7 Tevet · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Moshe David Valle
Rabbi Moshe David Valle, an 18th-century Italian kabbalist and physician, was born in Padua, Italy.
Yahrzeit - 7 Tevet
Resting place - Padua, Italy
He was an authoritative expert in Kabbalah and gave lectures before the Padua association "Mevakshei Hashem," alongside two well-known rabbis, Yisrael Chizkiyah Treves and Yaakov Chazak.
These lectures were also attended by the great Ramchal, who became deeply interested in Kabbalah and began studying it under Valle's guidance, though Ramchal's sharp mind surpassed that of his fellow students.
At the age of 25, Rabbi Moshe David Valle wrote a polemical work in Italian against Christianity, divided into 7 parts.
He also wrote 70 Tikkunim in Hebrew on Devarim 34:12.
Between 1721 and 1767 he wrote 8 large volumes in Hebrew, most of which consisted of commentary on the entire Torah. They remain unpublished to this day.
Rabbi Ephraim Luzzatto wrote a sonnet titled "Eleh Bnei HaNe'urim", praising the lectures of Rabbi Valle and Rabbi Treves.
A Person's Appearance
Rav Moshe David Valle taught that after the age of 40, a person can no longer complain about their appearance, since by then they themselves are responsible for it. One's outward appearance is a reflection of one's inner self. The Hebrew word "panim" is translated as "face," while the word "pnim," sharing the same root, means "essence," "inner being," "the inner part." This means that a person's inner world is directly reflected on their face.
On the Philistines
Rabbi Moshe David Valle discusses the meaning behind the Philistines offering a sacrifice to their water-god for the capture of Samson.
"And the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands." (Shoftim 16:23)
He writes that the Philistines were close to holiness, and therefore the guardian angel appointed over them, who was their god, was rooted in the sefirah of Binah, which is the secret of the great sea, and therefore their god had the form of a great fish - this is the secret of Dagon, whose gematria equals 63, which is the name of Binah (a reference to the spelling of the Tetragrammaton, which had a numerical value of 63 and represented the sefirah of Binah), from which it draws its power.
And above the waist he had the form of a man, which represents the partial good that existed in the angels of the nations in their higher aspect, close to holiness, but below the waist he had the form of a fish, which represents his degradation in the lower aspects.
And so the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, for they believed that their salvation had come from him in that this righteous man had been delivered into their hands.
And all the more so, since they had captured him through seduction, and this fish, depicted in the form of a man, has no power other than seduction, just as sailors speak of the fish called the siren in the local tongue.
It is unknown whether they speak the truth, but in any case the undeniable truth is that the Philistines are a shining shell closest to holiness, and all their power lies in seduction and cunning.
May the merit of the tzadik protect our people!
(Valle, M.D., "Or Zarua," Kisei Ramad Valle on Shoftim, 16:23)
Pilgrimage site:
Grave: Moshe David Valle