There is a renowned segulah to prepare a seudah in honor of the baal hilulah, the Bas Ayin. In the merit of this meal, comes great and wonderful yeshuos.
The Rebbe of Tosh zt'l (Avodas Avodah) said, "I know a family in Eretz Yisrael who needed a yeshuah and rachamim. They made a seudah in honor of the holy baal hilulah and were saved above the rules of nature."
A shidduch offer came immediately, and the chasunah was scheduled for the 16th of Kislev. This story shows the strength of pure emunah. They were davening at the end of Av, and they already had a doubt that perhaps their daughter would be engaged and that the chasunah would be held during the week of the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit! But they had already seen the miracles that this tzaddik performs, and they trusted in Hashem that the salvation would come quickly. They believed that it was feasible that the chasunah would be in Kislev, and so it was.
Now we will tell a story of the opposite extreme, to what occurs when there isn't emunah. Fifteen bachurim sat together and made a kabbalah that if they got engaged by the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit, they would make a seudah in his tzaddik's honor. Indeed, fourteen of them became chassanim before the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit, תשפ"ב. One of the bachurim laughed at the idea; he didn't believe that this segulah (of making a kabbalah to make a seudah in honor of the bas Ayin) could bring yeshuos. Indeed, this bachur was the only one who didn't get engaged. This bachur told us this story, and with tears, he begged that we write it to increase emunah among Yidden, so he should have a kaparah.
A story related to our topic occurred with the Bas Ayin himself. He went with a group of people to daven at kivrei tzaddikim in Tzfas. When they came to one of the kevarim, he heard one man say to his friend, "Who says that this tzaddik is actually buried here?"
The Bas Ayin turned to him and said, "Whoever doubts a mesorah accepted by Klal Yisrael is an apikores." We tell this story to remind all those who think they are wise and ask questions, 'Who said," and the like, that this cools off the emunah.
Some years ago, there was a Slonimer chassid in Tzefas named Reb Shlomo Gross z’l. He sold kerosene for his parnassah, but barely earned a living. On the night of the Bas Ayin’s yahrtzeit, Reb Shlomo davened at the Bas Ayin’s grave. That night, the Bas Ayin came to him in a dream and said, ‘I appreciate that you davened at my grave, but why didn't you make a seudah for me?"
In the morning, Reb Shlomo Gross gathered ten people, and they made a seudah in honor of the Bas Ayin. He couldn't afford to make the seudah alone, but he put out a white tablecloth, and each person brought something to the meal. At the seudah, they discussed divrei Torah and stories of the Bas Ayin.
After the seudah, Reb Shlomo bought a lottery ticket and won a huge sum of money. He donated a portion of it to the Slonimer Yeshiva and requested that the yeshivah use the funds to pay for an annual seudah in honor of the Bas Ayin. Reb Shlomo Gross specified some conditions for the seudah: There should be a white tablecloth, divrei Torah, and stories of the Bas Ayin should be discussed so the seudos would resemble the seudah he made on the day he had his salvation. This tradition continues until today in the Slonimer Yeshivos and is still funded by a portion of the money Reb Shlomo Gross earned on the Bas Ayin’s yahrtzeit.
Thousands of people had their yeshuah because they made a seudah in the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit. We will bring just a few:
On the 12th of Kislev, a tragedy occurred in Jersey City, New Jersey, when murderers entered a Jewish supermarket with weapons. There were casualties, r'l. We received a letter from one of the people who was saved: Y. B. Goldberger writes that he owns a travel agency, which he runs together with his brother, who lives in Union City, New Jersey. One day, he met with one of his clients in Jersey City. The initial plan was that after the meeting, his brother would drive in from Union City to Jersey City, and they would meet and talk in the grocery about matters related to their business. But that morning, his brother called him, saying, "We are having a seudah here [in Union City] in honor of the Bas Ayin. Perhaps you can come here, and we will discuss business here?" That arrangement saved them because they weren't at the site of the attack.
A similar story occurred with a chashuver yungerman who lives in Jersey City. He planned to go to the grocery that morning, immediately after shacharis, but when he saw that there was a l'chayim in the beis medresh, in honor of the Bas Ayin, he decided to stay, and they spoke about the baal hilulah. That is when the shooting began. The seudah, in honor of the Bas Ayin, saved him.
An older bachur (his younger sister had already skipped him and gotten married) used to go to a cheder occasionally to work as a substitute. One year, on the 12th of Kislev, he was subbing at the Sadigura cheder in Bnei Brak, and during recess, there was a seudah in the rebbes' room. The bachur was inspired at the meal, and he announced so everyone could hear, "I accept on myself that if I find my shidduch before the 12th of Kislev next year, תשפ"ד, I will bli neder sponsor a seudah next year."
The melamdim told him, "Why don't you request that you should be married by next year the 12th of Kislev? Why do you limit it to becoming a chosson only next year?" The bachur corrected himself and said that if he is married by next year's yahrtzeit, he will pay for the meal. Soon after this kabbalah, he forgot about the matter. He became a chasan in Iyar, and they began looking for a date for the chasunah. From heaven, it was arranged that the chasunah should be scheduled for Thursday, the 11th of Kislev. The chasan took out his notepad to mark down the day of the chasunah, and he found in his notebook what he had written months before – that if he gets married before the 12th of Kislev, he will sponsor a seudah in honor of the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit.
We heard the following story from the baalei maaseh, who lives in Tzefas with many children. Every year, their home became smaller and smaller. For a long time, they searched for an apartment that would be roomier for them. As the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit was approaching, in the year תשפ"ג, they read in these kuntressim about the segulah of making a seudah in honor of the Bas Ayin. The family made a kabbalah, bli neder, that if they find a home before next year's yahrtzeit, they will sponsor a yahrtzeit seudah in the Bas Ayin's honor. Baruch Hashem, during aseres yemei teshuvah, they found a suitable apartment, and the price was reasonable. Only, they would first have to sell their old home. At the beginning of Kislev, the owners of the new apartment informed them that if they didn't come up with the money in a few days, they would sell their apartment to others.
On Friday the 8th of Kislev, days before the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit, the family made another kabbalah. They accepted that if they succeeded in selling their apartment in time to continue with the purchase of the apartment they wanted to buy, they would make another seudah in honor of the Bas Ayin in the following year, on the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit, תשפ"ד. On Sunday, a Yid from Bnei Brak came to see their apartment, and he agreed to buy it! It was truly hashgachah pratis. The sales contract was finalized on 12th of Kislev!
I also heard a story from a mashgiach of a renowned yeshivos in Eretz Yisrael. He came to Tzefas after Succos, in the year תשפ"ג, and he went to kivrei tzaddikim. He came into the cave where the Bas Ayin is buried. He said that if his nephew becomes a chosson before the yahrtzeit, he will make a seudah on the yahrtzeit in honor of the Bas Ayin. Two weeks later, the bachur became a chosson.
A similar story I heard from a chosson, who was already quite old. In the year תשפ"א, two weeks before the Bas Ayin's yahrtzeit, he was by the Bas Ayin's kever, and he made a kabbalah that if he will be engaged before the yahrtzeit, he will return by the yahrtzeit to praise Hashem and he will make a seudah. Ten days later, he became a chosson.
An example of this is from the story we wrote above about a family in Tzfas who found an apartment. When this salvation occurred, the mother/wife of this story told her mother about it. Her mother had older children in her home. She hadn't done a shidduch in ten years. She performed this segulah and in one year, three of her children got married and established their homes.
A yungerman was walking around Meah Shearim looking for a store that sells second-hand washing machines. He met up with Reb Motel Rothman Shlita. Reb Mottel Rothman told him, ‘Today is the Bas Ayin’s yahrtzeit. Many miracles happen through the tefillos said at his grave. Let’s go there, and b’ezras Hashem, you will have a yeshuah.” Finally, they arrived at the tzion, and each person prayed. Then they went to Meron and davened at Reb Shimon bar Yochai’s kever. They went to the supermarket in Meron to buy food for the yahrtzeit seudah. As they left the supermarket, the yungerman’s cell phone rang. A while back, he had given tzedakah for a Chinese auction. They called to tell him he had just won a new washing machine!
Reb Chaim Kanievsky zt'l said in the name of his father, the Steipler, that when he was young, his father, Reb Chaim Peretz would wake him early every morning to learn with him Bas Ayin, to teach him mussar and yiras Shamayim.
I heard a clever idea from a respected person. In the middle of the year when one encounters nisyonos with guarding one’s eyes, and fights his yetzer hara, he can make a Bas Ayin seudah (to celebrate that he guarded his עין בת, the pupil of his eye). Such a seudah is certainly also mesugal for yeshuos b'ruchniyus and b'gashmiyus, miracles beyond the rules of nature.