Baba Sali

Baba Sali was born in 1889 in Moulay Ali Cherif

Yisrael Abuhatzeira was born in 1889 in Rissani, Morocco, into a family of rabbis and kabbalists. His father was Rabbi Mas'ud Abuhatzeira and his grandfather was Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira. As a boy he studied Torah day and night and practiced long fasts.

After his bar mitzvah he studied Kabbalah, Talmud and Jewish law at the family yeshiva. His father died in 1908, and at 18 he became head of the yeshiva in Rissani. In 1919 his brother David was killed, and he moved with his brother Yitzhak to Boudnib, where they rebuilt the yeshiva.

He became rabbi of the Tafilalt region and traveled to the Land of Israel in 1922 and 1933 to study. In 1939 he was called to serve as head of the rabbinical court in Erfoud.

He moved to Israel in 1951 and lived in Jerusalem, where he turned down offers of senior rabbinic posts. He later went back to Morocco and returned to Israel in 1964. In 1970 he settled in Netivot, where many came to him for blessings and advice.

He died in Netivot on 8 January 1984, and about 100,000 people attended his funeral. His tomb became a pilgrimage site with a large gathering on each anniversary of his death.