The Wonders of Harav Yitzchack Kadouri

293 Another remedy for the evil-eye, said the Rav, is to always have a bit of salt in one’s possession. There is also a small herb called ‘rodah’which is supposed to be bene¿cial. To protect a baby from the effects of the evil-eye, the Rav advised hanging a chain with a silver ¿sh over him, or a silver plate with the Hebrew letter ‘heh’ engraved. This is already mentioned by the Chidah. The Chidah also prescribed invocating certain Hebrew words as a preventive measure, which the Rav would whisper. The Rav saw spiritual inÀuences and knew why people were reincarnated or what there recti¿cation was meant to be. Once, a black cat entered the home of the Rav and sat itself down on his bed. All attempts at chasing it away were met with no success. Only after the Rav said some mysterious words did the cat jump up and exit through the window. Once, when the Rav was sitting in his seat in the synagogue, a bird Àew in through the window and began to circle round his head. It then alighted upon the candelabrum which is af¿xed to the ceiling, where it suddenly died. It still remains in that very place until today. A different time, the Rav asked his students to take him the Zoo in Jerusalem. When they arrived, he asked to be taken to the cag- es of the monkeys. He stood there for a short amount of time, peering at one speci¿c monkey, and then said, “Enough. Let us return to the yeshivah.” On Chanukah one year, right before the lighting of the meno- rah, the Rav noticed a cat perched on a windowsill high up in the synagogue, whereupon he told someone to chase away the cat. Who can know why? Often, the Rav would whisper into the ears of those who came asking for some remedy, warding off some evil-eye or other source of evil, and afterwards they would be healed.