24 Kislev · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Chizkiyahu Medini - the "Sdei Chemed"
Rabbi Chaim Chizkiyahu ben Refael Eliyahu Medini — a great Jewish thinker, halachic authority, and Chief Rabbi of Hevron, was born on the 7th of Cheshvan in 1832 in Jerusalem.
Yahrzeit - 24 Kislev
Resting place - Hevron, old Jewish cemetery, Israel
His major work was published in 18 volumes between 1891—1912 in Warsaw. The book is titled "Sdei Chemed" ("Fields of Beauty"), though the word Chemed also encodes his name: Chizkiyahu Medini - "The Fields of Chizkiyahu Medini." This work is still studied today in many yeshivas, as well as by experts in halacha.
Orphaned at the age of eighteen, he moved to relatives in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
He studied at the Istanbul yeshiva under Rabbi Shlomo-Eliezer Alfandari (the Saba Kadisha).
Even as a young boy, Rabbi Medini became a renowned Torah scholar.
In Istanbul, he was noticed by a Krymchak merchant, who invited him to take the position of chief rabbi of the Krymchaks, whose center was in Karasubazar (modern-day Belogorsk). In 1867, Rabbi Chizkiyahu Medini moved to Karasubazar, where he became the rabbi of the Krymchak community. Rabbi Chizkiyahu Medini also maintained good relations with the Crimean Tatars, who came to him for advice and whom he helped during times of poor harvest.
During this period, Medini and his Krymchak wife Rivka had a son and three daughters, though his son died in his lifetime at a young age. Rabbi Medini himself was near death, and during his illness the name Chaim ("life") was added to his name.
In 1878, he returned to Israel and lived in Jerusalem for two years.
When he settled in the city of Jaffa, he wrote: "I will thank and bless the Al-mighty, who granted me the privilege of settling in the holy city of Jaffa. I will praise our Heavenly Father, whose eyes are constantly upon the Holy Land, for I have merited to see this holy city. And I recite the blessing of Shehecheyanu and thank the Al-mighty for granting me the merit of living to see Jaffa."
In 1880, he was appointed chief rabbi of the Jewish court in Hevron and Rosh Yeshiva of Hevron, residing in Hevron at "Beit Romano," which would later be purchased by Chabad.
During this time, Rabbi Medini became known as one of the most brilliant Sephardic rabbis of his generation, possessing mastery of the entire Shas and Poskim (Jewish law).
He was known for his exceptional memory and righteous conduct; even the Arab residents of Hevron respected him and regarded him as a holy man. After his burial, Arabs attempted to steal his body and bury it in their mosque, but were unsuccessful.
Sipurei Tzadik
Rabbi Chaim Chizkiyahu Medini lived in Bukhara in his youth. In the city there was a kollel under the patronage of a wealthy Jew, who supported young married students while they studied Torah. Although set hours were established for the lessons, Rabbi Medini would arrive earlier than everyone else and leave later than everyone else. Because of this dedication to Torah, the wealthy patron respected him more than anyone. A man who was a frequent visitor to the Beit Midrash began to envy him greatly, deciding that he was receiving more money than the other students. He then devised a wicked plan against him. He bribed the maid who cleaned the wealthy man's house and the Beit Midrash to tell people that Rabbi Medini had tried to seduce her.
One early morning, when Rabbi Medini arrived at the Beit Midrash, the maid who was cleaning there ran out into the street screaming hysterically that Rabbi Medini had tried to seduce her. Many people gathered at the Beit Midrash, including the envious man who had planned it all. They shouted at Rabbi Medini and demanded to know how he dared do such a terrible thing. The envious man then persuaded the angry crowd to go to the wealthy man's house and demand that Rabbi Medini be expelled from the kollel. After they told him what had happened, the wealthy man told them to return to the Beit Midrash and promised that he would verify the truth of their accusations. Having calmed down, they obeyed. Throughout this entire incident, Rabbi Chizkiyahu Medini continued studying without interruption and did not spend even a minute responding to the accusations. The wealthy man came to the Beit Midrash and watched him for half an hour, and the whole time Rabbi Medini kept studying. In the end, he declared that Rabbi Medini was a holy man and that anyone who slandered him was forbidden to enter the Beit Midrash. He also dismissed the maid. No one dared disobey him, and the whole affair came to an end.
A few days later, when Rabbi Chizkiyahu Medini was studying alone in the Beit Midrash as usual, the maid came to him. She burst into tears and said to him: "You know the truth — that I slandered you. But what did I gain from it? The money he gave me is gone, and now I am without work. So I want to publicly confess that you are innocent and expose the man who orchestrated this whole scheme."
Rabbi Medini thought about this: on the one hand, the maid's public confession would greatly benefit him, for it would convince everyone that he had been framed and was innocent. But on the other hand, he realized that a chillul Hashem (desecration of G-d's name) would result from such a public confession.
People would learn how wicked the man was who had so wanted to destroy Rabbi Medini's reputation and deprive him of his livelihood out of envy.
He decided that, although he personally would benefit from the public confession, he must avoid a chillul Hashem.
"I have a better idea," he said to the maid. "Why go through such public humiliation? I will find you a new job." She readily agreed, since this would help her far more than a confession that would leave her not only penniless but also seen in a bad light.
Rabbi Medini kept his promise and persuaded another member of the community to hire her. The wicked man who had tried to ruin Rabbi Medini died a week later, taking the secret of his scheme with him to the grave. Rabbi Medini later recalled that after that incident, he attained a great clarity in Torah study such as he had never experienced before, and it seemed to him as though the entire Torah had been given to him as a gift.
Pilgrimage site:
Grave: Chizkiyahu Medini