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Its last name refers to a Spanish city of Castile, which sheltered a Jewish community since at least the 11th century. In Morocco, the name Davila (or De Avila) appeared in Meknes in the 18th century with his father Samuel De Avila. Eliezer Davila was a chief rabbi of Rabat, Marrakech and Salé, where he was born in 1714.
His family, linked to that of Hayyim Ben Attar, had left Meknes «because of the excessive taxes that were levied on [it] and [it] made [it] home in Salé», Saul Aranov and Ariel Bension wrote in «A Descriptive Catalogue of the Bension Collection of Sephardic Manuscripts and texts» (University of Alberta, 1979).
Rabbi Eliezer Davila then married the daughter of Rabbi Elijah Halevi of Salé at the age of fifteen. Indeed, the rabbi is said to be the author of several books, including a collection of legal decisions, a collection of sermons and the «Milhémet Mitzvah» book, on Jewish prescriptions, customs and traditions. He was a «prolific scholar» and «many of his works were posthumously published by his son-in-law».
«Rabbi Eliezer founded a yeshiva in Rabat, which he led for the wise men who came from all over the region to thoroughly study Torah. All he wanted was to find new interpretations (...) with his students», the Hevrat Pinto platform recalled.
Rabbi Eliezer died at the age of 47 in 1761. In a book titled «Men of Faith», published by the Hevrat Pinto Foundation, it is said that the rabbi learned that he would die a few months before his passing.
«Once, when Rabbi Khalifa was walking with Rabbi Eliezer Davila, in the streets of a certain city, a famous non-Jewish sorcerer passed by. When the sorcerer came within earshot of the two, he hinted to Rabbi Khalifa in a roundabout way that Rabbi Eliezer would perish within the year», the story goes.
Saddened by the news, Rabbi Khalifa ended up revealing to his friend the words of the sorcerer. «Rabbi Eliezer did not lose his composure at all. Without a trace of anxiety he turned to Rabbi Khalifa and said, ‘In fact, I am joyous; I am not worried at all. This is because I know that I have fulfilled my mission in this world perfectly. Now, I may leave it'».
Rabbi Eliezer and the Lisbon tidal wave
Rabbi Eliezer died in 1761 and was buried in the old Jewish cemetery in Rabat, leaving behind his works, but also several legends about his life. In fact, in «Once upon a time in Morocco», David Bensoussan says that Rabbi Eliezer Davila «would have caused the waves of the ocean to overturn during the Lisbon tidal wave of 1755 by planting his stick in the sea».
The same legend was mentioned by «Saint Veneration Among the Jews in Morocco» (Wayne State University Press, 1998). Its author Issachar Ben-Ami reports twice how the Sultan of Morocco at the time allegedly addressed the rabbi, asking for his help. «The Sultan accompanied him. With his own eyes, he saw that it was going to happen. So the saint took his stick and put it in a certain place, and the waves did not go beyond the saint's stick»,he wrote. «The saint turned to the sultan and said to him : beware! Do not harm the Jews!»
Rabbi Eliezer's legacy will continue after his death. Thus, his son Mosheh became chief rabbi of Meknes then Rabat. The Rabbi's hiloula is celebrated on the third of Adar, the day of his death from a heart attack.
