On the afternoon of 3 Marheshvan, 5774 (Oct. 7, 2013), the entire Jewish nation plunged into mourning with the news of the passing of Hacham Ovadia Yosef zt”l. Hacham Ovadia was recognized as one of the greatest halachic authorities in the world, and the leading halachic scholar for Sephardic Jews around the globe, who stood at the forefront of Sephardic Jewry for more than 70 years. Over 800,000 people – more than 10 percent of the Jewish population in Israel – accompanied the hacham along his final journey. People crowded onto rooftops and even climbed trees to catch a final glimpse of the man they viewed as their father. It was the largest event in modern Israeli history.
“I Would Not Divert From My Way”
Born on 12 Tishre, 5680 (September 23, 1920) in Baghdad, Iraq, Hacham Ovadia moved to Jerusalem with his family in 1924, when he was four years old. His father, Rabbi Yaakob, and his mother, Georgia (Yaffa), were known for their dedication to Torah and to their eight children, of whom Hacham Ovadia was the oldest.As a young boy, Hacham Ovadia attended the Benei Tziyon School in Jerusalem’s Bucharian neighborhood, where he was recognized as a child prodigy. At the young age of 10, he transferred to Yeshivat Porat Yosef, where he earned a reputation for unmatched diligence, quick comprehension, and a phenomenal memory. He studied under the tutelage of the famed Rosh Yeshivah of Porat Yosef, Hacham Ezra Attiah zt”l.
When he was 17 years old, he composed a short pamphlet consisting of several pages of intricate halachic discussions, the kernel of what would ultimately become his monumental, 10-volume work Yabia Omer. It was inconceivable in the yeshivah world that such a young student could produce a scholarly work, and indeed some tried to discourage him from publishing the treatise, as Hacham Ovadia writes in his introduction: “I am 17 years old, but I am meant to succeed, and I don’t care if you say I’m arrogant. I was told, ‘How dare you write at your age philosophical and legislative writings?’ But I hardened my face, as hard as stone, and I would not divert from my way.”
From Chief Rabbi of Cairo to Chief Rabbi of Israel
Hacham Ovadia received his rabbinical ordination at the age of 19, and at the age of 23, he was appointed as a dayan (religious judge). Around that time, in 1944, he met Margalit Phatal, the daughter of Hacham Avraham Phatal, a distinguished hacham from Aleppo, Syria, and the two were married after a brief courtship. Throughout her life, Rabbanit Margalit Yosef a”h, who passed away in 1994, was known for her wholehearted devotion to her husband and for lending him the support he needed to become a Torah giant.
In 1947, the couple moved to Egypt, where Hacham Ovadia served as Deputy Chief Rabbi and head of the Bet Din (rabbinical court), later assuming the position of Chief Rabbi of Cairo. After three years in Egypt, he returned with his wife and children to Israel and was appointed judge in the Bet Din of Petah Tikva. By this time, Hacham Ovadia had already authored five scholarly halachic works, and word of his unsurpassed mastery of Torah, and how he had committed to memory hundreds upon hundreds of volumes, quickly began to spread throughout the Torah world.
In 1960, he was appointed as a judge in Jerusalem’s Bet Din HaGadol (High Rabbinical Court), and in 1968, he was named Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. It was then that he and his family achieved a degree of financial stability for the first time, after many years of poverty and hardship. Four years later, in 1972, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef won the election for Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel. In 1984, he founded the Shas political party which represents religious and traditional Sephardic Jews, and is currently the fifth largest party in the Knesset, with 11 parliamentary seats.
Teacher of Scholars, Teacher of the Masses
During and immediately after his term as Chief Rabbi, Hacham Ovadia emerged as the primary religious authority for Sephardic Jewry. He served as a powerful symbol of Sephardic heritage, and succeeded in reviving Sephardic identity and pride, inspiring Sephardic laymen and scholars alike to return to their origins and reconnect with their ancient traditions. Hacham Ovadia’s effectiveness as a leader was due, in part, to his ability to communicate with the laity. Whereas his halachic writings are on the highest caliber of scholarship, and he served as a mentor and teacher to some of the greatest young Torah minds, he was also a popular lecturer among the masses of Sephardic Jewry, inspiring audiences of all levels with his stories, clarity, humor and charisma.
Among Hacham Ovadia’s most important contributions was reestablishing Maran Rabbi Yosef Caro and his Shulhan Aruch (Codex of Jewish Law) as the final authority for Sephardic Jews in Israel.
Hacham Ovadia Yosef zt”l had a profound and incalculable impact upon the Torah world. In addition to the Sephardic revolution which he inspired and led, he composed 58 halachic works, all of which have become standard texts in the field of practical halachic decision-making. He trained thousands of accomplished halachic scholars, untold numbers of whom serve as rabbis, writers, and educators in Israel and around the world. His legacy is also carried through his 11 children, several of whom are accomplished Torah scholars in their own right.
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