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Сила Теилим

21 Sivan · Yahrzeit

Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchaki - Chief Rabbi of Derbent

Rabbi Yaakov ben Yitzchak Yitzchaki - Chief Rabbi of Derbent (September 1, 1846 — June 11, 1917) - one of the most renowned rabbis of the Mountain Jewish community. In his honor, the settlement of Be'er Yaakov was founded in Israel.
Yahrzeit - 21 Sivan
Resting place - Har HaZeitim
Notably, the Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah, 4) mentions Rabbi Shimon Sefero, who was sent from Jerusalem to Terebent (Derbent) to teach Torah to the Jewish community, which at that time (mid-4th century CE) was quite significant.
After a lengthy period of persecution and oppression of Mountain Jews, and the destruction, plunder, and burning of their settlements begun by Nader Shah, two major communities gradually formed and, by the end of the 18th century, became established – the Jewish Quarter (Quba, Azerbaijan) and Derbent. It was these communities that became the most important religious centers, which raised a whole generation of learned rabbis.
The rabbis of Derbent became the successors of the spiritual traditions of the destroyed and plundered village of Aba-Sava. At one time, this village, which had been a cultural and religious center of the Mountain Jews, was home to the paytan (poet) Elisha ben Shmuel, the theologian Gurshum Lele ben Mishi Nakdi (who compiled commentaries on Maimonides' "Yad HaChazakah"), and others.
According to popular tradition, among those who became especially revered among the people, the first is considered to be Rabbi Israel Mizrahi (known as Nukoli, i.e., from the village of Rukel), who lived in the late 18th - early 19th centuries. He was also respected among the Muslim residents.
Derbent became the spiritual center of the Mountain Jews of Southern Dagestan under Rabbi Eliyahu ben Mushael Mizrahi (1781-1848). As a religious leader, he was revered as far as Nalchik.
He was respected not only by Mountain Jews. Rabbi Eliyahu is the founder of the chief rabbinate of the Mountain Jews in Derbent. Rabbi Eliyahu was a descendant of rabbis from Persia.
His grandfather, Rabbi Benyamin ben Aharon, moved to the Caucasus. He, as well as his son Mushael and grandson Eliyahu, were recognized experts in Torah, Talmud, and other Jewish laws.
Rabbi Eliyahu was educated at the yeshivas of Baghdad. He organized the system of Jewish education in Derbent. Rabbi Eliyahu possessed the largest religious library in the Caucasus. His library was formed from literature brought to him by admirer-merchants returning from their travels. Rabbi Eliyahu had many students. Among them, his nephew Rabbi Avraham ben Chanukah (whose brother, Rabbi Eliyahu's brother Chanukah ben Mushael, was a successful merchant) stood out for his knowledge, erudition, and talent, and became his uncle's heir.
His untimely death at a young age cut short his work. The melody he composed was sung by Mountain Jews on Passover night for many years thereafter. A talented student of Rabbi Eliyahu was also Rabbi Yitzchak ben Yaakov Mizrahi (1791-1877), founder of the Yitzchaki rabbinical family, who came from the Jewish Quarter (Quba). After receiving his elementary religious education, Rabbi Yitzchak moved at the age of 27 to Bila Tserkva – the center of Eastern European Jewry, where he studied at a yeshiva for 13 years.
In fact, Rabbi Yitzchak ben Yaakov was the first Mountain Jew to receive a full religious education in Europe. He studied Torah, Talmud, and other laws and customs of Judaism in their entirety. After returning to Derbent in 1835, he founded a yeshiva in the city.
In 1845, the Derbent community elected him as dayan (also a religious judge). In 1848, Rabbi Yitzchak became (after the death of Rabbi Eliyahu) the Chief Rabbi of Derbent. A prominent representative of the Yitzchaki family was Yaakov Yitzchakovich Yitzchaki (Rabbi Yaangil).
The brilliantly gifted Yaakov became a talented student of his father, Rabbi Yitzchak. Having taught his son the laws of Judaism, Rabbi Yitzchak himself ordained him as a rabbi. Then, like his father, Rabbi Yaakov ben Yitzchak went to study in Bila Tserkva. In 1868, Rabbi Yitzchak, in agreement with the community, handed over the community's affairs to his son, Rabbi Yaakov ben Yitzchak, who became Chief Rabbi and chief religious judge of Derbent (1868-1907).
Father and son were brilliantly gifted individuals with broad erudition and a well-rounded education. They knew Russian and modern Hebrew literature, and had close ties with many well-known rabbis of Russia and Jerusalem, as well as with orientalist scholars, including I. Cherny (1835-1880) and A.Ya. Harkavy (1835-1919).
During his visit to Derbent, I. Cherny met with both father and son. He wrote of Rabbi Yitzchak: "He is a fine-looking elderly man. It is evident from his face that he is intelligent and straightforward..." In addition to their native language, father and son Yitzchaki had a good command of Hebrew, Russian, and Azerbaijani, and some knowledge of Lezgin. In the 1880s, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchakovich Yitzchaki was officially appointed by the authorities as the Chief Rabbi of the Mountain Jews of all of Southern Dagestan and Azerbaijan, serving as the government-appointed rabbi ("crown rabbi"). In 1907, he was appointed a member of the commission for the elections to the State Duma. Rabbi Yaakov ben Yitzchak enjoyed great authority as a religious leader. At the same time, he was renowned as an interpreter of the Torah, a scholar, and a researcher of the history and ethnography of the Mountain Jews.
He deeply studied the folklore, traditions, legends, and music of his people, and himself possessed a poetic gift.
Rabbi Yaakov ben Yitzchak compiled the first Mountain Jewish-Hebrew dictionary (unpublished).
He compiled a brief history of the Mountain Jews, as well as their grammar and vocabulary (unpublished). He was also the author of works on Hebrew poetry.
Russian Emperor Alexander III (1835-1894), like many other Russian emperors, was an overt antisemite. He issued a series of decrees restricting the legal status of Jews, including a quota limiting their education. In order to persuade the authorities not to classify them among the Mountain Jews, the Chief Rabbi of Derbent, Ya.I. Yitzchaki, presented the city governor with a "Brief History of the Mountain Jews" in 1889, requesting that it be forwarded to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
However, even this did not help. According to a decree of the Russian Ministry of Education of 1883, only one Mountain Jew was admitted to the Derbent school, and no one at all was admitted to the preparatory class.
The Holy Land Yaakov ben Yitzchak first visited the Holy Land of his fathers in 1876. In Jerusalem, he was received with honor by a number of well-known rabbis. His second journey took place in 1887. In 1907, he permanently moved to Palestine (Eretz Yisrael). Yaakov ben Yitzchak organized a group of 56 immigrants, which founded a settlement near Ramla. This was waterless, empty land with no signs of vegetation. The settlement is called Be'er Yaakov in honor of the group's leader and organizer. His son became a resident of Be'er Yaakov and the keeper of his father's archive, which is housed in his home-museum. The newly built Caucasian synagogue in the city of Be'er Sheva is named after Rabbi Yaakov ben Yitzchak.
Yaakov Yitzchaki is buried on Har HaZeitim (the Mount of Olives) in Jerusalem.
In the past, Jews would come to Jerusalem to die and be buried there, where, according to tradition, the Resurrection of the Dead (Techiyat HaMetim) and the final judgment are to take place. The grave of Yaakov ben Yitzchaki is a place of pilgrimage and veneration for Mountain Jews. His father's work was continued by his son, Rabbi Meir ben Yaakov Yitzchaki. He was born in 1902 in Derbent, studied under his father, and received his rabbinic ordination documents from his father's own hands. After Ya.I. Yitzchaki's departure, his successor for a short period was Rabbi Eliyahu Anokhi, and then the Chief Rabbi until 1918 was Rabbi Yeshaya Rabinovich. (Ya.I. Mishiev, Honored Teacher of the Republic of Dagestan and the Russian Federation)
Sipurei Tzadikim
How Rishon LeZion Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu Saved a Tzadik from Derbent
In his early years, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt"l used to give lectures for the residents of the Jerusalem "Bukharim" quarter [founded by Bukharan Jews].
In lectures devoted to the theme of "The Ten Days of Repentance," Rav Mordechai Eliyahu mentioned several times explanations by the author of the book "Ohalei Yaakov" - Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchaki, on the Ten Days of Repentance.
Rav Mordechai Eliyahu noticed that a wealthy man named Yochananov grabbed his pocket upon hearing the name of the sage from Derbent [Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchaki, who was the Chief Rabbi of the Caucasus].
After the lecture, the wealthy Yochananov approached Rav Mordechai Eliyahu and said: "Esteemed Rav Mordechai! I knew Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchaki, may his memory be a blessing. He was my neighbor. He was very poor. Once, many years ago, he asked to borrow money from me against a promissory note. He passed away before he managed to repay the entire debt. I still have the note."
With trepidation, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu said: "I ask you earnestly to say right now: 'I forgive the debt that Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchaki of Derbent owes me.' And when you return home, write on the promissory note that the debt has been settled."
Yochananov asked whether he should tell his wife about this.
Rav Mordechai Eliyahu replied that there was no need to distress her.
The next day, after the morning Shacharit prayer, as he was leaving the synagogue, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu saw the wealthy Yochananov's wife.
The wealthy man's wife said: "Chacham Mordechai. Last night I had a dream. Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchaki of Derbent, who was our neighbor, said to me: 'After I passed away, I was not granted permission to enter Gan Eden. Only tonight was I granted permission to enter Gan Eden, in the merit of Chacham Mordechai.' Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchaki asked me to convey to you - thank you for the great kindness you did for him."
Meanwhile, the wealthy Yochananov himself also approached Rav Mordechai Eliyahu and told him that he too had had a dream the previous night, and recounted it exactly as his wife had described it earlier.
Rav Mordechai Eliyahu said to the Yochananov family: "Well done for meriting to give money to a tzadik in his time of need and to forgive him the debt."
This story was told by the mekubal Rabbi David Batzri, shlita, who added: "Be careful, for in the World of Truth, every letter and every word is treated with the utmost reverence." (Translated and prepared by Asher Shaulov)
May the merit of the Tzadik protect Am Yisrael!