Baba Sali

R. Yisrael Abuhatzeira — Baba Sali, 'praying father', 1889-1984 — was the most venerated Moroccan-Mizrachi tzaddik of the 20th century and the great-grandson of Abir Yaakov. Born in Tafilalt, he served as the spiritual leader of Moroccan Jewry through the trauma of decolonization and mass aliyah, eventually settling in Netivot in 1964 where he became the focal point for North African Israelis.

He published no books — his teaching was oral, intimate, and miracle-centered — but the annual hilula at his Netivot tomb every 4 Shevat draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and is the single largest popular religious gathering in the Sephardic-Israeli calendar. His descendants Baba Meir, Baba Baruch, and Baba Elazar continued the lineage; Baba Sali himself remains the iconic figure of Moroccan-Israeli folk-religious identity.