Eliyahu HaKohen HaItamari of Izmir

8 Adar (Bet) is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Avraham HaKohen HaItamari of Izmir – author of Midrash Talpiot (containing 926 sections – according to the gematria of the word "talpiot"), Shevet Mussar, and other books. The Shem HaGedolim states: "Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen of Izmir wrote almost 40 books and, through his public lectures, turned many away from sin." Once he was looking for his prayer cord to tie around himself before praying. Unable to find it, he finally noticed a black cord on the floor, bent down, picked it up, and tied it around his waist. After Rabbi Eliyahu finished his prayers, he began to untie the cord – it suddenly uncoiled and slipped out of his hands. It turned out that the "cord" he had worn throughout the entire prayer was in fact a real poisonous snake. In memory of this miracle, Rabbi Eliyahu named the next book he wrote Ezer Eliyahu (Eliyahu's Helper). When the Chassidic Rebbe Moshe of Kobrin would tell this story, he always added the following: "It's really not such a great miracle that the snake did not strangle or bite the Rabbi. No living creature can harm a person who has not damaged his Tzelem Elokim – his Divine image. For it is written: "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moves upon the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea — into your hand they are delivered." (Bereishit 9:2) And the fact that the snake did not try to break free while Rabbi Eliyahu was praying is also not surprising; the snake was afraid of the tzadik, and so it remained absolutely still. What is truly astonishing in this story is the greatness of Rabbi Eliyahu. In his immense devotion to G-d, even before he began praying, he did not notice that the "cord" he had picked up was not a cord at all, but a live snake." (Yerachmiel Tilles, based on "Stories My Grandfather Told" by Zev Greenwald) The Earth and Human Organs In the book Midrash Talpiot (Anaf Eretz Yisrael) we found a wonderful comparison of the entire planet Earth to the human body, in which countries are like the head, arms, legs, kidneys, liver, lungs, and so on. Eretz Yisrael is the soul of the whole earth; its essence consists not of gold or other natural resources, but of the Shechinah, the Divine Presence. (Adam Davidov on Shlach) The Lion Midrash Talpiot teaches that a lion's strength lies in its eyes, and that if someone throws a piece of cloth (from clothing) into a lion's eyes, its strength will be weakened. If we look at the word "lion" in Hebrew – אריה (aryeh) – we see that it shares its letters with the word רואה ("sees"). The lion's name reveals where its strength lies – in its sight. It is known that the lion is the king of beasts. And if we see that the King's strength is in his eyes, it turns out that his entire reign flows from his vision. This teaches us that one who guards his eyes from forbidden things, and one who preserves the sanctity of his vision, will attain royalty. (Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi) The Book of Adam Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen of Izmir (Smyrna) writes in his book Midrash Talpiot that he saw the "Book of Adam" belonging to a "physician and philosopher," translated into "the Christian language" (for a resident of Turkey, this undoubtedly meant Greek). The book indicated which days and hours were governed by which angels, and revealed the secrets of the solstices and the oppositions of the Earth and Sun… "And this is a wonder," Rav Eliyahu HaKohen adds reverently. Dybbuk In his book Minchat Eliyahu he described how a possessing soul (dybbuk) spoke before an assembled community, and he recorded the beginning of its speech:

"This story happened in August 1688. A spirit entered a woman. For eight months before it became known that a spirit was inside her, she was ill, and the doctors exhausted themselves searching for a cure for her.

And then, one day, when I entered the courtyard where that woman was sitting, she fell down and began muttering incessantly. When I saw this, I understood that an evil spirit was inside her. At midday I came to her accompanied by people, and as soon as she saw them, she fell down just as before. Then, threatening the spirit with excommunication, I commanded it to say who it was and why it had tormented the heart of a daughter of Israel for so long.

And he said: "I am Avraham Shneur de Coronieel, who committed suicide because the time of my wedding had come and I had no money for its expenses, and out of shame I chose death. And now I have no rest. When my soul departed, it was sent to Kaf HaKela, into Gehinnom, and tens of thousands of wicked ones came out to meet it with fiery rods, and began pushing me. And they said: 'Get out, defiled one.' And my soul wanders through the world, pursued by destroying angels.

How terrible. A suicide must know that he has no portion in the World to Come (Rambam, Hilchot Rotze'ach 2:2), and he is not even brought into Gehinnom. In the end, the holy gaon rectified this soul. But before that he asked it questions and received instructive answers. Here is one of them.

I asked him about the size of the spirit, and he answered that it all depends on spirituality. His spirit is like a small nut. And there are spirits smaller than his."

It sends a shiver down one's spine.

A person departs into the world of the Holy One, Blessed be He, proud, standing at full height, nearly six feet tall — but that height he leaves behind here. What rises upward – a sesame seed? A poppy seed?

Our forefather Avraham was "a great man among giants." In Shunem there was a "great woman," God-fearing. Their personalities were great. Rabbi Brona, Rabbi Shmuel, Rabbi Eliezer, and Levi were called "great men" because of their personalities.

But there are those who are like a nut. Yet they have this consolation: "There are spirits smaller than them." It pains the heart. (Ma'ayan HaEmunah)

Shevet Mussar

Once Rabbi Bunim of Peshischa came to his Rav – the Seer of Lublin – with eyes red from tears and weeping. When the Seer of Lublin asked, "What happened?" Rabbi Bunim replied that he was crying because something had cut him to the quick.

The Seer asked: "And what did you do to the one who offended you?"

- "I kissed him," Rabbi Bunim answered. The Seer of Lublin was astonished and asked, "Who was it?" Rabbi Bunim answered that it was the book Shevet Mussar by Rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen HaItamari of Izmir, whose words had moved him to tears. And when he finished reading it, before returning the book, he kissed it. (From the book "Branch of the Tree of the Fathers" – commentary on Pirkei Avot by Rav Ovadia Yosef)

Haman’s Lot — 7 Adar or 14 Adar Shir HaShirim on Erev Shabbat – Tikkun of Shlomo HaMelech According to the Sephardic Minhag Prayers for Motzaei Shabbat from Midrash Talpiyot for a Successful Week   Жребий амана 7 го адара или 14 го The Blessing “Who Changes the Works of Creation”