Our Master, the Holy Ohr Hachaim, wrote in our parashah that the death of holy tzaddikim is like a transition to another place, a hidden elevated place, where they are gathered in the heavenly academy together with the holy and exalted tzaddikim of earlier times. These tzaddikim are like diamonds and precious stones placed before Hashem Yisbarach in a casket, and from time to time, He takes one out to enjoy it in the hidden spiritual heights.
And these are his holy words (Chukas 20:1): “Bnei Yisrael arrived at the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and Miriam died there and was buried there. We need to understand why it says she died there. Chazal expounded (Mo’ed Katan 28a) that they did not delay her. This interpretation seems implied from the words, and she was buried there. To answer our question, it appears that because the text mentioned death, it was concerned with the honor of the righteous woman, for it says (Berachos 18a) that the righteous are called “alive” even in their deaths. Therefore, it carefully states there, meaning she died there, meaning she did not remain among the people but was taken to another place, among the righteous. For the righteous are like precious stones in a casket, placed before the Holy One, Blessed be He. And when He desires one of them, He takes him out of the casket and sets him as an adornment among His adornments.
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I remember the days of old, decades ago, on the yom hillulah of our Master, the saintly Ohr Hachaim, when I ascended with a small number of talmidim to his holy grave on the slopes of Har Hazeisim. Very few people were there, and almost no one from the Sefardi community.
I was astonished at this, for he was one of the greatest tzaddikim of the Eastern lands, and many great leaders of the generation from the Eastern communities were his talmidim, as is known. So why did they rarely visit his holy grave?
When I asked the elder Sefardi Kabbalists about this, they revealed some hidden reasons. They said they feared for their souls due to the overwhelming holiness of the Ohr HaChaim, who in his burning holy fire was very strict about absolute observance of holiness and purity, and he would rebuke anyone for even the slightest negligence in such matters. They feared that they might, chas veshalom, be scorched by his fiery coal, which was entirely ablaze with fire!
They also told me about his holy sefarim, filled with fiery flames and sometimes written with great sharpness. For example, they showed me the severe warning in the introduction to his sefer Chefetz Hashem on the Talmud, where he cautioned that anyone who does not study his sefer for its own sake should not study it at all.
And these are his holy words (Chefetz Hashem, first edition Amsterdam 5492, introduction): “It is revealed and known before my Lord, Blessed be He, that my whole intention is to fulfill the will of my Creator. Therefore, anyone who opens this sefer should do so only with fear and love for the sake of Heaven, to understand words of pleasantness. And if he does so, he will understand what is before him, and the pleasantness of my words will be sweet to his palate, and he and I will be praised above. Otherwise, he should withdraw his hand from me and not defile the Torah of Hashem to criticize, for in such a case, it is better for him not to have been created (Berachos 17a). Thus, we say to a pig, ‘Go around; do not approach the vineyard of Hashem of Hosts.’ For our whole intention was only for merit and not for liability, so that Hashem, Blessed be He, would be pleased. Therefore, I chose to call this sefer with the help of Heaven Chefetz Hashem, because my whole intention is to fulfill His will.”
Over the years, as the large pilgrimage to the holy grave began, and many of our Ashkenazi brothers from all communities started to flock to visit his grave, especially
