When the Ohr HaChaim HaKodosh was niftar, the chief Rav of Teverya, Rav Chaim Abulafia, was in the midst of davening and fainted. He lay prostrate for some half hour. When he revived, he stood up and testified, “I have just accompanied Rav Chaim ben Attar to the gates of Gan Eden.”
The Chida writes in Shem HaGedolim: “In my youth, I merited being in his lofty Yeshiva and my own eyes witnessed his greatness in Torah, how his intellect was capable of uprooting the tallest mountains in sanctity – wonder of wonders! For our generation his heart poured forth Talmud like a wellspring. Although his great wisdom is readily discernible from his seforim, this is but a tenth of his true wisdom, and his breadth of knowledge and sharp intellect was wondrous as well, and above all his separation from all worldly matters and his holy ways of life were his greatest amazing strengths and awesome stature.”
Rav Yaakov Yosef of Skver commented on this quote from the Chida, that the Chida writes that he “merited being in his Yeshiva”. From these words one can see just how much the Chida cherished and valued the holy Ohr HaChaim, for he considered himself unworthy of being known as his talmid, writing instead that he just merited being in his Yeshiva.
