Editing Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz - The Shelah Hakodesh (section)

== Life History ==
Born in Prague in 1558 to Rabbi Avraham HaLevi Horowitz, who was a talmid of the Rema and authored the sefer "Chesed L'Avraham."

From his youth, the Shelah excelled in his studies. He learned in Lublin at the yeshiva where his father taught, under Rabbi Shlomo Luria (Maharshal) and Rabbi Meir of Lublin (Maharam of Lublin), who were among the greatest rabbonim of Poland in the 16th century.

He later served as a rav and av beis din in many places throughout Poland, Lithuania, Galicia, Austria, and Germany, in the communities of Poznan, Metz, and Frankfurt am Main, and was known as a strict rav. During his tenure in Vienna, he married Chaya (daughter of R' Avraham Moil).

After the Jews were expelled from Frankfurt am Main in 1614, he returned to Prague and served as rav there. His wife Rebbetzin Chaya passed away in 1620, and then he decided to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael to establish and expand the Jewish settlement in the land, for whose maintenance he had already worked to collect funds, and also due to his belief in the coming of Moshiach which was expected to occur in the fifth century of the sixth millennium.

The Shelah embarked on a long journey by foot and arrived through the city of Aleppo in Syria to Yerushalayim in 1621, where he was received with great honor. In Yerushalayim he married a second wife. After Mohammed Ibn Faruk arrested fifteen of the city's notables including the Shelah, until they were redeemed for a large sum of money, he moved to live in Tzfas where he lived for about three years, and in Teveria where he lived another five years, and where he passed away and was buried. Tzfas and Teveria were centers for the study of Kabbalah in those days and the Shelah also devoted himself to studying Kabbalah, and pnimiyus haTorah served as the foundation for his great work "Shnei Luchos HaBris."

In [[Eretz Yisroel|Eretz Yisrael]], the Shelah arranged his famous siddur "Shaar HaShamayim." He gave his siddur this name since his name Yeshayahu equals in gematria the word 'hashamayim' and also because in the week he arrived in Yerushalayim they read Parshas Vayeitzei in which Yaakov said "this is the gate of heaven." About two years after his arrival in Eretz Yisrael he completed his work "Shnei Luchos HaBris," which was written as a testament to his family members, in which he commands to abstain from worldly pleasures.

Before his passing, the Shelah commanded that they should not give hespeidim for him. He passed away on 11 Nissan 1630 and his resting place is in Teveria (near the kever of the Rambam).