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Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu

קטגוריה משנית

Every Friday Harel Hatzroni would go to visit Rabbi Eliyahu after the morning prayers — that was the time when he would read the letters of the many people who turned to him for advice. Harel would ask his questions aloud.

One Friday, while he was waiting in line to speak with the rabbi, Harel overheard a story someone else was telling Rabbi Eliyahu. "I’ve brought a family member here who experienced clinical death this week and saw the rabbi in the Heavenly Court above," said the man.
Rabbi Eliyahu didn’t appear to get excited about what he had just heard.
"She wants to ask the rabbi a few things," the man continued.
Rabbi Eliyahu went out of the synagogue to speak with her. Waiting there was a woman in her late thirties, who didn’t appear to be religiously observant. The family member who accompanied her introduced her to Rabbi Eliyahu, saying, "She was in the hospital just a few days ago."

Apparently, she had felt unwell, and then her condition suddenly and rapidly deteriorated. Within moments, she was dead. After the doctors had determined her death, and the family had signed all the forms, they noticed that she was waking up. She related that she had experienced clinical death and had been to the Heavenly Court above…
On hearing these things being related, the woman became very emotional and began to tell the story herself. "I began to cry. I told the Heavenly Court, ‘Not long ago I gave birth to a daughter, and I also have a son. I want to bring up my children. I don’t want my children to be orphans. I ask you to give me another chance.’ But the Heavens didn’t agree."

She looked at Rabbi Eliyahu and said, "And suddenly you came, and turned to me, and said, ‘If you observe the laws of modesty — head covering and everything that a woman needs to do — you can come back down to this world. Do you take it upon yourself to do this?’ I told you that yes, I would take it upon myself so that I could return below. And then in Heaven it was announced that if Rabbi Eliyahu said that I could return, so it would be."
The rabbi didn’t deny anything. "And now I’ve come, because I want the rabbi to tell me what to do," she said, finished with her story.

"I already told you there," the rabbi answered. He finished abruptly, "Do what I told you to."
The woman nodded, like someone who was once more taking it all upon herself.
"It’s possible that she came just to confirm everything, to make sure she hadn’t just imagined it all," Harel said. "It wasn’t imagination. With my own eyes and ears, I saw and heard the rabbi’s reaction. I was left open-mouthed."