ENTERTAINMENT
Oren, 13, claims to be able to light torches using powers of concentration only.
Israel's Super Boy
Shows His Powers
An Israeli teen-ager is a stage star on the weekend.
CLAUDIA YIFRACH
A
s a group of class-
mates at the Makor
Haim school in Bnei
Brak begin an exam, one boy
quietly leaves the room.
Though his behavior is not
disruptive, his presence,
ironically, is. The pupil, Oren
Maili, 13, knows both the
questions and answers to a
test before it is even ad-
ministered. "I've been given
a gift," Oren admits, "but I
consider myself a regular kid.
It's only on stage that I feel
like a star."
"At first, everyone wanted
to be Oren's friend," says
father Rony, "and people
started turning up at our
home in the hope that Oren
would reveal something to
them, touch them, or heal
them."
His classmates, once in-
timidated, are now relatively
comfortable with Oren and
his abilities. Surprisingly,
they have never tried taking
advantage of his talents.
However, weekly perfor-
mances at the "November"
nightclub in Old Jaffa allow
Oren's talents free rein.
Blindfolded and seated with
his back to the audience,
Oren describes audience
members and how they're
dressed, giving phone
numbers and other personal
details listed on their ID
Special to The Jewish News
cards. He also bends spoons,
can move the hands of a wrist-
watch and light a torch simp-
ly by concentrating.
Often referred to as "the lit-
tle wonder worker," Oren was
spotlighted some two years
ago when a reporter from
Japanese television came to
interview him. Oren traveled
to a location in Jerusalem,
while his father went with
the reporter and a translator
to Tel Aviv. Successfully
"reading" the serial number
of a 50 shekel note the
reporter was holding, along
with the positioning of the
box he placed it in (there were
50 empty film boxes on the
table), the reporter was
dumbfounded. The final test
came, though, when the
reporter secretly switched
bills. Oren, from a distance of
some 65 kilometers, insisted
the serial number he had
originally given was no
longer compatible with the
number on the bill.
On another occasion, the
reporter and Oren each open-
ed a pack of playing cards.
The reporter picked a card
and Oren picked the same
card out of his pack.
In December 1991, Oren ap-
peared on a television show
and amazed audience
members and home viewers
by cracking the code of an
"uncrackable" police safe us-
ed for keeping weapons. Dur-
ing his performance, the
studio was bombarded with
telephone calls from viewers
who had experienced a varie-
ty of strange sensations:
broken clocks that suddenly
began ticking and watches
and clocks that stopped en-
tirely. One woman's wrist-
watch simply popped off her
hand. Another viewer phoned
to say that her spoon bent of
its own accord inside her cof-
The only
rationalization
behind Oren's
powers is the
headaches that
Oren suffered at
age four and a
half.
fee cup. Strange things also
happened with electricity.
One household suffered a
complete power failure during
the show and the electricity
company maintains that it
was not due to any central
power failure. The electricity
company also noted that
there was an unusual and
dramatic rise in the demand
for electricity during the
show.
"It's natural to be skep-
tical," says Rony. "Oren was
in first grade when I
discovered his abilities. "He
came to me one day and told
me to take a bill from my
pocket. He then proceeded to
tell me the serial number. I
was sure he was playing some
sort of trick on me," he recalls.
"I told him to go into the next
room and said, 'I'll touch ob-
jects. See if you can tell me
which ones? He looked at me
and said, 'You think I'm try-
ing to fool you, but I know
everything you're thinking?
He went into the next room
and I touched different ob-
jects. He knew everything I
touched."
The only rationalization
behind Oren's powers, says
Rony, is the headaches that
Oren suffered at age four-and-
a-half. Doctors were of no help
and X-rays showed nothing.
The doctors concluded that
Oren was perfectly healthy
and that the headaches would
go away in time. They disap-
peared the following year.
Family members have been
involved with Oren's career
from the start. One of three
children, he says, "we all get
along great . . . they have
nothing to be jealous of. My
success is their success." In
fact, his 16-year-old brother
Gili is also a successful artist,
having recently released a
record album.
During one performance
Oren told a member of the au-
dience that he should enter
the national "Hishgad" lot-
tery. He did and won a
Peugeot. "I rely on Oren a lot
myself," admits Rony, a
graphic artist with his own
sign-making business. At
times, Oren helps his father
land jobs by telling him what
bid to make. Once, he even
saved his father money by ad-
vising him not to place a bid.
While Oren has spent much
of his life in the entertain-
ment world, his father and
manager help him lead as
normal a life as possible. He
attends a traditional Jewish
school "so that he'll learn
about his roots and why we
celebrate the holidays," says
Rony. "These basics are not as
ingrained in a secular
school."
Spending so much time
together has acted as a
positive influence, and no
doubt affected the father-son
relationship and their
telepathic bond. "I do feel
very connected to him,"
smiles Rony. "Once people
would say 'That's Rony's son:
Now they say, 'That's Oren's
father.' "