Bob's Psychic Adventure
June, 2006
Looking back on my huge inventory of published articles as chief editor of the St. Louis Jewish Light, there are a few that standout. These suggest, to paraphrase Shakespeare, that there are. ??many things on heaven and earth not dreamt of? by most people. Some of the stories to which I refer, involved amazing coincidences, examples of what we Jews call bashert or destiny.
There?s the letter I received from a 90-year-old Russian Jew from Moscow named Lazar Rabinovitch, seeking information on any possible cousins he may have had in St. Louis. He had last heard from them in l947, but Stalin cut off all communications with American Jews until Gorbachev took over. It turns out not only were there still cousins living in St. Louis, but I was among the cousins! Two of Rabinovitch?s uncles had married two of my mother?s aunts back in the ?Old Country.? One of the cousins, Meyer Ruban, was then living next door to my Mom at Covenant House.
Other stories in the almost ?beyond belief? category include:
Meeting the internationally famous Israeli psychic Uri Geller, the man who seems to be able to cause metal objects to bend by merely touching them with one of his fingers;
Being voluntarily partially hypnotized by Dr. Brian Weiss, a Florida psychiatrist who, to his own amazement, seemed to find ?past lives? among thousands of his patients over many years of medical practice.
The meeting with Uri Geller took place in July 1976, the month of the American Bicentennial and the famous Israeli rescue of 104 hostages at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda on July 4th of that year. Geller had already established an international reputation with his seeming feats of mental telepathy and even more astounding ?telekenesis,? the ability to cause objects to move, break or bend by use of mental powers. Geller had been tested under rigorous scientific safeguards by the prestigious Stanford Research Institute, which published amazing examples of how he was able to ?pick up? pictures drawn by individuals completely out his sight. If the original sketch was of a full-bodied devil, Geller might draw a devil?s face. If the original showed a bunch of l2 grapes with the stem pointing right, Geller would draw a l4-grape bunch with the stem pointing left. The odds of any ?average? person picking up that level of accuracy or that high a percentage of nearly correct ?hits? were millions to one.
Geller also had (and has) his disbelievers. These include James (Zwinge) Randi, a magician and one time friend of Geller?s. He claims that Geller uses traditional ?magician?s tricks? to distract his audiences to make them think he can bend keys and spoons by merely touching them, and that he has ?help? from assistants on the so-called ?telepathy.?
Geller came to St. Louis in 1976 to promote his autobiography, My Story (Praeger, 1975) and to take part in an extra-sensory perception (ESP) workshop at the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel. He held a news conference with a group of mostly very skeptical print and broadcast journalists at Lambert St. Louis International Airport. Geller, who has among his ancestors Einstein and Freud, had an especially boyish appearance and demeanor which largely won over the room full of journalists. He first put us at ease by good-naturedly picking out ?who was a Jew? among the working journalists. Most of us smiled when identified; a few faces blushed.
Walter Orthwein, a veteran ?old school? journalist from the venerable and now defunct St. Louis Globe-Democrat, in true Missouri tradition, told Geller ?show me? when it came to his alleged telepathic powers. Geller asked Orthwein to draw a quick and simple sketch totally out of his and everyone else?s sight. Orthwein made a simple line drawing inside the cover of my copy of Geller?s book. The drawing showed a triangular sail boat with a dot representing a passenger and wavy lines for the water. Geller then took my pen and asked Orthwein to close his eyes and ?visualize? the sketch.
Geller said, ?I?m sorry, I don?t seem to be getting anything clearly,? while he made a triangular motion with the pen. Orthwein opened his eyes and said, ?That?s it! Draw that on paper.? Geller?s sketch was almost identical to that of Orthwein?s. It was an amazing demonstration of apparent telepathy, albeit not under the same rigors at the Stanford Research Institute.
I then asked the Israeli psychic, who first discovered his own abilities as a 6-year-old when he could recite all the cards of his opponents in games of Old Maid and could break the hands of his watch by gazing and concentrating on them, to demonstrate the famous ?Geller Effect.? This was his seeming ability to cause metal objects, such as spoons and keys to bend with just a gentle touch of his finger tip.
Geller refused to bend one of my home spoons so as not to cause my wife to be angry, an illustration of wisdom and common sense, if not telepathy. He also could not make an old watch that belonged to my Grandfather Max DeWoskin start up again; the works were too corroded. He then asked if I had a key that I could spare. I carefully removed an extra office key from a fat ring, taking care not to give him my car key to assure my ?ride home.?
To our collective astonishment, Geller, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, in full view of all of us, and with absolutely nothing in or on his hands, gently stroked the key. It curled up like a rapidly melting candle. I still have this bent key to remind me to have an open mind about so-called ?para-normal? events.
The great Rabbinic sage Maimonides warned of gifted persons who could demonstrate ?signs and wonders,? but who were not to be confused with true prophets. There are still those who strongly doubt that Uri Geller is ?for real.? However, since that day in July 1976, I believe he possesses some kind of extra-sensory gift.
Again, there are indeed ?many things on heaven and earth? not ?dreamt of? in our meager and limited ?philosophy? or ability to understand the wonders of the universe. Geller indeed seems to possess an ?eerie power.? Then there was the time that psychiatrist Dr. Brian Weiss hypnotized me back to a ?past life? as a blacksmith in New England in 1853. But I am already out of space for this month?s Best of Bob.
Come back and visit next time for more ?Amazing Stories? from my very fulfilling and illuminating years at the St. Louis Jewish Light.
Source: http://stlouis.ujcfedweb.org/content_di ... eID=180808
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