Rabbi Levi Saadia Nahmani

Executive Summary

This document summarizes the life, teaching, prophecies and legacy of the kabbalist Rabbi Levi Saadia Nahmani, of blessed memory (5681-5755, 1921-1995), an extraordinary spiritual figure who won wide recognition for his penetrating vision and his wonder-working abilities. Rabbi Nahmani, who was born in Morocco and was active in Jerusalem, became famous for a series of accurate predictions about current events, the best known of which foresaw the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War years in advance and in minute detail. Of his last years, his 1994 prophecy about a future nuclear threat from North Korea became especially famous, a warning delivered 12 years before the first nuclear test of that isolated state.

At the core of the Rabbi's teaching stood a distinctive theological conception, according to which the conflict of the people of Israel is not with its physical enemies but "with the God of Israel." He argued that Israel's enemies, and in particular the children of Ishmael, are nothing but "puppets on strings" whose purpose is to rouse the people of Israel to cry out to its Creator and return to Him in repentance. Accordingly, he championed "active redemption" – the view that in an era of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel one must not wait passively for redemption but must act vigorously to unite the people and to draw hearts closer. He stressed that redemption depends on the people's request and prayer, and that the Messiah will not come until the people of Israel demand him insistently. Rabbi Nahmani's legacy continues to resonate through his writings, his many disciples, and the renewed circulation of his prophecies on social media, which arouse wide public interest and debate.

1. Biography

Early Life in Morocco

Rabbi Levi Saadia Nahmani was born on 11 Adar I 5681 (19 February 1921) in Marrakesh, Morocco. His father was the kabbalist Rabbi Yaakov Nahmani, author of the books "Me'at Devash" and "Lekach Yaakov," and his mother was Rabbanit Rina. His birth was bound up with a miracle, after his parents had lost eight children in infancy. He was named "Levi" after Rabbi Elazar Halevi (author of "Avodat Halevi"), and "Saadia" after Rabbi Saadia Rabah, at whose grave his parents had prayed for children who would survive. The family's roots are traced back to Nahmanides (Ramban).

From childhood his talents and diligence were evident, and, as he recounted, he studied 18 hours a day from the age of six. He studied with his father, and also with Rabbi Yaakov Hazut and Rabbi Avraham Abitbol, head of the yeshiva of Marrakesh. Later he studied in Casablanca with a group of rabbis headed by Rabbi Shalom Messas, who also ordained him to the rabbinate.

In 5700 (1940) he was appointed safra de-dayyana (scribe of the rabbinic court) in Marrakesh. Between 5710 and 5719 (1950-1959) he served as a ram (yeshiva instructor) in the "Otzar HaTorah" network, as head of a yeshiva for the network's graduates, and as ram for Talmud and the halakhic codifiers in the city of Asfi (Safi). He also taught at the "Neve Shalom" yeshiva and at the teachers' seminary in Casablanca.

Immigration and Activity in Israel

In 5724 (1964) Rabbi Nahmani immigrated to the Land of Israel. He explained his decision to his students as preparation for the Six-Day War, which he had foreseen five years earlier. He settled first in Petah Tikva, where he was offered a rabbinic post, but he gave it up in favour of his friend, Rabbi Moshe Malka.

He then moved to Jerusalem, where he established his extensive spiritual activity:

• Founding institutions: he was among the founders of the "Ohel Moed" yeshiva in Bayit Vegan, a partner in founding the "Beit Shmuel" synagogue in Shmuel HaNavi, and he established the "Darkei Noam" institution for spreading Torah.
• Teaching and spreading Torah: he gave many lessons, including classes in Kabbalah on the book "Etz Chaim" at the kabbalists' yeshiva "Beit El" on Friday nights. He was known for his wonderful power of explanation and worked to bring the estranged closer, including among academics at the universities and at the Technion.
• Modesty and livelihood: Rabbi Nahmani fled from all honour and publicity and lived in great modesty. He did not want to derive his livelihood from teaching Torah, and therefore earned his living by writing STaM (Torah scrolls, tefillin, mezuzot).

Rabbi Nahmani passed away on 7 Shevat 5755 (8 January 1995) and was buried on Har HaMenuchot in Jerusalem.

2. Prophecies and Predictions about the End of Days

One of Rabbi Nahmani's most prominent characteristics was his ability to foresee historical and geopolitical events with extraordinary accuracy, sometimes many years before they occurred.

A. The Six-Day War

In 5722 (1962), five years before the war, during a lesson at the "Magen David" yeshiva in Morocco, Rabbi Nahmani announced to his students his decision to immigrate to Israel. He explained it as follows:

"In another 5 years there will be a fateful and difficult war in Jerusalem the holy city, mainly over the area of the Old City and the Western Wall... and on the 28th of Iyar the hand of the Jewish soldiers will prevail; they will capture the remnant of our Temple from their hands."

One of his students, Dr. Victor Abikzer, recorded the precise prophecy in his notebook, and years later testified to its complete fulfilment.

B. The Yom Kippur War

On the night of Hoshana Rabbah, a year before the war, the Rabbi declared before his students:

"Next year there will be a war. If we are worthy it will be in the month of Nisan, and then there will be miracles and wonders... but if it is in the month of Tishrei, then may God guard and save us... it will be a hard and painful war."

On the morning of Yom Kippur 5734 (1973), even before the war had been officially announced, the Rabbi told his students: "What we spoke about last year on Hoshana Rabbah is now happening. The war has broken out." He instructed all the worshippers to stay in the synagogue and recite Psalms. On that same night of Hoshana Rabbah, he went on to tell his students that "tonight the IDF will cross the Suez Canal," a detail that was published only two days later.

C. The Nuclear Threat from North Korea

In 1994, 12 years before North Korea carried out its first nuclear test, Rabbi Nahmani issued a sharp and surprising warning, which was spread in a video that gained wide circulation years later. In his words, he stressed that the main threat in the future would come not from Iran or Syria but precisely from Korea.

"Do you know what will happen? Korea, not Syria, Iran and Gaddafi. Korea will reach here. God protect us. Everyone who pays attention to what is happening in Korea today, it is for us... an atomic bomb. It will be worse than the Holocaust."

His son, Rabbi Sar Shalom, explained that his father interpreted the verse from the portion Ha'azinu, "For a fire is kindled in My anger, and it burns unto the lowest Sheol (she'ol tachtit)," as a hint that the city of Seoul (She'ol), the capital of South Korea, would be the first to suffer a nuclear attack from North Korea, and that this would be a warning sign to the world.

D. The Destruction of Gaza and the Redemption

In various lessons, Rabbi Nahmani linked the fate of Gaza with the coming of the Messiah. The following saying is attributed to him:

"Know that Gaza will be destroyed, the Messiah will come."

3. The Principles of His Spiritual Teaching

Beyond his predictions, Rabbi Nahmani presented an orderly and consistent theological teaching, which focused on the essence of redemption, the role of the people of Israel, and the attitude toward its enemies.

A. "We Have No Conflict with the Arabs, We Have a Conflict with the God of Israel"

This is perhaps the most central and foundational principle of his teaching. Rabbi Nahmani rejected the view that the conflict is a merely political or military struggle. He argued that Israel's enemies, headed by the children of Ishmael, are instruments in the hands of the Creator whose role is to rouse the people of Israel.

"Their purpose is the purpose of the billion and a half Muslims around us... their nature is to cause us, that is their purpose, to cry out to the Holy One, blessed be He."

According to the midrash he quoted, the name "Ishmael" itself hints at their role: "For the Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future hear the groaning of the people... because of what the children of Ishmael are destined to do in the land at the end of days... therefore his name was called Ishmael, as it is said, God shall hear (Yishma-El) and answer them." That is, the pressure and threats from the Ishmaelites are meant to bring the people of Israel to the point at which it cries out to God with an inner, deep cry, and only then will salvation come. The solution is not a matter of security or diplomacy but a spiritual one: repentance and prayer.

B. Active Redemption: "To Rise and Shake Off the Routine of Exile Life"

Rabbi Nahmani strongly opposed the passive conception of waiting for redemption. He distinguished between the period of exile, in which we were under the rule of the nations of the world and every messianic awakening was dangerous, and the period of sovereignty in the Land of Israel.

"The approach according to which we have nothing to do but wait until the redeemer comes was correct as long as we were under the rule of the nations of the world... Today, on the contrary, every awakening and mobilization in ways of pleasantness and paths of peace to draw hearts closer has the power to save the situation and to return the Shekhinah to its natural abode, which is the people of Israel in the Land of Israel."

He called on people not to sit with folded arms, but "to gird their strength, and to act, and to revive the soul of the people and unite it."

C. The Messiah Depends on the People's Request

Rabbi Nahmani stressed that redemption is not an automatic process, but depends directly on the will and the request of the people of Israel.

"The Messiah depends on us. In Egypt Moses our teacher did not come... until 'the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried.' And their cry came up unto God... There is no Messiah without our asking. He will not come. It is a great lie to think that the Messiah will come, etc. No, the Creator of the world is waiting for our prayer."

He saw mass, united prayer for redemption as the central key to bringing it nearer.

D. The Unity of Israel

The theme of unity ran like a common thread through all his writings and sermons. He warned against the "iron partition between the believer and the non-believer" and against polarization and factionalism, and saw them as an existential danger. He called for following the way of Aaron the High Priest: "loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and bringing them near to the Torah." The motto that guided him was the verse: "Then they that feared the Lord spoke one with another, and the Lord hearkened and heard."

4. Wonder Stories and Practices

Rabbi Nahmani's life was interwoven with supernatural events and many wonder stories, which testified to the holy spirit that rested upon him.

• Locating the husband of an agunah: a woman whose husband had disappeared for years came to the Rabbi. After contemplating, he gave his student an exact address in the United States and said: "I see him now in a printing house... send a messenger from the beit din with a get (bill of divorce)." The messenger found the husband exactly in the place and the circumstances the Rabbi had described, and the woman was released from her status as an agunah (a "chained" wife).
• Healing the sick: his student, Elazar Rabbani, recounted that his father lay dying in hospital after several heart attacks. The doctors had given up hope for his life. After Rabbi Nahmani performed a "pidyon nefesh" (redemption of the soul) for him, he told the son: "Tomorrow your father is being discharged from the hospital." The next day the father got up on his feet, healthy and whole, to the amazement of the doctors, and lived another 17 years.
• The stolen horses: on a Sabbath when he was a guest in one of the villages, two horses were stolen from a religious family. When the youths came to ask for help in the search, the Rabbi broke off his sermon, turned to them and said: "I ask you not to go looking for the horses on the Sabbath... if you keep the Sabbath... the Sabbath itself will bring the horses back to you." At the close of the Sabbath, the Arab youths who had stolen the horses returned them, claiming that they had found them wandering.
• The founding of Ma'ale Adumim: after the evacuation of Yamit, when the government began levelling the ground in the area (without a building plan), the Rabbi instructed his gabbai to take ten men and pray Shacharit at the site every day. One day the Rabbi joined them, turned to the contractor working at the site and said to him: "Know that in this place a city and a mother in Israel will be built and established." Years later, the city of Ma'ale Adumim was built on the site.
• Sha'atnez in a shtreimel: at a Purim celebration, one of the Hasidim placed his shtreimel on the Rabbi's head. The Rabbi was shaken and cried out "Sha'atnez!" (the forbidden mixture of wool and linen). Upon examination, sha'atnez was indeed found in the shtreimel.