Elazar ben Moshe Azikri

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Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri (Hebrew:אלעזר בן משה אזכרי)

(1533 - 1600) was a Jewish kabbalist, poet and writer, born in Safed to a Sephardic family who settled in Palestine after the expulsion from Spain.

Rabbi Elazar studied Torah under Rabbi Yosef Sagis and Rabbi Yaakov Berab, and is counted with the greatest Rabbis and intellectuals of his time: Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, Yosef Karo, Isaac Luria, Israel Najara etc.

In 1588 Rabbi Elazar founded the "Sukat Shalom" movement who acted to arouse in Jews the devotion to religion.

Rabbi Elazar died in 1600 and was buried in Safed.

[edit] Works

Rabbi Elazar's Book, the Sefer Haredim (ספר חרדים), printed after his death in 1600, is considered as one of the main books of Jewish deontology.

He also wrote a commentary on Tractate Bezah of the Jerusalem Talmud [1].

The Piyyut (liturgical poem) Yedid Nefesh (ידיד נפש) was composed by Rabbi Elazar.

[edit] External links

• Biography - from the Orthodox Union
• Sefer Hareidim (Venice) - free scanned version in DJVU format

Persondata
NAME	Azikiri, Elazar Ben Moshe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	kabbalist, rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH	1533
PLACE OF BIRTH	Safed
DATE OF DEATH	1600
PLACE OF DEATH	Safed