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1495 (5786-46) 20 Av 5786 (Aug 3, 2026) "The Infamous Circle of Blood" Do not underestimate the power of a Kabbalist, especially one of the caliber of Rabbi Yehuda Fetayah zt'l Why This Week? R. Yehudah Petayah knew how to test a person to see if he was deluded and imagining things that are not true or really was having an other-worldly experience." Chapter 13 in this week's Torah reading, Re'eh, is mostly about how to deal with false prophets and missionaries. Story in PDF
format for more convenient printing The Infamous Circle of Blood
During his life, he tried to hide his greatness in Kabbalah. But when he arrived in Jerusalem, Rabbi Avraham Adas[1] came to him and said: "you wrote a commentary on the Idrah Rabba [section of the Zohar]. Why do you not publish it yet?" Instead of answering, Rabbi Petayah responded: "From where does your honor know this secret? It has been almost twenty years and I have not told any human being except my father". Rabbi Adas tried to avoid answering him, but after being pressed by R. Petayah he replied: "the holy Tanna (sage of the Mishna), Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (who was also the source of the teachings of the Zohar) came to me in a dream and told me: a great rabbi and immense kabbalist is coming from Bavel (Iraq). He wrote a commentary on the Idrah Rabba and out of great humility, did not publish it. Tell him that I want him to publish it and press him to publish it." Once while visiting Rachel's tomb in Bethlehem, Rabbi Petayah said that he saw Mother Rachel and that she is actually buried near the tomb, not under it. Her body is completely intact as one who is sleeping and she is very beautiful. He added also that she is not buried parallel to the tomb, but rather at a diagonal direction from it.[2] R.Yehudah Petayah was very much in contact with the spirit world. He was a master at detecting the presence of spirits and demons, as well as an expert in the art of exorcism, and has told of many of his experiences in communicating with souls of the dead, exorcisms, demons and other supernatural phenomena. He also knew how to test a person to see if he was deluded and imagining things that are not true or really was having an other-worldly experience. Many of these incredible experiences are documented in his book "Minchat Yehuda" (Hebrew).[3] R. Petayah also became famous in Baghdad, and later in Jerusalem, for the depth of his knowledge of invocations and amulets, and for being the uncontested master in the writing of kosher Kameot (amulets). He would heal the sick, using both mystical and known methods. These amulets were also used for protection, peace in the home, fertility, wisdom, and many other things. The famous kabbalist and miracle man, Rabbi Yitchak Kaduri studied this art of writing of kosher Kameot under Rabbi Petayah. According to Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri, a young Jerusalem-based kabbalist and grandson of R. Petayah, R. Petayah refused to teach anyone who could not read foreheads. (i.e. to be able to see the Hebrew letters and lights appearing on a person's forehead. This requires a very high spiritual level. The explanation is that every person's soul is like a Torah scroll and he can rectify or damage "letters" which then appear on his forehead.) Rabbi Ariel Tzadok writes: my own teacher, HaRav Meir Levi zt'l told me that when he was a child he had met Rabbi Yehuda, and when Rabbi Yehudah cast his eyes upon him, he ran out of the room. I asked Rabbi Meir why he had run; he responded that he was afraid, because Rabbi Yehuda's eyes were so intense. Rabbi Yehudah Petayah said regarding himself that he was the reincarnation of Rabbi Yechezkel ben Yehudah Landau (!), a great Ashkenazi authority in Torah Law, author of the responsa, "Noda B'Yehuda". R. Petayah said that even though in his last lifetime he was a tzaddik and pious man, he had to descend into a body again because he did not fulfill his Torah obligation to study Kabbalah. Therefore, in this life, the study of Kabbalah was his main focus and tikkun (soul-rectification). He also authored a number of other works on Kabbalah including commentaries to the Zohar and Etz Chaim of the Arizal. Probably, the most important and famous episode regarding Rabbi Petayah was his involvement with the infamous "Circle of Blood." According to the August 14, 1987 issue of the Jerusalem Post Magazine, during WWII (while the German army was preparing to invade Israel from Egypt), Rabbi Petayah persuaded the British Command in Israel to give him and two others the use of a plane and a pilot. Once all were aboard, he instructed the pilot to fly a large circle completely around Israel (including parts of Egypt) while Rabbi Petayah performed "kaparot" - the traditional slaughtering of a chicken performed early in the morning prior to Yom Kippur for atonement. The bloods of the chickens were thrown out of the plane. Rabbi Petayah thus made a Circle of Blood surrounding Israel. [There was also recited on the plane a special form of the Tikun Haketoret (rectification by the incense offerings of the temple) with Biblical verses, etc., which R. Petayah composed]. While some might think this an act of desperation, it seemed to have served its purpose. The author of the article quotes the pilot of this plane as saying: "Shortly afterwards, Rommel (the German commander of WWII) attacked. The soldiers in the mess hall kept kidding us: 'Fat lot of good those chickens of yours have done', they joked. But they were wrong -- it was Rommel's last fling! Three weeks later came Montgomery's advance from El Alamein. The rest is history. "Mind you," concluded the pilot, "I wouldn't have believed it had I not flown the mission myself". The lesson of
the story, declared R. Ariel Tzadok: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why This Week? Biographic
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Yerachmiel
Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and chief editor
of this website (and of KabbalaOnline.org). He has hundreds of published stories
to his credit, and many have been translated into other languages. He tells
them live at Ascent nearly every Saturday night.