Encounter with a tzadik, Israeli prison

Between his second and third arrests, ben Yoseif had an encounter that can only be called, "Divine."

"My attorney told me we were up against Shabach and that Shabach never lost ... that they could not lose for the sake of the security of the nation. That however innocent I was that I needed to prepare myself mentally to leave Israel; that he did not think it would be possible for me to remain there. However he said there was one woman who had much influence among some of the Knesset members who might be able to help or delay the inevitable.

She was the wife of a rabbi and unbeknownst to ben Yoseif at the time, did spiritual readings of members of the Knesset and others. She had been raised in the home of the Baba Sali, a mystical giant and Kabbalist in Jerusalem after her mother had been killed in the Holocaust and her father was unable to care for her. Many people came and went in the home of the Baba Sali, including a tzadik who was now quite elderly, whose name ben Yoseif to this day says he must protect..

"This rebbetzin (wife of a rabbi), sat across the table from my attorney and me. The exchange took place in Hebrew with my attorney interpreting when I did not understand what was being asked. First, she asked my name. I told her my given name. She said, "No, you have a Hebrew name. So what is your Hebrew name." I replied that I did not  have a legal Hebrew name but that I wrote under the name "ben Yoseif."

"So she asked, "Why do you call yourself ben Yoseif?" I replied by telling her about the bat-Kol (voice from Heaven) which came out of my belly in 1994, in which Hashem answered in reply to my question, "Who am I and why did I live all of those years in Israel. What do You want me to do?"

"I also told her of the Torah Codes that revealed my given name at encoded intervals that matched on three statements, two that involved "ben Yoseif" and "finding Israel," and "the Halachic identity as servants," after which an Orthodox friend in Queens, NY, advised that I begin writing under the name "ben Yoseif."

An uncomfortable question

"Then she asked me a question which I did not feel comfortable answering and told her so. Instead of being offended, she pushed her chair away from the table and began laughing uncontrollably for some time. Once she was composed, she explained to my bewildered attorney and to me the following:

"Three weeks earlier, as she was leaving the home of the elderly tzadik who had been a friend of her father and the Baba Sali, the tzadik turned to her and stated, "In exactly 21 days, you will meet a man who is obsessed with Joseph. You will ask him this question. He will be forbidden by Heaven from answering it. When this happens, let me know. I have an important message I need to give to this man." 

ben Yoseif said he and his attorney were instructed by the rebbetzin to return in two days. When the two returned, the rebbetzin took a message written in Hebrew by the hand of the tzadik out of her purse and read it.

"It began 'ben Yoseif, I have been waiting for you for a very long time.' The letter proceeded to tell me about things no one could have known and knew of my interest and dedication to the Return of the House of Joseph. He mentioned things I still don't understand; something about having "a Jewish side as well in 15th Century France, a very great secret," he said. He validated the message of the Return in some detail and told me that I was "a pure channel for Hashem's revelation," but that I had many, many klippot (husks that obscure and trouble the soul) and he would personally do a tikkun for my soul that would begin to take affect on my 50th birthday. I was born on August 31, 1952. August 31 was the date on which T'sha b'Av fell on the Roman calendar in 70 C.E., according to Marek Halter in his "Book of Abraham."  This is the date when the Temple was destroyed by Rome. (My late father, who has the same given name as me, also was born on T'sha b'Av in 1915, died on the sixth day of Succot -- when Joseph was the specially invited guest -- and was buried on Simchat Torah)

'Avoid the rabbonim!'

Among the tzadik's advice to ben Yoseif was to "avoid the rabbonim," for any help with the Return of the House of Joseph since they were on a "different spiritual plane" and according to what ben Yoseif said the tzadik told him, a "lower spiritual plane. I took that to mean that I should wait for the proper biblical authority to invite the Return of the House of Joseph and that would be the Sanhedrin." The tzadik's note also stated that about 1.5 million people in the world today knew their identity as Joes but another million were "wavering between two opinions."

"He told me that I was to mobilize these Joes but that it would have to be done outside of Eretz Yisrael. 'You will want to live in the Land but you will not be allowed to do so. You must mobilize outside of the land.' My heart sank when he said that."

Mandatory prison

The rest of the message was of a rather personal nature but ben Yoseif said greatly encouraged him in his work.

"But the tzadik also warned me through a second contact, that I would have to go to prison. That this was unavoidable. However, he said that he had personally been instructed to pray for me while in prison and the moment I was pushed into my cell, that Hashem would confirm to me that He was with me and there was no cause for fear, worry or concern. He also stated that I would be released the precise instant that Hashem chose and not a moment before."

Angels of the Bedtime Sh'ma

When I was pushed into my cell block at the Russian compound in Jerusalem, my left arm hung limp from  tendonitis aggravated by being handcuffed by Shabach agents. I could not climb the ladder to my bunk without help. At first the five other men in this cell block thought I was a rabbi because of my dress and long payess and beard. But when I told them I was not a rabbi but was told by my attorney not to talk to anyone, they understood. The five of them introduced themselves to me and four of them helped me to an upper bunk.

Four of their names were Micha, Gavi, Uri and Raphi, which are modern nicknames for the Four Angels of the Bedtime Sh'ma, Michael, Gavriel, Uriel and Raphael.  The fifth, was unable to rise from his bunk due to stomache pains associated with methodone treatments. His name:  Y'shua.

Split-second siren

Instead of being released on the order of cabinet-level officials, Shabach agents instead had ben Yoseif chained hands and feet to a Jordanian terrorist in the back of a prison van and transferred to the high security prison block at Ma'asiyahu near Ashdod. The warden began transferring other prisoners out of ben Yoseif's cell block and filling it instead with Islamic radicals and Palestinian nationalists from Turkey and Jordan.

"There were some tense moments. The only time I could daven (pray) was during the 30 minutes I had in the prison yard. I would put on my tallit and pray and all of the Islamics in my cell block thought I was one crazy Jew. This is probably what saved my life, since religious Moslems are forbidden to accost someone who is deranged. Also, I refused to eat the non-Kosher food that was served. But I was not aware of any apprehensions until after this ordeal ended, except that this one Moslem prisoner from Turkey seemed way too friendly with some of the guards. I suspected that he was Shabach and he was there to see that I did not get out of my cell alive."

"For the first time, I suppose I felt a tinge of fear. But a guard coming on duty at Ma'asiyahu apparently did not know that I was not to be given telephone privileges. I was able to call my attorney on his cell phone and let him know where I was. That is when I learned that I was supposed to have been released days earlier at the time I was transferred to Ma'asiyahu."

Within 24 hours after that phone contact, ben Yoseif said his attorney secured his release as an administrative order at the highest level of the Israeli cabinet.  

The warden of the prison was ordered to come personally to the prison and personally oversee his release and guarantee ben Yoseif's safety even though it was the warden's day off. The split second the warden at Ma'asiyahu turned the key to his cell door to release him, ben Yoseif said the sirens sounded signaling the start of Yom Hatzma'out (Israeli Independence Day).

The tzaddik's word to me about Hashem's protection and his split second timing for my release was fulfilled to the letter.  I had no reason to believe the rest of what he told me will not also come to pass.