Tonight is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim ben Moshe ibn Attar, the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, whose resting place lies on the Mount of Olives.
Born in Salé, Morocco to a noble family, his life was forged in Torah and trial. Wrongly imprisoned and once cast to the lions, he emerged untouched, as if the fire recognized the fire within him. Longing for Jerusalem, he crossed seas until he reached the Holy City and opened a yeshiva. For a brief season his students drank in a Torah that glowed, until Heaven called home one of its greatest lights.
He lies on Har HaZeitim, and each year multitudes ascend to his kever with prayers for children, healing, and salvation.
His light burned brightest in our darkest hour. As the Holocaust threatened to consume our people and the shadow of annihilation reached Jerusalem, the city’s rabbanim led the broken remnants to the grave of the Ohr HaChaim. They cried out for deliverance and returned with quiet certainty that the decree had been torn. The enemy was turned back, and Jerusalem was spared.
We, the IHF Advocates, carry that memory forward. We remember the six million, and we remember that even when darkness pressed in, the Torah of tzaddikim like the Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh became a shield for our people.
Though he left this world young, his Torah still guides and heals. Tonight we recall a light that still burns on the Mount of Olives, drawing every soul closer to Jerusalem, to Torah, and to hope.