Rabbi’s Wrong-Again Prediction Of Ukraine Crisis As Gog-Magog War Won’t Shake Man’s Faith In Him

Observers have tracked Katz’s credulous devotion to his teacher to the loss of his father four years ago and an eviction not long afterwards that deprived him of important emotional and psychological anchors.

Jerusalem, February 24 – The Facebook account of an area follower of a charismatic spiritual leader brims with admiring posts quoting that leader to the effect that the emerging international crisis of the week heralds a Biblically-prophesied global apocalyptic conflict that will lead to the final Messianic redemption – including the current Russian invasion of Ukraine – despite repeated failures of those prognostications to materialize. Experts remain doubtful whether the Facebook account-holder will ever exercise critical thinking regarding the phenomenon.

Zohar Katz, 55, an unemployed, never-married resident of this city’s eclectic Nachlaot neighborhood, posts almost daily clips of his favorite Rabbi’s discourses on current events as illuminated by the weekly Torah portion or relevant dates of the Jewish calendar, the majority of which feature predictions that a given military conflict, pandemic, natural disaster, or other momentous development marks an event that in Jewish tradition leads directly or quickly to the End of Days when the lion will lie down with the lamb and nations will train for war no more. The Rabbi, who cites kabbalistic teachings and metaphorical Talmudic passages in the most literal sense, or who stretches the simple meaning of a passage to accommodate his strained interpretation, has yet to register a single correct prediction. That statistic, however, has diminished Mr. Katz’s confidence in the accuracy of his mentor’s insight and foresight not a whit.

Observers have tracked Katz’s credulous devotion to his teacher to the loss of his father four years ago and an eviction not long afterwards that deprived him of important emotional and psychological anchors. “Some people are just naturally less skeptical than is reasonable,” acknowledged Yaakov Rand, a stage performer who spends time debunking psychics and other paranormal claims. “They need some certainty, though, as do we all, and such people gravitate toward figures or ideologies that provide at least the illusion of such certainty. The psychological necessity to retain certainty takes priority over logic or of facts that run counter to the mode of thinking all but forces Zohar’s mind to dismiss, explain away, or simply ignore the instances – seventeen and counting, by my reckoning – that his Rabbi’s predictions fizzle.”

Katz’s lack of critical thinking skills have played a role before, witnesses report, most dramatically in several instances of his falling victim to pyramid schemes and his continued inability to find a romantic partner. “There’s also his COVID denial and the-sky-is-falling opposition to vaccines,” noted one. “I can see how that might be a turn-off.”

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