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Thu, Mar 31 2005, 9:42 am

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Spiritual Bulletproofing: The Power of `Chitas`

Posted 8/14/2002

By Tzivia Emmer, Jewish Press Staff Writer

When Rabbi Yitzhak Cohen of Gush Etzion is asked if his car, with its tinted windows, is bulletproof, he tells them that while it’s not bulletproof it is one of the safest cars around.

That’s because Cohen, like growing numbers of people in Israel and especially in Judea, Samaria and Gaza keep a sefer Chitas (an acronym for Chumash, Tehillim and Tanya) and a tzedaka box in their vehicles as a form of spiritual bulletproofing. As Chabad emissary in Karmei Tzur and Alon Shvut, Cohen has distributed thousands of the books as he makes his rounds visiting families and soldiers in the area.

“The Chitas is a segula l’shemira, a protection” he explains. The volumes comprising Chitas form the basis of a daily study regimen for men and women worldwide.

In 1975, after a road incident, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Goldstein of Brooklyn wrote to the Lubabitcher Rebbe asking what lesson might derive from such an experience. The Rebbe replied, “It is proper that there should be in the car a (siddur, a Tehillim a Tanya) and a tzedaka box.” The Rebbe added, “And it is proper to publicize this.”

(Goldstein habitually carried these items in his car, but realized after receiving the Rebbe’s letter that he had given away the pushka and forgot to replace it.)

Over the years, when accidents or other events occurred, the Rebbe would remind people to keep a volume of Chitas in their cars. The word chitas – or chitat – is found in a biblical verse describing Divine protection: “They set out, and there tell a G-dly terror (chitat) on the cities which were around them, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.” (Vayigash 35:5)

“We know that Jewish books make an environment,” says Cohen. “What happens is that people take one, then they take for their family and then it’s like a snowball, and people come to us and check their tefillin and mezuzot, they come to Torah classes... it turns into a whole awareness.” In spare moments one can open a Chumash, he says, or recite some Tehillim. Many have begun learning the daily portions in their Chitas for the first time.

In the Cohens’ own newly purchased car, before the glass windows were replaced with plastic, Arab bullets struck the car but somehow missed the glass, which would have shattered. Within days, with the plastic windshield in place, the bullets found their mark. “We saw them bouncing off,” he says.

He reports this as if being shot at in one’s car is simply a normal fact of life. In parts of Israel, it is.

The current campaign to distribute Chitas began several years ago, when Brooklyn resident Chana Leah Duato was visiting Israel. There were sporadic bombings then, but not with the frequency or ferocity of the last two years. Wanting to do something to help, Duato, a teacher with a background in community organizing, remembered the Rebbe’s statement that having Chitas in one’s car is a form of spiritual protection.

Upon returning to the States she formed a small group dedicated to raising money for giving the books out to as many people in Israel as possible.

“Every penny we raise goes to Chitas, not for expenses of any kind,” says Duato. The group, which hooked up with N’shei Chabad, collects funds for the purchase of either full volumes of Chitas for dashboards or glove compartments or small, compact versions,containing a velcro flap for tzedaka, which soldiers can carry in their combat uniforms. Some donations are in memory of or in honor of loved ones.

Other Chabad rabbis in Israel are busy distributing Chitas in their areas as well. Rabbi Mendel Wilhelm in particular has been working to place a Chitas and pushka on all 7,000 Egged buses traveling through the country. With a pushka affixed to the front of the bus, passengers can do the mitzva of tzedaka at the beginning of their ride.

“Ninety-five percent of the people are incredibly touched by the concern,” says Cohen, an IDF reservist who is originally from Britain. “They are moved by the fact that people overseas are thinking about them and caring about them.”

At first Cohen sold the books, which cost 50 shekels, for 25 shekels each and then used the money to buy more. But with the current crisis, the Chitatim, as Israelis pronounce it, are being given out for free.

He recalls being frightened one day when a car behind him, driving recklessly, seemed to be pursuing him. It turned out that the man was a Jew. “You are the one who has the chitatim?” he wanted to know. He asked for eight sets of chitas – for himself and his family.

Aliza Karp of Brooklyn was devastated after the murder of family friend Tzachi Sasson, and decided to donate a Chitas to every member of Tzachi`s kibbutz, pointing to remarkable incidents like the following: “A car that was just behind a bus that exploded [in Netanya] was in such a state of destruction that when emergency personnel arrived they thought a bomb had exploded in the car itself.... Yet the driver and his Chitas emerged unscathed.”

Yitzhak Cohen’s wife, Sara, and their children accompany him as he visits the Jews of Gush Etzion. It’s what we do, he says, explaining that all their activities have been stepped up in response to the current crisis.

“What people in America see,” he says, “is that every family in which someone has been killed is a family hit by terrorism. And it’s true. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Every single person in Israel is a victim of terrorism.... Children are afraid to go to sleep at night. Many parents this year are not sending their kids to summer camp. People are afraid.”

So the Cohens make youth groups and camps, talk to the children to give them strength, and tell them Baal Shem Tov stories, inspiring faith. He brings cold drinks and treats to the soldiers stationed nearby. Just doing the day to day things, he says, helping the people feel that they haven’t been neglected.

“Tonight,” he says, “we’re going to the soldiers. I’m a little bit nervous.... But this is what it’s about.”

Contributions can be sent to Chitas Campaign, 820 Montgomery St., Brooklyn NY 11213.

http://www.thejewishpress.com/.....=1454