Sadqa Hussein

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Yahrtzeit
1 Adar 5721
BuriedSanhedria Cemetery

Sadqa Hussein (

Sephardi dayan, mohel, and spiritual leader to the Iraqi Jewish community in Iraq and Israel. He taught thousands of students in Baghdad, and led the Iraqi expatriate community in Jerusalem. He was the founder and rosh mesivta of the Shemesh Sedaqah Synagogue in the Geula
neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Early life

Sadqa Hussein was born in

Av Beit Din of Baghdad.[4] He later studied under the Ben Ish Hai, who would count him among his favorite students. Hussein's financial situation allowed him to pursue his studies uninterrupted, allowing him to achieve a high degree of Torah
scholarship.

Career

Hussein founded Midrash

shiur (lecture) in halakha to householders that went four or five hours.[4] From those years he earned the title "Hakham Sadqa", which he was known by the rest of his life.[4]

As a consequence of World War I, the Ottoman Empire lost control of Iraq to the United Kingdom. At first, the material situation of the local Jews improved. The British, who found themselves in control of a vastly enlarged empire, needed clerks who were familiar with the local language and customs to help them with their bureaucracy, and found the Jews to be suited to the task. The Jewish community would go on to take a commanding role in the banking and insurance sectors of the economy.[5] This period also saw many young students seeking to advance their education abroad at the great universities of England.

As a result of these events, the Jews began to drift away from their traditional customs, taking on a more modern approach to their daily lives. Eventually, certain people in the laity began to challenge some of Hussein's education policies, especially in regards to the unpopular meat tax, and his decision to omit most secular studies from the Talmud Torah's curriculum. He stood virtually alone against his adversaries, who did not refrain from trying to compromise him vis-à-vis the authorities on account of his perceived antiquated positions. By calling for public protests, fasting, and the reading of kinnot (dirges), he eventually succeeded in blocking the reformers' initiatives, refusing to give in to his opponents' disregard for the traditions that had been bequeathed to him by his mentors.[1][4]

Shemesh Sedaqah Synagogue

Shemesh Sedaqah Synagogue in 2016

Having absorbed from his master the Ben Ish Hai a longing for Jerusalem, Hussein had made a pilgrimage there in 1904 together with Yaakov Chaim Sofer (the Kaf HaHayyim) and Yehezkel Ezra Rahamim (the Asei HaYa'ar),[3] where they held communion in the court of Yaakov Shaul Elyashar.[6] In 1924, with his family and a few close disciples, Hussein made aliyah and settled in Jerusalem, then part of British Mandatory Palestine.[1][3]

In 1929, Hussein established the Shemesh Sedaqah Synagogue (Hebrew: בית כנסת ובית מדרש שמש צדקה) on Haggai Street in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem.[1][3][7] The name of the congregation was derived from the verse "And the sun (שמש) of righteousness (צדקה) shall arise with healing in its wings" (Malachi 3:20).[8] Hussein both led the synagogue as rabbi, and taught shiurim in the synagogue to students and local householders.[3]

Hussein endeavored to fulfill many of the

petter hamor
(redemption of the firstborn).

Hussein demanded this kind of scrupulousness from his peers as well. One time in the 1950s, he asked his student

Satmar, who was visiting Jerusalem at the time. Hussein ordered Teitelbaum to desist from his practice of riding in a car on Friday afternoon after sundown; Teitelbaum based this practice on the rulings of Rabbeinu Tam, but Hussein deemed it a violation of the Shabbat.[9]

Sefardi Edah HaHaredith

An

circumcisions on thousands of infants, sometimes to a fourth generation in the family.[1][7]

Personal life and death

Hussein married No'am, his first cousin, the daughter of Avraham Sadqa,[1] who bore him one son. His grandson, Menashe Sadqa, is a pulpit rabbi in Queens, New York. Hussein died at the age of 85, and was buried in the Sanhedria Cemetery in Jerusalem.[1]

Notable students

Among Hussein's students were Sephardi Chief Rabbis of Israel Yitzhak Nissim and Mordechai Eliyahu;[10] deans of Porat Yosef Yeshiva Yehuda Tzadka and Ben Zion Abba Shaul;[11] and Yaakov Mutzafi,[12] who succeeded him as Av Beit Din and Rabbi of Shemesh Sedaqah Synagogue.[7]

In 1933, Hussein persuaded the father of a 12-year-old Ovadia Yosef to send his son to the Porat Yosef Yeshiva. Yosef would go on to become the greatest figure of Mizrahi Jewry in the 20th century.[13]

Works

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Sadqa Hussein II" (in Hebrew). MyTzadik.com.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Ties between the Jews of Aleppo and of Iraq in the 18th century" (PDF). The Scribe: Journal of Babylonian Jewry (73): 11. 2000. (Abridged from Zvi Yehuda's article of the same title, in Nehardea: Journal of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, no. 12, autumn 1999; Dangoor.com)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Tidhar 1947, p. 112.
  4. ^ a b c d e Rossoff 2005, p. 358.
  5. ^ Black, Edwin. "Jews in Islamic Countries: The Sudden End of Iraqi Jewry". Jewish Virtual Library.
  6. ^ Bar Osher, Avishai (2014). "Biography of Rabbi Yosef Hayyim, the Ben Ish Hai" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Cms.edu.gov.il. p. 6.
  7. ^ a b c Rossoff 2005, p. 359.
  8. ^ "Malachi – Chapter 3". Chabad.org. 2016. The name was a reference to the Shacharit prayer held in the synagogue, which commenced every day before sunrise (vatikin)
  9. ^ Biography of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu; Yom Petirath HaSadiqim, Hebrew; Tzadikim1.com.
  10. ^ Life and Times of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Hebrew; Harav.org
  11. ^ Biography of Rabbi Ben-Zion Abba Shaul[permanent dead link]; Hovereth BeQerev Hakhamim Talin, pg. 24, Hebrew; Kiah.org
  12. ^ Shemueli, Ruth; Light A Candle For Rabbi Yaakov Mutzafi; Resheth Moresheth, Hebrew; Israel Broadcasting Authority
  13. ^ Biography of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Archived 2015-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, Hebrew; Achdut-Israel.org.il

Sources

  • Rossoff, Dovid (2005). קדושים אשר בארץ: קברי צדיקים בירושלים ובני ברק [The Holy Ones in the Earth: Graves of Tzaddikim in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Machon Otzar HaTorah. pp. 358–359.
  • Touro College
    Libraries. p. 112.

External links

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