4 Shevat · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Avraham HaKohen of Kalisk (Katz)
Rabbi Avraham HaKohen of Kalisk (Katz) was born in 1741 in the town of Kalyshki in the Vitebsk region.
Yahrzeit - 4 Shevat
Resting place - Tiberias
In his youth, Avraham of Kalisk studied Torah under the Vilna Gaon, who later became the leader of the Mitnagdim, the opponents of Chassidic Judaism.
In his younger years he became known as an Illui (עילוי). He grew close to Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritch, and became one of his most ardent followers. Around him gathered many devoted disciples who clung to his path, which was marked by great enthusiasm and the highest devotion. The pious conduct of his followers provoked bewilderment and fierce opposition from those around them, both non-Jews and Jews. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi later stated that the wild behavior of his followers was one of the causes of the bans placed on the Chassidim in Lithuania.
Kalisker and his followers embraced an emotional and mystical approach to serving G-d, in contrast to the formalism of traditional believers who focused on Talmudic study. After the passing in 1772 of his teacher Dov Ber of Mezeritch, much of the opposition to Chassidism was directed against Kalisker and his disciples.
In 1777, at about the age of 36, he joined the first Chassidic aliyah led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and emigrated to the Holy Land.
Rabbi Avraham of Kalisk was a Kohen who lived more than 250 years ago in Tiberias. The people living in Tiberias witnessed so many Yeshuot (salvations) and miracles through the merit of this holy tzadik that even in times of trouble they would come to him saying: "Eloha de-Rabbi Avraham mi-Kalisk Aneni."
At the resting place of Rabbi Akiva
Tradition tells that once, during a prolonged drought, a group of townspeople came to him asking that he pray on behalf of all the Jews of the city for rain. He told them all to take along rain gear and to climb with him up the mountain to the grave of Rabbi Akiva.
He prayed, falling with his face upon the gravestone, while they stood around him weeping. After some time he rose and said: "G-d has heard our voice."
And when they were halfway down the mountain, the sky suddenly grew cloudy, and a downpour began, accompanied by flashes of lightning and peals of thunder (Gedolei HaDorot).
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov stated that of all the righteous people he had met in his life, "perfection was found only in the holy tzadik of Kalisk."
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/979-Abraham-HaKohen-of-Kalisk)