Yehuda Fatiyah - Biography

Rabbi Yehuda ben Moshe ben Yeshou`ah Fatiyah, also pronounced Fetayah (1859-1942) was born in Baghdad and died on ZaKh Menahem Av in Jerusalem. He was the main student of the Ben Ish Chai. Rabbi Fatiyah was a leading Kabbalist and authored many works of Kabbalah, among which three are well known: Yayin haReqa`h, Bet Le`hem Yehuda and Min`hat Yehuda. The first work is a commentary on the two Idras of the Zohar, the third incorporates Kabbalistic interpretation of Tanach through his encounter with spirits, while the second, his major work, is the authoritative commentary on the Sefer `Ets `Hayim of the Arizal and his student, Rabbi Hayim Vital. Like many Kabbalists, he practiced the kavvanot of Rabbi Shalom Sharabi. He claimed to have been a reincarnation of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau.

Rabbi Fatiyah was famous in Baghdad and later Jerusalem for being the uncontested master in the science of kosher Qame`ot (amulets) and their writing, in the science of reincarnations and spirits, together with Jewish oneiromancy. To this day, the only proper amulets have their origin in his teachings, in his identification of their source. He also devoted much writing to the difference between dreams emanating from Heaven and from demons.

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External links

• The Teachings of Rabbi Yehuda Fatiyah of Yerushalayim
• Nehora: Rabbi Yehuda Fatiyah