ABADI, MORDECHAI.

The author (1826-83) was one of the most distinguished Rabbis and Kabbalists in Aleppo, Syria. Among his noteworthy disciples was the great kabbalist R. Chaim Saul Dwek, director of the Yeshiva of mystics Rechovoth Hanahar. It is interesting to note Rabbi Abadi’s connection to various Ashkenazic and Chassidic Rabbis. The editor of this work was R. Abraham Bick (author of Bikurei Aviv) and the purple wrapper of Part I contains his signature and stamp. The first Chassidic Rabbi to live in England R. Alter Noah HaKohen Michalenski (Kaiser), a disciple of R. Yitzchak of Nesvizh also became enamored with Haham Abadi and studied under his guidance for five years in Safed and Hebron. In 1879 together they published the kabbalistic works Chen Mordechai and Darkei Chen (Przemysl, 1879). An interesting and uncommon collaboration between a Chassidic Rebbe and a Sephardic Haham. See D. Sutton, Aleppo City of Scholars (2005) no. 8. pp.76-9; H. Rabinowicz, A World Apart, The Story of Chasidim in Britain (1997) pp. 53-56; H. Rabinowicz, The Encyclopedia of Hassidism. p. 253.