Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun

{{Infobox
|title = Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun
|image        = [[File:00000633 kever rabbi yehoshua ben nun.jpg|215px|alt=Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun]]
|header1 = Hebrew:
|data2  = רבי יהושע בן נון
|header3 = Spelling:
|data4  = Joshua ben Nun
|header9 = Description:
|data10   = A student of the Arizal and first to release the Kitvay Ari.
}}

Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun was a student of the Arizal while he lived in [[Safed]], a friend of Rabbi Chaim Vital and the first to make the hidden manuscripts of the Ari available to the public.

==Releasing Kitvay Ari==
Before passing away Rabbi Yitzchok Luria warned his student Rabbi Chaim Vital to keep his teachings hidden even from his former students. Rabbi Chaim Vital guarded his notes of the Ari's Kabblah vigorously and did not let anyone see them. Around 1587, Rabbi Chaim Vital fell very ill while he was in Tzfat. Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun asked his brother, Moshe Vital to let him borrow some of the manuscripts and the latter lent him 600 pages from the Kitvay Ari.

[[File:00000634 rabbi yehoshua ben nun student of arizal.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Buried in Tzfat cemetery.]]Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun hired 100 scribes and had them copy the manuscripts over a period of three days, returning the originals before Rabbi Chaim Vital realized they were missing. These copies, filled with mistakes were later edited by Rabbi Shmuel Vital. A more refined version of the Kitvay Ari was later created by Rabbi Abraham Azulai and Rabbi Yaakov Tzemach who removed the original manuscripts from the Kever of Rabbi Chaim Vital after he had them buried with him.

==Kever Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun==
Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Nun is buried in the ancient cemetery of Tzfat in the graves on the top left of Kever Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya, right near one of the two proposed locations of Kever Hayinukah.

[[Category:Tzadikim]]
[[Category:16th Century Rabbis]]
[[Category:Safed]]
[[Category:Kivray Tzadikim]]