Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, known for his Torah commentary as the holy Or HaChaim, was born in 5456 (1696) in Salé, Morocco, to his father Rabbi Moshe, and learned Torah from his grandfather, Rabbi Chaim ben Attar 'the Elder'. He married his relative Fatzunia and headed the yeshiva in Salé. He became known as a holy man of God, regularly lectured to the public, and was a charity treasurer. Since his wife did not bear him children, he took a second wife, Esther, and both his wives lived with him until the end of his days in Jerusalem. After a series of disputes and persecutions against him, he made aliyah to the Land of Israel, passing through Livorno, Italy on the way. In Livorno he printed his famous commentary on the Torah and raised financial support for his aliyah and for the sustenance of the yeshivah he planned to establish. At the end of 5501 (1741), he arrived with his students in Acre, where the yeshivah was initially established. The invitation of the Jews of Tiberias to settle in their city did not work out well, and after a short period of settlement in Peki'in, they moved to Jerusalem at the end of 5502 (1742), where his yeshivah Midrash Knesset Yisrael was established. Less than a year later, he departed to his eternal resting place on the 15th of Tammuz 5503 (1743) and is buried on the Mount of Olives.
The holy Or HaChaim had a great and very important wife named Fatzunia. She was wise, learned, and God-fearing, and even laid tefillin and wrapped herself in a prayer shawl. Once, a guest came to stay at the Or HaChaims' house, and Fatzunia recognized that he was an important person who should be honored. On her own initiative, she took the few coins that were in the house, went to the market, and bought the most expensive and fat fish.
She brought the fish home, and her husband, the holy Or HaChaim understood that it had cost a fortune, and said to her an expression, which needs to be understood in this context, that it was a "desecration of God's Name" to spend so much money on a fish. Fatzunia was silent, not overly impressed, and went to cook the fish. This fish had a special liver, from which a delicious delicacy is made, and she prepared this delicacy as well.
Everyone sat down at the table to dine. At the head of the table was her righteous husband, next to him the important guest, as well all the family members and perhaps other guests and she served the special fish liver delicacy. Usually, the food is served first to the head of the family, but Fatzunia distributed the liver to everyone, and finally came to her husband's place and did not give him any. Then she said: “Where there is desecration of God's Name one should not give liver to the Rabbi." This was a humorous pun based on the saying of the sages, “Where there is desecration of God’s Name one should not give honor (kavod) to the Rabbi.” Fatzunia replaced the word for ‘honor’ (kavod) with the word for ‘liver’ (kaved).
This story presents an interesting reversal of a well-known motif in chasidic tales. Usually, we encounter stories of wives who are stingy with guests, trying to restrain their husbands from performing the important mitzvah of hospitality. Here, we have a couple who are both supreme tzaddikim but it is the husband who criticizes his wife's generous hospitality. As is known, the holy Or HaChaim was a Messianic figure and even hinted at this in his Torah commentary. But from this story and others, it appears that his wife was also a Messianic figure. She was truly "a woman of valor” who is “her husband's crown."
First, she is a wise woman who recognizes the stature of her guests and knows how to employ the appropriate Torah expression for the occasion. This is also the source of the fact that she remained unflustered in the face of her righteous husband's strictness and waited for the right moment to smooth things over in her own way. Second, she is independent in her thinking and follows in the footsteps of Sarah our matriarch who was greater than Abraham in prophecy and guided him.
It is interesting to note that in most years, the Or Hachim's day of passing falls in the Torah portion of Pinchas who applied the principle that Rebbetzin Fatzunia quoted. What is, according to the inner dimension of the Torah, a "place where there is desecration of God's Name," and how is the wit employed by the righteous Fatzunia related to Pinchas's act?
Rabbi Chaim and his wife, who were both very wise and learned, represent the partzufim of Abba (Father) and Imma (Mother)—the sefirot of chochmah (wisdom) and binah (understanding). Life is connected to chochmah, of which it is said, "Wisdom gives life to those who possess it," and “they die, but not [when] with wisdom.” Binah is the mother, and with it is associated Rebbetzin Fatzunia, who resembled Sarah our matriarch. Incidentally, the Or Hachaim's second wife, Esther, who lived with a rare degree of harmony with Fatzunia, represents the aspect of malchut [kingdom], the daughter. From the exterior of binah judgments emerge, like those that were aroused when Rabbi Chaim saw his wife's unusual extravagance and these judgments were rectified with a Pinchas-like act of zealotry to sweeten the judgments at their root. Pinchas himself, who saw the judgments that were aroused as a result of the sin, adopted the aspect of judgment and focused it on the sinners instead of the entire people.
But Fatzunia used a slightly different form of “judgment.” She indeed did not give her husband the fish liver, which is an act of judgment, but she did so with Torah humor that took the energy of strictness and turned it into lightheartedness. When a tzaddik like the Or HaChaim utters the expression "desecration of God's Name," it certainly makes an impression. But in her wisdom, Fatzunia surely brought a smile to her husband's face and with the tzaddik's good humor, the judgment was sweetened.
Once, the Baal Shem Tov said about Rabbi Chaim ben Attar: “When I ascend to the upper chamber, I see him already on his way back from there.” When asked, “If so, is he greater than you?” He answered: “He is certainly quicker than me!”
Alacrity is a quality associated with chesed (loving-kindness), the personality of Abraham. A person of chesed runs joyfully towards the object of his kindness. Abraham was quick to fulfill God's commandments as evident from verses like “Abraham rose early in the morning,” “Abraham ran to the cattle,” and others. The priests who exhibited alacrity in their service in the Temple, are also associated with the attribute of chesed.
The holy Or HaChaim had both spiritual and physical alacrity. He also completed his life’s rectification swiftly and passed away at the age of 47. Normally, we associate a full life with 70 or 80 years, as in the verse, “the days of our years are in them seventy years and if with might, eighty years.” But the word “in them” (הבם) has a gematria of 47, indicating that this is also considered a complete lifespan. Interestingly, the metal associated with chesed, according to Kabbalah, is silver whose atomic number is 47! The Or Hachaim’s connection to money-silver explains his hesitation for lavish spending in the previous story. Just as in his guarding of the attribute of yesod (foundation), whose corresponding metal is mercury (whose atomic number is 80, the same as the value of “foundation” [יסוד]), so too with money-chesed—he is extremely careful that it should not be scattered to an unworthy place. However, in this story, by Divine Providence, his wife the “woman of valor who is her husband’s crown” refined him.
- Sanhedrin 82a.
- Job 4:21.
- Genesis 19:27, 21:14, and 22:3.
- Ibid. 18:7.
- Psalms 90:10.
- Proverbs 12:4.
