Revered as the leading kabbalist of his time by many Sephardi and Haredi Jews. No formal process exists.
Press, photographs and documents from his lifetime are plentiful, with hostile and friendly voices. He left almost no writing, however, so his own views mostly reach us through others.
Mandate identity booklet, 1931, per Commons (written 75 years before their death)
Paper trail
Where they came from
Baghdad, Iraq (Ottoman Empire) (documented)
Jerusalem
Har HaMenuchot, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem, per the Jerusalem Post (Commons labels the grave Har Tamir). Tombstone gives 29 Tevet 5766.
Father a spice trader, per Wikipedia. Mother Tapacha, named as such on his tombstone. Birth surname Diba. His son David and grandson Yossi ran the yeshiva around him.
Baghdad study, then Jerusalem kabbalists, including Salman Eliyahu per Reuters; the Guardian names the Beit El yeshiva from about 1930.
Emigration from Baghdad; loss of the Jewish Quarter yeshiva world in 1948; social marginality of Sephardi Israelis, which the Guardian names as a cause of his late fame.
Reputation among kabbalists and clients in Jerusalem; then a yeshiva built by his son, then national fame through the 1996 election.
Life
Yitzhak Kaduri was born in Baghdad, probably in the late 1890s, though his age at death was given as anywhere from 103 to 108 or beyond. Wikipedia, citing Breslev Magazine, says his father Kadhuri Diba was a spice trader, and that he studied in Baghdad under Rabbi Yosef Hayyim.
He moved to Palestine in the 1920s and took the name Kaduri. He worked in Jerusalem as a bookbinder while studying kabbalah. The Guardian says he refused money for counsel. A British Mandate identity booklet of 1931 preserves his younger face.
A yeshiva built by his son David in the Bukharim quarter made him widely known. In 1996 his amulets went out in the election campaign, and he was flown to rallies. Critics said that those around him were exploiting a very old man.
He died of pneumonia complications at Bikur Holim Hospital on 28 January 2006. Over 200,000 attended his funeral, by the Jerusalem Post's count. A year later came the dispute over a note naming the Messiah.
have turned Rabbi Kaduri into a circus, just to make money
Images
The 1931 identity photograph is held as a record, not a book image: its Commons license is a self-license by someone who did not make it.
Reported events
Amulets and the 1996 election
Amulets in his name were given out in the 1996 Israeli election. The Guardian says he probably swung the 29,000 votes that elected Netanyahu. In 2002 Haaretz reported that he planned to sue Shas for a share of its election funding because his amulets had drawn voters.
probably swung the crucial balance of 29,000 voters
Reported by Press; his own court in the 2002 report. Recorded 1996-2006.
The distribution is well reported. The 'swung the election' line is an obituarist's opinion, not a measured finding. The Guardian also reports that opponents mocked amulets marked Made in Taiwan and that many thought others exploited him.
Event scored: the distribution of amulets, well reported at the time. The claim that they swung the election is an obituarist's opinion and is not scored. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.
Sources: Obituary: Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri; Rabbi Kedouri Plans to Sue Shas Over Election Amulets
The Messiah revealed to him
Reuters reported rumours in the ultra-Orthodox world that the Messiah had revealed himself to him in dreams. Others say that he claimed to have met the Messiah.
Reported by Rumours relayed by Reuters; Hebrew press cited by Wikipedia. Recorded January 2006.
This is thin: a report of rumour, not a statement in his own recorded words. The Hebrew press items of January 2006 need to be read.
Event scored: dreams of the Messiah, as experiences. This is a same-week report of anonymous rumour, not his recorded words. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.
Sources: Leading Kabbalist Rabbi Kaduri dies; Yitzhak Kaduri
The note naming the Messiah
A note in his name, said to be sealed for a year after his death, was published in 2007. Its first letters spell Yehoshua. Christian groups read this as Jesus. Tovia Singer and others call it a forgery.
Reported by Christian and Messianic publications for; Tovia Singer against. Recorded Published about 2007.
The note exists as an image, but its authorship is disputed and no handwriting study was found. A claim that a Haredi kabbalist named Jesus runs against all his known life. His son is reported in secondary sources to have rejected it; those reports were not confirmed.
Scored is his authorship of a note naming the Messiah. It appeared after his death, the original was not located and no handwriting study was found. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.
Sources: Purported note on the Messiah, capture from Rabbi Kaduri's former website; Rabbi Kaduri "Jesus as Messiah" Claim Proven as False; Yitzhak Kaduri
Curses against enemies
The Guardian says that in 1991 he sought the name of Saddam Hussein's mother for a pulsa denura, a ritual curse. It adds that he was implicated in the curse on Rabin in 1995, though never proved to be a signatory.
Reported by Lawrence Joffe, in the Guardian obituary. Recorded 2006.
The Rabin allegation is exactly that: the obituarist says it was never proved. No primary record of either rite was seen.
One obituarist, writing years later, with no primary record of either rite. The Rabin link is an allegation that he says was never proved. Reviewer's judgment, not a calculation.
Sources: Obituary: Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri
Disputes
- David Levy called the Kaduri roadshow surrealistic and an abuse of innocent faith.
- Many saw him as used by aides, including his grandson, per the Guardian; this is the obituarist's report, not a finding.
- He moved between political positions: the Guardian reports overtures to Syria and Iran, and JTA reports support for the 2005 Gaza withdrawal.
- The Messiah note: authenticity is disputed, and promoters and opponents both have interests.
Still unknown
- Birth year. Iraqi records are unlikely to be reachable; his Mandate immigration file at the Israel State Archives may give an age. Reuters says he came at 17, which with a 1923 arrival would imply about 1906, not 1898.
- The original of the note, and its custody.
- The election authorities' handling of the amulets in 1996: Israel's Central Elections Committee records were not reached.
- Hebrew press accounts of his miracles and of the note, including Maariv and News1 items, could not be opened.
Records
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Sources
primary
contemporary
reference