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stie’s prescience did not develop in a vacuum. As the youngest child of Rav Shlomo Brevda, Estie was privy to extraordinary intuition from a young age. “My father saw straight through people, and he didn’t attend any of the courses I did. He had a tremendous sense of the person standing before him — he’d look at you and know your past, your present, and frequently even divined your future. He predicted things that actually happened.”

As a child, it wasn’t easy for Estie to be subjected to her father’s sixth sense. She didn’t appreciate being told, “Today, you went to play with so-and-so, even though I don’t like when you play with her.” Her father would look at her eyes and know everything she did. “As I was leaving the house to play, he’d look at me and say, ‘You did not do homework yet, and you probably have a test you didn’t study for, so you should go back to your room.’ He knew these things without my having shared any of it,” she remembers.

However, Rav Brevda’s preternatural intuition also had its benefits. “When I was in Gateshead seminary, my father spoke there and had a little kabbalas kahal with my friends to give eitzah and brachah,” Estie recalls. “After he met with them, I asked my father his opinion on a few of my friends to determine whether or not to deepen my relationship with them. He advised me on each one and he was spot on!”

The Chazon Ish recognized her father’s gift and told him that he was a tremendous baal eitzah. Rav Brevda gave excellent advice and knew exactly what each person needed to hear. And of all his family members, people tend to see him most in Estie. She even looks the most like him. Estie is less convinced. “Halevai I should reach his toenails!”

But Estie’s ability to read people must have come from him, as well. In fact, when her husband showed her name to Rav David Abuchatzeira, he said she had a talent in giving eitzah, much like the Chazon Ish had once said to her father.

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rom the outset, Estie’s inborn sense of people’s character catapulted her to the top of her physiognomy class. “Every time Shaindy showed us pictures of a face in order to test us on information we’d learned, I would add my own impression of the person based on my intuition. I’d say, ‘Yes, but this is a negative person’ or ‘But I wouldn’t believe a word he says.’ And she’d stop and say, ‘How do you know? What are you basing your impression on?’ and I’d say, ‘I don’t know, it’s just my sense. And I was right. There were 20 women in the course, but I was the only one who could read a face before we were taught all the relevant information.”

Estie sees face reading as essentially a science of one plus one equals two. For example, someone whose eyes are very close together has no patience, while a person whose eyes are further apart behaves more deliberately. If the eyes aren’t symmetrical, that person may have suffered trauma in their formative years. Depending on which eye is higher, you can determine whether the trauma came from the father or mother.

But there’s logic behind the calculations. When a person is tense, their eyes and eyebrow muscles react. It’s why you can detect if a person is under stress by looking at their eyes.

The nose is a good indicator of decisiveness. “It’s like a stem that’s a stable base,” Estie explains. “The wider the nose, the more stable the person is in their opinions and outlook.” And they’re less likely swayed because of that. On the other hand, a narrow, small nose indicates a wishy-washy person whose opinions are in constant flux.

Cosmetic surgery does little to blur the imprint of the soul on a person’s features. The face is an outward manifestation of the neshamah, and its individual features do not exist in isolation. So when Estie sees from a person’s other features that they have high aspirations, but they don’t have the prominent nose that represents this trait, she asks if they’ve had rhinoplasty — and they always have.

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stie is a licensed therapist who uses face reading as one of the many tools in her practice. Sometimes, it helps her navigate conflicting narratives when counseling a couple.

One memorable example involved a couple where the husband claimed his wife was abusively disrespectful to him. “I looked at the wife and saw, by the droop of her eyes, that she was an empathetic person, accommodating and flexible, someone who really understood others’ needs. I knew that wasn’t an abusive woman. So I asked the husband for an example of his wife’s problematic behavior.”

He explained that earlier that day, while he was on the phone with his mother, his wife continuously interrupted his conversation and asked for help managing the children. “Is this the way to respect a husband?” he demanded. “I’m on the phone — why doesn’t she respect that? She doesn’t respect me or my mother!”

Estie asked his wife for her side. Her eyes filled with tears and she said, “I don’t know, I couldn’t manage on my own, the kids were jumping all over the place….” Estie took a better look at the husband and noticed that his entire face was misaligned.

“It indicated that he was raised with so much trauma that he existed in a perpetual state of internal conflict regarding his most basic personality. He didn’t know if he was a good person or a bad one, a ruchniyus person or a gashmiyus one, a yerei Shamayim or not. I looked at the way the misalignment presented, and saw that it was the father figure in his life who had caused the trauma.”

She told him, “You know, I’m looking at your facial features, and I noticed something. Do you mind if we discuss your relationship with your father?”

The man lost it. “You know my father?” he demanded. “What do you want from my father? How does he come into the picture?!” He turned to his wife. “Did you say something?!”

Estie explained that when someone was raised with trauma, and wasn’t understood or respected as a child, the feelings of disrespect follow them throughout their life unless they pause and heal the trauma. If not, every comment will be registered as the disrespect and abuse they suffered as a child.

It was something that Estie theoretically could have figured out after a few months of treating this couple. But with face reading, she shortened the process dramatically.

IN

addition to treating her own clients, Estie is frequently consulted to provide this form of intervention for other therapists’ clients. She will either be shown a picture or will actually see and speak to the clients themselves. This can save therapists countless hours, if not months, in diagnosing and treating a marital issue.

In another unforgettable case, Estie was asked to evaluate a couple who was married for a year. At their initial session, the therapist was unsure of who was speaking the truth. The husband claimed his wife didn’t understand what marriage was about, that she behaved inappropriately, and that she had embarrassed him in public and in front of his parents.

Estie studied a picture of both the husband and wife and discerned that the husband was not interested in improving his shalom bayis. He was an impulsive, intense person who had imagined his wife would look and behave a specific way. Something about her wasn’t aligned with his vision of a dream wife and it disappointed him. He wanted out of the marriage, but was looking to the therapist to sanction his leaving. Being an extremely manipulative person, he decided that if the therapist couldn’t provide the justification he wanted, he would cast her as a bad person and an incompetent clinician.

Estie advised the therapist to confront the husband and put him on the spot: Did he want out of the marriage? Unsurprisingly, his answer was yes. His wife still insisted that they try to salvage their marriage, but after a full year of therapy, they got divorced.

Estie’s face reading is in high demand for people in shidduchim who want to evaluate a potential spouse. By examining a picture, she can determine a person’s traits and then discuss their suitability for her client. It’s been a boon for dating singles who want clarity or can’t put their finger on the precise reason for their hesitation.

Estie also serves as a consultant for businesses who want to confirm that a potential hire is a good fit for their corporation. By evaluating a picture of the applicant, Estie can discern personality traits that might benefit their business and weed out applicants whose personality profile won’t suit the company.

Trauma work is another one of Estie’s specialties. Recently, she volunteered with parents of Hamas hostages. She uses various trauma modalities, and has seen tremendous success in treating trauma in adults, teens, and occasionally children.

In addition to her therapy practice and consultations, Estie is a renowned speaker who lectures on anything relating to ruchniyus, psychology, and marriage, as well as a sought-after voice of wisdom when it comes to dealing with adversity. “They call me Mrs. Challenge,” she says with a chuckle.

Estie’s husband, Rav Asher Druk, an internationally acclaimed maggid, explains that some people are born with a neshamah pratis and others have a neshamah klalis. People with a neshamah pratis are internally inclined — they focus more on their own family. Even when they maintain a job outside the home, it’s an ancillary detail that doesn’t articulate their personhood. On the other hand, someone born with a neshamah klalis is outwardly focused — he yearns to help others outside his private orbit.

Estie harbors no doubts that hers is a neshamah klalis. She sees her incredible aptitude in face reading as a Divine gift to reach countless people who can benefit from her counsel.

Look Again

By Elana Moskowitz

AS a doctor’s daughter, I’m inclined to doubt anything that smacks of pseudoscience. I’ve always cynically regarded magic tinctures, healing potions, energy remedies and the like as “snake oil.” As such, as I walk into my meeting with Rebbetzin Estie Druk, a highly regarded face reader, my skepticism borders on outright disbelief. Truthfully, the most compelling part of this meeting is the opportunity to meet a daughter of the towering Torah personality Rav Shlomo Brevda.

I imagine Estie an austere, solemn women in her mid-sixties, an orthopedic shoe-wearing bubby with a cropped synthetic sheitel, whose wardrobe favors shades of brown and gray. I picture her peering deep into my eyes and pronouncing some vague, universal platitudes about my character, a kind of cut-and-paste that could easily be repurposed for another anonymous woman.

I am wrong. On all counts.

When her daughter escorts me to Estie’s office, I’m pleasantly surprised by the room’s décor. The space exudes warmth and aesthetic appeal, stylistic elements are apparent in every detail.

But nothing rivals my astonishment when Estie herself enters the room.

She is cool. And young. And with it. And she definitely does not wear orthopedic-shoes.

Estie’s stylish blonde sheitel, classy jewelry, and trendy outfit make me triple regret my decision to “dress down” before meeting a face reader-rebbetzin. And of the two of us, I am more likely to be pegged an orthopedic-shoe wearer.

She dives right into our conversation with a humorous anecdote about parenting teenagers, complete with dramatic intonations and appropriately placed eyerolls. This is no dour, severe woman. This is a person who can mine the lighter side from the aggravating encounters in life.

She is honest. Estie shares what it was like to grow up in Rav Brevda’s home, virtually an only child surrounded by adults. She has no difficulty exploring her nuanced relationship with a father who inspired awe, fear, and fierce love. She chuckles over childhood mischief-making and subtle insubordinations, and in the same breath describes how, though she feared her father, she loved him even more.

She is passionate. Estie animatedly describes her vocation and shares how validating it is to formally engage in a discipline that had always felt intuitive. She believes that her face reading is a tool to help others, and derives immense satisfaction from effective results.

And yet, I still have no indication that she’s the real thing.

But then Estie begins to identify detailed parts of the face that correlate to specific inner traits. And without any warning, she starts to analyze mine. “Now, you have these lines,” and here she points to the crinkles adjacent to my eyes, and declares that they indicate wit and a developed sense of humor.

Okay, one point for Estie, I definitely rely on humor in both my public and private life. But how difficult is that to discern? I likely dropped a joke or two in our conversation.

Then Estie indicates my dimples, pointing out the difference in the placement and shape of a dimple. “You are a very giving person.”

Here, I beg to differ. I’ve known many prolific baalos chesed, and I don’t qualify. “I’m much more of a middas hayirah persona, not a middas hachesed personality,” I protest, but Estie isn’t having it. She qualifies what she means by a “giving person.” As she offers more detail and sketches out the prototype of benevolence she sees in me, my jaw drops — she’s spot-on. She describes the type of parent I am, the role I assume in my home, the way I connect to others, and the methods through which I imbue values in my children.

And she is right. On Every. Single. Count.

Estie assesses my chin and determines that I am good at delegating (I am) and that I’m a born teacher (I am a teacher, but it wasn’t what I imagined myself doing when I was born). “When you decide what has to get done, you communicate it to your kids, and then you ensure they get it done,” she pronounces. Does this woman live in my front hall closet?

Part of the beauty in Estie’s assessment is her deliberately positive spin on every trait she discerns. She even generously contrasts her own facial features with mine, and indicates where some of the positive characteristics she’s discerned in me are lacking in her. She moves on to my eyebrows, and by dissecting their placement and shape, describes my ability to connect to people. She makes a prescient observation about my choice in friends that leaves me floored. How did she know that? Is it all in my eyebrows?

She has me move to a profile position. Apparently, my nose is highly articulate, because she uses it to describe some of the most basic aspects of my being, attributes in ruchniyus and gashmiyus I alone know about myself.

Now I’m legitimately spooked. This woman really knows her stuff. And now, it seems, she also really knows my stuff.

I decide to take this a step further. “Can I show you a picture?”

Estie is happy to examine my family members’ faces. My kids. My brother. And she is unerring in her assessments, describing attributes, characteristics, attributing motive and drive to specific people in ways that leave me practically shaking in shock.

Our hour-long meeting winds down, and Esti has to go, but I don’t want to leave. I want more time to discuss the traits she’s found and how to channel them. And I regret not having brought pictures of other family members, of coworkers and neighbors. Of nemeses and friends.

As I leave, I realize that I need to rethink my snake oil assessment. Maybe this is a science, after all.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 935)