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Сила Теилим

5 Av · Yahrzeit

Rabbi Gedalia Chayun - Rosh Yeshiva of "Beit El"

Rabbi Gedalia Chayun - Rosh Yeshiva of "Beit El"   Yahrzeit - 5 Av Resting place - Har HaZeitim, Jerusalem   He was born in Turkey, in the city of Constantinople (Kushta), where he was a student of the Chacham of his generation, Rabbi Chaim Alfandari. In 1733, the residents of the Jewish settlement in Hebron, who were in a very difficult situation, turned to him and asked him to travel on their behalf as a physician to Turkey. In Kushta, the capital, there was a general Jewish institution called the "Committee of Officials of Kushta," which had been established to help the Jewish community in Jerusalem. The residents of Hebron asked Rabbi Gedalia to influence them to act also on behalf of the Jews of Hebron, and indeed, Rabbi Gedalia succeeded in his mission, and thanks to him, a committee of "Officials of Hebron" was established in Kushta, whose role was to help, particularly in organizing the repayment of debts. Upon his return to Eretz Yisrael in 1737, he founded and headed a kabbalistic Yeshiva in Jerusalem called "Midrash Chasidim," which was later named the kabbalistic Yeshiva Beit El, thanks to the funds he managed to raise for this purpose while spending time in the communities of Turkey. The Yeshiva was established from the outset as a place for studying the hidden dimensions of the Torah, and it soon became known in Jewish communities throughout the world. Among its students was also Gershon of Kitov, the brother-in-law and student of the Baal Shem Tov. By origin, Rabbi Chayun came from a family of Portuguese Jews renowned in the field of Jewish scholarship, who were expelled from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century. The descendants of the Chayun family scattered throughout the cities of Italy. Some of them later settled in Salonika (Greece), others — in Constantinople (Turkey). It was from Constantinople that Gedalia Chayun arrived in the Land of Israel. He immediately won the respect of the Torah teachers of Hebron and Jerusalem. Recognizing and taking to heart the situation that had developed, he undertook to establish a Yeshiva of kabbalists in the center of Jerusalem. This Yeshiva, established around 1740, was named "Beit El." And it was headed by Gedalia Chayun. Some time later, by strange paths, a young man arrived at the Yeshiva "Beit El" from far-off Yemen, by way of Baghdad and Damascus, where he had studied with great Torah teachers. He expressed a desire to work there as an attendant — a shamash — in exchange for food and lodging. His duties included cleaning the premises, as well as arranging the books on the shelves daily, and the like. He was not considered a student of the Yeshiva. And he himself did not display his vast knowledge of Torah, including Kabbalah. Over time, quite "by chance," his abilities were discovered. He then became the son-in-law of Rabbi Gedalia Chayun, and after his father-in-law's death, he headed the Yeshiva "Beit El." His name was Rabbi Sar-Shalom Sharabi (the Rashash). He is perhaps the last of those about whom it can be said with reasonable certainty that they studied together with the prophet Eliyahu himself. The Rashash, in a certain sense, brought the exposition of the teachings of the Arizal to perfection. And to this day, at the foundation of the work on the "inner layers" of the Torah lies what the great Rabbi Sar-Shalom Sharabi brought into our world. Rabbeinu Chida, who lived close to his time and studied in his Yeshiva, describes him with great admiration and calls him by the title "holy" — a title reserved for righteous people who lived in holiness and celibacy. He also described him as "a model of a man" whose prayers were answered. In the 19th century, the Yeshiva indeed became what Gedalia Chayun had envisioned in his dreams — the most famous, central Yeshiva in the world for the study of Kabbalah. In 1948, during the War of Independence, Arab gangs, along with other synagogues and 5 Av, Yahrzeit of Rabbi Gedalia Chayun - Rosh Yeshiva of "Beit El" — yeshivot, burned and destroyed the Yeshiva "Beit El" as well. May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael! (https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%92%D7%93%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%94_%D7%97%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9F, https://evrey.com/sitep/askrabbi1/q.php?q=otvet/q6065.htm)