This week in Jewish history: Ha’Ari, Ramban, and the Messiah

Av 5, 5332 (1572):

Yahrzeit of Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as Ha’Ari Hakadosh (the Holy Lion), founder of modern Kabbalah and liturgical poet (many of his poems are still sung on Shabbat). 

After seven years in near-total seclusion engrossed in the study of the Zohar, he moved to Safed at age 36, where his colleagues included Rabbi Yosef Karo (author of The Code of Jewish Law); Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (Ramak); Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz; and Rabbi Moshe Alshich. His primary student, Rabbi Chaim Vital, collected his lectures into a six-volume work titled Etz Chaim (Tree of Life). 

The Ari died at the age of 38, and until today his tomb in Safed is a place of pilgrimage and prayer. The Ari revolutionized the study of Kabbalah, until then the province of a select few in each generation, and came to be universally regarded as one of the most important figures in Jewish mysticism.

Aug. 10, 1920:

The Treaty of Sèvres was signed, in which the Turkish government renounced its sovereignty over Palestine and recognized the British Mandate.

Aug. 11, 1929:

The Jewish Agency, a worldwide organization based in Israel, dedicated to the establishment of the Jewish homeland and the encouragement and fulfillment of Jewish immigration, was created at the 16th Zionist Congress in Zurich. Since 1948, it has brought more than three million immigrants to Israel.

Aug. 12, 1263:

By order of King James I of Spain, Nachmanides (Rabbi Moses ben Nachman – the Ramban) was compelled to participate in a public debate against a Jewish convert to Christianity, Pablo Christiani. His brilliant defense of Judaism and refutations of Christiani’s claims served as the basis of many such future disputations through the generations. However, since his victory was an insult to the king’s religion, Nachmanides was forced to flee Spain to Jerusalem, where he revived the Jewish community. The synagogue he built in the Old City is still in use today and is one of the oldest standing synagogues in the world.

Av 9:

Tisha B’Av, the traditional day of national mourning for the Jewish people, on which the destruction of the two Holy Temples (the first in 586 BCE by the Babylonians; the second in 70 CE by the Romans) and many other calamities throughout Jewish history are commemorated. However, the Ninth of Av is also a day of hope. The Talmud relates that the Messiah will be born on that date. This year, Tisha B’Av extends from Monday night, August 12, through Tuesday, August 13.

Aug. 14, 1889:

Some 800 Jews fleeing poverty and pogroms in Russia arrived in Buenos Aires, marking the birth of the modern Jewish community in Argentina. Due to its open-door policy of immigration, by 1920 more than 150,000 Jews were living in the South American country. Today, Argentina has the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with over 250,000 people.

Aug. 15, 2005:

The Gaza disengagement began, with 14,000 IDF soldiers and police officers forcibly evicting more than 8,500 Jewish residents who chose to remain in their homes in 25 towns. The government’s hopes that the disengagement would open “new opportunities” in relations with the Palestinians were bitterly not realized. The vacated settlements were immediately used by enemies to launch terrorist attacks against Israel, including unremitting rocket fire, leading to a number of wars and ultimately, Oct. 7.

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