Faith and Folly
Jerusalem · 1990
יה
Ahavat Shalom
Ahavat Shalom
1945 CE · Modern · Bombay (Mumbai)
R. Yaakov Moshe Hillel (b. 1945) is the leading living Sephardic master of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and a senior halachic authority (posek). He founded and heads Yeshivat Ahavat Shalom in Jerusalem, the world's premier institution for studying Kabbalah in the tradition of the 16th-century mystic the Arizal ("Lurianic" Kabbalah). Born in Bombay to a Baghdadi-Indian family, he made aliyah and studied with the senior Sephardic kabbalists of postwar Jerusalem. Three of his works are core modern Sephardic kabbalistic references: Vayashav HaYam, a multi-volume work blending Kabbalah and Jewish law; Sefer Faskol Tov; and Sho-Shanat HaAmakim, on the mystical intentions (kavanot) recited during Lurianic prayer. He is also known for Ad HaGal HaZeh, a sharp critique of what he saw as deviations from authentic Lurianic-Sephardic tradition.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the orchard map →
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Stop 1 of 21945–1958Born, Studied
Bombay (Mumbai)בומבייWestern India — Baghdadi + Bene Israel hub
What they did here
Born in Bombay (Mumbai) to a Baghdadi-Indian family. Studied with the Sephardic-Mizrachi community of Bombay.
About Bombay (Mumbai)
Bombay (now Mumbai) hosted three distinct Jewish communities: the Bene Israel (ancient Konkani Jews), the Baghdadi-Sephardic community (led by the Sassoon family from the 1830s), and the smaller Cochin-Indian community. R. Avraham Reuven (Halevi) and the Sassoon family endowed Bombay's central synagogues and schools.
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Ahavat Shalom’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Yisrael Zev Mintzberg, Tzvi Pesach Frank, Martin Buber, Dov Berish Weidenfeld, Zalman Sorotzkin, Aryeh Levin, Ezra Attia, Brisker Rav, Yechezkel Abramsky, Isser Yehuda Unterman, Shlomo Yosef Zevin, Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog, Yehezkel Kaufmann, Yechezkel Sarna, Tzvi Yehuda Kook, Menachem Mendel Kasher, Yisrael Alter, Gershom Scholem
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Ahavat Shalom’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.