Abraham ben Mordecai Azulai (c. 1570–1643) ( he, אברהם בן מרדכי אזולאי) was a

Kabbalistic Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

author and commentator born in

Fez, Morocco Fez or Fes (; ar, فاس, fās; zgh, ⴼⵉⵣⴰⵣ, fizaz; french: Fès) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 m ...

. In 1599 he moved to Ottoman Palestine and settled in

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after Eas ...

Biography

, Azulai wrote a commentary on the ''

Zohar The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...

'' under the title ''Kiryat Arba'' (City of Arba (in Hebrew four);

Gen Gen may refer to: * ''Gen'' (film), 2006 Turkish horror film directed by Togan Gökbakar * Gen (Street Fighter), a video game character from the ''Street Fighter'' series * Gen Fu, a video game character from the ''Dead or Alive'' series * Gen l ...

. xxiii.2). The plague of 1619 drove him from his new home, and while in Gaza, where he found refuge, he wrote his Kabalistic work ''Chesed le-Abraham'' (Mercy to Abraham;

Book of Micah The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' ( he, מִיכָיָ֫הוּ), meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century BCE prophet fro ...

vii.20). It was published after the author's death by Meshullam Zalman ben Abraham Berak of Gorice, in Amsterdam, 1685. The work is a treatise with an introduction, (''The Cornerstone''; see Talmud

Yoma Yoma (Aramaic: יומא, lit. "The Day") is the fifth tractate of ''Seder Moed'' ("Order of Festivals") of the ''Mishnah'' and of the ''Talmud''. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, on which Jews atone for their ...

53b), and is divided into seven "fountains" (

Book of Zechariah The Book of Zechariah, attributed to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, is included in the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Historical context Zechariah's prophecies took place during the reign of Darius the Great and were contemporary ...

iii.9), each fountain being subdivided into a number of "streams." A specimen of the work Chesed Le-Avraham, taken from the fifth fountain, twenty-fourth stream, p. 57d, of the Amsterdam edition: A popular story about Rabbi Azulai is that of how he retrieved the sultan's sword. When the Ottoman sultan visited Hebron, his precious sword fell into the Cave of Machpela. Anyone sent down to retrieve it disappeared. Only Rabbi Azulai was able to descend into the cave and retrieve the sword. Rabbi Abraham ben Mordecai Azulai's grave

Rabbi Abraham ben Mordecai Azulai's grave

He died in

on November 6, 1643 and is buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Hebron.Michael Laitman, ''Gems of Wisdom: Words of the Great Kabbalists from All Generations'', Laitman Kabbalah Publishers, 2011, p. 413-414 One of the manuscripts that he left to his descendant,

Chaim Yosef David Azulai Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (1724 – 1 March 1806) (), commonly known as the Hida (the acronym of his name, ), was a Jerusalem born rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publication of Jewish religious ...

, is also published. It is a Kabalistic commentary on the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...

xiv.13), Vilna, 1873.
Pirkei Avot
– a selection from Chesed le-Abraham

References

Jewish Encyclopedia

Azoulay Azoulay, sometimes spelled Azoulai, Azulai or Azulay ( he, אזולאי), etc. is a Sephardi Jewish surname, common among Jews of Moroccan descent. People Azoulay family of Fes Azoulay, is the name of a notable Jewish family descended from Spanis ...

, ''Shem ha-Gedolim,'' s.v.; *

Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob Isaac ben Jacob Benjacob (January 10, 1801, Ramygala – July 2, 1863, Vilnius) was a Lithuanian Jewish Maskil, best known as a bibliographer, author, and publisher. His 17-volume Hebrew Bible included Rashi, Mendelssohn, as well as his own ''M ...

, ''Oẓar ha-Sefarim,'' p. 196; *

Julius Fürst Julius Fürst (; 12 May 1805, Żerków, South Prussia – 9 February 1873, Leipzig), born Joseph Alsari, was a Jewish German orientalist and the son of noted maggid, teacher, and Hebrew grammarian Jacob Alsari. Fürst was a distinguished scho ...

, ''Bibliotheca Judaica,'' i.67; *

Heimann Joseph Michael Heimann (Hayyim) Michael (April 12, 1792 – June 10, 1846) was a Hebrew bibliographer born at Hamburg. He showed great acuteness of mind in early childhood, had a phenomenal memory, and was an indefatigable student. He studied Talmudics and rec ...

, ''Or ha-Ḥayyim,'' p. 12. {{DEFAULTSORT:Azulai, Abraham 1570s births 1643 deaths People from Fez, Morocco Kabbalists Sephardi rabbis in Ottoman Palestine Rabbis in Hebron Moroccan writers 16th-century Moroccan rabbis 17th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire