Divine Retribution Awaits: The Desecration of Rav Chaim Vital’s Holy Resting Place

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Today, the 30th of Nissan, marks the yahrtzeit of the great Rabbi Chaim Vital, zatzal, the primary disciple of the holy Arizal and transmitter of his teachings. On this solemn day of remembrance, we are confronted with disturbing news that demands our tefilos and perhaps of learning Rav Chaim Vital’s Torah.

The vandalism occurred Wednesday night.  According to Kan 11 reports, the perpetrators demolished the cemetery’s main gate, breached the burial chamber, and excavated near the grave itself—apparently searching for remains.

Representatives from Damascus’s dwindling Jewish community have reported this egregious violation to Syrian authorities and publicly addressed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in a post on X, seeking immediate intervention.

Jewish leaders worldwide have expressed profound outrage after learning that the tomb of Rabbi Chaim Vital in Damascus, Syria was desecrated this weekend. The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic Countries, representing Jewish communities across Muslim-majority nations, has issued a strong condemnation of this heinous act.

This desecration occurring just before Rav Vital’s yahrtzeit cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence. We must recognize this as a deliberate act perpetrated by those who harbor ill will toward our holy sages and, by extension, toward the Jewish people. They did this just before his Yahrtzeit!  History has repeatedly shown, those who raise their hands against our kedoshim invariably face Divine retribution. The neshama of this great tzaddik will surely bring about heavenly judgment upon those responsible, as we have already begun to witness.

We are deeply shocked and saddened by the desecration and desecration of the tomb of Rabbi Chaim Vital this Thursday in Damascus.

نشعر بصدمة وحزن عميقين إزاء تدنيس قبر الحاخام حاييم فيتال يوم الخميس في دمشق.@syrianmofaex pic.twitter.com/Y0jMJToGKT

— Alliance Rabbis Islamic States (@RabbisAlliance) April 26, 2025

The Tzaddik of Damascus and His Divine Protection

Few realize the profound spiritual role Rav Chaim Vital zt”l continues to play in the affairs of the region. The great mekubal serves as a spiritual guardian watching over Israel from his resting place in Damascus, where he was sent by the Arizal to overcome powerful forces of tumah (spiritual impurity) known as Bais Rimon (See Bais Dovid ob Malachim II 5:18).

The Arizal himself revealed that Rav Vital possessed the neshama of Chizkiyahu HaMelech. His presence in Damascus was no accident but rather a Divine mission.

Recently, Rabbi Daniel Glatstein pointed out that when Syrian authorities previously attempted to move his kever to construct a highway, despite the valiant efforts of the local Rabbi, Rav Nissim Indivo HaKohen, to prevent this desecration, they proceeded nonetheless.

The consequences of disturbing the tzaddik’s rest were swift and profound. In 1994, Basil al-Assad, who was being groomed to succeed his father as Syria’s ruler, met his fate on that very highway built over Rav Chaim Vital’s original burial place. Traveling at high speed through fog toward the airport, his life ended instantly in a crash. This shocking turn of events propelled his brother Bashar—then a medical student in London with no political aspirations—to return to Syria and eventually assume leadership.

As we know, Bashar al-Assad became a ruthless dictator responsible for the deaths of countless innocent people. Yet his downfall, too, came with stunning swiftness—a clear manifestation of the tzaddik’s continued influence in Syrian affairs. Those who disturb the peace of our holy sages invite profound consequences upon themselves and their nations.

There is no question that something will happen to these grave desecrators.  In the meantime, what follows is a brief overview of this Tzaddik’s life on his yahrtzeit and some of his Torah. 

The Life, Legacy and Torah of Rav Chaim Vital zt”l

Rav Chaim ben Yosef Vital zt”l was born in Tzfas on October 11, 1542. he was destined for gadlus from his earliest years. The towering halachic authority Rav Yosef Karo zt”l – the Mechaber of the Shulchan Aruch, recognized young Chaim’s exceptional abilities and requested that his teacher, the renowned Rav Moshe Alshich, take special care with this promising student who was “destined to succeed his teacher in the world of Torah study.”

Before becoming the foremost talmid of the Arizal, Rav Vital studied under the RaMaK -Rav Moshe Cordovero (the Ramak), then the leading kabbalist in Tzfas. When the Arizal arrived in Tzfas in 1570, Rav Vital—already an accomplished talmid chochom—became his talmid muvhak. Though the Ari taught numerous talmidim, organizing them into four hierarchical groups, Rav Vital quickly emerged as the leading student.

When the Arizal departed this world in 1572, after teaching in Tzfat for merely two years, he left behind almost no written works. Recognizing the monumental importance of preserving his master’s revolutionary kabbalistic system, Rav Vital took upon himself the sacred task of recording everything he had learned.

These teachings would eventually be organized into the monumental work “Etz Chaim” (Tree of Life), which remains the foundation of the AriZal’s Kabbalah to this day.

Rav Vital’s  guarded these manuscripts zealously, understanding their profound significance and the care with which they needed to be transmitted. When others managed to copy portions of his writings—employing 100 scribes who worked for three days straight to reproduce over 600 pages—these teachings began to spread throughout the Jewish world.

Years ago, I asked a number of litvish Gedolim how it could say in these ksavim that the Rambam had to come back as a gilgul because he did not learn Kabballah.  They responded that it is likely that during this period of frantic copying there was a ta’us sofer and chalillah to say that.

Beyond his role as the unwilling transmitter of the Arizal’s teachings, Rav Vital zt”l authored numerous independent works, including “Shaar HaGilgulim,” a profound kabbalistic treatise on gilgil neshamos. His writings revolutionized Jewish mystical thought and continue to influence Jewish practice and spirituality to this day.

After spending time in Egypt, Jerusalem, and Tzfat, Rav Vital eventually settled in Damascus in 1594, where he lectured on Kabbalah every night, illuminating the deepest mysteries of Torah for his Talmidim. It was there, at the age of 77, that his holy neshama returned to its Maker on the 30th of Nissan, 5380 (1620).- 405 years ago.

The teachings of Rav Chaim Vital remain vibrant and relevant today, serving as a lifeline connecting us to the deepest dimensions of Kabbalistic wisdom. His meticulous preservation of the Arizal’s kabbalistic system ensured that these profound teachings would guide generations of Jews in their avodas Hashem.

Rav Vital saw beyond the physical world, explaining the cosmic significance of each mitzvah and the ruchniyusdike forces at work in creation. He understood that the study and practice of Kabbalah would hasten the geulah, writing that “it is one of Hashem’s greatest pleasures to witness the promotion of the teaching of the Kabbalah since this alone can assure the coming of Mashiach.”

Once, years ago, I was helping Rav Shmuel Bloom with editing an article and he showed me a fascinating piece from Rav Chaim Vital zt”l who  explained Kepital Kuf Chaf Dalet as follows:
A shir hamaalos, by Dovid. Had not Hashem been with us — let Yisroel declare it now!
Had not Hashem been with us when men (“odom”) rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us.
Then the waters would have inundated us; the current would have surged across our neshoma.  Then they would have surged across our neshoma — the treacherous waters.
Boruch Hashem, Who did not present us as prey for their teeth.
Our neshoma escaped like a bird from a hunter’s snare; the snare broke and we escaped.
Our help is through the Name of Hashem, Maker of shomayim and eretz.

“You already know that the golus that there are 4 galios that Klal Yisroel will have to go through after leaving Mitzrayim until the coming of Moshiach: Bovel, Poras, Yovon, and Edom. The fourth, Edom, began during the 2nd Beis Hamikda.sh However, Klal Yisroel are destined further in the end of days to live in the golus of Yishmoel, as mentioned in Pirkei D’Rebbi Eliezer, in various midrashim, and in the Zohar in the end of Parshas Lech Lecha.
Dovid HaMelech prophesied with Ruach HaKodesh in this kapitel all that will befall klal yisroel during these four exiles:
Behold, while living in the Four Goluyos, Klal Yisroel will say (posuk 1): “Had not Hashem been with us — let Yisroel declare it now!” – which means that “now” in these four goluyos, if not for Hashem Who was with us, we would have been destroyed completely…
But there is a fifth and final golus after all of the other goluyos, and which is harsher than all of them. And this is the golus of Yishmoel, who is called “Pereh Odom” (“A wild-donkey of a man” — see Bereishis 16:12), and he is not compared to a beast (like the other 4 goluyos).
Then Klal Yisroel will call out to Hashem for yeshua in a different manner, and will say (posuk 2): “Had not Hashem been with us when men (“odom”) rose up against us” – the “man” refers to Yishmoel, who is the “Pereh Odom”, because being that he is a “man” due to his being the son of Avrohom, and therefore he has the zechus of his forefather, as we find Avrohom davening for Yishmoel to Hashem: “Would that Yishmoel live before You” (Bereishis 17:18), and he also has the zechus of the Milah. Due to this also, he is called “Odom”, therefore his golus is harsher than the other four malchuyos, as our Chachomim have taught us that because of this he is called Yishmoel, for in the future, Klal Yisroel will cry out tremendous cries of anguish in the days of his golus, and “Yishma” – “K-el” Hashem will ultimately hear their cries and will answer them.
And since the other four nations always had some form of rulership and dominion over other smaller nations, unlike Yishmoel, who dwelled alone in the wilderness, and who would not deal with other nations, but rather act like gannovim who rob and maim others stealthily and return to their tents, and afterwards Yishmoel will rise and become melech over the entire velt and over Klal Yisroel — it therefore says that Klal Yisroel will daven (posuk 2): “when a man rose up over us”, similar to what is said in the Zohar on the posuk “a new king rose up” (see Shemos 1:8), because at first he was lower than all the nations and now he rose to Malchus…
And this is what Klal Yisroel will say then: “Had not Hashem been with us when men (“odom”) rose up against us” – which is Yishmoel — “then they would have swallowed us alive” (posuk 3), which means that during the fifth golus it will be different than all that passed over us in the previous goluyos, because they will want to “swallow us alive”, in the manner of “Then the thin ears of grain swallowed up…” (Bereishis 41:24), “and it was not noticeable that they were inside them”, because chas v’sholom, when their wrath will be kindled against us, they will desire to erase the shem Yisroel from under the shomayim, like something which is swallowed, whose existence is no longer noticeable at all, and is as if it never existed.
Unlike the Four Goluyos which are referred to as (posuk 4): “Then the waters would have inundated us”, because their goluyos were less harsh and we were compared to one who was overwhelmed by water but his guf still exists, and was not swallowed up completely. This is because, as it says (in the end of posuk 4): “the current would have surged across our neshoma”, i.e. the four goluyos were after our neshoma, leaving our bodies intact, as opposed to the golus of Yishmoel when they will want to swallow us up guf and neshoma.
The other nations — which Dovid HaMelech refers to (in posuk 5) as “treacherous waters” – initially wanted to have us reject our G-tt, Torah and Mitzvah observance. It was only after we didn’t give up our Yiddishkeit that they killed us. And actually, it was through our tenaciously clinging to our emunah that we were zoche that Hashem saved us — as it says (posuk 6): “Boruch Hashem, Who did not present us as prey for their teeth”.
The reference of the nations to “treacherous waters” might also allude to the Baptismal Font and to the forced conversions that the Yidden were made to endure during the period of the Four Goluyos.
On the other hand, the golus of Yishmoel will try to swallow us up as a whole. He will cause tzoros to Yisroel, great and terrible suffering, such that none like these had ever been seen, and we will not know what to do. And we will have no other tikvah than to trust in His great Name to save us from Yishmoel’s hands.
And this is what is meant (in posuk 8): “Our help is through the Name of Hashem, Maker of shomayim and eretz” – this means [Hashem], Who made shomayim and eretz for the sake of the Torah and Yisroel [who were chosen to carry out Hashem’s mission to be “a light unto the nations” through the Torah], as in the posuk “if not for my bris day and night (Torah learning), I would not have appointed the ordinances of shomayim and eretz” (Yirmiyahu 33:25). Therefore He is “forced” to help us from their hands, and redeem us a geulah sheleimah, in order that there will be a cause for the existence of shomayim and eretz.”
These divrei nevuah, written by the heilige mekubal Reb Chaim Vital ZT”L over 450 years ago, should both frighten us and give us hope at the same time. Yet as long as we remember that  Ki Heim Chayeinu and “Our help is through the Name of Hashem, Maker of shomayim and eretz”, we have no need to worry. We are muvtach that if we turn to Hashem, Maker of shomayim and eretz, we will experience yeshua, as it is inevitable that He will come to our aid, for without Klal Yisroel and the Torah, the entire briah has no tachlis.

The desecration of his holy resting place is not merely an attack on stone and earth but an assault on Klal Yisroel. Yet, as we have seen throughout our history, those who rise against our tzaddikim ultimately face Divine judgment. The soul of Rav Chaim Vital remains a powerful advocate for Klal Yisroel and a force for justice in our world.

As we commemorate his yahrtzeit, let us strengthen our commitment to Torah and its Mitzvos.. Ki Haim Chayeinu!  May the merit of this holy tzaddik protect Klal Yisroel, and may Hashem swiftly bring justice to those who have disturbed his eternal rest. There is no question that terrible consequences await those who have committed this act of desecration.

May the learning of Rav Chaim Vital’s teachings and the striving to implement the ways of mussar and Kabbalah in our daily lives serve as an appropriate response to this outrage, transforming darkness into light and hastening the arrival of Mashiach, speedily in our days.

The author can be reached at [email protected]