Grave
Beri'a de-Rav Safra
The Yanuka of Babylon
The grave בריה דרב ספרא - Beri'a de-Rav Safra - is one of the little-known sites (Israelis who have lived in Israel for 40 years, sabras, Arab taxi drivers - all were surprised that they had never been here before).
Another Yanuka joins my list of child-prodigy wonderkids, for which Am Yisrael is so famous.
1. The Yanuka - son of Amnon Saba (Zohar HaKadosh)
2. The Yanuka - son of Rabbi Yosi de-Pekiin (Zohar HaKadosh)
3. The Yanuka - Nachman Chatufa, son of Rabbi Pinchas
4. The Yanuka of Stolin - Rabbi Yisrael Binyamin ben Asher
And here is the Yanuka of the Zohar HaKadosh - Beri'a de-Rav Safra - a Yanuka with no name - "Beri'a" in Aramaic means "son."
The son of Rav Safra - a young ilui (child prodigy) from Babylon. It is remarkable that his name is unknown - Beri'a de-Rav Safra - Beri'a ("son" in Aramaic) - the son of the famous Rav Safra.
The Zohar HaKadosh tells of Beri'a de-Rav Safra - here are his words before the sages:
"Now, my masters, I am from Babylon, and I am the son of Rabbi Safra. I made sure that no one would know whose son I am.
I was sent here, and I was afraid, because the people of this land are lions in Torah, so I took upon myself a vow not to speak words of Torah before anyone for two months.
And now that day has come.
Blessed is my lot, that I have met you here."
Rabbi Yosi raised his voice and wept.
And they all rose and kissed him on the head.
Rabbi Yosi said: "Blessed is my lot, that in this way I have merited to hear ancient words from your mouth - words I had never before merited to hear."
He was born through the blessing given to his father by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
Rav Safra passed away while his son was still an infant.
In his youth, the son of Rav Safra made aliyah from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael, where he took a vow not to reveal his Torah knowledge for two months.
During this time he married the innkeeper's daughter, who had been impressed after seeing the young man jump off a roof in order to join a minyan for Kaddish.
His vow to keep his secret led to great disappointment on the part of his new family, who had believed him to be a Torah scholar but, upon discovering he did not appear to be a Talmid Chacham, became upset.
One day Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yosi were collecting money for the mitzvah of redeeming Jewish captives.
When it grew dark, they came to an inn to spend the night.
At Chatzot the two sages awoke to study the secrets of the Torah, as was their custom.
The innkeeper's daughter also woke and, noticing the two holy guests, hurried to light a candle, then stood by the door listening to their Torah study. The sages noticed this, and Rabbi Yosi began expounding the verse: "For the mitzvah is a candle, and the Torah is light."
"The mitzvah is a candle" refers to the woman who is obligated to light the Shabbat candles.
"And the Torah is light" refers to her husband, who is obligated to study Torah.
Therefore, although a woman is not commanded to study Torah, her husband's Torah lights her candle for her.
Rabbi Yosi meant to praise the woman for lighting a candle for them, and to tell her that although a woman does not study Torah herself, she is rewarded for enabling her husband to study Torah.
Hearing this, the woman burst into tears, and her cries woke her father.
Hearing from his daughter what Rabbi Yosi had just recited, the innkeeper wept as well.
Rabbi Yosi asked about their weeping, whether they were distressed that the woman's husband did not know Torah. The innkeeper answered that yes - that was indeed the reason they were weeping.
The innkeeper told how once, during prayer in the synagogue, he had witnessed a young man jump from the roof of a neighboring building in order to join a minyan for the recitation of Kaddish.
Impressed by such great self-sacrifice, and believing that the young man must also fear G-d, know Torah, and possess refined character traits, the innkeeper offered him his daughter's hand in marriage that very day, although he had never met the young man before and knew nothing about him. Only after the wedding did they discover that the young man was completely ignorant, unable even to recite the blessing of the Shema or Birkat HaMazon.
The innkeeper's attempts to teach his son-in-law himself, or to hire Torah scholars to teach him, ended in failure, and he sadly resigned himself to the fact that his daughter had married an ignoramus.
After two months had passed, the son of Rav Safra revealed himself to the sages Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yosi, who announced a festive feast for the community, at which he was appointed rabbi and spiritual leader of the town.
The son of Rav Safra was an aspect of the Angel Metatron.
He is buried in Tzfat, on the outskirts of the new industrial zone, next to the power station.
Rabbi Chaim described the location of his grave in detail: "His resting place is near Tzfat, on the way to Nachal Amud - from the road that goes from Dahariya to Karal, there is a road there by which one descends from Tzfat toward [the source of] the river, to grind wheat.
Descend a little way along that road, and there, about a third of the way down the slope and the mountain, there is a carob tree.
Further along that road, on the eastern side, there is an opening of a cave in the roof above, and on the western side of the cave below there are about three openings, and buried within are Yosi ben Yoezer, Yosi ben Yochanan, and Yosi ben Meshulam."
"And it shows the burial place of Beri'a de-Rav Safra mentioned there, as stated, far from this cave [from the cave of Chinoki and his mother]."
Actual Directions
Enter Tzfat from Route 89, bypassing Tzfat, and immediately turn left under Route 89 into the new industrial zone. Then turn right toward the "Electric Company" station, and at the end of the road continue along the dirt road to the right of the transformer yard's fence.
At the end of the fence, turn left on foot, and after about 100 meters heading northwest you will see a carob tree growing out of the rock - this is the marker for Beri'a de-Rav Safra.
The power station should be on your left - go up the bicycle path, and at the end of the power station, on the left, you will see a blue-hued tree growing out of a blue-hued rock - this is the grave.
The carob tree growing right out of the grave itself is a clear wonder, considering that it is surrounded by a pine forest.
A segula: pick small twigs or leaves from the carob tree - this is a segula for childless couples, for pregnant women, and also for success in one's endeavors - to merit seeing the fruits of one's labor.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
( Zohar Teruma 166-169; http://www.zissil.com/topics/Son-of-Rav-Safra)
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