Yeshivat HaMekubalim, or the Academy for Kabbalists, was founded in 1737 CE by Rabbi Gedaliah Hayon in Jerusalem. The schedule was organized around prayer and meditation to achieve mystical communion with the divine. As it grew, it attracted prominent scholars from around the world, including Chaim Joseph David Azulai, Avraham Gershon of Kitov, Menachem Mendel of Shklov and Yom Tov Algazi. A group of students formed called "Ahavat Shalom" that pledged eternal love and mutual aid. The leadership was passed from leading kabbalists of one generation to the next. In 1948, the Arab Legion invaded and drove all Jews out of the Jewish Quarter, looting and desecrating the building together with the whole Quarter. Study continued elsewhere until the reunification of Jerusalem, when the Jewish Quarter was rebuilt, and study resumed at the old site in 1974. The presence of the academy and all Jews living in the historic Jewish Quarter have been declared illegal under international law by the UN.
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