Rav Avrohom Azulai
The Moroccan-born mekubal and Rav of Chevron whose Chessed L'Avrohom gathers the Kabbalah of the Arizal and the Ramak; great-grandfather of the Chida.
Biography
Early years
Rav Avrohom Azulai zy"a was born in Fez, Morocco, to Rav Mordechai Azulai, in 1570, the same year that the Ramak, Rav Moshe Cordovero, passed away. His grandfather, Rav Avrohom Azulai HaZoken, had settled in Fez after being expelled from Castile, Spain, in 1492.
In 1600 he fulfilled his life's dream and set sail for Eretz Yisroel. The only possessions he took with him were the many manuscripts of his chiddushim. On the way, a fierce storm sank the ship while it lay at anchor off Greece. Rav Avrohom was not on board at the time, and he thanked Hashem for sparing him, but his manuscripts were lost. It is said that from then on his signature was drawn in the shape of a boat.
Torah and leadership
In 1609 Rav Avrohom moved to Chevron and became the holy city's chief Rav. There he wrote his major work of Kabbalah, Kiryas Arba, a commentary on the Zohar based on the teachings of four great mekubalim: the Ramak, the Arizal, Rav Chaim Vital and Rav Avrohom Galanti.
When plague struck in 1619, he was forced to leave Chevron and took refuge in Aza (Gaza). There he wrote Ba'alei Bris Avrohom, a commentary on the twenty-four books of Tanach, and Chessed L'Avrohom, a work of kabbalistic derashos.
It is told that one of his greatest achievements was bringing to light the writings of Rav Chaim Vital, later known as Etz Chaim, which had been buried with him in his kever in Damascus. Together with another mekubal of the time, Rav Yaakov Tzemach, Rav Avrohom engaged in yichudim (kabbalistic meditations) and she'elos chalom (questions asked in a dream) until Rav Chaim Vital granted them permission to dig at his kever.
Teachings and seforim
Rav Avrohom was a master of both the Arizal's and the Ramak's systems of Kabbalah. His Chessed L'Avrohom is one of the great compendiums of kabbalistic teaching. Almost encyclopedic in scope, it covers many subjects that other mekubalim never discuss, and it is one of the few works to set down in writing teachings that had until then been handed down only by word of mouth.
The sefer appeared only after his passing, printed in Amsterdam in 1685 by Meshullam Zalman ben Avrohom Berak of Gorice. It opens with an introduction called Even HaShesiyah, and is arranged in seven maayanos (wellsprings), each divided into a number of neharos (streams).
His other seforim include Ohr HaChama, a commentary on the Zohar; Ohr HaLevana, with corrections to the text of the Zohar; Ohr HaGanuz, on difficult passages of the Zohar, which was lost; Kanaf Renanim, a summary of the kavanos of tefillah according to the Arizal; Ma'aseh Choshev, a summary of the Arizal's kavanos for the mitzvos; Machzeh Avrohom; Ahavah BaTa'anugim, on Pirkei Avos; a commentary on the six sedarim of the Mishnah; and glosses and commentary on the Levush on the Shulchan Aruch.
Ba'alei Bris Avrohom remained in manuscript and passed down to his descendant, the Chida. It was eventually printed in Vilna in 1873.
Later years and passing
Rav Avrohom passed away in Chevron in Cheshvan and was buried in the old Jewish cemetery of Chevron, overlooking the resting place of the Avos.
Legacy
His great-grandson was the famed tzaddik Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai, the Chida.
Generations later, the Shinover Rav, the Divrei Yechezkel, found a handwritten manuscript of Ohr HaChama in Yerushalayim and worked to have it printed.
Stories
The Sultan's Sword
It is told that the Ottoman Sultan once set out from his capital in faraway Turkey to tour the important places of his empire, and came to Me'aras Hamachpelah in Chevron. At his side hung his gold sword, studded with diamonds and precious stones.
The Sultan wandered from room to room until he entered the great hall named after Yitzchak Avinu. In its floor, near the wall it shares with the smaller hall of Avrohom Avinu, is a small round opening that leads down into the caves themselves. It is perhaps the holiest spot in the whole building above the kevarim of the Avos and Imahos. Pilgrims would travel for weeks and months just to stand beside it, and tradition holds that the cave below was dug by Adam HaRishon.
As the Sultan leaned over to peer into the opening, his precious sword slipped from his side and fell into the hole. He ordered the officer of the guard to lower a soldier into the caves to retrieve it. A rope was tied around a soldier's waist and he was let down. At once, piercing screams rose from below. They pulled him up quickly, but he was dead. The Sultan sent down another soldier, and he met the same fate. One after another the soldiers went down, until it was clear that no one who entered the caves came out alive.
"Who will bring back my sword?" the Sultan demanded. The Arabs looked at one another and answered, "Why not send down a Jew? If he dies, none of us will care, and if not, you will have your sword back."
The Jews were ordered, on pain of death, to supply a volunteer. The Jews of Chevron knew what had happened to the Sultan's soldiers. How could they send one of their own to his death? They davened and fasted, hoping to avert the decree. Then the elderly Rav of the community, Rav Avrohom Azulai, said, "I will go down into the holy caves. Have no fear."
After davening and pleading before Hashem, Rav Avrohom immersed in the mikveh and dressed in white garments, the traditional dress of the dead. He went to Me'aras Hamachpelah, and with a rope tied around his waist he was lowered into the cave.
When his feet touched the ground, he found a man standing beside him. "Who are you?" asked Rav Avrohom. "I am Eliezer, the servant of Avrohom Avinu," the man replied, and asked how he had come there. Rav Avrohom told him the whole story. "Wait here," said Eliezer, "while I ask the holy Avos whether you may come in."
The Avos agreed. When Rav Avrohom saw them, he fainted, and they gave him something to smell to revive him. Then he said to them, "Why should I leave and go back up? I am old, and here I have found my forefathers. I want only to stay here with you." The Avos insisted, "You must return the sword to the Sultan, or the entire Jewish community of Chevron may be wiped out. But have no fear. In another seven days you will return here to be with us."
So the holy Rav came back up into the hall of Yitzchak, bringing the Sultan's sword with him, and the Sultan was pleased. When the Jews of Chevron saw their beloved Rav return alive, they declared the day a holiday.
Rav Avrohom spent the following week with his talmidim, learning with them day and night and teaching them all he knew of the hidden wisdom of the Torah. Seven days after he had been lowered into Me'aras Hamachpelah, he passed away peacefully. He was laid to rest in the ancient Jewish cemetery of Chevron, overlooking the resting place of the Avos he loved.
A Question in the Upper Worlds
It is told that after both had passed on to the upper worlds, Rav Avrohom Azulai, author of Chessed L'Avrohom, asked the Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk: "I wrote ten seforim, and I merited that they are learned even in Heaven. Yet at the mere mention of the name of the Rebbe Reb Elimelech there is a great stir in Heaven. What did you do to merit this?"
Rebbe Elimelech answered, "Every erev Shabbos my household was filled with such awe that even the maids would fall down crying and beg one another, 'Forgive me if I hurt you all week long.' They would cry and forgive each other the way people do on erev Yom Kippur. This awe came from me, from my awe of the approaching holy Shabbos."
Teachings
The Shechinah Watches Over Eretz Yisroel
Rav Avrohom explains that while Klal Yisroel dwells in its own land, the land itself is a shield for every Jew, because the air of Eretz Yisroel is the holy domain of the Shechinah, which hovers over her children there and guards them herself. The forces of impurity surround the borders of the Land but cannot enter it. When Klal Yisroel is exiled, the Shechinah does not abandon her children; only a small spark of her light goes with them into exile, like the small part of the sun's light that reaches the earth.
Chessed L'Avrohom, Maayan 3, Nahar 9
A New Soul in Eretz Yisroel
According to Chessed L'Avrohom, a Jew who comes to live in Eretz Yisroel receives a new, higher level of nefesh, drawn from the world of Yetzirah, which clothes itself in his earlier soul. On his first night in the Land, it is taught, the old soul goes up and only the new one returns. This is how Chazal can say that one who lives in Eretz Yisroel is forgiven his sins, and why every Jew who lives there is called a tzaddik. Rav Avrohom adds that the Land atones only for unintentional sins; deliberate sins require teshuvah and Torah learning.
Chessed L'Avrohom, Maayan 3, Nahar 12
Me'aras Hamachpelah, the Gateway to Gan Eden
Rav Avrohom writes that Me'aras Hamachpelah in Chevron is the entrance to the Gan Eden below. He finds this hinted in the words used for the silver Avrohom Avinu paid for the cave, whose numerical value equals that of a phrase meaning 'the path to the Garden'. Yaakov Avinu therefore longed to be buried there, so that the passage would stay open for his descendants.
Chessed L'Avrohom, Maayan 3, Nahar 13
Torah, the Land and the People
The Torah and Eretz Yisroel come from a single source, and Klal Yisroel, through the root of its souls, shares that same bond with the Holy Land.
Chessed L'Avrohom, Maayan 3, Nahar 7
Seforim
- Chessed L'Avrohom: His major kabbalistic work, written in Aza and printed posthumously in Amsterdam in 1685; an introduction (Even HaShesiyah) and seven maayanos, each divided into neharos.
- Kiryas Arba: A commentary on the Zohar written in Chevron, based on the teachings of the Ramak, the Arizal, Rav Chaim Vital and Rav Avrohom Galanti.
- Ba'alei Bris Avrohom: A commentary on the twenty-four books of Tanach, written in Aza; passed in manuscript to the Chida and printed in Vilna in 1873.
- Ohr HaChama: A commentary on the Zohar; a manuscript was found in Yerushalayim and printed through the efforts of the Shinover Rav.
- Ohr HaLevana: Corrections to the text of the Zohar.
- Ohr HaGanuz: A commentary on difficult passages of the Zohar; lost.
- Kanaf Renanim: A summary of the Arizal's kavanos for tefillah.
- Ma'aseh Choshev: A summary of the Arizal's kavanos for the mitzvos.
- Machzeh Avrohom
- Ahavah BaTa'anugim: On Pirkei Avos.
- Perush Yakar al Shishah Sidrei Mishnah: A commentary on the Mishnah.
- Hagahos l'Sefer HaLevush (Perush Yakar al HaLevush): Glosses and commentary on the Levush on the Shulchan Aruch.
Also on 21 Cheshvan
All hilulos on 21 Cheshvan ›Historical sources
- Hamodia 2006
- Ohel Elimelech