אביר יעקב

The Abir Yaakov, Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzeira, is the head of the holy dynasty that illuminated Morocco, grandfather of the Baba Sali. A kabbalist, decisor and poet, he led the community of Tafilalt in Morocco, and around him were bound stories of holiness and wonders that passed from generation to generation, until the whole family, the house of Abuchatzeira, became a symbol of holiness for eastern Jewry.

In his books he combined law and Kabbalah with poetry and depth, and his commentary on the Torah is studied lovingly. But more than his writings, his image was engraved in the people's memory: a tzaddik wholly devoted to his people, who held up entire communities in faith and warmth, in a distant corner of the diaspora where Jews guarded their Torah out of poverty and pride alike.

At the end of his days the Abir Yaakov set out on the road to the Land of Israel, but died in Damanhur in Egypt before he arrived, and there he was buried, and his grave became a place of pilgrimage. The longing for the Land, unfulfilled in his body, was transmitted to his descendants, many of whom ascended and are buried in the Land.

What do we learn from him? That the holiness of one person can illuminate an entire dynasty for generations. The Abir Yaakov teaches that eastern Jewry, in its distant corners, raised giants of the spirit who guarded a warm, family faith, and that the longing for the Land of Israel, even when unfulfilled in life, was passed on as an inheritance to the children.