Grave

Mordechai Eliyahu

Rishon LeZion

Rav Mordechai Eliyahu Tzemach ben Salman (1929 — 2010) was the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel — Rishon LeZion. Resting place: Jerusalem, Har HaMenuchot He studied at the Jerusalem Kabbalistic yeshiva Porat Yosef and at the yeshiva of HaRav Nissim. He was a disciple of Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzchak Nissim, at whose behest he organized the reinterment in Israel of Rabbeinu Chida — who had been buried in Livorno, Italy — in 1960. Today their graves stand side by side. On 25 Sivan, Rav Eliyahu ascended to the Heavenly Yeshiva 25 Sivan — it is remarkable that this is also the yahrzeit of Rabbi Yishmael HaKohen HaGadol, about whom Rav Eliyahu loved a particular song so dearly — "Tanya, amar Rabbi Yishmael" — and he would frequently ask for it to be sung, even during his illness. This song is a baraita (a teaching not recorded in the Mishnah) in which Rabbi Yishmael the High Priest recounts how the L-rd asked him for a blessing: "A teaching that Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha related: Once I entered the Holy of Holies and beheld the L-rd of Hosts seated upon a throne of mercy. He said to me: 'Yishmael, My son, bless Me.' I replied: 'May it be Your will that Your compassion overcome Your anger, and that Your mercy prevail over Your strict judgment, and that You deal with Your children with kindness and not judge them according to the full measure of strict law.'" Rav Ben Shushan explains: "For Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, this was the guiding principle of his entire life — to treat the children of Israel with kindness and compassion." Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and Rachel Imeinu Once, while Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu was being taken to hospital, he heard that Operation Cast Lead had begun. He immediately asked the ambulance driver to turn toward Kever Rachel Imeinu. However ill he felt, he wept and prayed at her grave for the soldiers of Israel. During that operation, a story spread throughout Israel: IDF soldiers advancing on towns from which rockets were being fired repeatedly encountered a woman dressed in black like a Muslim woman, who emerged from houses and warned them in fluent Hebrew of the danger. She would raise her hands to Heaven and urge the soldiers not to enter those houses — that it was a trap, that the buildings were booby-trapped. When the soldiers asked who she was, she answered: "Rachel Imeinu." Within minutes of the soldiers leaving those places, the houses exploded. After the operation ended, several soldiers went to Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and asked whether it was truly possible that the Matriarch Rachel had appeared in such places at such a time. Rav Mordechai replied: "Of course — for I prayed and pleaded at her grave that she should watch over you." (Based on a lesson by Anat Ben Ari) The Reinterment of Rabbeinu Chida https://silatehilim.com/рабби-мордехай-элиягу-и-рабейну-хида-п/ A Miraculous Flight with Rav Mordechai Eliyahu https://silatehilim.com/необычный-полёт-с-рабби-мордехаем-эли/