Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi was among the students of the Ari HaKadosh. When the Ari HaKadosh would go with his students to Meron, to the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, he would seat them according to their neshamot (souls): Rabbi Yosef next to Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi, Rabbi Yitzhak in his place, and so on. The Ari HaKadosh himself would sit in the spot of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and teach them the secrets of the Torah.
When the Ari HaKadosh passed away, Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi was among the three students who remained alive after his passing. They were Rabbi Chaim Vital, Rabbi Gedaliah Levine, and Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi, who came from the city of Tiznit, in Morocco, and was among the great students of the Ari HaKadosh. He went to Darush on the holiday of Sukkot, and many other sefarim (books). Rabbi Yosef merited to see Eliyahu Navi. After his rabbi, the Ari HaKadosh, passed away, he went to Egypt and spread Torah, and eventually returned to Morocco. Everybody loved him very much.
The tzaddik (righteous person), Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi, passed away on a Friday at four o'clock in the afternoon, right before Shabbat. The members of the Chevra Kadisha (holy burial society) wanted to postpone his funeral and burial until Sunday. The rabbi of the town turned to Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi, who had passed away, and asked him, “Will you be able to be buried before Shabbat?” He shook his head and answered in the affirmative.
There was a wealthy man who had a piece of land close to the city, while the cemetery was far away. The wealthy man said, “If you want to, you could bury Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi on my property.” His offer was accepted, and within a half hour, the burial was done. After they buried him, they threw some stones on top of the spot and said, “After Shabbat, we’ll return and put up a large matzevah (monument), with an ohel (tent), as is customary for great holy people.”
That night, Friday night, Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi appeared in a dream to the rabbi of the town, shining as the sun. He told the rabbi in the dream, “Thank you so much for making sure that I was buried on Friday afternoon, before Shabbat. And I want you to know: I do not want any monument built on my grave site. The stones that are on top of me, that the people threw quickly in order to get home quickly for Shabbat, not to desecrate Shabbat, are more important for me than anything. And I want that to be my monument, so that all will know how important it is to keep the holy day of Shabbat, and how important it is that people rush not to desecrate the holy day of Shabbat.”
When the Germans entered Tunisia and wanted to make an army base in the field next to the city, the general saw the stones on top of Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi’s grave and decided to level the area. He brought a very large bulldozer to move the stones. As the bulldozer approached the burial place, when it was about 500 feet away, it stopped and broke down. They brought a technician to check the bulldozer. He found nothing wrong with it. From then until today, the bulldozer is still standing there next to Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi’s grave site, to publicize the miracle of the holy tzaddik.