19 Tammuz · Yahrzeit
Yahrzeit/Hillula of Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul - Rosh Yeshiva of "Porat Yosef"
Rabbi Ben Zion ben Eliyahu Abba Shaul - Rosh Yeshiva of "Porat Yosef" (1924-1998)
Yahrzeit - 19 Tammuz;
Burial place - Jerusalem, Sanhedria, near the intersection of Levi Eshkol Boulevard, Shmuel HaNavi Street, and Bar-Ilan Street.
Ben Zion Abba Shaul was one of the leading Sephardic rabbis, Torah scholars, and halachic authorities of his generation, and for the last 15 years of his life served as Rosh Yeshiva of Porat Yosef in Jerusalem.
He was responsible for a religious revival among Sephardic Jews, founding "Ma'ayan HaChinuch HaTorani", a network of Torah schools for Sephardic children in Israel, and was widely known for his ability to give blessings that were fulfilled.
Early Life
He was born in Jerusalem to Eliyahu and Benaya Abba Shaul, immigrants from Iran.
A shoemaker by trade, Eliyahu was also a Torah scholar and kabbalist; he was Ben Zion's first teacher. Eliyahu served as gabbai (caretaker and fundraiser) of the Ohel Rachel synagogue in the Bukharim quarter of Jerusalem for 50 years. In his old age he saw his son Ben Zion become the synagogue's rabbi, while another son, Yaakov, became its chazzan.
Abba Shaul was the eldest boy in a family of sixteen children. Despite their poverty, his parents were committed to raising a family of Torah scholars, at a time when many other families of Eastern and Sephardic background succumbed to the temptation of sending their children to Zionist schools. The family observed many halachic stringencies, including baking their own matzah before Pesach and avoiding all processed foods - even sugar - during the holiday itself. Abba Shaul continued to observe these practices even after establishing his own family.
At the age of 11, Abba Shaul entered Porat Yosef, the renowned Sephardic yeshiva in Jerusalem. His first teacher was Rabbi Yehuda Tzadka (who was only 21 at the time), and among his classmates was the future Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. Later, Abba Shaul advanced to the highest shiur, where he was taught by the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Ezra Attia, with whom he developed a close relationship. Abba Shaul adopted his Rosh Yeshiva's views on all matters and demonstrated the same approach to learning and issuing halachic rulings as his mentor.
Abba Shaul showed tremendous diligence in Torah study. He would study and review each topic dozens of times, until he knew most of Shas and the poskim (halachic commentaries) by heart.
When Abba Shaul was 20, Rav Attia selected him to be examined by Rabbi Eliezer Silver, a well-known American rabbi who was visiting Israel together with a wealthy sponsor. Attia had heard that at another yeshiva the philanthropist visited, only one boy had been able to answer the rabbi's question, and even then only after 20 minutes.
Silver posed Abba Shaul a difficult question from the little-known talmudic order of Taharot (laws of ritual purity). When Abba Shaul answered, Silver remarked with astonishment that he had asked the same question to Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (author of "Or Sameach" and "Meshech Chochmah") forty years earlier, and that this sage had given the very same answer. Abba Shaul later admitted to Attia that he had a second answer to the question as well, but since the first answer had secured the donation, he did not want to boast.
In 1948, Abba Shaul married Adassa, daughter of Rabbi Yosef Shaharabani, a Torah scholar and son of the kabbalist Rabbi Yehoshua Shaharabani, who was a disciple of the Ben Ish Chai.
Abba Shaul studied privately with his father-in-law, and his new wife attended his public lectures every Shabbat. She also recorded his general yeshiva lecture on tape; many of his written works are drawn from these recordings.
The couple was childless for many years. After ten miscarriages, Abba Shaul visited the Chazon Ish and the Belzer Rebbe, refusing to leave until each of them gave him a blessing for a child. Their only son, Eliyahu, was named after Abba Shaul's father.
After his marriage, Abba Shaul became a teacher at Talmud Torah Bnei Zion, which he had attended in his youth. He continued studying at Yeshivat Porat Yosef. In time, Rav Attia asked him to become Rosh Yeshiva, but he refused to accept the position while his first teacher, Tzadka, was still alive. He agreed to serve as a lecturer at the yeshiva instead. After Tzadka's passing in 1983, Abba Shaul assumed the position of Rosh Yeshiva of Porat Yosef.
Rosh Yeshiva
As Rosh Yeshiva, Abba Shaul kept a demanding teaching schedule. Every morning he lectured to the yeshiva students for four hours; in the afternoon he taught dayanim (rabbinical judges) the laws of the Shulchan Aruch. On Friday afternoons he taught halacha and answered questions before a packed audience at the Ohel Rachel synagogue, and on Shabbat he delivered a three-hour address at the synagogue. Legends surrounded his diligence in Torah study; it is said that by the time he finished delivering a shiur, he was drenched in sweat.
Abba Shaul was also well-versed in Kabbalah. At first he studied it privately on Friday evenings. However, in the 1960s, seeing that knowledge of Kabbalah study was declining, he gathered a group of kabbalists and founded the "Emet Ve-Shalom" yeshiva for the study of Kabbalah at night. Once a year, on the yahrzeit of the Rashash, he would join the group and demonstrate his mastery of the hidden wisdom.
He also wrote thousands of halachic responsa in reply to inquiries from the general public, covering a wide range of topics. Some of his responsa are printed in his book "She'elot U-Teshuvot Or Le-Tzion", and he is cited in the responsa of Rav Ovadia Yosef, who remained his close friend.
Abba Shaul cared for his students as a father cares for his sons. He made great efforts to ensure that all his students married; his wife arranged shidduchim for the girls who helped her around the house.
Seeing that married students could not manage on a kollel stipend, he established a special Friday kollel and traveled to the United States to raise funds for it.
He traveled to England, France, Italy, Iran, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, and the United States to establish rabbinical courts and arrange for shochtim (ritual slaughterers), mohelim (ritual circumcisers), and rabbis.
Abba Shaul joined other Torah leaders in Israel in fighting against decrees that threatened the Torah way of life. These included the struggle to preserve the sanctity of Shabbat, the fight to close mixed-gender swimming pools, and the battle against autopsies performed on religious Jews.
In 1972, he took a prominent stand in opposition to the government's proposal for compulsory army service for girls. Together with Rabbi Yehuda Tzadka, he drafted a halachic ruling stating that compulsory army service for girls falls into the category of "yehareg ve'al ya'avor" (one must die rather than transgress). His ruling was signed by 400 Torah leaders throughout Israel.
His Final Years
In 1983, while delivering a eulogy at the funeral of Rabbi Yaakov Mutzafi, he suddenly felt ill and soon after suffered a stroke. Half of his body was paralyzed, and his speech became slurred. Over the next 15 years he suffered a series of minor strokes, which eventually left him disabled. Nevertheless, he continued to teach Torah and participate in communal affairs.
The vast knowledge he had acquired over his years of study became evident in his later years. When his eyesight failed, he asked his students to come and read the Talmud to him.
One boy recalled the Rav correcting him on a comment of Rashi in tractate Nazir; another, on a Tosafot in Gittin. His son said that Abba Shaul corrected him while he was reading him the words of the Rambam.
Why the Tzadik Allowed His Hand to Be Kissed
Rabbi Abba Shaul was known for giving blessings that were quickly fulfilled. Once, a woman who had undergone three cesarean sections was told that her next child would also have to be delivered by cesarean. She went to Abba Shaul and demanded: "I will not leave until the Rav guarantees me that I will have a natural birth."
He agreed. After the woman left, Abba Shaul's brother asked him, "How can you guarantee such a thing?"
He said, "I can't guarantee anything - but what was I supposed to do? She wouldn't leave!"
The woman gave birth naturally. When her husband came to the synagogue to announce the "miracle," Abba Shaul protested, "They're turning me into an Admor."
When his shamash asked him why his blessings were fulfilled, Abba Shaul said: "If you love everyone in Klal Yisrael, you can do it too."
And then he added: "The Al-mighty told Avraham: 'I will bless those who bless you.'
When people come to me, they kiss my hand. In doing so, they are blessing me. When they bless me, a fellow Jew, they automatically draw down upon themselves the blessings of Ha-Shem."
He passed away in Jerusalem on July 13, 1998 (19 Tammuz 5758). About 200,000 people of all streams - Sephardim, Chassidim, Ashkenazim - attended his funeral. He and his wife are buried in the Sanhedria cemetery in Jerusalem.
May the merit of the Tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(from a trip to Kivrei Tzadikim with Yeshivat "Yodei Bina")