Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri ( he, אלעזר בן משה אזכרי‎) (1533–1600) was a Jewish kabbalist,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...

Biography

Azikri was born in

Safed Safed (known in Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elev ...

to a

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

family who had settled in

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and sout ...

after the expulsion from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. He studied Torah under

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

Yosef Sagis, Rabbi Jacob Berab, and in the

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...

of Moshe Cordovero. He is counted with the greatest Rabbis and intellectuals of his time:

Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz Shlomo ha-Levi Alkabetz, also spelt Alqabitz, Alqabes; ( he, שלמה אלקבץ) ( 1500 – 1576) was a rabbi, kabbalist and poet perhaps best known for his composition of the song ''Lecha Dodi''. Biography Alkabetz studied Torah under Rabb ...

, Yosef Karo, Moshe Cordovero,

Isaac Luria Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (1534Fine 2003, p24/ref> – July 25, 1572) ( he, יִצְחָק בן שלמה לוּרְיָא אשכנזי ''Yitzhak Ben Sh'lomo Lurya Ashkenazi''), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as "Ha'ARI" (mean ...

, Israel Najara, etc. In fact, he was one of a handful of rabbis to receive the renewed rabbinic ''semichah'' initiated by Rabbi Berab.Elazar ben Moshe Azikri
sefaria.org In 1588 Rabbi Elazar founded the "Sukat Shalom" movement who acted to arouse in Jews the devotion to religion. His ''Sefer Haredim'' - see below - blends a ''halachic'' enumeration of the ''Mitzvos'' (Torah "commandments") with Kabbalist ethics, and is one of the central works of it genre. Rabbi Elazar died in 1600 and was buried in Safed.

Works

Rabbi Elazar's best known Book, the ''Sefer Haredim'' (ספר חרדים), is a famous discussion of the 613 ''Mitzvos'', and is considered as one of the main works of Jewish

deontology In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek: + ) is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules and principles, r ...

. It was printed after his death in 1600. Its arrangement differs from other similar books: First, the ''mitzvos'' are arranged according to the human body and / or the time on which they depend in their observance; Second, the work does not maintain a single count of the ''mitzvos'', but rather lists these re the opinion of several ''

Rishonim ''Rishonim'' (; he, ; sing. he, , ''Rishon'', "the first ones") were the leading rabbis and '' poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, , "Set Table", a ...

'', authorities to c. 1600. He also wrote a commentary on ''Tractate Bezah'' and BerachotPrinted in the Vilna Yerushalmi Brachot. of the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud ( he, תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשַׁלְמִי, translit=Talmud Yerushalmi, often for short), also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century ...

. The ''

Piyyut A ''piyyut'' or ''piyut'' (plural piyyutim or piyutim, he, פִּיּוּטִים / פיוטים, פִּיּוּט / פיוט ; from Greek ποιητής ''poiētḗs'' "poet") is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, ch ...

'' (liturgical poem) '' Yedid Nefesh'' (ידיד נפש) is commonly attributed to Rabbi Elazar, who first published it in his Sefer Haredim.

References

External links

Biography
- from the Orthodox Union

(Venice) – free scanned version in DjVu format
Traditional Sephardi Singing of Yedid Nefesh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azikri, Elazar Ben Moshe 1533 births 1600 deaths Rabbis in Safed Jewish poets Hebrew-language writers 16th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire Kabbalists Rabbis in Ottoman Galilee Sephardi rabbis Sephardi Jews in Ottoman Palestine