The Avritsher Rav himself survived the earthquake in Tzefas in a miraculous manner. He was in his Bais Medrash when the quake’s vibrations began, davening Mincha.
As soon as he realized what was happening, he warned his followers and Chassidim to remain indoors and not to leave the shul or go outside.
Instead, he ordered them to squeeze and crowd themselves around him while he fell down, prostrating himself in Nefilas Apayim, with his hands and feet outstretched – bepishut yodayim veraglayim – in a gesture of total surrender and dependence on Hashem.
The structure of the Bais Medrash had a dome-shaped roof. The earthquake caused the majority of this dome to collapse. The walls fell apart and collapsed.
Miraculously, only the small area on which the Bas Ayin lay prostrated with his followers surrounding him remained untouched and they were unharmed. Only two support pillars remained standing and the dome was left hanging almost in mid-air!
To commemorate this miracle, a plaque was inscribed that reads: “Ma nora hamokon hazeh – How awesome is this place, the Bais Medrash of Rav Avrohom Dov, the Admor of Avritsh, zecher tzaddik livrocha, who survived the great earthquake in Tzefas in the year 5597, and in his great merit he saved half the shul from destruction. He and all his talmidim survived.”
A Sign of Redemption - The Avritsher Rav saw the earthquake as a sign of upcoming redemption and he rewrote the letters that spell earthquake in Hebrew – ra’ash – inverting them to spell instead sha’ar – a gate, an opening toward upcoming salvation.
He cites Sanhedrin 98, where the talmidim asked Rav Yossi ben Kisma when Moshiach ben Dovid would come. He answered them, “When this sha’ar falls down and is rebuilt, and then falls down again and is rebuilt again, and then this happens a third time – and they won’t have the chance to rebuild it again because then ben Dovid will arrive.”
The words sha’ar and ra’ash have the same gematria as Tzefas (shin = 300, ayin = 70, reish = 200 = 570) = (tzadi = 90, peh = 80, tav = 400 = 570).
There were two earthquakes that claimed many lives and the Avritsher predicted that this third would be the end and that the Moshiach would arrive before their final reconstruction efforts were completed.
