JERUSALEM (VINnews) — BDE: HaGoan Hatzaddik Rav Shalom Aharon Shmueli, z’tl, one of the eldest and most venerated Mekubalim in Israel, passed away at the age of 106 on Shabbos morning at Shaare Tzedek Hospital.
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Born in Yazd, Persia, Rabbi Shmueli was brought to Israel by his mother, who had vowed to go there after losing several children in their infancy.
HaRav Shmueli was a disciple of Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi, z’tl, a great Mekubal who headed the Nehar Shalom yeshiva. He was a hidden tzaddik who worked as a cobbler on Rechov Agrippas in Jerusalem. He often stopped his work to learn Kabbalah but if anyone entered the store, he would quickly hide the book he was studying.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Belzer Rebbe had a close connection with him and would visit him to learn Kabbalah.
Despite his great stature in Kabbalah, Rabbi Shmueli was very humble and always refused to accept any honors.
His son, Rabbi Benayahu Shmueli, is the Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Hamekubalim Nahar Shalom in the Machane Yehudah neighborhood of Jerusalem.
The levaya took place at Yeshivas Porat Yosef on Motzei Shabbos at 11 p.m. and continued to the Sanhedria cemetery.