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13 Nisan · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Moshe Alshich - the Alshich HaKadosh
Rabbi Moshe Alshich - the Alshich HaKadosh - head of the city of Tzfat in the times of the Arizal
Yahrzeit - 13 Nissan
Burial place - Tzfat
The Alshich HaKadosh was born in Adrianople, Greece, in 1508.
He studied at the yeshiva in Salonika under Rabbi Yosef Taitatzak. He later moved to the city of Tzfat. There he studied under Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the "Shulchan Aruch," and received semicha (rabbinic ordination) from him. He became renowned as an orator, delivering sermons in the synagogue on Shabbat. He traveled among the Jewish communities of the Middle East to raise funds for the yeshivot of Tzfat. He wrote a series of books - commentaries on Tanach. He headed a yeshiva in Tzfat. Among his most famous students were Rabbi Chaim Vital and Yom-Tov Tzahalon.
Rabbi Moshe Alshich was the first of four sages who merited for all generations the title HaKadosh ("the holy one"). This honorary title is traditionally also added to the names of the great kabbalists of the Land of Israel - Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Arizal HaKadosh; Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz, the Shelah HaKadosh; and Rabbi Chaim Ibn Attar, the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh.
In 1587, at the age of 80, fleeing an epidemic that had broken out in Tzfat, Rabbi Moshe Alshich moved to Damascus. Starting in 1590, he spent three years traveling among the communities of Syria, Turkey, and Persia, collecting donations for the Jews of Tzfat.
In addition to his commentary on the Five Books of Moses, Rabbi Moshe Alshich composed commentaries on all the Books of the Prophets (except Yechezkel), as well as on Tehillim, Mishlei (Proverbs of Shlomo), Shir HaShirim, and the Books of Daniel, Iyov, and Rut.
In 1592, while staying in Istanbul, he published several of his works for the first time at the Hebrew printing house of the Mendes family. He sent most of his manuscripts to be published in Venice, where, still during his lifetime, his commentaries on Shir HaShirim and Mishlei appeared.
The Alshich HaKadosh ascended to the Heavenly Yeshiva in Tzfat in 1593.
On top of the cave "Meara't Chachamei Tzfat" (where the great Rabbi Yaakov Beirav, teacher of Rabbi Yosef Karo, and Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Hakim, a rabbi of Tzfat, are buried) in the old cemetery of Tzfat, there is a separate tombstone of the Alshich - with a blue dome.
May the merit of this tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
Pilgrimage site:
Grave: Moshe Alshich HaKadosh
Articles about this tzadik 3
Source: https://silatehilim.com/en/events/31788/
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