Ohr HaChaim

1696 CE–1743 CE · Acharonim · Meknes

Chaim ibn Attar, known as the Ohr HaChaim ('Light of Life'), was a Moroccan rabbi, kabbalist, and biblical commentator born in Salé, Morocco, around 1696. He became renowned throughout North Africa for his piety, learning, and mystical insights. In his mid-forties, he made aliyah to Jerusalem, where he established a yeshiva and spent his final years in intense study and contemplation until his death in 1743. He is best remembered for his Torah commentary of the same name, which weaves together peshat (literal meaning), derush (homiletical interpretation), and kabbalistic depth. His works profoundly influenced subsequent Jewish thought, and he is venerated in Jewish tradition as a spiritual giant whose prayers and teachings continue to inspire.

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Stop 1 of 51705

MeknesמקנסMorocco — historic halachic center

What they did here

When he was nine, his family relocated here, having left their home to escape a hostile local vizier.

Meknes in this era

Meknes under the Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail (r. 1672-1727) served as the Moroccan imperial capital; the Mellah grew alongside Ismail's vast palace complex. R. Refael Berdugo (1747-1821) emerged as the foundational late-acharonic posek of Moroccan halacha here; his Mishpatim Yesharim responsa shaped Moroccan rulings for generations. The Berdugo dynasty — R. Yaakov Berdugo, R. Mordechai Berdugo, R. Yehoshua Berdugo — anchored the Meknes rabbinate across the 18th and 19th centuries. The Mashash family also rose to prominence here.

About Meknes

Meknes was the seat of the Alaouite court under Moulay Ismail (1672-1727). Its Jewish community produced the Berdugo dynasty — R. Refael Berdugo (Mishpatim Yesharim, 1747-1821) was its most influential posek.

See other sages who lived in Meknes→

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Ohr HaChaim’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.