Yaakov Shaul Elyashar | |
|---|---|
 Yaakov Shaul Elyashar | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1817-06-01)1 June 1817 |
| Died | 21 July 1906(1906-07-21) (aged 89) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Jewish leader | |
| Predecessor | Raphael Meir Panigel |
| Successor | Yaakov Meir |
| Position | Rishon LeZion |
| Began | 1893 |
| Ended | 1906 |
Yaakov Shaul Elyashar (1 June 1817 – 21 July 1906), also known asYisa Berakhah, was a 19th-centurySephardi rabbi inOttoman Syria. He becameSephardi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1893.
Yaakov Shaul Elyashar was born inSafed to a prominent Sephardi rabbinical family that had resided in theLand of Israel for centuries. His father, Rabbi Eliezer Yeruham Elyashar (son of RabbiJacob Alyashar), was ashochet. In 1824, when Elyashar was 7, his father died. The family was thrown into poverty, and his mother sold her home and belongings and supported her only son by working as a seamstress. They moved toJerusalem; in 1828, she married RabbiBinyamin Mordechai Navon [he], who adopted Elyashar and became his teacher and mentor. By the time of hisbar mitzvah, he was already considered aTorah prodigy. In 1832, at age 15, Elyashar married an orphaned girl. They had four children—three of whom were born while they were still living in his stepfather's home. In 1853, he was appointeddayan in Jerusalem and sent as the emissary of Jerusalem's Sephardic community toAlexandria. He was to persuade the Jewish community there to annul its decision to cease receiving rabbinic emissaries (meshulachim) from the Land of Israel. He was successful in persuading them to annul the decision and invited to become the city's rabbi (an offer he refused).[1] He became the associate head of the Jerusalembeth din in 1855 and head of thebeth din in 1869.
In 1893, he became theRishon LeZion, or Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Palestine, following the death ofRishon LeZionRaphael Meir Panigel. He remained in that position for the next thirteen years until his death in 1906. RabbiShmuel Salant was the chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi community at the time and they enjoyed very warm relations and collaborated on various issues affecting the entire Jewish community in Palestine.
Elyashar wrote thousands ofresponses to questions fromAshkenazim,Sephardim, andTemanim throughout the world—most of which were published in theQuestions and Responsa "Maase Ish".[2]
The Jerusalem neighborhood ofGivat Shaul is named after Elyashar.[3]
One of his great-grandchildren was Israeli politician and writerEliyahu Elyashar.
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| People | |
