A couple of weeks ago, a California man named Naftoli Smolyansky disappeared during a boating trip after jumping in the water to save his daughter.
We’re hoping to launch a new section on “Jewish Magic” on MJL in the next few months, and one aspect of this tragic story emphasized for me that this is — surprisingly perhaps — a still-relevant topic.
Yeshiva World News reports:
Monday morning at approximately 5:30AM, a group of Rabbonim (both Ashkenazim and Persian) departed the command post on a boat. Once out on the Lake, they put a flat bread which was baked specifically for this Segula on the water with a candle on it. As soon as the bread stopped moving, they threw a stone wrapped with some writing on it into the exact spot that the bread stopped. When the flat bread stayed in place for a little bit, Lake Piru Ranger Kurt White placed a buoy on that spot and contacted Captain Giles of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team. Captain Giles and a volunteer diver arrived approximately 11:00AM to dive on that spot. In the meantime the Ashkenaz Rabbonim left the area, while the Persian Rabbonim Davened Shacharis. At approximately 11:30AM, as Captain Giles and his dive partner were about to take the first dive of the day, the body surfaced approximately 150 yards SOUTH of the area that the buoy was placed. Captain Giles and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary spotted it at the same time.
