The subject of
David Abuchatzeira, the older brother of Bava Sali who was killed by Muslim
fundamentalists in Morocco.
A few stories about the
Abuchatzeira family
To begin with one minor
story. The younger brother of David Abuchatzeira, Isaac used to go around in
Morocco collecting money for the school of Reb Masud in Tapilalt. Issac loved a drink of alcohol called Irak. He got to one home, and asked for
money. After they gave he asked for a drink. They said they do
not have any. He said, "Yes, you do. I see it in such and such a place in
your home."
They said, "Yes, but
that is saved for our son's Bar Mitzvah and the future weddings of our
children."
He said, "Give some to
me now, and I promise to you that that supply will never run out, -but only on
condition that you never look inside to see it."
They did as he asked. After
that they never ran out for many years. They simply lowered the bucket into the
supply which was in an underground cistern and the bucket always came up full.
This sufficed for all their children's weddings and bar mitzvahs.
One day the wife of the
family could not contain her curiosity any longer and had to take one peek to
see what in the world was going on. She could not believe how their original
tiny supply could have provided so much. When she lifted the cover to look, all
she saw was a well that was as dry as a desert and an empty broken bucket in
the bottom of the well. That was the last day that it ever provided any Irak.
Once I was at the
home of the daughter of Bava Sali [Yisrael Abuchatzeira] and was discussing the
importance vitamins and proper nutrition every day. She told me that she does
not know about such things but she remembered that when she was a small girl it
was her job to bring a daily meal to her father. It those days Bava Sali was in
the attic in their home and did not come out for about two weeks at a time. No
one really knows what he was doing in that tiny room for two weeks. He might
have been learning Torah or praying or whatever. There is no information about it.
But she would come in the morning, and leave a plate of food at the entrance to the
attic. And in the evening she would return and the plate was always still there
untouched.
Once in a Mikvah in Safed a
grandson of a Moroccan Jew told me that his father once had the opportunity to
drive Bava Sali in Morocco to the capital city. In Morocco in those days there
was a severe penalty for speeding. Still Bava Sali had to get his destination on
some public business, so he told the driver to ignore the speed limit. As they
were speeding, a police motorcycle started to chase them, and signaled to pull
over. They ignored his warning. So the policeman took out his pistol and stated
shooting at them. At that point the driver was terrified out of his wits. Then,
as he looked out into his rear view mirror, he saw the police motor cycle
explode.
I think I knew some descendants of David Abuchatzeira in Netivot. One was the wife of my downstairs neighbor. I used to go to them for Shabat. The last Shabat I was there there were a few kids there also that also were descended from Reb David, but I forget how. They were normally learning in a school in Bnei Brak called named after Avraham Kalmanowitz the founder of the Mir in New York
There was a woman who did not keep mitzvahs but she heard about Bava Sali so drove from Kiryat Shmona to Netivot for a blessing. She was not let in because Bava Sali never talked with women. She told her request to the gabai [servant] and related the message to Bava Sali. Bava Sali asked for a check, and she wrote out some sum and she received a bottle of water in return. The blessed water was in fact quite usual but asking for a check never happened on any other occasion I have heard of. She drove back to Kiryat Shemona [about a six hour trip.] She got home and put the bottle of water on the kitchen counter and went to wash up. As she was washing she began think to herself I have running water here in my home! And bottles too! Why did I have to be so stupid to go to Netivot to get a bottle of water? When she returned to the kitchen the bottle of water was gone. Instead right where it had been place was her check.
David Abuchatzeira was like a square in Flatland that was taken into Spaceland--our 3-d world -and was sent back to proclaim the reality of worlds beyond this world.