My wanderings through the Old City led me to this door, showing the seven gates of the city. This is is the beauty of "getting lost" The Beit El Synagogue ("House of God") also known as Yeshiva of the Kabbalists has been and remains to this day the center of kabbalistic study in Jerusalem for over 250 years. The yeshiva was founded in 1737 by Rabbi Gedaliah Hayon, originally from Constantinople, for the study of kabbalah in the Holy City. In the 1740s, a gifted young man named Shalom Mizrachi Sharabi "Shemesh" arrived in Jerusalem from Yemen. He studied at Beit El and over time became an outstanding scholar and kabbalist. At the behest of Rabbi Hayon, he was appointed head of the yeshiva. Under Sharabi’s leadership the yeshiva grew and became one of the main yeshivas in Jerusalem. Catering for roughly forty scholars, who were from both the Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities, these sages' only interest was to strive for higher levels of holiness and purity through the service of God. Rabbi Hayon had organized the life of the yeshiva around its prayer services, which through mystical communion with God would bring the scholars closer to understanding the secret teachings of Kabbalah #shemesh #kabbalah #getlost #yourintuitionledyouhere (at The Jewish Quarter - HaRova)
