הבבא סאלי

The Baba Sali, Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeira, is the tzaddik who brought the holiness of Morocco to the Land of Israel, and became a symbol of faith for multitudes. A grandson of the Abir Yaakov, he carried the holy dynasty on his back, led communities in Morocco, and at the end of his days went up to the Land and settled in Netivot in the south, which became a place of pilgrimage thanks to him.

Around the Baba Sali were bound countless stories of blessings and salvations. People from every circle, religious and secular, eastern and Ashkenazi, streamed to him to seek a blessing, and he received each one with simplicity and warmth. But one who saw up close told not of wonders but of immense divine service: whole nights of Torah and prayer, abstinence and holiness.

His true greatness lay not in blessings but in the pure faith he radiated. In a generation of upheavals, when many feared that the holiness of the East would assimilate, the Baba Sali was living testimony that it continues, proudly and without apology, from the mountains of Morocco to the sands of the Negev.

What do we learn from him? That a pure and simple faith draws hearts more than any argument. The Baba Sali teaches that the holiness of eastern Jewry was not broken by exile nor by ascent but was passed on, and that a true tzaddik receives every person, from every circle, with simplicity and warmth, and reminds an entire generation that there is still holiness in the world.