From when he was just six years old Rav Yaakov Yosef of Skver studied the entire commentary of the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh on the weekly Parsha, all by himself. He would constantly speak about how important the study of the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh is and once remarked: “Ich veis nisht viazoy ich valt gekent a’durech di letzteh fiftzig yohr ohn Ohr HaChaim – I don’t know how I would have survived the last fifty years of my life without the Ohr HaChaim!” (Toldos Yaakov Yosef Skver p. 22)
Rav Yaakov Yosef of Skver used to say, “The first Chassidishe sefer is the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh.” (Be’or HaChaim p. 241)
Rav Yaakov Yosef of Skver used to say that every word in the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh is an entire body of Yiddishkeit and that there is almost no Chassidus of which the Ohr HaChaim is not the bread and butter of its basis to the extent that one can fully and truly say that the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh is the one sefer that has been most widely accepted by the most Chassidim (Nachlas Tzvi Kovetz 7 p. 52)
