Rav Aharon Berachia of Modina

Life and teachers

Rav Aharon Berachia of Modina zt"l, the author of Maavar Yabok, was an Italian mekubal and chassid, the son of Rav Moshe, son of Rav Nechemia. He was a talmid of Rav Hillel of Modena, known as the Chasid VeKadosh (the pious and holy), and of the Italian mekubal Rav Menachem Azaria of Fano, the Rama MiPano.

He was a colleague of Rav Yehuda Aryeh of Modena and of Rav Yisroel Sarug, who was a talmid of the Arizal of Tzfas. His brother-in-law was Rav Yosef Yedidya Krami, author of Kanaf Renanim. The Chida wrote of him that he was a great chassid and an angelic maggid, and it is said that, like Rav Yosef Karo, he was in constant contact with a heavenly maggid.

Maavar Yabok and his seforim

His seforim deal with Kabbalah, mussar and tefillah. In 1624 he composed Ashmoret HaBoker, a sefer of tefillos and kavonos for a group that rose early to daven, the society known as Me'ire HaShachar (Awakeners of the Dawn), after which the sefer is also called Meiri Shachar.

His great work is Maavar Yabok (Crossing the Yabok), a Kabbalistic work on the rites surrounding death, the confessions, customs and prayers for the sick, the dying and the dead, and the laws of levaya and shiva. He wrote it at the request of the chevra kadisha of Mantua, and it became the guidebook for leaving this world. It was later translated into Yiddish by a woman, Ellus bas Mordechai of Slutsk.

Meil Tzedakah and Bigdei Kodesh, both on avodah and Torah study, were printed after his passing, in Mantua in 1767, as was his commentary on Tikkunei Zohar. His work on the Arizal and his commentaries on the Rif's Hilchos Shabbos and Taanis remain in manuscript.

His large work on Kabbalah, Chibbur beKabbalah, has four parts: Shemen Mishchas Kodesh, on the principles of Kabbalah according to the Ramak and the Arizal; Shemen Zayis Zach, public addresses on the same subject; Shetil Poreiach, on the hidden meaning of prayers and mitzvos; and Imrei Shefer, with miscellaneous matter. The Chida saw this work in manuscript in Modena. He also wrote Magen Aharon, a summary of the Arizal's teachings.

Imprisonment and passing

In 1636 he was arrested and imprisoned for owning forbidden seforim, those marked for censorship or confiscation because of passages said to criticise Christians. In his defence he told his interrogators that since the Inquisition allowed Jews to live in its lands, Jews must also be allowed the books that teach the principles of their faith, for Jewish life is impossible without them. As far as he knew, the papal bull of Clement VIII banning certain seforim had never been enforced. He added that Christian preachers themselves cite the Shulchan Aruch, the Rif and similar seforim when they try to persuade Jews to convert, which they could not do if Jews were forbidden to own them.

Rav Aharon Berachia passed away in Modena in the year 5399 (1639).