8 Av · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Shimon Agassi - "Gadol BaKol MiKol Kol"
Rabbi Shimon ben Aaron Agassi - Chacham HaRashba of Baghdad, Rosh Yeshiva, Kabbalist, one of the greatest Rabbis of Baghdad (1852-1914). He was called "Gadol BaKol MiKol Kol" in both the revealed and hidden Torah.
Yahrzeit - 8 Av
Resting place - Har HaZeitim (Mount of Olives)
He was born in Baghdad into a family of merchants who had immigrated from Persia and made their living importing indigo dye (istis) from India and providing brokerage services to merchants in the villages. As was customary at the time, at the age of 13 he had to leave his studies to help with the family business and to learn bookkeeping, and from 1864 he continued his education at the Alliance school. With his parents' support, he decided to continue studying Torah, to the dismay of his older brothers, who expected him to help support the family. During this period he entered the Beit Zilkha study hall under Rabbi Shmuel Majald and Rabbi Nissim HaLevy.
In 1879 he married Rachel, the daughter of Rabbi Abdullah ben Eliyahu Bechar, and in 1882 his first son, Aaron, was born.
His family life during this period was not free of sorrow: after the birth of his firstborn Aaron, he had two more sons - Menashe and Meir-Sasson-Chai - and two daughters - Farha and Esther, but he lost both of his sons. He wanted to leave Baghdad, where he had known such grief, and immigrate to India, where his sister had settled, in order to marry his son Aaron to his sister's daughter. This plan did not come to pass, because his wife refused to immigrate.
He hoped for the birth of another son to console himself over the death of his two sons, but his hope was not soon fulfilled. The family traveled to the grave of Ezra the Scribe, and following this, Shimon and his wife had a son, Ezra Tzion.
And to increase his joy and forget the sorrow of his heart, Rabbi Shimon sent his eldest son Aaron to seek a match - a young woman from a distinguished family. The wedding date was set for Adar 1888, when he was 16 years old at the time. Rabbi Shimon writes in the preface to his book "Bnei Aharon":
"By the end of the year a mild illness had passed over him [Aaron], and we said that he was fine. Yet the illness attacked him day after day, until it struck him down, and he collapsed helplessly onto his bed. I knocked on the Gates of Mercy, poured out my soul, begged forgiveness, and the members of the yeshiva helped me with prayers and supplications at the graves of righteous saints. I lay in the ashes, soaked the earth with a flood of tears, drenched the mountains, cried out to Heaven with prayer and weeping and pleading, but all the Gates were shut, and I prayed in vain. With the coming of the night of Purim, his soul departed in purity and returned to G-d."
In Adar 1888 (on the eve of the wedding) Aaron died of the plague; he was only 16 years old.
The tragedy that befell the family, described by the father so movingly, shocked the Jews of Baghdad. Evidence of the shock the community experienced can be found in notebooks written by Rabbi Shimon's friend, Chacham Yehuda Petaya, which describe the shocking encounters between him and his friend and fellow student Chacham Shimon after this catastrophe. It is told how twelve sages made tremendous efforts to tear up the evil decree, and how the sage Rabbi Yehuda Petaya helped his friend bear the terrible anguish of his soul after the disaster. It also tells how, through illumination and dreams, discoveries were made to understand the roots of the disaster. Some of these dreams and visions were recorded by Rabbi Shimon himself, which he left behind as a remembrance.
In the years that followed, three more daughters were born to Rabbi Shimon - Dina, Kaphon, and Mazal - and in 1908 his cup of comfort was filled with the completion of his book "Bnei Aharon," the celebration of his son Ezra Tzion's bar mitzvah, and the birth of his son Eliyahu Chaim.
Gematria 18
What drew me to this Chacham was his book "Shem Chai."
Rabbi Shimon Agassi traces the entire Torah through gematria 18 - take a look, it's very interesting!
A Time to Do Teshuva
The book "Avoteinu Sipru Lanu" tells of a sheikh from a remote village who ruled over his own domain like the Sheikh of Baghdad himself. His wives served him like slaves, his children waited on him, and his servants worked the fields and tended the livestock.
One day the ruler sent notice to the village that the time to pay taxes to the king was approaching.
The villager burst into loud laughter: "Who is the king? He lives in the capital, but here I am king, I am the all-powerful ruler in my own tent and estate! Let the king have his royal treasury, but I will keep my money for myself."
His neighbor said to him: "Do not rebel against the authorities. The king is great, and he has immense power - his army has countless regiments!"
The sheikh laughed and said: "Nonsense. The desert is our kingdom - no one can cross it!"
The time for payment arrived, and everyone hurried to pay their debts. Only the sheikh refused to do so.
The time for payment passed, and nothing happened. The sheikh mocked all his neighbors and acquaintances: "You see who was right? How foolish you were to pay the tax! What connection is there between you and the king with his taxes?!"
They were confused and shrugged their shoulders. Who knows, maybe he was right, maybe they had been too hasty…
A week passed, then two, and a regiment of soldiers appeared in the village.
They had received from the governor a list of taxpayers and the name of the one evading payment. They headed for his tent. They ordered him brought out and humiliated him in front of his wives and children, and then ordered him to set a table for a meal.
He slaughtered a sheep and served them like a slave.
They ordered him to feed and water their horses, while in his own tent they began to act as if it were their own home. They took whatever they wanted, trampled things, destroyed them, mistreated him, beat him, and did not leave until he had given them all his money - the tax together with the fine…
The villagers shook their heads: what good had his boasting done him? He had not avoided the fine - worse, he had been humiliated to the ground, mercilessly insulted, and even robbed, and had become a laughingstock.
A year passed, and the governor again sent a warning: the time to pay taxes was approaching.
Who would be the first to pay? Of course, that same sheikh!
But what should we say if he waves off the warning this time too? If he says once again: "What do I care about the king - he is king in the capital, and I am king on my own estate"?
We shrug: "One who lacks understanding is not to be pitied."
"Why, why should we be like that foolish sheikh?" - Rabbi Shimon Agassi of Baghdad, may the memory of the tzadik be a blessing, asked himself.
What does Ha-Shem ask of us? That we fear Him, and if we have sinned, that we return to teshuva in the days of repentance.
Those who quickly pay their debts merit a good year in judgment. But there are those who twist and turn every which way to avoid it.
"What is the king to us," they say, "He is in Heaven, and here we control our own fate."
And then, may the L-rd have mercy, His messengers come.
"Grievous and lasting illnesses," evil ones.
They come to collect the debt, to bring us back to teshuva.
And there is no escape, no choice - in the end, we must return, whether the easy way or the hard way.
And are we not just like that sheikh?
We delay doing teshuva, and the year goes by.
Death on the roads, hospitals overflowing, food prices high, unemployment - we are being struck from every side, and now the time for payment has come around again. Let us hurry, then, and return to teshuva, so that the wheel of fate will turn for the better.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(Based on the book "A Legacy of Leaders")