Shalom Buzaglo

Who was Shalom Buzaglo?

Shalom ben Moses Buzaglo was a Kabbalist, born in Morocco at the beginning of the eighteenth century; died in 1780. He was a disciple of the Kabbalist Abraham Azulai, rabbi of Morocco, and filled the position of dayyan. Owing to voyages in the Orient made in his capacity of collector of alms for the relief of the poor in Palestine, he became acquainted with the chief Kabbalists of the period. He also visited Europe, and sojourned for some time in London.

Although his Kabbalistic works bear his name on the title-page, they are merely compilations of teachings attributed by Azulai, his teacher, to Isaac Luria and Hayyim ben Joseph Vital. Buzaglio took part in the discussion, which arose among many Kabbalists, as to whether Jews should be allowed to undergo vaccination, which had been discovered shortly before that day. Buzaglio pronounced himself in favor of vaccination, but disputed the priority of Jenner in regard to its discovery.