At the conclusion of the evening prayer (Ma’ariv), and before the great crowd, The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, delivered words of inspiration in honor of the soul of the holy Tanna—whose hilula is today—the Or HaChaim HaKadosh.

These are his holy words:

Today is the yahrzeit of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh (Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, known as the “Or HaChaim HaKadosh” after his sefer. He was born on August 2, 1696—4 Av 5456—in Salé, Morocco, and passed away on July 7, 1743—15 Tammuz 5503—in Jerusalem). Everyone will go to his tziyun.

A lion escaped from the zoo, because they opened the door and didn’t guard it. They went searching for it throughout the entire city of Casablanca, and they found it by the Or HaChaim HaKadosh—like some cat listening to his shiur. The lion was listening as the Or HaChaim read the Zohar, and he was stroking it, thinking it was a cat. This is how the Or HaChaim HaKadosh had endless miracles.

The Baal Shem Tov said about him that he was Moshiach ben David, and that he was meant to bring the Geulah.

[ The Baal Shem Tov said: When I ascend to the upper chamber, he has already ascended and is coming down from there. They asked him: If so, then he is greater than you. He answered: Certainly—he is quicker than I am! Therefore, while I am still climbing, he was already there and is returning below. ]

The Baal Shem Tov wanted to meet him in Eretz Yisrael, but the Baal Shem Tov said: Everywhere I go, he is already not there. I search for him in Heaven, through all the worlds, and I cannot find him. I try to find him, but in every chamber he has already been—so I am traveling to Eretz Yisrael to find him. But the Baal Shem Tov needed to go barefoot (in order to succeed in reaching Eretz Yisrael), with only a shirt and pants (as Rebbe Nachman explained: he needed to make himself small, and only through that was he able to reach Eretz Yisrael). Then he could arrive in Eretz Yisrael and meet the Or HaChaim HaKadosh there.

Then the Baal Shem Tov received the secret of the all-inclusive Pidyon, and it was exactly on Motzaei Shabbos—because the fifteenth (of the month) cannot be on Shabbos, only on Sunday. It was on the night of the fifteenth, and in Poland it is two hours earlier, so in the Holy Land it came out exactly at the time of washing hands for the third meal.

[ In those days, the holy Baal Shem Tov zy"a stood on Shabbos Kodesh before the third meal—ra’ava d’ra’avin, the “will of all wills”—in his beis midrash in the city of Mezhibuzh, and he went to wash his hands. As he lifted his holy hands to recite the blessing over washing, his face became clouded, and he remained standing with his hands raised in the air for some time. After the blessing he reclined at his table, surrounded by many students, but he neither sang nor spoke anything; he sat withdrawn within himself, as if he were not in this world at all. And so it was for the entire third meal, and the community was greatly astonished. Only at the fourth meal did they ask him why his face was sad. And he said: “The western lamp has been extinguished.” When he saw that the community did not understand his words, he spread his hands in praise of the great one of the generation—the “western lamp,” Rabbeinu Chaim ben Attar, the Or HaChaim HaKadosh—and he said that before the third meal he had passed away in Jerusalem, may it be rebuilt and established:

They asked him: And how did they inform you?

He answered: It is known that in washing hands there is one great secret, transmitted only to one Tzaddik in each generation, for from Heaven they reveal this secret only to the greatest one of the generation. And I did not know this unification all my days—until today, at the time I washed my hands for the third meal, when it was suddenly revealed to me. Through this I understood that the Or HaChaim HaKadosh had departed to his eternal home, because he was the greatest of the generation, and this unification that belongs to the Geulah—was fitting for him. And when this secret was revealed to me, I immediately knew that the western lamp had departed and was entrusted to me. ]

That is why Izevel only dances all day (the Gemara relates that she would gladden a bride and groom). She would sing: “Yosef is still alive—he is king in Egypt; he has two sons, Menashe and Ephraim.”