The Chida’s Riddle

Rabbi Biton also discovered a fascinating kuntress written by the Chida called Kan Sipur, which is, as its name implies, one hundred and fifty (numerically equivalent to “kan”) stories written in the Chida’s own hand that few have ever heard.

One of the stories in this booklet is about a kol korei that Shulchan Aruch author Rabi Yosef Karo wanted to issue, banning visits to the tziyun of Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai on Lag B’omer, because of the kashrus of the food and tzniyus problems. That night, Rabi Shimon bar Yochai appeared to him in a dream and said, “Rabi Yosef, don’t issue it, I want these people by me.” The Chida relates that the next day, the Beis Yosef tore up the kol korei and never published it.

The Chida was so confident, so engaging and so larger-than-life. Yet in these diaries, there is revealed an entirely different side of him — a certain frailty, as a servant quaking in front of his master. In one of the diaries, the Chida shares his practices on the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: “From Erev Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, I fasted during the weekdays and did not speak to anyone. At night, I ate a small pastry. I didn’t sleep, but from time to time I dozed for a bit in my place…”

In these final diaries, the Chida focuses primarily on two subjects  — his special practices relating to the festivals of Tishrei, and his personal learning seder. He writes succinctly, with just a few words and little detail: “Evening of 16 Cheshvan, I completed Zohar Chadash … with siyata d’Shmaya. I completed Shulchan Aruch from the Arizal’s girsa.”