Screenwriter Manny Assayeg is a very well-known figure in the theater and film scene in Israel. He conceived the popular "The Eighties" series and was a partner in hundreds of successful films. In an interview with the Hidabroot weekly magazine he was asked this week about an "unforgettable meeting" he had and he chose to tell about a special meeting he once had with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto.
"The first time I met the tzaddik Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto," related Assayeg, "was a few years ago at his home in Ashdod. He was very ill, and many people came to visit and they surrounded his bed. Of all the people in the room, he specifically called me to sit next to him on the bed, kissed my head, held my hand tightly, and told me I was his brother," he said with emotion.
Assayeg added that, "Due to that experience, I have been trying to sanctify the name of Heaven ever since. On that occasion he also gave me an elegant and magnificent volume of the Book of Deuteronomy, the book he is most connected to, and since then I have been spreading the importance of this book for reading and as a spiritual remedy. May God heal him, Amen."
Apart from his professional occupation, Assayeg has been at the forefront of raising the esteem of Jewish tradition in Israel in recent years. He operates his own sites on social networks with hundreds of thousands of followers and is constantly spreading the importance of reading the Book of Deuteronomy on Shabbat as a spiritual remedy for livelihood, salvation and success, as spearheaded by Rabbi Pinto.
Assayeg was also asked about an “unforgettable prayer,” and he replied: "The piyyut Bar Yochai Nimshacta Ashrecha in the Moroccan tune that my father of blessed memory used to sing during the Shabbat evening kiddush. This piyyut reminds me so much of him. Unfortunately, we no longer sing this piyyut, but maybe after this interview we will return to singing Bar Yochai."
This article was written in cooperation with Shuva Israel