Erev Shavuot, Salonika, 1533. Two young Sephardic rabbinic luminaries – Rav Yosef Karo and Rav Shlomo Alkabetz – got together for Tikkun Leil Shavuot, the all night Torah study custom first mentioned in “The Zohar,” Judaism’s classic Kabbalistic book.
On that Shavuot in 1533, Rav Yosef Karo (who later authored the Shulhan Arukh, Judaism’s most authoritative code of Jewish law) and Rav Shlomo Alkabetz (composer of the famous Lekha Dodi poem chanted every Friday night) – had a deeply impactful and life-changing mystical experience. Both having been expelled from Spain with their families in 1492, this Shavuot experience would change their lives, and, ultimately, that of the Jewish people.
On that night, when Rav Karo studied Mishnah, Rav Alkabetz and the Haverim in the Beit Midrash heard the voice of the Shekhina emerge from Rav Karo’s mouth, saying: “Stand upon your feet and raise me up.”
Whenever Rav Yosef Karo studied the Mishnah, a high pitched voice would overtake him, revealing mysterious secrets of the Torah. Rav Karo recorded these mystical experiences in a book titled Maggid Mesharim. The “Maggid” (“teller”) was the Shekhina – the mystical, prophetic, female voice of God.
What did the Shekhina mean by “Stand upon your feet and raise me up”?
Upon hearing the voice of the Shekhina that night, Rav Karo and Rav Alkabetz created a grouping of Torah texts that had a powerful message and purpose. The texts were about the Creation of the World, the Revelation on Mt. Sinai and the account of Ezra and Nehemia’s return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. These texts formed a pattern – Creation, Revelation, Redemption – symbolic of the “from exile to redemption” paradigm.
When studying these texts, the Shekhinah spoke to them again, clarifying the phrase “Stand upon your feet and raise me up.”
Said the Shekhinah: “Go up to the Land of Israel, for not all times are opportune.”
The Shekhina commanded Rav Karo and Rav Alkabetz to make Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, and by doing so, bringing the Shekhinah out of exile and back to the Holy Land: “Stand upon your feet and raise me up. Go up to the Land of Israel, for not all times are opportune.”
Three years later, the Karo and Alkabetz families set sail for the Land of Israel. They settled in Safed, setting the stage for a new “Golden Age” – not in Spain, but in Israel.
This was the Golden Age of Kabbala and Mysticism, where they composed works of Jewish law, mysticism, Torah commentary and poetry that would affect the entire Jewish world until this day.
But in addition to Kabbalah, that Tikkun Leil Shavuot also inspired making “Aliyah” to Eretz Yisrael – because “the time was opportune for them to go up to the Land of Israel.”
It still is today.
Chag Shavuot Sameah.
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is the international director of the Sephardic Educational Center.
