Physical Description

[1] p., 207:154 mm., light age staining, tears, typed on stationary, signed and dated.

Detail Description

Bet Din Document signed by:

R. Yaakov Mutzafi (1899 - 1983) was the Av Beth Din of the Sephardi Edah HaHaredith, a Kabbalist, and the rabbi of Shemesh Sedaqah Synagogue in Jerusalem, Israel. He was the last spiritual leader of the ancient Jewish community of Iraq, which was airlifted to Israel in 1952. He was born in Baghdad, Ottoman Iraq, the son of R. Ezra Mutzafi and Mazal Tov. He received an early Torah education from his grandfather, R.  Moshe Mutzafi, and his primary education at Midrash Talmud Torah.  He was later to be the student of R. Yehuda Fatiyah. In Jerusalem R. Mutzafi served as Av Beth Din of the Sephardi Edah HaHaredith.

Hacham Yosef Soso Hacohen (1891- 1980) was born to Rachima and Hacham Shaul Hacohen on the festival of Shavuot 5651 (1891) in Gabès, Tunisia. His grandfather was Hacham David Hacohen, Head of the Gabès yeshiva and known as a miracle-worker. Hacham Yosef Soso Hacohen studied with Hacham Haim Houri of Gabès, who as to become his principal teacher, and Hacham Fradji Alush, Head of the Beit David yeshiva and Av Beit Din of the Gabès Rabbinic Court. In 1921, following the decease of Hacham Fradji Alush, he began to serve as head of the yeshiva and Presidentof the Rabbinic Court. In 1941 he moved to Tunis, the capital city, to obtain medical treatments for his son and was appointed Associate to the Chief Rabbi of Tunisia, Hacham Mordecai Kamos Amaiass, and to the Chief Rabbinic Court as Rosh Herkev (head of a triumvirate of rabbinic judges). At the age of seventy, in 1958, Hacham Soso Hacohen immigrated to Israel, settling in Beer Sheva's Shikkun Dalet neighborhood. He moved to Jerusalem after being appointed to the Sephardi Eidah HaHaredit Rabbinic Court and set the Porat Yosef and Reishit Hochma yeshivot as the places for his daily study. Hacham Yosef Soso Hacohen passed away on 12 Iyar 5740 (1980) and was buried in the rabbis' section of the Beer Sheva cemetery. His grandson, Rabbi Yoram Cohen, Rabbi of the Ramot neighborhood in Beer Sheva, established the Imrei Yosef institutions in his commemoration: a network of preschools in Beer Sheva, a pensioners' kollel, and a kollel for rabbinic studies. Hacham Yosef Soso Hacohen authored many books, including Haim BaYad – Responsa, Keshot HaNesech­ – on Talmudic topics, Kisa D'Pascha – on the Passover Haggadah, Pirchei Shoshanna – Responsa, sayings by CHaZa"L and original commentary on the Bible, and Yiftach Yosef – containing original commentary on the Torah and religious laws.

R. Chaskel Shraga Lipshitz-Halberstam (1908-1994) Admor of Stropkov,. The Rebbe was born in Stropkov into an illustrious hasidic dynasty. A full biography of this erudite, pious scholar and Rebbe appears in Wedner col.551-555. Many wonderful stories are told of his survival in Auschwitz and efforts on behalf of Jewry during his fruitful life. He wrote Divre Chaskel Shraga (Jerusalem 1955) and many responsa in period rabbinical journals. Rabbi Lipschitz-Halberstam was a descendent of both R. Chaim Halberstam of Sanz and R. Aryeh Leib Lipschitz of Vishnitza (author of Aryeh Devei Ilai) - hence his double surname. He served as Rabbi and Dayan in Jablonka and Bergszasz before his deportation to Auschwitz in 1944. Afterwards, he worked alongside the Klausenberger Rebbe to lift the spirits of the broken-hearted Jewish survivors. He was appointed Chief Rabbi of Bamberg and the districts of Frankonia. He emigrated to Israel in 1949 settling in Ramlah where he sought to influence the local Sephardi population. He moved to Meah Shearim succeeding his uncle as Stropkover Rebbe in 1954.