Throughout Jewish history, the title HaKadosh, the Holy One, was not conferred lightly. It was neither an academic degree, nor was it an honorific for exceeding brilliance alone. It described a person whose kedushah, holiness, was so palpable and all-encompassing that those around him sensed that they were in the presence of a soul who lived in a different orbit. Some who earned this distinction: Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh; Shlah HaKadosh; and Baal Shem Tov Hakadosh.
Horav Moshe Alshich, called the Alshich HaKadosh, was a premier talmid of the Bais Yosef in Tzfas. He infused his Torah lessons and commentary with moral sensitivity and profound Kabbalistic awareness. His interpretation of Tanach is not a distinct narrative, but an instructive mussar sefer, a manual for the soul. His contemporaries, the great Kabbalists of Tzfas, saw in him unusual purity and spiritual ascendency, warranting him the title Hakadosh. The following two stories bear this out.
The first story appears on the approbations (haskamos) page of an abridgement of Alshich’s commentaries on the five Megillos, written approximately one hundred years after his death. The author writes that he shares this story to demonstrate that his book has the power to save those who study it from terrible decrees. The protagonist of this tale is R’ Avraham, the rebbe of R’ Yitzchak of Posen. He lived in the Podolia district of Poland, in a town called Bar, and he studied Alshich’s works every week.
At one point during the Chmielnicki pogroms in 1648, R’ Avrham’s town was surrounded by a mob. Alshich appeared to him in a dream and said, “Since you cherish my book, I have come to warn you to flee now for your life, for a decree has been passed against this city: tomorrow it will be completely destroyed.” R’ Avraham responded, “How will I be able to escape?” Alshich answered, “I will be with you; they will not see you, and you will be saved.” R’ Avraham answered, “But how can I leave my wife and daughter?” Alshich responded, “Go by yourself. They will be held hostage by a potter – but I hereby inform you that he will be impotent and will not defile them.” And so it happened. R’ Avraham’s wife and daughter were eventually redeemed in Constantinople and returned home safely.
The second story concerns the Arizal. One day Alshich was lecturing about Lavan, who changed the terms of his wage agreement with Yaakov a full 100 times (Rashi, Bereishis 31:7). In his lecture, Alshich explained each of the different ways that Lavan had attempted to cheat Yaakov – and Arizal, who was present, was sitting and laughing. Later, he explained that Lavan himself had been at the lecture, nodding in agreement each time Alshich described what he had done!
