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Bidding Information
Lot #    21104
Auction End Date    8/12/2008 10:01:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Letter to R. Joseph Hayyim (Ben Ish Hai)
Title (Hebrew)    מכתב להבן איש חי
Author    [Ms.]
City    Jerusalem
Publication Date    1909
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [1] p., 288:228 mm., light age staining, creased on folds, ink on stationary, two signatures and six stamps.
          
Detailed
Description		    Letter to R. Joseph Hayyim b. Elijah Al-Hakam (1833 or 1835–1909), the Ben Ish Hai. He was born in Baghdad, he studied with his maternal uncle, R. David Hai b. Meir. In 1848 he began to study under R. Abdallah Somekh. He succeeded his father (1859) as preacher, a post he held until his death. In 1869 he visited Erez Israel. In 1876 Jacob Obermeier of Vienna, who had come to Baghdad to teach French, insulted R. Joseph Hayyim. The community excommunicated him and compelled him to request the rabbi's pardon. Al-Hakam was renowned as a great halakhic authority who instituted many takkanot. He wrote some 60 works on all aspects of Torah, only a few of which have been published. He is best known for his Ben Ish Hai. His other published works include Ben Yehoyada (1898–1904), five volumes of commentaries to the aggadic portions of the Babylonian Talmud and Rav Pe'alim (1901–12), responsa. He wrote approximately 200 piyyutim and pizmonim, about 50 of which are incorporated in the liturgy of Baghdad Jewry; the rest are still in manuscript.

The letter is signed by R. Hayyim David b. Elijah Mordecai Sournaga (1842-1915) Chief Judge of the Sephardim in Erez Israel, and R. Samuel Nissim.

          
Reference
Description		    EJ
        
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Listing Classification
Period
20th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Israel:    Checked
  
Subject
History:    Checked
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
Letters:    Checked
  
Kind of Judaica