This is our regular Maimonides – Rambam coaching column, the great wisdom and inspiration we draw for our own lives, from this great spiritual giant, from his actual words, from the Rambam’s own book of laws.

Since, we are coming up to the holiday of Chanukah when we commemorate and celebrate the miracle of the little jar of pure olive oil that lasted eight days, I will share with you a miracle (an event that takes an unexpected turn for the good) connected with Maimonides, the Rambam. We will see the great guidance and power there is, in and through, the words of this giant, in a totally different light.

Rabbi Menachem Shmuel David Raichik (1918-1998) personal emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe(s) for Los Angeles and the West Coast in the USA was greatly regarded by his acquaintances and students as a person who had great piety and someone who had unusual strength to his blessings.

One day a young man who was having difficulty finding his partner in life, a wife, came up to him and asked him for a blessing, for greater success in his efforts.

Rabbi Raichik asked him, if he studied from the book of the Rambam/Maimonides every day. The young man said, he did not. Rabbi Raichik said to him. “Resolve and start to study the laws from the Rambam, every day, and things will improve in your life. And, so it was.

In not too much time afterwards, the young man found his partner for life, a nice young woman, to start his family.

People who heard this story came over to Rabbi Raichik and asked him to explain himself. Did he become a miracle worker? When did he become so G-dly, like a Rebbe, to make this type of promises?

Rabbi Raichik explained. “Some time ago a woman came to me, that it was many years since she was married and was not blessed with a child. I suggested she go to see Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson the Lubavitcher Rebbe, for a blessing and advice. We came to the Rebbe, and when she went by the Rebbe for the well-known Sunday dollars, she asked the Rebbe for his blessings.

The Rebbe asked her if she studied the Rambam on a regular basis, and she answered she did not. The Rebbe suggested she should start doing so on a regular basis, and she would see improved results. Not long afterwards she was blessed with a child.

The next time I went into the Rebbe for a private audience, I asked the Rebbe, if I could publicize this story. The Rebbe said certainly. Isn’t the Rambam the healer of all people? (Not just this lady)”

I hope this will inspire more people to take even more seriously the hidden strengths one can draw for this column in particular, and more importantly, from the laws of the Rambam/Maimonides in general.

    Your thoughts are real, noticed by G-d, and carry legal weight.

If a person takes a cup of beer in his hand and begins reciting a blessing with the intention of saying (the proper blessing over beer) shehakol..., and instead erred and says borey pri hagafen, (the blessing for wine) he is not compelled to repeat [the blessing]. …..

Similarly, if fruits that grow from the earth were placed before him, and he began reciting a blessing with the intention of saying (the correct and proper blessing) borey pri hadamah, and instead erred and said borey pri hatetz, he is not compelled to repeat [the blessing]. … and he fulfilled his obligation, to make a blessing before eating and drinking.

[These decisions were rendered] because, at the time when he mentioned G-d's name and His sovereignty, which are the essence of a blessing, he had the intention of reciting the appropriate blessing for his food. Therefore, since the essence of the blessing was not recited in error, he is considered to have fulfilled his obligation and need not repeat it, although he erred at its conclusion.

          The power of thought,  to actually and legally determine
                                   the status of physical objects!!

All vessels can become susceptible to impurity through thought, but do not lose that susceptibility unless a deed is performed to change their function. A deed, negates the influence of a previous deed or thought, but thought does not negate the influence of a previous thought or deed. (WOW, that’s really powerful. You may want to read this last sentence again.)

What is implied? A vessel one thought to use as a ring for a person, that thought itself, causes a change in the ring's status and makes it subject to ritual impurity, as if originally it was made with the intent of being used for a human.

If, afterwards, one reconsidered and thought to leave it as a ring for an animal as it was, it remains susceptible to impurity, even though a person never used it as an ornament. For one thought does not negate the effect of another thought unless one performs a deed in the actual physical substance of the entity, for example, to polish it or to adjust it as is done for an animal.