Elazar ben Moshe Azikri

Rabbi Elazar ben Moshe Azikri(Hebrew:אלעזר בן משה אזכרי)

(1533 - 1600) was a Jewish kabbalist, poet and writer, born in Safed to a Sephardic family who settled in Palestine after the expulsion from Spain.

Rabbi Elazar studied Torah under Rabbi Yosef Sagis and Rabbi Yaakov Berab, and is counted with the greatest Rabbis and intellectuals of his time: Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, Yosef Karo, Isaac Luria, Israel Najara etc.

In 1588 Rabbi Elazar founded the "Sukat Shalom" movement who acted to arouse in Jews the devotion to religion.

Rabbi Elazar died in 1600 and was buried in Safed.

Works

Rabbi Elazar's Book, the "Sefer Haredim" (ספר חרדים), printed after his death in 1600, is considered as one of the main books of Jewish deontology.

He also wrote a commentary on "Tractate Bezah" of the Jerusalem Talmud [http://www.jtsa.edu/progs/tal/isfrancus/index.shtml] .

The "Piyyut" (liturgical poem) "Yedid Nefesh" (ידיד נפש) was composed by Rabbi Elazar.

External links

* [http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/azikri.htm Biography] - from the Orthodox Union
* [http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/books/html/bk1157324.htm Sefer Hareidim] (Venice) - free scanned version in DJVU format

Persondata
NAME=Azikiri, Elazar Ben Moshe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=kabbalist, rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH=1533
PLACE OF BIRTH=Safed
DATE OF DEATH=1600
PLACE OF DEATH=Safed