Israeli kabbalists split on US elections victor
In latest prediction, rabbi whose storied abilities include destroying Hamas tunnels with his prayers says Clinton will wallop Trump
A kabbalist whose followers believe he has supernatural powers has predicted that Hillary Clinton will win the US election. Rabbi Netanel Shriki of Netivot wrote a signed note on Sunday night in which he claimed that Clinton will receive 54 percent of the vote to Trump’s 46%.
The prediction put him at odds with other kabbalists, who foretold a victory for Donald Trump, perhaps setting up a showdown on election day to rival the one between the models employed by the fivethirtyeight statistical analysis site and The New York Times.
In August, Rabbi Roni Cohen from Gan Yavne, who correctly foretold a Likud victory in the last Israeli election, predicted that the Republican will win the White House.
Cohen told told Israel Hayom at the time that he received a “message that Trump is going to be the next president. I saw his image and didn’t even know who he was. In my dream I could see him winning these elections.”
Last week a different unnamed but reportedly “great” Jewish mystic told the head of the Republican Party’s branch in Israel that Judaism’s major mystical work, the Zohar, predicts an election victory for Donald Trump.
And last month Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson released a YouTube video in which he used Bible codes to predict a Trump victory.
Shriki, who predicted Clinton will win, is known by his followers as “the tunnel rabbi” because of their belief that he is responsible for the collapse of the Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
In March he went to the Gaza border to pray, and that evening a tunnel collapsed.
בבוקר: הרב נתנאל שריקי מתפלל על גבול הרצועה לקריסת המנהרות .
בערב: מנהרה קורסת ברצועה… pic.twitter.com/J5fbDPWWFC— almog boker (@bokeralmog) March 3, 2016
Hundreds of women who are unable to conceive come to 37-year-old Shriki to receive a blessing that his adherents believe causes them to become pregnant.
His devotees also claimed that Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev sent him a message asking for his prayers to ensure that Olympian Yarden Gerbi would win the bronze medal. She did.
Shriki is a member of the Ifergan family of kabbalists, all members of the Abuhatzeira dynasty founded by the Baba Sali.
He is the nephew of Rabbi Yaakov Ifergan, known as “the X-ray” for his supposed powers of diagnosing illnesses by looking at people. His uncle, Chaim Ifergan, brother to Yaakov, is known by supporters as “the Ultrasound.” Shriki’s aunt Bruria Zvuluni, sister to Ifergan and one of only a handful of female kabbalists in the world, is known as “the Arbitrator” for her role mediating feuds between Israeli underworld kingpins. Shriki’s brother Yigal is known as “the CT.”
Between them, kabbalist members of the Ifergan family been called on for advice and prayers by leading politicians and business people and have amassed fortunes estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
