to another account, she does not speak Arabic but rather only Hebrew:

The officer asked her in Arabic to evacuate the doorway, but she answered him in Hebrew, and begged him to immediately get far away from the house, since it was booby-trapped [mined with explosives], and there was a danger to him and his soldiers.

How can you believe such a story when crucial details such as whether she said a name, whether she said Rachel, or whether she said Rachel Imeinu; and whether she spoke in Arabic or in Hebrew, are at variance? Clearly if it did happen in some form, people are actively modifying it, and so even though Rav Shmuel Eliyahu heard it from an unnamed great Rosh Yeshiva who

(6) Did Rav Mordechai Eliyahu confirm the details of the story?

No, and he is in no position to do so. Rather, when told the story, he believed the story to be true. And that this was a fulfillment to his prayers, when he spoke to Rachel Imeinu and asked her to pray to Hashem for her children.

(I would note that while the Navi Yirmeyahu writes poetry about the disconsolate Rachel,saying that she is crying, כה אמר ה' קול ברמה נשמע נהי בכי תמרורים רחל מבכה על בניה מאנה להנחם על בניה כי איננו, in a way that may well be allegorical, this is not the same as an endorsement to be doreish el hameisim.)

All he asked Rachel for was to pray that Hashem grant the soldiers success and not to be harmed, not to work as a scout, as a sort of independent operating power. Yet Rav Eliyahu apparently sees this as a possible fulfillment of his request.

I say "possible" because based on the video retelling by his son, it was said in a jocular manner, and as a question. "Did she tell them that I sent her?"

And anyway, his belief is not a confirmation of reality. It is just a confirmation of his own beliefs, which may or may not accord with reality. And before Rav Eliyahu said this, I could point to any number of frum, mystically inclined individuals who also believed it. Th

Meanwhile, here is YNet's account of it, with Rav Eliyahu's "endorsement" and Rav Aviner saying that one should be skeptical, and that the pasuk in Mishlei applies, that a fool believes everything:

טו פֶּתִי, יַאֲמִין לְכָל-דָּבָר; וְעָרוּם, יָבִין לַאֲשֻׁרוֹ.

15 The thoughtless believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

Some of Rav Aviner's remarks, cited from that YNet article:

"יש שני סוגי קיצוניות", הוסיף הרב אבינר, קיצונות אחת זה לכפור בנסים וקיצוניות אחת זה להאמין שכל מי שמספר על נס באמת היה נס... יכול להיות שדמיינו. לפעמים אדם מדמיין, אדם בריא בנפשו. לפעמים הוא בלחץ, הוא עייף, הוא רעב, נדמה לו שהוא רואה משהו ואין, ואחר כך הוא מטפח את זה בזיכרונו. זה נקרא F.M.S - תסמונת הזיכרון המוטעה".

"יכול להיות שזו הייתה אישה גויה. יש גם

ערביות טובות - אמנם לא כולן, אבל יש. ואולי מישהו הזה את הרעיון הזה כדי לחזק את האמונה, ולומר: אתם רואים? יש אנשים שיוצאים למלחמה ויש אנשים שלא יוצאים למלחמה אבל הם מתפללים ובזכותם באה רחל ומצילה. לכן דברים כאלה צריכים הוכחות".

Update: See also the post on this at Yeranen Yaakov.

Also, see my continued discussion of this, in another blog post.