Abraham ben Mordecai Azulai | |
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אברהם בן מרדכי אזולאי | |
 Title page ofChesed Le'Avraham by Abraham Azulai, published in Vilna, 1877 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | c. 1570 Fez, Morocco |
| Died | 6 November 1643(1643-11-06) (aged 72–73) Hebron,  Ottoman Empire |
| Nationality | Moroccan, Ottoman Palestinian Jew |
| Notable work(s) |
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| Known for | Commentary on the Zohar, Chesed le-Abraham |
| Occupation | Kabbalistic author and commentator |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
Abraham ben Mordecai Azulai (c. 1570–1643) (Hebrew:אברהם בן מרדכי אזולאי) was aKabbalistic author and commentator born inFez, Morocco. In 1599 he moved toOttoman Palestine and settled inHebron.[1]
InHebron, Azulai wrote a commentary on theZohar under the titleKiryat Arba (City of Arba (in Hebrew four);Gen. xxiii.2). The plague of 1619 drove him from his new home, and while inGaza, where he found refuge, he wrote his Kabalistic workChesed le-Abraham (Mercy to Abraham;Book of Micah 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,אבן השתיה (The Cornerstone; see TalmudYoma 53b), and is divided into seven "fountains" (Book of Zechariah 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:
On the mystery ofGilgul (reincarnation) and its details: Know that God will not subject the soul of the wicked to more than three migrations; for it is written, "Lo, all these things doth God work twice, yea thrice, with a man" (Job xxxiii. 29). Which means, He makes him appear twice and thrice in a human incarnation; but the fourth time he is incarnated as a clean animal. And when a man offers a sacrifice, God will, by miraculous intervention, make him select an animal that is an incarnation of a human being. Then will the sacrifice be doubly profitable: to the one that offers it and to the soul imprisoned in the brute. For with the smoke of the sacrifice the soul ascends heavenward and attains its original purity. Thus is explained the mystery involved in the words, "O Lord, thou preservest man and beast" (Psalms xxxvi.7 [R. V. 6]).
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 theCave of Machpela. Anyone sent down to retrieve it disappeared. Only Rabbi Azulai was able to descend into the cave and retrieve the sword.[2][3][4][5][6]
He died inHebron on November 6, 1643 and is buried in theOld Jewish Cemetery in Hebron.[7]
One of the manuscripts that he left to his descendant,Chaim Yosef David Azulai, is also published. It is a Kabalistic commentary on theHebrew Bible,Ba'ale Berit Abraham (Abraham's Confederates; seeBook of Genesis xiv.13), Vilna, 1873.
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