18 Elul · Yahrzeit
Chacham Rabbi Abdallah Ovadia Somekh
Gaon Rabbi Abdallah Ovadia ben Saleh Somekh - "Zivchei Tzedek" (1813–September 13, 1889).
Yahrzeit - 18 Elul
Burial place - Baghdad
He was a student of Rav Yaakov Yosef Ha-Rofe "Shemen Ha-Tov" and a teacher of the great kabbalists - the Ben Ish Chai, Rabbi Yehuda Ptaya. All the greatest rabbis of Baghdad of the current generation were his students.
He was a descendant of the great Nissim Gaon (990-1062), who wrote the "Vidui" for Yom Kippur.
On Shabbat night, the 18th of Elul 5649, he passed away. At that time, a cholera epidemic was raging in Baghdad, and so the authorities forbade burying the dead in the usual cemetery near Baghdad, ordering burial far from the city instead. Then prominent members of the community, among them Gaon Rabbi Avraham Hillel and Gaon Rabbi Shushan Somekh, appealed to the ruler of Baghdad for permission to bury Rabbi Ovadia Somekh next to the grave of Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Ha-Rofe in the cemetery on the other side of the Tigris River, where the grave of the High Priest Yehoshua was located. The ruler granted permission, signed it, and sealed it.
At the close of Shabbat, on the 19th of Elul, Rabbi Ovadia's funeral took place. Thousands of Baghdad's residents accompanied him to the burial site. When they reached the place, the governor of that city, the Jew-hater Abdallah Zivag, appeared with his men and would not allow Rabbi Ovadia to be buried on the grounds of the High Priest Yehoshua's grave, claiming that it was a holy site for Muslims and a Jew could not be buried there.
They drove out the representatives of the Chevra Kadisha, locked the cemetery gates, and left. Then the representatives of the Chevra Kadisha turned to the cavalry commander, Effendi Ismail, showed him the signed permit from the ruler of Baghdad, and told him what had happened at the grave. He gathered his armed soldiers and set out to help the Chevra Kadisha. Then six strong Jews stood on each other's shoulders until they reached the top of the wall surrounding the grounds of the High Priest Yehoshua's grave. From there they jumped down and opened the gates from the inside. The representatives of the Chevra Kadisha entered the cemetery with the coffin bearing the body of Rav Ovadia and quickly buried him. Then the men of the wicked Abdallah Zivag reappeared, about 50 thugs, and attacked the Jews who had accompanied the deceased. But the Jews did not remain passive, struck back, and everyone returned home safe and sound.
But the next day, the 19th of Elul, when they went to complain to the ruler, they discovered that their enemies had beaten them to it and slandered the Jews, claiming that they had buried the deceased inside a mosque, which is forbidden.
The ruler, who disliked Jews, accepted the slander without any investigation and ordered the arrest of all the community leaders, including the aforementioned rabbis. All the Jews' attempts to prove they had been slandered were of no avail. The ruler imprisoned the community leaders and rabbis and imposed strict censorship so that not a single letter or telegram could leave Baghdad.
The wealthy Yehuda Zaluf, zealous for Ha-Shem, went to the city of Mosul, from where he began sending letters and telegrams in defense of the imprisoned people of Baghdad to the Sassoon family in London, especially to the wise Lady Flora Sassoon.
This family took up the cause selflessly and used all their influence with the English royal family, as a result of which a stern warning was sent to Sultan Abdul Hamid, stating that if he did not provide immediate help to the Jews of Baghdad, the British government would be forced to intervene. The Sultan grew angry with the Jews of Baghdad for having appealed to the government of another country. He summoned the chief rabbi of Baghdad, Rabbi Elisha Dangoor, "Gedolot Elisha," and demanded that he give an account of everything that had happened in Baghdad.
The rabbi replied to him by telegram that if he dared to tell everything as it had happened, he would begin limping on his other leg too (the rabbi had a limp), hinting that he was forbidden to speak freely about what had happened. The ruler of Baghdad was monitoring everything the chief rabbi said. The Sultan understood that the situation was serious and ordered the ruler of Baghdad removed from his position, temporarily appointing the commander-in-chief of the army in his place, releasing all the arrested Jews, and apologizing to them. On the other hand, the Sultan issued a decree to remove Rabbi Ovadia's body from the grounds of the High Priest's grave and bury it in the ordinary cemetery in Baghdad, in order to appease the Muslims. This decree was issued about three months after the funeral of Gaon Rav Ovadia Somekh.
On the day the body was reinterred, all the Jews of Baghdad flocked to the former grave, together with the commander-in-chief and the cavalry commander. Government doctors were called to the scene, armed with strong fragrances to mask the smell expected to rise when the grave was opened. They feared that since the grave being opened held a body buried 84 days earlier, a terrible stench would fill the air, and worried it would intensify the cholera epidemic.
But to the utter astonishment of all present, when the grave was opened, it turned out that the body of Rabbi Ovadia Somekh remained whole, without any sign of decay, without any foul odor, as if it had just been placed in the grave. And the shroud, too, was intact, just as it had been on the day of the funeral. It was a tremendous sanctification of Ha-Shem's Name. Upon seeing this miracle, the commander-in-chief, who was serving as acting governor of the city, dismounted his horse and ordered all his men to do the same, saying that such a great man should be accompanied on foot, and that one could not ride a horse or donkey while doing so. Thus the procession with the body of Rabbi Ovadia Somekh proceeded to the cemetery of Baghdad.
Trustworthy people related that some of the Arab officers who were present at the funeral and witnessed this miracle converted to Judaism. One of these men, a senior officer, traveled to Tzfat, where he and his wife underwent giyur.
In 5660, this righteous ger could be seen at the Shechem Gate in Jerusalem.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
("Pirkei Avot with the commentary of Rav Ovadia Yosef, Chapter 2, Mishnah")