Av
Av is the month that asks you to sit down. Wherever Jews are, in Buenos Aires in winter or in Toronto in July, the month closes in the same way: joy is dialed down, then down again, until the ninth day strips out even the small dignities of sitting on a chair or wearing a proper shoe. It is a month of ash and heat and memory, of reading Eicha in a room half-lit, of grief that is not private but inherited, the kind you carry without having earned it. And yet it is called Menachem Av, Av the comforter, and the name is not ironic. Something in the month refuses to end where it began: the fast breaks, the mourning lifts, and by the fifteenth there is dancing, love, borrowed white dresses, the old rabbinic insistence that the very day of destruction is the day the redeemer is born. That is the energy of Av. It is a month that takes you all the way down and then, without apology or explanation, starts pulling you back up.
The Av Path: Descent, Grief, and the Comfort Hidden Inside Ruin
The month of Av occupies the lowest point of the Jewish year, arriving after the mounting sorrow of Tammuz and the breach of Jerusalem's walls, and carrying that trajectory to its full and unavoidable conclusion. Where other months invite ascent, Av demands descent, asking a person to sit inside loss rather than move past it. Its structure is not one of building but of stripping: joy is reduced from the first of the month, celebration is set aside, and the days narrow steadily toward the ninth. In this sense, Av is less about progress than about presence, the willingness to stay in a place most people instinctively flee.
At its core, Av is defined by Tisha B'Av, the day on which tradition places the destruction of both Temples along with a long chain of later catastrophes. On that day the ordinary supports of daily life are removed: no leather shoes, no chairs, no greetings, no learning of Torah in its usual joyful mode. Sitting on the floor by candlelight with the book of Eicha, a person is asked to experience grief that is not personal but inherited, mourning a house they never saw and a wholeness they never knew. This is a peculiar spiritual demand, and it can feel artificial until one realizes that the absence being mourned is not historical but present, felt in every fracture that remains unhealed.
Spiritually, Av is a month of fire, and fire is the element that both destroys and refines. Its sign is Aryeh, the lion, and the sages read this doubly: the lion who ascended and laid waste, and the lion who will ascend and rebuild. Its associated inner work touches ta'avah, desire, which runs hardest in the heat of the season and is often the least examined force in a person's life. The teaching here seems to be that ruin exposes what was actually holding a structure together, and that what burns away was frequently never load-bearing to begin with. Av does not eliminate desire so much as reveal what it was covering.
Another defining aspect of Av is its name in the liturgy, Menachem Av, Av the comforter, which sits strangely alongside the month's reputation until you notice how the month turns. Comfort here does not arrive after the mourning as a reward for enduring it. It emerges from inside the mourning, in the same way that Tu B'Av, six days after the fast, becomes one of the most joyful days on the calendar, once marked by dancing in the vineyards in borrowed white so that no one could be distinguished by wealth. The reversal is abrupt, almost jarring, and I think it is meant to be.
Finally, Av carries the tradition's most stubborn theological claim: that the redeemer is born on the very day of destruction. Not after it, not in spite of it, but on it. This reframes the entire month, suggesting that descent is not the opposite of redemption but its precondition, and that something can only be rebuilt on ground that has been genuinely cleared. Av therefore asks a person not to rush the sorrow, not to explain it away or convert it prematurely into meaning, but to remain inside it long enough that the comfort growing there has room to take root.
The Essence of Av
Begin the Path of Av
Av is the month of:
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Descent as its own kind of movement, downward becoming necessary
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Grief carried collectively, memory inherited rather than chosen
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Fire that destroys and refines with the same flame
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Stripping away comfort until only the essential remains
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Desire exposed in the heat, appetite made visible
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Ruin holding the seed of what will be rebuilt
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Comfort arriving not after the sorrow but from inside it
40 Day Challenges Recommended:
Perek Shira
Av is the fifth of the months, the descent of sacred time and the threshold of what breaks open. Its deeper essence is emptiness, revealing that some truths cannot be reached through building but only through what is taken away. When the structures fall and the noise of ordinary life goes quiet, the soul meets the ground beneath everything it thought it was standing on.
The journey here is not forward but downward. We stop counting, stop climbing, stop reaching, and we sit. Av teaches that there is a wisdom available only to those who remain in the place they most want to leave, and that grief unrushed becomes something other than grief. The heat presses in, the walls come down, and what is left is unadorned and honest.
Av invites us to stop defending ourselves against our own losses.
Through mourning what was, through refusing to explain the wound away, and through staying present in the ruin long enough to feel its shape, we uncover the seed that was planted there all along. In doing so, the destruction is not undone but transfigured, and the comfort we receive is not a return to what was but the beginning of something we could not have built ourselves.
Tehillim for the Month of Av
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Protection and danger – 13, 20, 83, 91, 121, 130, 142
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Geulah and Hashem’s protection of Am Yisrael – 79, 80, 91, 121
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Consolation and bitachon – 23, 27, 121, 130, 145
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“all‑purpose” Tehillim that many use for yeshuot in all areas: 3, 6, 13, 20, 27, 90, 102, 121, 130, 142, 150.
The Spiritual Energy of Av
Av carries the spiritual energy of sacred descent, where the momentum of the year drops rather than climbs and a person is asked to inhabit what has been lost. It is a month rooted in the element of fire, the one element that does not build but consumes, and yet fire is also what refines metal and separates the pure from the dross. There are no festivals of joy in the first half, only a steadily narrowing corridor of restriction, and that structure is intentional. In this environment, elevation cannot come from above, because the month itself has removed the ladder. What remains is presence, the willingness to stay where you are rather than escape upward.
At the center of Av is the energy of ruin as revelation, expressed through the sign of Aryeh, the lion, which the tradition reads in two directions at once. It is the lion who ascended and destroyed, and it is the lion who will ascend and rebuild, and crucially it is the same lion. Av teaches that destruction is not the opposite of redemption but its instrument, that a structure must be cleared before something truer can stand in its place. The Temple did not fall so that we would be punished. It fell so that we would stop mistaking the vessel for the light.
The inner psychology of Av is defined by ta'avah, desire, the appetite that runs hardest in the heat of the year and is least willing to be examined. This is the month where the self is most vulnerable to what it wants, and where the loss of external structure exposes exactly what a person has been using to fill themselves. The work of Av is not to suppress desire but to let the ruin reveal what it was concealing, using the sense of hearing, the month's associated faculty, to listen for what is actually underneath the wanting. Grief, honestly held, is a form of listening.
Finally, Av is infused with the energy of comfort that grows from within the wound itself. Its liturgical name, Menachem Av, is not a euphemism but a description, because the consolation of this month does not arrive after the mourning as a reward for surviving it. It emerges from inside the mourning, which is why Tu B'Av, six days after the fast, becomes one of the most joyful days on the calendar, and why tradition insists the redeemer is born on the very day of destruction. Av therefore asks a person to resist the instinct to rush the sorrow or convert it prematurely into meaning, and instead to remain in the ash long enough that what is growing there has room to take root.
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The Vessels of Av
The Vessels of Av is more than a prayer book. It is a spiritual companion for one of the most powerful and transformative months of the year. Rooted in deep Torah wisdom and written in stirring, accessible language, this book guides you to understand the hidden energy of Av and teaches you how to pray it into your life.
Holidays in Av
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Tisha B’Av (9 Av)
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Tisha B’Av is the major fast day in Av, regarded as the saddest day of the Jewish year. It commemorates multiple national disasters, especially the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and other historical tragedies.
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During the “Nine Days” from 1–9 Av leading up to Tisha B’Av, traditional Jewish practice reduces joy (no weddings, limited celebrations), reflecting a period of mourning.
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Tu B’Av (15 Av)
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Tu B’Av, the 15th of Av, is a minor but very joyful holiday sometimes described as a Jewish “day of love.” In ancient times it was celebrated as a major festive day, associated with matchmaking and communal rejoicing; today it’s often marked with themes of love, unity, and new beginnings.
Yahrzeit of Tzaddikim in Av
Av 1
Aharon HaKohen — 2487
Father's Name: Amram
Elozor HaKohen ben Aharon — 2488
Father's Name: Aharon
Rav Dovid Hanaggid — 5061
Known As: Medrash Dovid
Father's Name: Avrohom
Rav Yosef — 5389
Known As: Av Beis Din in Lvov
Father's Name: Yechiel
Rav Nosson Nota of Avritsh — 5545
Father's Name: Yosef
Rav Aryeh Leib — 5567
Known As: Maggid of Drohbitch
Rav Shmuel Ehrenfeld — 5643
Known As: Chasan Sofer, Rav in Mattersdorf
Father's Name: Dovid Tzvi Ehrenfeld
Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin of Volozhin — 5653 (also observed: Av 1 , 5653 / Av 28 , 5653)
Known As: the Netziv
Father's Name: Yaakov Berlin
Rav Aharon Halberstam — 5663
Known As: Av Beis Din of Sanz
Father's Name: Chaim Halberstam
Rav Yaakov Moshe Shurkin — 5723
Known As: Rosh Mesivta Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin
Rav Shlomo Halberstam of Bobov — 5760
Known As: Third Bobover Rebbe
Father's Name: Bentzion Halberstam
Av 2
Rav Yehuda Leib — 5316
Known As: Rosh Yeshiva Lwow
Father's Name: Menachem
Rav Aharon Teomim of Krakow — 5450
Known As: Mateh Aharon
Father's Name: Moshe Teomim
Chacham Yahya Chaim Assouline — 5617
Known As: Ihya or Yahia Haim
Rav Gedalya Silverstone — 5704
Rav Moshe Stern — 5757
Known As: Rav of Debrecin, Be'er Moshe
Father's Name: Avrohom Stern
Rebbetzin Rischel Kotler — 5775
Av 3
Rav Shimshon of Ostropoli — 5408
Known As: Don Yadin
Father's Name: Pesach
Rav Shimshon Bachrach of Nikolsburg — 5481
Father's Name: Yo'ir Chaim Bachrach, Chavos Yo'ir
Rav Shmuel Shindlinger — 5556
Known As: Rosh Beis Din of Lvov, Shmuel Selir, Shem M'Shmuel
Father's Name: Avrohom Shindlinger
Rav Ephraim Taub of Kuzmir — 5664
Father's Name: Yechezkel Taub
Rav Eliyohu Moshe Schisgal — 5733
Av 4
Rav Menachem Azaria of Fano — 5380
Known As: Rama Mipano
Father's Name: Yitzchok Berachia
Rav Tzvi Meir HaKohen Rabinowitz of Radomsk — 5662
Father's Name: Shlomo Rabinowitz
Chacham Raphael Ankawa — 5695
Known As: also spelled Ankavah or Encouau, Chief Rabbi of Morocco, Pamonei Zahav
Father's Name: Mordechai Ankawa
Rav Bentzion Halberstam of Bobov — 5701
Known As: Second Bobover Rebbe, Kedushas Tzion
Father's Name: Shlomo Halberstam
Rav Eliyohu Glucksman — 5764
Av 5
Rav Yitzchak Luria Ashkenazi — 5332
Known As: Arizal, Ha'ari Hakodosh
Father's Name: Shlomo
Rav Gedalya Chiyun — 5510
Rav Meir Berabi — 5549
Known As: Rav of Pressburg, Chiddushei Maharam Berabi
Father's Name: Shaul Berabi
Rav Chaim of Krasna — 5553
Father's Name: Tzvi Hirsch
Rav Aryeh Leibush of Mogrov — 5695
Father's Name: Yehoshua
Rav Yechiel Michel Landman of Lutsk — 5698
Known As: Ezer Hashem
Father's Name: Avrohom Landman
Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski of Vilna — 5700
Known As: Achiezer
Father's Name: Dovid Shlomo Grodzinski
Rav Binyomin Paler — 5760
Father's Name: Yitzchok Paler
Rav Aharon Shakovitzky — 5765
Father's Name: Binyomin Shakovitzky
Av 6
Rav Yosef Kitzingen of Kuzel — 5367
Father's Name: Yisroel Kitzingen
Rav Yehuda Briel of Montova — 5482
Father's Name: Eliezer Briel
Rav Nosson Maiz Openbach — 5554
Known As: Binyan Shlomo
Father's Name: Shlomo Openbach
Rebbetzin Baila — 5605
Father's Name: Mordechai
Rav Elozor Moshe Halevi Ish HaLevi Horowitz — 5650
Known As: Ohel Moshe
Father's Name: Tzvi Hirsch Halevi Horowitz
Rav Yehoshua Greenwald — 5729
Known As: Av Beis Din of Chust, Chasdei Yehoshua
Father's Name: Avrohom Yosef Greenwald
Av 7
Rav Don Yosef Hanasi
Rav Simcha HaKohen Rapaport — 5478
Known As: Av Beis Din in Lublin
Father's Name: Nachman Lipschitz
Rav Yissocher Dov Ber of Zlotchov — 5555 (also observed: Av 7 , 5555 / Av 25 , 5555)
Known As: Mevaser Tzedek
Father's Name: Aryeh Yehuda Leibush
Rav Shmuel Shmelke Toibish — 5626
Father's Name: Aharon Moshe Toibish
Rav Alter Shlomo Zalman Lipshitz — 5652
Father's Name: Neta Lipshitz
Rav Moshe Greenwald of Chust — 5671
Known As: Arugas Habosem
Father's Name: Amram Greenwald
Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld of Mattersdorf — 5686
Known As: Rosh Yeshivas Chasan Sofer, Maaneh Simcha
Father's Name: Shmuel Ehrenfeld
Rav Elozor of Oshpitzin — 5703
Father's Name: Yehoshua
Rav Shmuel Yankowitz — 5759
Known As: Rishon L'Tzion Rebbe
Father's Name: Yitzchok Isaac Yankowitz
Rav Sholom Noach Berezovsky — 5760
Known As: Slonimer Rebbe, Nesivos Sholom
Father's Name: Avrohom Moshe Berezovsky
Av 8
Rav Shlomo Zalman HaLevi Levi — 5591
Known As: Rav of Zlotchov
Father's Name: Avrohom Levi
Rav Michoel Glucklich of Nanash — 5609
Known As: R'Michoel Nanasher
Father's Name: Yaakov Glucklich
Rav Boruch Mordechai Frankel of Kleinwardein — 5615
Father's Name: Eliyohu Frankel
Rav Yehuda HaLevi of Ragoza — 5639
Rav Shmuel Luvtzar — 5658
Known As: Olas Shmuel
Rav Shimon Agassi — 5674
Father's Name: Aaron Agassi
Dr. Leo (Shmuel) Deutsclander — 5695
Rav Menachem Brody — 5698
Known As: Rav of Kaliv, Be'er Menachem
Father's Name: Avrohom Brody
Rav Meilich Silber — 5730
Rav Chanoch Henich Dov Zilberfarb — 5738
Known As: Koidenover Rebbe
Father's Name: Meshulam Zalman Yosef Zilberfarb
Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv Broide — 5758
Known As: Alter of Kelm
Father's Name: Yisrael Broide
Av 9
Rav Dovid Chavilio of Tzfas — 5421
Rav Yitzchok Zekil Halevi HaLevi Shpitz Pollack — 5528
Known As: Av Beis Din of Banihad
Father's Name: Yissocher Berman Shpitz
Rav Dovid Forkes — 5534
Rav Amram ben Diwan — 5542 (also observed: Av 9 , 5542 / Av 15 , 5542)
Father's Name: Efraim
Rav Yaakov Yitzchak HaLevi Horowitz — 5575
Known As: Chozeh m'Lublin, Zos Zikaron
Father's Name: Avrohom Eliezer Halevi Horowitz
Rav Yaakov Yitzchok — 5575
Known As: Zos Zikoron
Father's Name: Avrohom Eliezer
Rav Moshe Dovid Lida of Weisslitz — 5588
Rav Yitzchok Nissim — 5741
Known As: Rishon L'Tzion
Rav Yitzchok Yosef Zilber — 5764
Father's Name: Bentzion Zilber
Av 10
Yissocher ben Yaakov Ovinu — 2318
Father's Name: Yaakov Ovinu
Rav Menachem Ibn Zerach — 5151
Known As: Tzeido Laderech
Father's Name: Aharon Ibn Zerach
Rav Don Yitzchok Abarbanel — 5268
Known As: Ateres Zekeinim
Father's Name: Yehuda Abarbanel
Rav Masoud Chai Rokeach — 5528
Known As: Ma'aseh Rokeach
Rav Aharon Yosef Shmuel Segal — 5642
Known As: Av Beis Din of Trenshin
Father's Name: Yechezkel Halevi
Rav Shimon Ziat — 5760
Av 11
Rav Elyakim Shlomo Shapira of Hordona
Father's Name: Chaim Shapira
Rav Hillel HaLevi of Paritsh — 5624
Known As: Reb Hillel Paritsher, Pelach Harimon
Father's Name: Meir HaLevi Malisov
Rav Yitzchak Blazer — 5667
Known As: Rav Itzele Peterburger, Kochvei Or
Father's Name: Shlomo Blazer
Rav Aharon Perlow — 5702
Known As: Stoliner-Warsaw Rebbe
Father's Name: Yisroel Perlow
Av 12
Rav Aryeh Leib Katzenelenbogen — 5597
Known As: Av Beis Din of Brisk Lita
Father's Name: Yosef Katenelenbogen
Rav Yeshaya Weltfried of Kalish — 5699
Father's Name: Avrohom Moshe
Rav Zevulun Aryeh Graz — 5749
Father's Name: Yosef Nesanel Graz
Av 13
Rav Nosson Nota Shapiro — 5393
Known As: Megale Amukos
Father's Name: Shlomo Shapiro
Rav Mordechai Bennet — 5584
Known As: Har Hamor, Rav of Nikolsburg, Magen Avos
Father's Name: Avraham Bennet
Rav Yehuda Leib Peasch Primer of Lipsk — 5625
Father's Name: Avrohom Primer
Rav Sir Moses Montefiore of London — 5645
Father's Name: Yosef Eliyahu Montefiore
Rav Yehoshua Feinberg — 5652
Known As: Av Beis Din of Averitch, Zichron Yehoshua
Father's Name: Avrohom Yitzchok Feinberg
Rav Yosef Eliyohu Henkin — 5733
Known As: Menahel of Ezras Torah, Edut L'Yisroel, Perushei Ivra
Rav Yosef Greenwald — 5744
Known As: Rebbe of Pupa, Vayechi Yosef
Father's Name: Yaakov Yechezkia Greenwald
Av 14
Rav Tzvi Hirsch Friedman of Liska — 5634
Known As: Ach Pri Tevuoh
Father's Name: Aharon Friedman
Rav Pinchos Eliyohu Dembitzer — 5680
Known As: Rosh Beis Din of Krakow, Givat Pinchos
Father's Name: Moshe Yaakov Dembitzer
Rav Yosef Naftali Stern — 5731
Known As: Rosh Yeshivas Pressburg in Yerushalayim
Rav Yitzchok Friedman — 5752
Known As: Bohusher Rebbe
Father's Name: Shalom Yosef Friedman
Av 15
Rav Amram ben Diwan — 5542 (also observed: Av 9 , 5542 / Av 15 , 5542)
Father's Name: Efraim
Nochum Ish Gamzu
Rav Shimon ben Lavie — 5348
Known As: Kesem Paz, Composer of 'Bar Yochai'
Father's Name: Lavie
Meir Nosson Halberstam — 5615
Father's Name: Chaim Halberstam
Rav Osher (the second) of Karlin — 5633
Father's Name: Aharon
Rav Yaakov Leiner of Izbitza — 5638
Known As: Bais Yaakov
Father's Name: Mordechai Yosef Leiner
Rav Tzvi Hirsch Halberstam — 5678
Known As: Rav of Rudnik
Father's Name: Boruch Halberstam
Rav Bentzion Yadler — 5722
Known As: Maggid of Yerushalayim
Father's Name: Yitzchok Zev Yadler
Rav Yaakov Yehuda Hecht — 5750
Known As: 'J.J.'
Father's Name: Yehoshua Hecht
Rav Chanoch Henich Dov Padwa — 5760
Known As: Rav of London, Cheishev Ha'efod
Father's Name: Eliezer Padwa
Av 16
Rav Yitzchok Meir Levine
Rav Menachem Mendel Lazar of Tarnow — 5591
Known As: Av Beis Din of Strizhov, Sova Semachos
Father's Name: Moshe Avrohom Dovid Lazar
Av 17
Rav Shimshon Wertheimer — 5484
Father's Name: Yosef Wertheimer
Rav Asher — 5564
Known As: Mayim Adirim
Rav Avrohom Mordechai Horowitz of Pintchov — 5584
Father's Name: Binyomin Zev Yaakov Horowitz
Rav Shmuel Eibschutz of Apta — 5600
Father's Name: Naftali Hirsch Eibschutz
Rav Shlomo Chaim Perlov of Koidanov — 5622
Father's Name: Aharon Perlov
Rav Yehuda HaLevi Levi — 5639
Known As: Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem
Father's Name: Menachem Levi
Rav Avrohom Korkidi — 5645
Known As: Vayikach Avrohom
Father's Name: Dovid Korkidi
Av 18
Rav Moshe Bernstein
Known As: Rosh Yeshivas Kaminetz
Rav Chaim Raphael Avrohom Ibn Asher — 5532
Father's Name: Asher
Rav Zekel Wermish — 5539
Known As: Av Beis Din of Pulda
Father's Name: Shlomo Zalman
Rav Shlomo Chanoch Rabinowitz — 5702
Known As: Sifsei Kohen - Birkas Shlomo, Admor M'Radomsk
Father's Name: Yechezkel Rabinowitz
Rav Tzvi Aryeh Twersky of Zlatipoli-Tchortkov — 5728
Father's Name: Mordechai Yosef Twersky
Av 19
Rav Yaakov Kuli — 5492
Known As: Yalkut Me'am Loez
Father's Name: Meir Kuli
Rav Aryeh Leib Balchover of Zaslev — 5611
Known As: Shem Aryeh
Rav Naftali ben Rav Yehuda of Nemerov — 5620
Father's Name: Yehuda
Rav Aharon Menachem Mendel Eichenstein of Alesk — 5683
Father's Name: Alexander Sender Lipa Eichenstein
Rav Menachem Nochum Freidman of Charnowitz — 5696
Known As: Tiferes Menachem
Father's Name: Yitzchok Freidman
Rav Shimon Sholom Kalish — 5714
Known As: Mashmia Sholom
Father's Name: Menachem Kalish
Av 20
Rav Aharon Freidman/Frishman — 5576
Known As: Tzaddik Nistar of Ohel
Rav Moshe Yaakov Dembitzer — 5623
Known As: Rosh Beis Din of Krakow, Meimei Ha'daas
Father's Name: Yekusiel Zalman Dembitzer
Rav Eliezer Brandwein of Azipolia — 5626
Father's Name: Yehuda Tzvi Brandwein
Rav Yehuda Zecharia Azulai — 5630
Rav Pinchos Adler — 5692
Known As: Pnei Chesed, Av Beis Din of Radonka
Father's Name: Sholom Adler
Rav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson — 5705
Known As: of Yekatrinoslav
Father's Name: Baruch Schneur Schneerson
Rav Meir Rabinowitz — 5766
Father's Name: Dovid Yitzchok Eisik Rabinowitz
Dr. Rav Jacob Immanuel Schochet — 5773
Father's Name: Dov Yehuda Schochet
Av 21
Rabbeinu Mordechai — 5070
Known As: The Mordechai
Father's Name: Hillel
Rav Meir Hagodol of Premishlan — 5533
Father's Name: Yaakov
Rav Alexander Sender Eichenstein of Komarna — 5578
Known As: Zichron Devarim
Father's Name: Yitzchok Isaac Eichenstein
Rav Tzvi of Lublin — 5591
Father's Name: Yaakov Yitzchok
Rav Dovid Hager of Zablitov — 5608
Known As: Zablitov Rebbe, Tzemach Dovid
Father's Name: Menachem Mendel Hager
Rav Chaim Soloveitchik — 5678
Known As: Brisker
Father's Name: Yosef Dov Ber Soloveitchik
Rav Aharon Rokeach — 5717
Known As: Belzer Rebbe
Father's Name: Yissocher Dov Rokeach
Av 22
Rav Moshe Kazis
Rav Mordechai Ashkenazi — 5058
Known As: Ha'Mordechai
Father's Name: Hillel Ashkenazi
Rav Raphael Meyuchas of Yerushalayim — 5531
Known As: Rishon LeTzion
Father's Name: Shmuel
Rav Eliyahu HaKohen Dushnitzer — 5709
Known As: Mashgiach Lomza Yeshiva Petach Tikva, Nachlas Eliyohu
Father's Name: Avrohom Yosef Dushnitzer
Av 23
Rav Binyomin Aharon Solnick Ashkenazi of Podheitz — 5380
Known As: Mas'as Binyomin
Father's Name: Avrohom Solnick Ashkenazi
Rav Yisroel Charif of Lvov — 5390
Father's Name: Moshe Pinchos Charif
Rav Tzvi Hirsch Horowitz — 5593
Father's Name: Yaakov Yitzchok Horowitz (Chozeh of Lublin)
Rav Moshe Yechiel Michel Paket — 5642
Father's Name: Avrohom Paket
Rav Dovid Sutton Dabbah — 5709
Known As: Rav & Av Beis Din of Beunos Aires, Yaaleh Hadas
Rav Yaakov Yisroel Kanievsky — 5745
Known As: The Steipler, Kehilos Yaakov
Father's Name: Chaim Peretz Kanievsky
Rav Shimon Goldstein — 5765
Father's Name: Dovid Goldstein
Av 24
Rav Yehudah Leib Charif — 5424
Father's Name: Yehoshua Heschel Charif
Rav Aharon of Terbeli — 5501
Father's Name: Noson Neta
Rav Noson Neta Eibishitz — 5549
Father's Name: Yehonoson Eibeshitz
Rav Moshe Wohl of Mád — 5559
Rav Efraim Zalman Margolius — 5588
Known As: Matte Efraim
Father's Name: Menachem Manish Margolius
Rav Avrohom Ulman of Lackenbach — 5609
Known As: Bais Avrohom
Father's Name: Sholom Charif Ulman
Rav Yaakov Yosef Rubin of Glogov — 5633
Known As: Glogover
Father's Name: Menachem Mendel Rubin
Rav Dovid Ortinberg of Berditchev — 5670
Known As: Tehilla L'Dovid
Father's Name: Yisroel Tzvi Ortinberg
Rav Sholom Halperin of Vasloi — 5699
Known As: Vasloier Rebbe, וואסלוי
Father's Name: Dovid Halperin
Rav Yosef Rosenbaum — 5779
Known As: Kalischer Rebbe
Av 25
Rav Yissocher Dov Ber of Zlotchov — 5555 (also observed: Av 7 , 5555 / Av 25 , 5555)
Known As: Mevaser Tzedek
Father's Name: Aryeh Yehuda Leibush
Rav Yeshayah Menachem Mendel Avigdors of Cracow — 5359
Known As: Av Beis Din Of Cracow, Biurim Kibdu Hashem
Father's Name: Yitzchok
Rav Avrohom Chaim Horowitz of Linsk — 5591
Father's Name: Naftali Tzvi Horowitz
Rav Yaakov Meshulem Orenstein — 5599
Known As: Yeshuos Yaakov, Av Beis Din of Lvov
Father's Name: Mordechai Zev Orenstein
Rav Yosef Dovid Landau of Alik — 5609 (also observed: Teves 25 , 5609 / Av 25 , 5609)
Father's Name: Tzvi Aryeh Landau
Rav Eliezer Yungerleib of Radvil — 5653
Known As: Jungerleib Radwil
Father's Name: Yosef Yungerleib
Rav Eliezer Don Yichye — 5701
Known As: Lekutei Megadim, Rav of Lutzin
Father's Name: Eliezer Don Yichye
Rav Moshe Hager of Anitiniya — 5754
Av 26
Rav Noach Naftali Rabinowitz — 5649
Known As: Admor of Kobrin, Birchos Lo'ad
Father's Name: Yisroel Yaakov Rabinowitz
Rav Shlomo Chaim Freidman of Sadigura — 5732
Father's Name: Yisroel Freidman
Rav Yoel Teitelbaum — 5739
Known As: Satmar Rebbe, Divrei Yoel
Father's Name: Chananya Yom Tov Teitelbaum
Rav Eliyohu Boruch Goldschmidt — 5760
Known As: Dear Daughter
Father's Name: Yechezkel Goldschmidt
Av 27
Rav Yehoshua Heschel Charif of Krakow — 5408
Known As: Maginei Shlomo
Father's Name: Yosef Charif
Rav Avrohom Mordechai Alter — 5615
Rav Yaakov Tzvi of Borsha — 5643
Father's Name: Mordechai Aryeh Leibush
Rav Menachem Nachum Dov Ber Friedman of Sadigur — 5643
Father's Name: Sholom Yosef Friedman
Rav Yehuda Fattiah — 5702
Known As: Beis Lechem Yehuda
Father's Name: Moshe Fattiah
Rav Shmuel Tzvi Horowitz of Spinka — 5757
Known As: Tiferes Tzvi
Father's Name: Avrohom Abish Horowitz
Rav Menachem Kohn — 5766
Father's Name: Yosef Yitzchok Eizik Kohn
Rav Meshulem Feish Segal Lowy — 5775
Known As: Av Beis Din of Tosh, Avodas Avodah
Father's Name: Mordechai Halevi Segal Lowy
Rav Chaim Dov Keller — 5780
Known As: Sefer Chidekel, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivas Telshe Chicago
Father's Name: Yaakov Koppel Keller
Av 28
Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin of Volozhin — 5653 (also observed: Av 1 , 5653 / Av 28 , 5653)
Known As: the Netziv
Father's Name: Yaakov Berlin
Rav Noach Chaim Eisenstadt — 5634
Known As: Av Beis Din of Shtetzin Litta
Father's Name: Menachem Mendel Eisenstadt
Rav Avrohom Chaim Adess — 5685
Father's Name: Yitzchok Adess
Rav Yaakov Chaim Zelig Goldshlag — 5686
Known As: Yoraiach L'Moadim
Father's Name: Yechiel Michel Goldshlag
Rav Avrohom Yaakov HaKohen Pam — 5761
Known As: Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
Father's Name: Meir Pam
Rav Moshe Finkel — 5764
Father's Name: Eliezer Yehuda Finkel
Rav Shalom Ulman — 5773
Known As: of Yerushalayim Author Daas Elokim
Father's Name: Yisroel Ulman
Rebbetzin Sheila (Chava Sarah) Feinstein — 5778
Father's Name: Avrohom Feinstein
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Baba Sali of Netivot: The Tzaddik Whose Blessings Revealed Hidden Light
A Kislev Prayer Trek for Miracles, Protection, and Swift Heavenly Mercy
Kislev is the month when light breaks through the deepest darkness — not gradually, but suddenly, like oil that burns far beyond what nature allows. Few souls in the last century embodied this power more fully than Baba Sali, Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, the gentle giant of prayer whose blessings unlocked miracles, healings, salvations, and transformations for countless Jews.
Hidden in outward simplicity, Baba Sali lived in constant deveikut, fasting through the week, guarding his eyes, immersed in Torah and Zohar, and pouring rivers of blessing into the world with radical humility. His home in Netivot became a sanctuary where thousands came day and night, and where impossible stories unfolded — healings in moments, breakthroughs after years of pain, water and oil multiplying endlessly, rain descending instantly, lost souls and lost bodies found with perfect timing.
Kislev is the month of emunah in hidden miracles, and Baba Sali’s soul radiates exactly that energy. He taught that the power was never his but came from emunah itself — from the heart opening to Hashem with simplicity, purity, and trust. To stand at his kever during Kislev is to step into a spiritual field where concealment lifts, light rushes forward, and salvation becomes possible even when the mind cannot imagine how.
This is why Emuna Builders offers Kislev Prayer Treks to Baba Sali’s resting place in Netivot — a month when his light is especially aligned with the cosmic current of redemption, dreams, hidden blessings, and divine protection. Women often sponsor a trek during Kislev for:
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Healing and recovery
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Safety and protection against unseen forces
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Parnassa breakthroughs
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Shidduchim and renewed emotional clarity
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Help in situations that feel spiritually “blocked”
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A sudden turning point after long waiting
Just as the oil burned beyond expectation, Baba Sali’s blessings were known to manifest beyond all natural limits. Kislev is the time to invite that kind of light — the light that expands, multiplies, and transforms darkness into revealed kindness.
Sponsor a Baba Sali Prayer Trek
