Abdallah (Ovadia) Somekh (1813–September 13, 1889) was an
Iraqi Jewish
The history of the Jews in Iraq ( he, יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים, ', ; ar, اليهود العراقيون, ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BC. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and mos ...
hakham
''Hakham'' (or ''chakam(i), haham(i), hacham(i)''; he, חכם ', "wise") is a term in Judaism, meaning a wise or skillful man; it often refers to someone who is a great Torah scholar. It can also refer to any cultured and learned person: "He ...
,
rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...
and
posek
In Jewish law, a ''Posek'' ( he, פוסק , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the position of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities a ...
.
Early life
Abdallah Somekh was born in 1813 in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
to Abraham Somekh, himself a descendant of
Nissim Gaon; he was the eldest of eight brothers and eight sisters. He studied under
Jacob ben Joseph Harofe. He married Sarah, who bore him the children Saleh, Haron, Raphael, Khatoon, Abraham, Sasson, Massouda, Rachel and Simha.
Career
At first he earned his living as a merchant, but he devoted himself to the field of education when he saw the level of Torah study wane in Baghdad. Hakham Abdallah became
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
of the
yeshiva
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...
''Midrash Abu Menashe'' (established in 1840 by Heskel Menashe Zebaida); the yeshiva was later expanded and renamed ''
Midrash Bet Zilkha'' and remained in operation until 1951.
[see History of the Jews in Iraq: Modern times (1922-)]
As rosh yeshiva, Hakham Somekh was teacher of several
Sephardi
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...
sages including his brother-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Chaim ("the ''
Ben Ish Chai
Yosef Hayim (1 September 1835 – 30 August 1909) ( Iraqi Hebrew: Yoseph Ḥayyim; he, יוסף חיים מבגדאד) was a leading Baghdadi ''hakham'' (Sephardi rabbi), authority on ''halakha'' (Jewish law), and Master Kabbalist. He is best ...
''"), and Rabbi
Yaakov Chaim Sofer
Yaakov Chaim Sofer (1870–1939) (Hebrew: יעקב חיים סופר) was a Sephardi rabbi, Kabbalist, Talmudist and ''posek''. He is the author of ''Kaf Hachaim'', a work of halakha that he came to be known by.
Biography
Sofer was born in Bagh ...
("the ''
Kaf HaChaim Kaf Hachayim ( he, כף החיים; translation: "the hand, palm of life") is the title of two widely cited codes of Jewish law. It may refer to:
*a work by Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer
*a work by Rabbi Hayim Palaggi
{{disambiguation
Rabbinic legal te ...
''"). He issued a great number of rulings, particularly in matters of
shechita
In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; he, ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to ''kashrut''.
Sources
states that sheep and cattle should be slaughtered ...
(Jewish slaughter of animals) and
treifot—these rulings have been published in the work ''Zibhei Tzedek'' (Baghdad, 1914, 2 vols.), which became the handbook for
Baghdadi Jews
The former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East are traditionally called Baghdadi Jews or Iraqi Jews. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the Indian ...
throughout
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the Far East. He also authored
Responsa
''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...
on all of the ''
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...
''.
Death
Hakham Abdallah died on Friday night September 13, 1889 during a
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
epidemic, and he was buried in the courtyard of the tomb of Yehoshua Kohen Gadol.
References
External links
Rabbi Abdallah SomechHakham Abdallah Somekh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Somekh, Abdallah
1813 births
1889 deaths
19th-century Iraqi rabbis
Rabbis from Baghdad
Rosh yeshivas
Sephardi Jews from the Ottoman Empire
Sephardi rabbis