HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Yiḥyah Qafiḥ (; also known as Yiḥyah ibn Shalomo el Qafiḥ and as Yahya Kapach (his Hebrew name)) (1850–1931), known also as ''"Ha-Yashish"'' (English: "the Elder"), served as the Chief Rabbi of
Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...
,
Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was one of the foremost rabbinical scholars in Sana'a during that period, and an advocate of reforms in Jewish education. He was also learned in
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
, and rabbinic astrology and Jewish classical literature.


Biography

Yihyah Qafih was raised by his grandfather, after being orphaned of his father and mother at around the age of six. As a child, he studied Torah under the great Rabbi, R. Ḥayim Qoraḥ, his deceased mother's nephew. Later, he studied under Rabbi Yiḥya b. Yosef al-Qāreh, from whom he received his ritual-slaughtering license in 1870. Although Rabbi Yihya Qafih served for only one year (1899–1900) as the Chief Rabbi of Yemen (Turk. '' Ḥakham Bāshī''), he was a permanent member of the rabbinic court in
Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...
until his death, serving with the Chief Jurist and Rabbi, Yihya Yitzhak Halevi (d. 1932), whose signatures appear together in many of the court documents and ''responsa'' issued in the first quarter of the 20th century. In the late 19th century, he was the host to the Austrian Arabist and archeologist, Eduard Glaser, who conducted research in Yemen, and at the turn of the 20th century, he carried on a written correspondence with one of the chief rabbis of Ottoman Palestine in Jaffa, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kohen Kook, who later took on this role in an official capacity in 1921, in which he and his fellow jurists answered twenty-six questions posed to the Court at Sana'a. Rabbi Qafiḥ had served as one of the chief instructors in the city's largest seat of learning (''
yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 studied in parallel. The stu ...
''), held then in the synagogue known as ''Bayt Saleḥ'', until a famine in 1905, resulting from a war with the Ottoman Turks, forced the closure of the ''yeshiva''. In the spring of 1906, Rabbi Yihya Qafiḥ was confirmed by the ruling monarch as one of four representatives of the Jewish community in Sana'a, along with Harun al-Cohen, Yiḥya Yitzḥak Halevi and Yiḥya al-Abyadh. The document outlined the obligations of the Jewish community toward the Muslim State and the
Poll Tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...
(Ar. ''al-jizya'') assessed against every male 13 years of age and older. In 1909, he became the headmaster of a Jewish school built by the
Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...
in Sana'a, known as ''al-Makktab'' He initiated many reforms in Jewish education, such as teaching arithmetic and geography alongside the Torah, and employing Turkish teachers in the school for teaching the Turkish language to Jewish youth. One of the failures of the school, according to Yemen's last Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Amram Qorah, was that by teaching the Turkish language, their study of Hebrew suffered, seeing that the Jewish youth had less time to fully acclimate themselves to the rules of Hebrew grammar and to the finesse of the language. During this time, the controversy over the study of the
Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...
worsened. After being incarcerated twiceShalom ben Yiḥya Qoraḥ, ''Iggeret Bokhim'', Beth Shemesh 1963, p. 17 (Hebrew) by Muslim authorities in 1914, being released only in Adar of 1915, Rabbi Qafiḥ regretted his earlier reluctance to speak out against aspects of the community with which he disagreed. He began to be more vocally opposed to practices he perceived as folk superstition. It was around this time that he augmented the Dor Deʻah movement in
Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Ju ...
, to counter the influence of Lurianic
Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
, seeking to promote a more rational approaches to Judaism such those of
Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
and Sa'adiah Gaon, and to encourage the practice of
Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...
as formulated by Rambam in the
Mishneh Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' (), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' (), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''halakha'') authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam). The ''Mishneh Torah'' was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE ( ...
. However, the innovations and textual readings enacted by Rabbi Qafih in his ''Beit midrash'' were the main cause for the schism in Sanaa's Jewish community, a schism that was fanned perpetually by "highly spirited youth." Since the ''Darda'im'' were interspersed in all the synagogues in Sana'a, the proprietors of those synagogues feared that this would lead to changes in their own rituals and customs, which they strongly opposed. Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ was known to have "spent huge sums in order to recover manuscripts, even fragments of manuscripts of his aimonides'works."


Controversy


Background

Ethnographer and historian,
Shelomo Dov Goitein Shelomo Dov Goitein (April 3, 1900 – February 6, 1985) was a German-Jewish ethnographer, historian and Arabist known for his research on Jewish life in the Islamic Middle Ages, and particularly on the Cairo Geniza. Biography Shelomo Dov (Frit ...
, gave a poignant description of the new movement in Yemen of which
Hayyim Habshush Rabbi Hayyim Habshush (, alternate spelling, Hibshush, ca. 1833–1899) was a coppersmith by trade, and a noted nineteenth-century historiographer of Yemenite Jewry. He also served as a guide for the Jewish-French Orientalist and traveler Jos ...
was a member, and which movement in later years, after his death, had been further expanded under the charismatic leadership of Rabbi Yihya Qafih: “...He (i.e. Hayyim Habshush) and his friends, partly under European influence, but driven mainly by developments among the Yemenite Jews themselves, formed a group who ardently opposed all those forces of mysticism, superstition and fatalism which were then so prevalent in the country and strove for exact knowledge and independent thought, and the application of both to life.” This same movement would later be coined the name '' Daradʻah'' by Rabbi Yihya Yitzhak Halevi, a word which is an Arabic broken plural made-up of the Hebrew words ''Dör Deʻoh'', which means "Generation of Reason." Rabbi Qafiḥ identified a strong superstitious influence in Yemen which he saw as contrary to Orthodox Judaism. For example, his grandson Rabbi Yosef Qafih related one of many Yemenite customs for "חינוך הבית" whereby they would bake plain bread without salt and prepare "the table of appeasement." Inviting more than 10 children aged seven or eight who waited outside, they set the table, scattering thin-ash upon it; crumbled the plain bread into bits, placing them upon the table holding the ashes; and exited the kitchen stating, to the
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
s (Hebrew: שדים), "this is your portion." Shortly thereafter they would abruptly open its doors, whereupon the children bursted in, grabbing the saltless pieces and eating them. Rabbi Yiḥya Qafiḥ sharply opposed these ''
minhag ''Minhag'' ( "custom", classical pl. מנהגות, modern pl. מנהגים, ''minhagim'') is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, '' Nusach'' (נוסח), refers to the traditional order and form of the pra ...
im'' being of the opinion that, in addition to the stupidity of the matter, they are Biblically forbidden because of ''darkhei haEmori''.


Correspondence with Rav Kook

In a letter addressed to Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook, the chief Rabbi of
Mandate Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...
, Rabbi Yihya Qafih argued that the mystical ideas presented in Kabbalistic literature contradict his understanding of Judaism as a rational philosophical and legalistic system. Rav Kook refuted these concerns in his reply, defending the Zohar and requesting that Qafih revert from his position.


Milḥamot Hashem

The work for which Rabbi Qafiḥ is most well known is '' Milḥamot HaShem'' (''Wars of the Lord'', which takes the same name as earlier books) and which he began writing in 1914 (published in Jerusalem, 5691 930/1931. In it he argues that the
Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...
is not authentic and that attributing its authorship to the
Tannaitic ''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים "repeaters", "teachers", singular ''tanna'' , borrowed from Aramaic) were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also refe ...
sage Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai Shimon bar Yochai ( Zoharic Aramaic: , ''Šimʿon bar Yoḥay'') or Shimon ben Yochai (Mishnaic Hebrew: ), also known by the acronym Rashbi, was a 2nd-century tanna or sage of the period of Roman Judaea and early Syria Palaestina. He was one ...
is to besmirch him. ''Milḥamot HaShem'' argues that Kabbalstic concepts such as the emanation of sefirot and partzufim muddied the pure monotheism of Judaism. This stance met with much opposition, and led the Rabbi to become engaged in correspondence with Rabbi
Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbina ...
(the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandate Palestine, who was known for his engagement with mysticism). Rabbi Qafiḥ sent a copy of ''Milḥamot HaShem'' to Jerusalem in hopes of expediting its printing there, so that in the event additional objections would be raised he would have the opportunity to respond while still alive, but delays and a prolonged printing process resulted in his death soon after its printing and editing. Some
Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
s of the Haredi camp, such as Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, have echoed condemnation of Rabbi Qafiḥ's work as
heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...
. Others, such as Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef Ovadia Yosef (, ; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) also known as Maran (Hebrew language, Hebrew: מרן) "Our Master", was an History of the Jews in Iraq#Otoman rule, Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, hakham, posek, and the Sephardi Jews, Sephar ...
, have expressed disagreement with Rabbi Yihyah Qafih's work but maintained that such views are not heretical. Yet others, such as Rabbis Eliyahu Dessler and Gedaliah Nadel, expressed agreement and maintained that it is acceptable to believe that the Zohar was not written by Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai Shimon bar Yochai ( Zoharic Aramaic: , ''Šimʿon bar Yoḥay'') or Shimon ben Yochai (Mishnaic Hebrew: ), also known by the acronym Rashbi, was a 2nd-century tanna or sage of the period of Roman Judaea and early Syria Palaestina. He was one ...
and that it had a late authorship. Already over 200 years ago the Noda Bihudah, in his
sefer Sefer may refer to: * Sefer (Hebrew), a term for a book People with the surname * Franjo Šefer (born 1905), Yugoslav tennis player * Bela Šefer, Yugoslav footballer playing in 1924 People with the forename * Sefer Reis, Turkish privateer and O ...
''Derushei HaTzlach'', argued that the Zohar is to be considered unreliable as it came into our hands many hundreds of years after Rashbi's death and it lacks an unbroken ''mesorah'' as to its authenticity, among other reasons. Similarly, and taking after R. Yaakov Emden, Hatam Sofer was of the opinion that the majority of the Zohar was written in the medieval period, with a leading student of his even reporting Sofer to have said in the presence of many disciples "that if one separates what R. Simeon ben Yohai wrote from the later additions, the Zohar would only contain a few pages." A related work, printed at the same time as ''Milḥamot HaShem'', is ''Da'at Elohim'' (published in Jerusalem, 5691 930/1931, written in response to an essay by
Hillel Zeitlin Hillel Zeitlin (1871–1942) was an Ashkenazi Yiddish language, Yiddish and Hebrew language, Hebrew writer and poet. A leading pre-Holocaust Jewish journalist, he was a regular contributor to the Yiddish newspaper ''Moment'', among other literary ...
that appeared in the Hebrew quarterly '' HaTekufah''
Book 5
(1919).


Errors in Milḥamot Hashem

In the introduction to his English translation of R. Yosef Ergas's book Shomer Emunim, Rabbi Avinoam Fraenkel outlines the heavy reliance of R. Qafiḥ's anti-Kabbalistic argument on citations of the book ''Oz Le'Elohim'' by Nechemia Chiya Chayun. Qafiḥ incorrectly presented Chayun's book as representative of the beliefs of mainstream Jewish Kabbalah, despite the fact the Chayun was a Shabbatean and that the book was a commentary on a book written by the false messiah Shabbatai Tzvi. R. Ergas polemicized against Chayun in his books ''Tochachat Megula'' and ''HaTzad Nachash,'' quoting directly and exposing Chayun's work as divorced from Judaism and Kabbalah. R. Qafiḥ's portrayal of ''Oz Le'Elohim'' as if it were an accepted, legitimate source on the subject was either a major scholarly error, or an intentional misrepresentation in support of his attack against Kabbalah. Rav Kook also called this very mistake out in a letter written as an approbation to the book ''Emunat Hashem'', which was a systematic refutation of Milḥamot Hashem.


Students

Of Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ's more famous disciples were ''Mori'' Yiḥya al-Abyadh who served as the Chief-Rabbi of Yemen (1932–1934) after the death of Rabbi Yihya Yizhak Halevi, and whose most memorable enactment was to erect two new gates at the far north-western extremity of the plain where the Jewish Quarter was built, in order to fix thereby the laws governing the carrying of objects from one domain to another (
Eruv An ''eruv'' (; , , also transliterated as ''eiruv'' or ''erub'', plural: ''eruvin'' or ''eruvim'') is a ritual ''halakhic'' enclosure made for the purpose of allowing activities which are normally Activities prohibited on Shabbat, prohibited ...
), and to prevent Muslims from entering the Jewish Quarter at night to purchase liquor; Rabbi Yosef b. Aharon Amar Halevi (1911–1988), who rose to acclaim in the land of Israel for having punctuated the entire
Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...
in the traditional manner in which words were pronounced in
Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...
, a work that took him twenty years to complete; and Yisrael Yeshayahu, a member of the Israeli Parliament in 1951, and co-editor of the historical book, ''Shevuth Teiman'', in 1945.


Legacy

In 1927, Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ retrieved the world's oldest complete
Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...
commentary from the ''
genizah A genizah (; , also ''geniza''; plural: ''genizot'' 'h''or ''genizahs'') is a storage area in a Judaism, Jewish synagogue or cemetery designated for the temporary storage of worn-out Hebrew-language books and papers on religious topics prior t ...
'' of Old
Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...
, that of Rabbi Nathan ben Abraham, ''President of the Academy'' in the
Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...
(11th-century CE). The work, thanks largely to the efforts of Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ's grandson, Rabbi Yosef Qafiḥ, saw publication in 1955. Rabbi Yosef Qafih, who succeeded his grandfather in Yemen, and later in Israel, became one of the foremost leaders of the Yemenite community. He published corrected and translated versions of texts (see his published works), including all of Maimonides’ JewishAs opposed to, e.g., medical. works based on centuries-old manuscripts rescued and preserved by his grandfather.


References


Further reading

* ''Galei Or - Historical Chapters'', by Shalom b. Hayim 'Uzayri, Tel-Aviv 1974 (Hebrew)


See also

*
Mishneh Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' (), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' (), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''halakha'') authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam). The ''Mishneh Torah'' was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE ( ...
* Yosef Qafiḥ * Dor Daim and Iqshim * Dor Daim *
Hayyim Habshush Rabbi Hayyim Habshush (, alternate spelling, Hibshush, ca. 1833–1899) was a coppersmith by trade, and a noted nineteenth-century historiographer of Yemenite Jewry. He also served as a guide for the Jewish-French Orientalist and traveler Jos ...
* Yihya Yitzhak Halevi * Baladi-rite Prayer


External links


תשובת דייני דחצצתא ירושלים ת"ו
in his pamphle
עמל ורעות רוח וחרמות ותשובתם
(Hebrew)
Online text of ''Milhamot Hashem''
(Hebrew)
Online text of ''Da'at Elohim''
(Hebrew) (retyped for Web publication by Project Ben-Yehuda)
''Emunat Hashem''
1937 reply to Milḥamot Hashem by pro-Zohar Jerusalem rabbis. (Hebrew)
Rabbi Aharon Qafeḥ, A Bundle of Letters in the Handwriting of Rabbi Yiḥye al-Qafeḥ
(Hebrew)

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141107021214/http://bp2.blogger.com/_Tw42_5chsqg/RzIhYPFOBkI/AAAAAAAAANk/FZLCcPHrlzY/s1600-h/Picture+of+Yihye+Kafih.jpg A famous picture of Harav HaGaon Yihye Kafeh "hanging in R. Joseph Kafih’s house" and posted by Dr. Marc Shapiro] (https://seforimblog.com/2007/11/marc-b-shapiro-responses-to-comments-2/ footnote 38).
An Analysis of the Authenticity of the Zohar
(2005). Includes quotations of the views of "Rav E" and "Rav G," identified by the author as Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler and Rabbi Gedaliah Nadel, respectively (Rabbi Dr. Marc Shapiro i
Milin Havivin Volume 5
011 Is there an obligation to believe that Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai wrote the ''Zohar''?, p. יב DF page 133. {{DEFAULTSORT:Qafih, Yihyah 1850 births 1931 deaths Yemenite Orthodox rabbis Kabbalists Jewish Yemeni history Chief rabbis of populated places Rosh yeshivas Jewish apologists