Sorry for taking this thread off topic in my last posts, but the point is the same.
Those of us who are skeptical about this Amalek story are being criticized by those who believe it for what they perceive as our lack of emunas chachomim or lack of emunah in general.
This completely misses the point of our skepticism.
We are not skeptical because we don’t think there are gedolim capable of such things, or that such things are impossible.
We are skeptical for the same reason we are skeptical when a coloful postcard arrives in our mailboxes screaming “You Have Won ONE-MILLION DOLLARS !!”. In other words we are skeptical because by and large these stories tend to be false.
The fact that Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlit’a has his named attached to this story doesn’t add any credibility. (Wasn’t there a recent letter published by a member of his family disavowing Rav Kanievsky’s connection to any number of tzedakos or kol korehs notwithstanding the fact that his picture and/or name is attached to just about everything coming out of EY?) In this day and age anyone – and that means anyone – can tell any story they like in the name of anyone they like with little concern for reprecussions. With a modicum of skill on Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop it can all be made to look like the real thing.
Actually I don’t think it is us skeptics who needs a reality check on our bitahcon, I think it is those people who fall over themselves to believe every one of these stories the minute they see the light of day. I, for one, don’t see that as a sign of bitachon, I see it as a desparate need for proof in the existence of the spiritual.
A related story is told over about Rav Elchanan Wasserman zt”l regarding his involvenment in the famous dibuk incident with the Chofetz Chaim. (As an aside, that is one story I do believe because it was associated with the preeminent gedolim of the day, and it was corroborated by the fact that Rav Elchanan zt”l himself repeated it and was further relayed by some of his talmidid who heard it from him in subsequent years, notably Rav Asher Katzman zt”l.) The story claims that Rav Elchanan was once telling the story of the inciedent to a group of his talmidim and when he finished was annoyed by the look of amazement on their faces. He took this to be a sign of something lacking in their bitachon, because he felt that, if they had stronger emunah, they wouldn’t find the story so compelling. Supposedly he avoided telling the story after that because he didn’t like the idea of bnei torah getting an “emunah boost” from the telling of a spooky story. He felt bnei torah should be above that.