Eighty-Seven Years of Fine Gold

Rabbi Yosef Karo passed away on 13 Nisan 5335 — 24 March 1575 — at about eighty-seven. The sages of Tzfat, who saw meaning in everything, noticed that the number eighty-seven is written in Hebrew letters as פ״ז — paz, “fine gold,” the word the Psalms use for what is more precious than gold itself. So were his years: refined, pure, and precious to all Israel.

Tradition also tells that he asked not to be buried on the slope of the old cemetery where the greatest sages of Tzfat rest — the Arizal and those near him — but lower down, at the foot of the hill. Maran, whose word was law for the whole Jewish world, chose in death the humbler place.

His grave is visited throughout the year, and above all on his yahrzeit, 13 Nisan — two days before Pesach — when people come from across the country to pray and learn from his books beside him.