The Beit El Kabbalist yeshiva (Beit El means "House of God") (also: ''Midrash Hasidim'' 'School of the Devout' or ''Yeshivat haMekubalim'', '

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 are studied in parallel. The stu ...

of the Kabbalists') is a center of

kabbalistic Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (). Jewi ...

study in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. It consists of two buildings, one in the Ruhama neighbourhood of

West Jerusalem West Jerusalem or Western Jerusalem (, ; , ) refers to the section of Jerusalem that was controlled by Israel at the end of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. As the city was divided by the Green Line (Israel's erstwhile border, established by ...

, built in 1948, and another in Old City’s

Jewish Quarter Jewish Quarter may refer to: *Jewish quarter (diaspora), areas of many cities and towns traditionally inhabited by Jews *Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem), one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem *Jewish Quarter (), a popular name ...

, built in 1974.

History

The yeshiva was founded in 1737 by Rabbi Gedaliah Hayon, originally from

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, for the study of kabbalah in the Holy City. In the 1740s, a gifted young man named Shalom Mizrachi Sharabi arrived in Jerusalem from

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. He studied at Beit El and over time became an outstanding scholar and kabbalist. At the behest of Rabbi Hayon, he was appointed head of the yeshiva. Under Sharabi’s leadership the yeshiva grew and became one of the main yeshivas in Jerusalem with 40 scholars from the

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

and

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

communities. Rabbi Hayon had organized the life of the yeshiva around prayer services, which through mystical communion with God would bring the scholars closer to understanding the secret teachings of Kabbalah. Rabbi Sharabi initiated regulations, orders and ''kavanot'' ("intentions") of the daily prayers according to the ''Nahar Shalom'' prayer book (Salonika, 1806/5566) which he authored, continuing the teachings of the Arizal and following its cosmological approach while incorporating kabbalistic symbolism, entreaties and thoughts/meditations. Known today as the ''Siddur haRashash'', it remained, together with the ''Etz `Haim'' of Rabbi `Haim Vital, the focus of kabbalistic studies in the yeshiva. The scholars were divided into four groups. The first awoke at midnight to say '' Tikkun Hatzot'' and learn the Kabbalah of the Arizal until dawn. The second delved into the works of the Arizal from after

shacharit ''Shacharit'' ( ''šaḥăriṯ''), or ''Shacharis'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew, is the morning '' tefillah'' (prayer) of Judaism, one of the three daily prayers. Different traditions identify different primary components of ''Shacharit''. E ...

(morning prayers) until midday. The third group learnt the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

with Rabbi Ovadia mi’Bartenura’s commentary from midday till nightfall. After ma’ariv (evening prayers) the fourth set of scholars would arrive and learn the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

and the

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in ...

. As the yeshiva's reputation spread it attracted prominent rabbis, among them were

Chaim Joseph David Azulai Haim Yosef David Azulai ben Yitzhak Zerachia (; 1724 – 1 March 1806), commonly known as the Hida (also spelled Chida, the acronym of his name, ), was a Jerusalem born rabbi, rabbinical scholar, a noted bibliophile, and a pioneer in the publica ...

, Avraham Gershon of Kitov, Menachem Mendel of Shklov and Yom Tov Algazi. In 1757, Rabbi Sharabi chose twelve select disciples who were to form a special group called Ahavat Shalom (love of peace). They signed a pledge of eternal friendship which hung on the door of the Holy Ark in the yeshiva. Part of the document reads: "..all twelve of us shall be as one glorious soul…that if God forbid one of us encounters misfortune, we will all assist him.." One of the stipulations was that if a son was born to one of the group, three members would go to learn Torah by the newborn's side every night until its circumcision to act as a safeguard for the child. On the night before the

brit milah The ''brit milah'' (, , ; "Covenant (religion), covenant of circumcision") or ''bris'' (, ) is Religion and circumcision, the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism and Samaritanism, during which the foreskin is surgically removed. According to t ...

the whole group was instructed to visit and study there. The yeshiva premises remained in the hands of the leading kabbalists of each generation who inherited the apartment on the top floor. In the late 1800s, the writings of Dr Eliezer Levy, who escorted Sir

Moses Montefiore Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, Philanthropy, philanthropist and Sheriffs of the City of London, Sheriff of London. Born to an History ...

around Jerusalem, describe of how they visited the place where "they pray all year round according to the mystical meanings of the Arizal from midnight till the afternoon, and from then till the evening they study

and

Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...

." The authoritative ''Sefer Etz `Haim'' of Rabbi `Haim Vital was for the first time printed under the auspices of the yeshiva around 1866. Distinguished scholars of Kabbalah continued to emigrate to Jerusalem in order to study in the yeshiva. Among the outstanding luminaries, Rabbi Hayim Shaul Dweck HaKohen, Rabbi Shaul Kassin (the father of the famed leader of Syrian Jewry, Rabbi Yaakov Kassin), and Rabbi Avraham Ades (the master of the Baba Sali) were drawn there from Syria in order to dedicate themselves to spiritual growth.

New building (1928)

The 1927 Jericho earthquake damaged the building, and the British Municipality ordered the building be demolished. No sooner had the order been received, plans got underway to rebuild, and eight months later, in March 1928, the new extended premises were completed. In the 1930s, when the illustrious Chazon Ish was on his way to the

Western Wall The Western Wall (; ; Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: ''HaKosel HaMa'arovi'') is an ancient retaining wall of the built-up hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. Its most famous section, known by the same name ...

, he made a point of stopping by the yeshiva to study there, stating, “I have great merit to see the place where such great and holy people learnt and prayed." During the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionism, Zionist forces conquered territory and established ...

, the contents of the building were looted and the building was desecrated.

New City (1948) and Old City (1974)

The son of Rabbi Shalom Hedaya (who was head of Bet El from 1927 to 1945, following the leadership of Rabbi Yedidyah Raphael Chai Abulafiya and Rabbi Massoud Alhadad), Rabbi Ovadia Hedaya, set to work on schemes to revive the study of Kabbalah in the spirit of Bet El. Rabbi Ovadia Hedaya did so on the roof of his house on Rashi street before taking on the task in 1958 of rebuilding the yeshiva in the new section of the city on the very street where he lived. In 1974, six years after the liberation of the Jewish Quarter, on the very site of the former Beit El yeshiva in the Old City, the Beit El Yeshiva was re-established (at first under the cryptic name ''Rishpei Esh'', as understood from the ''Shir haShirim'') under the aegis of Rabbi Meir Yehuda Guez, a noted kabbalist, who until his death was the official rabbi of the Western Wall area. The Rashi Street yeshiva remains in existence. On 13 September 1995, a ceremony took place celebrating the completion of refurbishment to the yeshiva in the Old City, at this time also renamed Yeshivat HaMekubalim Beit El. Upon Rabbi Guez's death, his foremost student (''talmid muvhaq'') was chosen as Rosh Yeshiva of the Old City site. One of the most famous alumni of the yeshiva was Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri, who died in January 2006. The

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai Haim Hedaya died in March 2010. Rabbi Raphael Hedaya was appointed as caretaker Rosh Yeshiva of Beit El at the Rashi Street yeshiva until the year of mourning was passed. The current Rosh Yeshiva of Beit El in the Old City is Rabbi Yisrael Avi`hai.

References

{{authority control 1737 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Educational institutions established in 1737 Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem) Kabbalah Orthodox yeshivas in Jerusalem Sephardi Jewish culture in Jerusalem Sephardic yeshivas

History

New building (1928)

New City (1948) and Old City (1974)

See also

References