Moshe ben Machir (or Moshe ben Yehudah haMachiri; ) was

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 of t ...

and kabbalist of

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

who lived in the 16th century. He is primarily known as the author of the book Seder haYom, source of the

Modeh Ani Modeh Ani (; "I give thanks") is a Jewish prayer that observant Jews recite daily upon waking, while still in bed. Text Tradition Lamentations states that "The Lord's mercies are not consumed, surely His compassions do not fail. They are ''new ...

prayer.

Biography

He was the head of a

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 ...

in Ein Zeitim, just north of Safed. There survive fundraising letters the yeshiva sent abroad between 1598 and 1601, which show it to have the typical structure of a Sephardic yeshiva from this period, with a circle of talmidei hachamim led by a rabbi known as the "Rishon" (first) or "Hacham" (wise one). From the letters and from a manuscript of the yeshiva's rules, it can be seen that the yeshiva was influenced by the intensely spiritual atmosphere and messianic tension which prevailed among the Jews of Safed in that period, and put a focus on repentance and ascetic practices. Unlike other nearby scholarly circles (like those of rabbis Shlomo Alkabetz,

Isaac Luria Isaac ben Solomon Ashkenazi Luria (; #FINE_2003, Fine 2003, p24/ref>July 25, 1572), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as Ha'ari, Ha'ari Hakadosh or Arizal, was a leading rabbi and Jewish mysticism, Jewish mystic in the community of Saf ...

, Hayyim Vital, and Elazar Azikri), his yeshiva focused on traditional study of

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

halacha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mi ...

rather than mystical secrets. The manuscript of the yeshiva's rules contains ten rules. One rule established shifts so that Torah would be studied in the yeshiva at all hours of day and night. Another specified regular visits to the grave of Rabbi

Judah bar Ilai Judah beRabbi Ilai (Mishnaic Hebrew: יהודה בר' אלעאי), usually known as Rabbi Judah or Judah bar Ilai, was a rabbi of the 2nd century (fourth generation of Tannaim), and a disciple of Rabbi Akiva. Of the many Judahs in the Talmud, he ...

to pray "for all Israel". The yeshiva apparently was located in Ein Zeitim starting in the Hebrew year 5342 (1582), and relocated to Safed after being threatened by a "band of Ishmaelites" in 1601.

Seder haYom

Seder haYom is a halachic-kabbalistic work which describes, according to its introduction, "the order one should follow in his days and nights, on Shabbats and holidays, the order of the entire year when sitting at home and walking on the way, when retiring and rising". It was first printed in 1599 in Venice,היום - מכיר,משה בן יהודה אבן
/ref> and again in 1605 in Venice. It is the source of many currently practiced customs, including the

prayer.

References

{{Authority control 16th-century rabbis from the Ottoman Empire Rabbis in Ottoman Galilee Kabbalists Rabbis in Safed