The Rashash—Rav Shalom Sharabi רבי שלום שרעבי
the youth from Yemen who became head of the Beit El kabbalists
From Yemen to Jerusalem he travelled the long eastern arc—Sana'a, India, Baghdad, Damascus—and in Jerusalem, the story goes, he hid his learning and served at Beit El until a note answering a question no one could resolve gave him away. So the story goes; what came after is beyond dispute.
After the death of Rav Gedalya Chayun he stood at the head of Beit El—the yeshiva of kabbalists whose prayer followed the kavvanot of the Ari. His Nehar Shalom and his siddur are an attempt to write prayer from within: not the words, but the ordering of worlds behind the words. Among the signers of the brotherhood's covenant was the young Chida.
To the Jews of Yemen the Rashash is their own—a man of Sana'a who came to stand at the head of Jerusalem; synagogues from Tel Aviv to New York carry his name.
Places
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- The siddur of the Rashash and Nehar Shalom — his kavvanot after the Ari; the Beit El order of prayer
Scholarship
- The standard reference works and encyclopedias — Sana'a to Jerusalem; head of Beit El after Rav Chayun; 1720–1777
Basis: Talmud and midrash.