Rav Moshe Alshich
The Alshich HaKadosh, a talmid of Rav Yosef Karo in Tzfas and author of Toras Moshe, whose deep derush on the Torah is still widely studied.
Biography
Early years
Rav Moshe Alshich zt"l, known as the Alshich HaKadosh, was born in 1508 in Adrianople, Turkey, the son of Rav Chaim Alshich. He studied under Rav Taitatzak in Salonica.
Torah and leadership
Rav Moshe came to Tzfas from Turkey together with other great mekubalim (Kabbalists) and became a talmid of Rav Yosef Karo. The Alshich supported Rav Yaakov Beirav's renewal of the Sanhedrin. Rav Yosef Karo, who had himself been ordained by Rav Yaakov Beirav, gave the Alshich semichah as a Rav of that renewed Sanhedrin.
Among his own talmidim were Rav Chaim Vital and Rav Yom Tov Tzahalon. He also knew the Arizal. Although he belonged to the circle of Kabbalists in Tzfas, his own seforim only rarely show any trace of Kabbalah.
He was a celebrated teacher, preacher and decisor. He wrote no fewer than 1,400 responsa (answers to halachic questions), yet it was his eloquence as a darshan (preacher) that spread his fame. In 1587 he left Tzfas in the wake of a great epidemic and moved to Damascus.
It is told that a son of the Alshich was seized in childhood and grew up as a Moslem, and that the Arizal composed a special prayer for the boy's return.
Teachings and seforim
Little is known of the Alshich's personal life, since in his writings he avoids speaking of himself. In the introduction to his commentary on the Torah he describes only his course of study. From his earliest days, learning Gemara was his chief occupation, and he attended the yeshiva faithfully. He gave his nights to research and his days to halachah, learning Gemara in the morning and the poskim (halachic authorities) in the afternoon. Only on Fridays did he find time for Tanach and Midrash, in preparation for the lectures on the weekly sidra that he gave every Shabbos to large audiences eager to learn.
These lectures later became his commentaries. He explained that he published them because many of his listeners repeated his words, in part or in whole, in their own names, and printing his own work would stop this. In print he shortened the lectures a great deal, leaving out whatever was not essential and whatever he had already said elsewhere.
His commentary on the Torah, Toras Moshe, became very popular and is known as the Alshich HaKadosh, the holy Alshich. Each section opens with questions the reader is likely to ask. The Alshich then gives a summary of his view and answers all the questions in order. His commentaries rely heavily on Gemara, Midrash and Zohar, and they only rarely cite other commentators such as Abravanel, Gersonides or Maimonides.
His explanations are homiletical. In every verse and every word he looks for a moral lesson, a support for bitachon (trust in Hashem), encouragement to endure patiently, and a reminder that all earthly goods are empty compared with the eternal reward of the World to Come. Again and again he calls on his fellow Jews to do teshuvah, to give up or at least limit worldly pleasures, and so to hasten the coming of Moshiach. His style was easy and fluent. His allegorical method, with its careful attention to every detail of the text, is a middle path between the rational and the mystical, and it puts mussar (ethical teaching) first.
He also wrote commentaries on nearly the whole of Tanach. When Rav Yosef Karo asked him, the Alshich wrote a declaration against the Meor Einayim of Azariah dei Rossi, which had rejected some beliefs commonly held as tradition. He also wrote a simple ten-verse dirge on the exile of Israel, which found its way into several morning prayer collections.
Later years and passing
The Alshich passed away in Tzfas on 13 Nissan 5360 (1600). The yahrzeit of his rebbe, Rav Yosef Karo, falls on the same day. His kever is in the ancient Bais HaChaim of Tzfas.
Legacy
Very few Torah giants were ever called HaKadosh. Besides the Alshich, the title was given to the Shelah, the Arizal and the Ohr HaChaim, and various reasons have been suggested for why it was given to him. The Alshich's sermon-based commentaries on the Torah and the Prophets remain popular. They are studied today mainly for their practical influence in guiding a person toward a life of virtue.
His shul in Tzfas, originally called Kamis Istambulia, still stands. It is unique as the only shul that survived both the 1759 and the 1837 earthquakes. Perhaps its zechus is that it was built by baalei teshuva who had been Marranos, while others point to the fact that it never had an ezras nashim or a bais kisei.
Stories
A Soul for Peshat and Not for Sod
It is told that Rav Moshe Alshich greatly wished to study the secrets of Kabbalah, especially as word of the Arizal's teachings began to spread. He was distressed that others had been chosen while he was passed over. Tearfully he came before the Arizal, kissed the hem of his clothing, fell at his feet and kissed them, and wept, “Master, what sin have I committed? Of what crime am I guilty that you do not draw me close as a talmid, like Rav Chaim Vital and Rav Yitzchok Falcon?”
The Arizal answered that his soul had not come into this world to study Kabbalah and the secrets of the Torah. It was to master and spread the simpler, revealed form of Torah called peshat, because in a previous gilgul (incarnation) his soul had already mastered Kabbalah, for he was a spark of the soul of Chutzpis the Meturgemon (translator).
“If you think I am only making excuses to put you off,” said the Arizal, “I will give you a sign that will prove my words. Tomorrow I will pass along the road with my talmidim to greet Shabbos and accept the Shabbos day. If you see us pass, it is a sign that I have been putting you off with excuses. But if you do not see us pass by on the road, it is a sign that I am telling you the truth.”
And so Rav Moshe Alshich prepared himself. He bought provisions for Shabbos, dressed in his Shabbos clothes, and by midday sat ready at the roadside, waiting eagerly for the Arizal and his talmidim to pass. After some time a great tiredness came over him and he fell asleep. He slept on as the Arizal passed by with his talmidim, and he did not wake and did not see them. After they had passed, the Arizal sent some talmidim back to wake him so that he would not be left alone and in danger at the roadside. When he woke, he was startled, confused and upset that he had somehow missed the Arizal when he had passed right by him.
“Didn't I tell you,” said the Arizal, “that your soul did not come into the world this time to study Kabbalah? Do not burden yourself with this any longer. Work instead on your seforim to teach peshat, and they will become famous worldwide, and generations afterward will study them.” From then on the Alshich did not seek to learn Kabbalah from the Arizal.
The Chida writes something similar in Shem HaGedolim (number 101). When the Arizal refused to teach the Alshich Kabbalah and the Alshich complained, the Arizal answered that in his present gilgul the Alshich's soul had come to perfect the aspect of derush and not sod, sermons and not secrets.
Lovon Agrees With the Derosha
The Minchas Elozor of Munkacs told this story. The Arizal testified that he saw the entire heavenly host, the pamalya shel maalah (the heavenly household), going together to hear the deroshos of Rav Moshe Alshich, and so he too went to hear his holy words whenever the Alshich sat and preached in public.
One time the Arizal was present when the Alshich gave a derosha about Lovon HaArami and how he swindled, tricked and deceived Yaakov. The pasuk says that Lovon cheated Yaakov aseres monim (Bereishis 31:8 and 31:41). The Alshich explained that this meant ten times ten, a hundred times over. He then detailed each of the hundred ways in which Lovon cheated Yaakov. The audience sat mesmerized and enjoyed the derosha as the Alshich listed, again and again, the tricks Lovon had used against Yaakov. During this derosha the Arizal laughed and left.
Afterward they asked the Arizal why he had laughed. He explained that he had actually seen Lovon HaArami standing beside the Alshich as he gave his derosha. “With each of the hundred deceptions,” said the Arizal, “Lovon nodded his head in agreement, saying, 'Yes, that's it, that's true, that's exactly how I tricked Yaakov and cheated him that time. Yes, and that is the other way I cheated him again.' That is what made me laugh.”
Teachings
The Safe Middle Path
In his commentary on Shir HaShirim, the Alshich calls peshat (the literal explanation) and sod (the mystical interpretation) the two opposite extremes. His own method, allegorical exposition, he declares to be the safe middle between them. According to this commentary, Shir HaShirim is an allegory, a dialogue between Hashem and exiled Israel about the mission of Israel.
Shoshanas HaAmakim (on Shir HaShirim)
No Cause for Despair
In his commentary on Eichah, called Devarim Nechumim (Comforting Words), the Alshich repeatedly shows that there is no cause for despair. Hashem is with Israel, and even though the Bais HaMikdash was destroyed, the Shechinah has not departed from the Kosel Maaravi, the Western Wall.
Devarim Nechumim (on Eichah)
Fear of Hashem, the Essence of Existence
The Alshich calls Koheles, because of its deep thoughts, waters without end, like an ocean. In his commentary he works to show that the central idea of the book is that all is vain except yiras Hashem, the fear of Hashem, which is the essential condition of a person's real existence.
Devarim Tovim (on Koheles)
A Lesson in Serving Hashem
Of the Megillah of Rus, the Alshich says that from it we surely might take a lesson in how to serve Hashem. Throughout his commentary he illustrates this very point.
Einei Moshe (on Rus)
Seforim
- Toras Moshe: His commentary on the Torah, based on sermons he gave throughout his long career. First printed around 1593 in Belvedere near Constantinople; complete edition with indexes, Venice, 1601. An abridgment by Yosef ben Aryeh Leib, called Kitzur Alshich al HaTorah, was printed in Amsterdam, 1748.
- Maros HaTzovos: A commentary on the Prophets, Venice, 1803–7. Extracts appear in Minchah Ketanah, a commentary on the earlier Prophets, in the Biblia Rabbinica (Koheles Moshe), Amsterdam, 1724.
- Romemos El: On Tehillim, Venice, 1605.
- Rav Peninim: On Mishlei, Venice, 1601.
- Chelkas Mechokek: On Iyov, Venice, 1603.
- Shoshanas HaAmakim: On Shir HaShirim. The first of his commentaries to appear in print, edited by the Alshich himself in 1591.
- Einei Moshe: On Rus, Venice, 1601.
- Devarim Nechumim: On Eichah, Venice, 1601.
- Devarim Tovim: On Koheles, Venice, 1601.
- Masas Moshe: On Megillas Esther, which he offered to his fellow Jews as a Purim present (Venice, 1601). His commentaries on these last five megillos also appeared in abridged form, edited by Eliezer ben Chananiah Tarnigrad, Amsterdam, 1697.
- Hatzelses HaSharon: On Daniel; printed in Tzfas in 1563 and in Venice in 1592.
- Likutei Man: A commentary on the haftaros, compiled chiefly from Maros HaTzovos by E. M. Markbreit, Amsterdam, 1704.
- Yarim Moshe: A commentary on Avos gathered from the works of the Alshich by Yosef ben M. Schlenker, Fürth, 1764.
- Commentary on the Haggadah: Printed in the Haggadah edition called Beis Chorin (Metz, 1767). It was probably assembled from his writings long after his lifetime; had he written it, the Haggadah would have appeared with his commentary far sooner.
- Responsa: A collection of his halachic decisions, printed in Venice, 1605, and Berlin, 1766; his contemporaries often quote his opinions.
- Dirge on the Exile of Israel: A simple poem of ten rhyming verses, included in earlier morning prayer collections such as Ayelet HaShachar, and in Shaarei Tzion.
Family & talmidim
Teachers: Rav Taitatzak, Rav Yosef Karo
Talmidim: Rav Chaim Vital, Rav Yom Tov Tzahalon
Children: A son
Also on 13 Nissan
All hilulos on 13 Nissan ›Historical sources
- Shivchei HoArizal
- Shem HaGedolim
- Maso'os Yerushalayim
- Kerem Chemed