A Story of Possession - The Evil Soul of the False Messiah Shabsai Tzvi Strikes from Beyond the Grave
Copyright © 1995 by Ariel Bar Tzadok. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Rav Yehuda Fatiya was truly a remarkable man, a master Mekubol, as the following story will show. This rendering is more of a paraphrased translation than literal. I sometimes changed tenses, and added a needed word that is implied (but not in) the original text. I have chosen this format to bring this piece to you so that you can get the feel of the original flow that the piece has to it.
There are many lessons within this episode. Those who work today with Yichudim and exorcisms rely heavily on Rav Yehuda’s work as a guide to how to recognize spirits and how to deal with them once they have been identified. This episode unfortunately is not unique. Demonic possession is not limited to the realm of the horror film. Whenever we as Jews violate the mitzvos, we become open to spiritual-psychic attack. I offer this translation so as to open the eyes of those who do not see. Remember, this story is real. We have an insider’s view of what happened. Know that a lot of stories going on around us today are similar to this one. Armed with the knowledge this episode will provide, you may become more aware of what is really going on in the hearts and minds of those around us. May Hashem bless and protect his people Eretz Yisrael from all our enemies, seen and unseen, corporeal and non-corporeal. Amen!
HoRuchos Mesaperos – The Spirits Speak
On Monday, the 22nd of Kislev 5663, a man named Reuven ben Moshe Mani ben Rahama came to me. He was possessed by a spirit named David Yohana. While I was yet working with him, another man, Yehezkel Ezra ben Yisrael came to me. His family name is Bakhur. He said to me that for a number of years evil thoughts would pop into his head as though from nowhere. During the silent Amida tefilla, or during Kaddish or Kedusha, he would hear a voice within him saying, “Give up your religion, convert and become a Christian” (G-d forbid).
These thoughts were so powerful that they would disturb his concentration, preventing him from answering the Kaddish or Kedusha. It had not been twenty years since he had gone to Rav Yosef Chaim (the Ben Ish Chai) who sent a letter to Rav Eliyahu Mani in Chevron. The response was that (Bakhur) had a great klipah (evil shells/husks) within his heart, and that he (Rav Mani) could not help him.
The Ben Ish Chai consulted with me at that time and told me to write a mezuza, and prescribed that Bakhur should wear it over his heart. This, however, had no effect. Therefore he had returned to me to inquire whether he had a spirit within him. Being that Bakhur was an honest, G-d-fearing man, I consented to his request. I started to perform Yichudim (Unifications, a specific form of Jewish meditation in Kabbalistic Jewish mysticism, especially denoting the complete meditative method developed by the Arizal) by his ear, the Yichudim used against spirits. Thus the breath of the Yichud enters into his ear, and then into his organs, for the breath of the Yichud disturbs the breath of the spirit.
While I was reciting the Yichudim into his ear, Bakhur started to laugh. I asked him what he was laughing about; he answered and said that he can almost hear another person inside himself, and he is very viciously cursing you, saying this one’s Rav, Yosef Chaim (the Ben Ish Chai) advised you to wear a mezuza, he should take the mezuza and place it up his Bais HaBoshes (the embarrassing place) (G-d forbid). Now his talmid has become the Rav. He is only half of his Rav, Yosef Chaim. In this way did the spirit curse me and mock me.
Upon hearing all this, I returned to recite Yichudim by his ear numerous times, without interruption, until such a time that the spirit was cursing, twisting and turning within Bakhur’s heart. But I would not pay the spirit any mind. In the end Bakhur inquired of the spirit within him, and he said, “Ask Yehuda what he wants from me.”
I said to him, “I want to know from what city you come and what is your name. I want you to tell me the absolute truth. If you lie to me, I will show you what I can do by placing severe punishments and sufferings upon you.”
The spirit answered Bakhur saying, “There have been a number of people like Yehuda who tried to get me to reveal my name, but they weren’t able to get anything from me. I am stronger than stone. I do not open up to just anyone.”
I said to the spirit, “If so, I will continue to try, and we will see who will be successful in the end. If you are truly a strong spirit and are accustomed to sufferings, then prepare yourself to suffer the travails of the the Yichudim, for they are like an unquenchable flame, and they are more painful then hell itself; for I will not leave you alone until you truthfully tell me your name and whence you came. You will suffer all this pain for nothing, because you do not submit to me. You are causing all this suffering to fall upon you, and not me.”
I started again to recite Yichudim by Bakhur’s ear as I did previously; I also blew the Shofar close to his ear with the meditations that are appropriate for this.
Bakhur started to scream. “Enough, enough!! I surrender.”
The spirit now wanted to tell me his name and place of origin. Yet I wasn’t ready to listen. For I know it is the way of the spirits to be like Pharaoh; they only surrender for a moment, then go back to being stiff-necked. Therefore I decided to show the spirit the power of the Holy Names.
Only when I was finished with the Yichudim was the spirit tired and worn down, and asked me to give him time to relax from his travails.
Afterward, the spirit asked me, “Why do you seek to know my name and place of origin? Why do you need to know this?”
I said to the spirit, “So that I can rectify your soul and allow you to ascend to the Garden of Eden, so that you won’t suffer from being earthbound anymore.”
The spirit said, “This is not possible, not for you or for your rectifications. I do not wish to go to the Garden of Eden.”
I said to the spirit, “Again you challenge me?” I brought my mouth close to Bakhur’s ear so as to again recite the Yichudim. The spirit then screamed within Bakhur’s mind, and said he would reveal his name.
He said his name was Dovid ben Savti ben Rivka from the city of Izmir (Turkey). He said that he was an apostate and that he had slept with gentile women, and that he left no children, and that he had possessed Bakhur some seventeen years earlier.
The spirit then asked why I had flipped the world over on him. He said, “I have never hurt (Bakhur) or caused him any harm, and if you are so concerned about these insignificant thoughts, I will be careful from now on not to cause him evil thoughts. Just leave me here in my place, for if I were to leave, where would I go? Where would I find rest?”
Bakhur said to the spirit, “Go to Gehinnom.”
The spirit answered, “I am not yet worthy to enter into Gehinnom, for I am guilty of sleeping with a menstrual woman, a gentile woman, and a prostitute. Please don’t go again to Yehuda, for I can’t stand it. Let me stay here in my place, and I will not bother you further.”
All these things did the spirit speak within Bakhur’s mind, and he (Bakhur) would speak them to me. Being that I really didn’t want to deal with spirits, I made a condition with the spirit. If he would return and place evil thoughts in Bakhur’s mind, I would set my hand against him.
Only a few short days had passed when the spirit returned to his evil ways and brought evil thoughts into Bakhur’s mind. Bakhur came to me and related what was happening.
I started to recite Yichudim by his ear. I commanded the spirit that this time to truthfully tell me his name, for the angel who oversees the Yichudim had already revealed to me the spirit’s name and place of origin. (This frightened the spirit.) I told the spirit that I would continue to recite a number of Yichudim by Bakhur’s ear until he revealed to me his name, just as the angel had told it to me.
The spirit was very disturbed by this, and he said his name was Tzvi, and that his mother’s name was Rivka, and that he was from Izmir. I commanded him to tell me the truth; for initially the spirit said his name was Dovid ben Savti, and now he said his name was Tzvi. I asked him outright, “Aren’t you none other than the notorious Shabsai Tzvi from Izmir, who made himself to be a messiah?”
The spirit answered that this was the truth. I asked him, “If so, you died in the year 1666; it has not been 237 years from your death. Tell me where you have reincarnated until now? How were you judged?”
The spirit answered me mockingly, “Even if you get for yourself enough paper to write a book and enough pens (I will not tell you), for these things are none of your business. Now, you are late for your class in the Yeshiva. Your talmidim are awaiting you, they are
