18 Cheshvan · Yahrzeit
Yahrzeit/Hillula of Rabbi Tzion Bitan - Djerba
Rabbi Tzion Bitan descended from 16 generations of rabbis and dayanim.
He served as a rabbi in Tunisia (Tunisia, which was under French rule), and his best student was Yosef Djian, whom he chose for his eldest daughter Rachel. This student went on to become the Chief Rabbi and Av Beit Din of Tripoli, Libya (which was under Italian rule).
Rabbi Tzion Bitan (1860 - 1954) was a dayan, Rosh Yeshiva, kabbalist, and Av Beit Din of Tripoli, Libya.
He was born in Djerba to Hamisa and Rabbi Chaim Bitan, into a family of rabbis for generations; his grandfather, Rabbi Nissim Bitan, was the Chief Rabbi of Tunisia, and his grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Bitan, served as a dayan in Djerba in the second half of the 17th century.
In his youth he studied under Rabbi Yehuda Chermon, author of the book "Gur Aryeh." In 1878, at the age of 18, upon completing his studies he was ordained as a rabbi and appointed a teacher by his paternal grandfather.
In 1883 (1883) he moved to Tripoli at the invitation of the Jewish community, to serve there as a teacher in the "Dar Sweid" Yeshiva, where 400 students studied. Since he had no family or acquaintances in the city, during his first years there he lodged in the home of the nobleman Moshe Lavi, and later married his daughter Aziza in 1888.
In 1897 (5577) he served as a rabbi in the "Yagdil Torah" Yeshiva, and after several years of teaching at Dar Sweid he was appointed head of the Yeshiva, and most of the well-known rabbis of Tripoli and its surroundings were among the graduates and students of the Yeshiva.
At some point, for an unknown reason, he moved with his family to Tunisia, and only several years later, in 1923 (5773), at the request of the local community, he returned to Tripoli to serve there as a dayan (while also serving as head of the Yeshiva), together with his son-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Djian, and Rabbi Avraham Habib, Rafael Dabosh, and Rachim Agiv, in various rotating combinations.
From 1926 he served as a judge on the court headed by Rabbi Yitzchak Chai Buchbeza, and after the latter's passing in 1930 he joined the court of Rabbi Yosef Yon. When his son-in-law, Rabbi Djian, left Tripoli to serve as a judge in Benghazi in 1931, Rabbi Bitan was appointed Av Beit Din of Tripoli until 1933 (5333).
In 1933, by order of the fascist Italian government in Libya, Rabbi Bitan was expelled from the country because he was a French subject, and from there he moved to Tunisia.
He passed away in Tunisia on November 14, 1954, and was buried in Djerba. In June 2011, his remains were transferred to Israel and buried in Netivot.
His student, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zaruk, founded the Shaarei Tzion synagogue in Pardes Katz, named in his honor.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!