Vandals broke into the Jewish cemetery in Damascus overnight Wednesday and vandalized the kever of Hamekubal HaRav Chaim Vital, Z’tl, one of the talmidim of the Ari, z’tl.
The intruders dug a pit near the kever.
Bakhour Simantov, one of the few remaining Jews in Syria, shared a picture of the desecrated kever and said that local authorities promised to find those responsible for the incident.
The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic Countries issued a statement saying: “We are shocked and saddened by the desecration of the tomb of Rabbi Chaim Vital, z”tl this Thursday in Damascus.”
“Jews have lived in Syria for thousands of years and are an integral part of its history. We urgently call on the Syrian government to immediately secure Jewish holy sites, synagogues, and cemeteries and ensure their safety, security and well-being.”
(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)
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4 Responses
Weren’t his remains secretly moved to Kiryat Malachi?
ccyehoshua; No, that was the Rebbe Nachman secretly moved to Kiryat Breslov.
Rebbe Chaim Vital was not just ‘a talmid of the Arizal’, he was THE talmid muvhak of the Arizal who wrote everything we have in writing from the Arizal (thousands of pages, written in less than two years.) In Nigleh he was a talmid of the Beis Yosef and the Alshich, and he was one of the few who received Semichah for the renewed Sanhedrin (an idea which was eventually abandoned due to controversy.) At the end of his life he served as Rav of Damascus. By the way, his Yahrzeit is tonight on 30 Nisan.
‘Uncle Ben’ – you wouldn’t make a joke about your Bubbie’s kever, so why joke about the kever of a Tzaddik from over 200 years ago, who’s teachings continue to inspire and be mechazek tens of thousands of Yidden until today?
Yaakov Yosef A; Sorry, my joke was based on rumors from several years back of some “extremists” who wanted to do that. I didn’t mean to make fun of the Tzadik himself.