Israeli workers ask Kabbalah rabbi to lift office curse

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Employees of Israel's National Insurance Institute (NII) have asked a Kabbalah sage to remove a curse hanging over their heads after several inexplicable events. The decision to turn to rabbi David Basri came after the sudden death of the head of the NII's Tel Aviv bureau, and after several employees were struck down by a mysterious illness.

The National Insurance Institute is responsible for making unemployment and welfare payments. Basri, a renowned expert in Kabbalah, an esoteric offshoot of Judaism, attributed the calamities to curses made by people who had not been granted social welfare benefits. He arranged a mass prayer service for some 200 employees and also blew the Shofar (a ram's horn) in an attempt to lift the curse. A spokesman for the NII...