Abraham Hayyim Adadi אברהם חיים אדאדי | |
|---|---|
 Title page ofHaShomer Emet by Hakham Abraham Hayyim Adadi | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Abraham Hayyim Adadi 1801 |
| Died | June 13, 1874 (aged 72–73) |
| Buried | Safed, Palestine |
| Children | Saul Adadi |
| Parent | Mas'ud Hai Adadi |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Position | Dayan,Av Beit Din |
| Organisation | Jewish community ofTripoli |
| Began | 1838 |
| Ended | 1870 |
| Yahrtzeit | 28Sivan 5634[1] |
Abraham Hayyim Adadi (Hebrew:אברהם חיים אדאדי; 1801 – June 13, 1874)[1] was aSephardiHakham,dayan (rabbinical court judge),av beit din (head of the rabbinical court), and senior rabbi of the 19th-century Jewish community ofTripoli, Libya. In his younger years, he lived inSafed,Palestine, and traveled to Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa as ashadar (rabbinical emissary) to raise funds for the Safed community. He returned to Safed a few years before his death and was buried there. He published severalhalakhic works and also recorded the localminhagim (customs) of Tripoli and Safed, providing a valuable resource for scholars and historians.[2]
Abraham Hayyim Adadi was born in Tripoli to Mas'ud Hai Adadi, the son of HakhamNathan Adadi.[3] Nathan Adadi was originally from Palestine;[2] he came to Tripoli as ashadar (rabbinical emissary) and stayed to learn under HakhamMas'ud Hai Rakkah, one of the leading rabbis of Libyan Jewry in the 18th century.[2][4] He married his teacher's daughter[5] and had one son, Mas'ud Hai Adadi. Abraham Hayyim was orphaned of both his parents at a young age and was raised by his grandfather.[1][3][6]
In 1818 Adadi accompanied his grandfather to Palestine, where they settled inSafed.[1] His grandfather died that same year.[1] The 18-year-old Abraham Hayyim enrolled in theyeshiva of RabbiYosef Karo, receivedrabbinic ordination, and studied to become adayan (rabbinical court judge).[1]
In 1830 he was appointed as ashadar to raise funds on behalf of the Safed Jewish community. He traveled to Jewish communities in Syria, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Livorno, Italy.[1][6] He was in Livorno at the time of the devastatingSafed earthquake of 1837, and decided to return to his native Tripoli.[6] He served the Tripoli Jewish community as a rav,dayan,av beit din, androsh yeshiva over the next 30 years.[1][6][7] He was regarded as the senior rabbi in Tripoli.[2][6]
Adadi paid special attention to the education of children of Torah scholars and children of the poor. Together with other rabbis, he signed atakkanah calling for each member of the community to contribute 3/1,000th of their income toward youth education.[8] He also appointed a special overseer for the needs of the poor, and levied a 5 percent tax on local merchants to pay for teachers for poor children.[1][6]
In 1862 Adadi published the second volume of his great-grandfather Mas'ud Hai Rakkaḥ's halakhic work,Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ.[9] His cousin and contemporary, HakhamJacob Rakkah, a great-great-grandson of Mas'ud Hai Rakkaḥ, published the third volume ofMa'aseh Rokeaḥ in 1863.[9]
In 1870, at the age of 70, Adadi returned to Safed with his wife, while his son,Saul, remained in Tripoli.[6] Adadi died in Safed onShabbat, June 13, 1874 (28Sivan 5634), and was buried in the rabbinical section of the Safed cemetery.[1]
Adadi was recognized as an expert in Talmud study, displaying an understanding of both the text and the historical differences between the writings of theTannaim andAmoraim.[8] He also recorded the history andminhagim (customs) of the Jewish communities of Tripoli and Safed in his books, providing a valuable resource for scholars and historians.[1][3][10][11][12] In his first work,HaShomer Emet (1849), he included a poem that he had written in praise of the city of Safed.[3][13]
His main works are:
His handwritten manuscripts containing Talmudic novellae anddrashot (sermons) are preserved at theYad Ben Zvi institute in Jerusalem.[3]
| Aharon Rakkah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mas'ud Hai Rakkah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yitzhak Rakkah | Nathan Adadi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baruh Rakkah | Mas'ud Hai Adadi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shilomo Rakkah | Abraham Hayyim Adadi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jacob Rakkah | Zion Rakkah | Saul Adadi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abraham Rakkah | Meir Rakkah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
