Yosef Chaim (1 September 1835 30 August 1909) (Iraqi Hebrew: Yoseph

ayyim; Hebrew: ) was a leading

Iraqihakham (Sephardi Rabbi), authority on halakha (Jewish law), and Master Kabbalist. He
is best known as author of the work on Halakha Ben Ish ai ("( ) Son of Man (who)
Lives"), a collection of the laws of everyday life interspersed with mystical insights and
customs, addressed to the masses and arranged by the weekly Torah portion.
Contents
[hide]

1Biography
2Works
3See also
4External links
5References

Biography[edit]
He initially studied in his father's library, and, at the age of 10, he left midrash ("school room")
and began to study with his uncle, RavDavid Chai Ben Meir who later founded
the Shoshanim LeDavid Yeshiva in Jerusalem. In 1851, he married Rachel, the sister of
Hakham Ovadia Somekh, his prime mentor. They had a daughter and two sons together.
When Yosef Chaim was only twenty-five years old, his father died. Despite his youth, the
Jews of Baghdad accepted him to fill his father's place as the leading rabbinic scholar of
Baghdad, though he never filled the official position of Hakham Bashi. The SephardicPorat
Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem, was founded on his advice by Joseph Shalom, of Calcutta, India
one of Rabbi Chaim's patrons.
Chaim clashed with the reformist Bavarian Jewish scholar Jacob Obermeyer who lived in
Baghdad from 1869 to 1880, and excommunicated him. [1] Part of the contention was due to
Obermeyer and Chaim's conflicting views on promotion of the Zohar.[2]

Works[edit]
The Ben Ish Chai ( ) is a standard reference in some Sephardi homes (functioning as
"a Sephardi Kitzur Shulchan Arukh") and is widely studied in Sephardi yeshivot. Due to the
popularity of this book, Hakham Yosef Chaim came to be known as "Ben Ish Chai", by which
he is referred to by many today.[citation needed] The book is a collection of homilies he gave over two
years discussing the weekly Torah portion. Each chapter begins with a mystical discussion,
usually explaining how a Kabbalistic interpretation of a certain verse relates to a
particular halakha, and then continuing to expound on that halakha with definitive rulings.

Hakham Yosef Chaim authored over thirty other works, and there are many published Iraqi
rite siddurim (prayer books) based on his rulings, which are widely used by Sephardi Jews.
Amongst the best known of his works are:

Me-Kabtziel (Miqqabsil): an esoteric exposition of Jewish law which he refers to

often in Ben Ish Chai providing a more detailed explanation of the reasoning
underlying certain decisions. It has been speculated that Hakham Yosef Chaim's
insistence on having all his works printed in Palestine prevented this essential work from
being published.

Ben Yehoyada (Ben Yhoyada) and Benayahou: his commentary on the Talmud,
considered a basic resource in understanding the Aggada (narrative sections of the
Talmud).

The Responsa (Hebrew: Sheelot U-Teshuvot) Rav Pe'alim (Rab Palim) and Torah
Lishmah.

The names Ben Ish Chai, Me-Kabtziel, Rav Pe'alim and Ben Yehoyada derive from 2
Samuel 23:20. He chose these names because he claimed to have been a reincarnation
of Benayahu ben Yehoyada (described as Ben Ish Chayil, the son of a valiant man); the man
in whose merit, it is said, both the first and second Holy Temples stood.
Hakham Yosef Chaim was also noted for his stories and parables. [citation needed] Some are
scattered through his halachic works, but have since been collected and published
separately; others were published as separate works in his lifetime, as an alternative to the
European-inspired secular literature that was becoming popular at the time. HisQnn-unNis' ( ) is a book filled with parables concerning self-improvement. The book,
directed towards, but not limited to women, is rare since it was composed inJudeo-Arabic.
[citation needed]

It was last published in Israel in the 1940s.

See also[edit]

Jonatan Meir, "Toward the Popularization of Kabbalah: R. Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad

and the Kabbalists of Jerusalem", Modern Judaism 33(2) (May 2013), pp. 147172

Kaf HaChaim a more discursive, and contemporaneous, Sephardi work of

Halakha by Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer.

Yalkut Yosef, a contemporary Sephardi work of Halakha, based on the rulings of

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Yehuda Fatiyah a student of Yosef Chaim.

Ben Ish Hai," [1] - The Life & Times of Hacham Yosef Haim by Yehuda Azoulay

External links[edit]
Find more about
Yosef ayyim
at Wikipedia's sister projects

Media from Commons

Jonatan Meir "Toward the Popularization of Kabbalah: R. Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad

and the Kabbalists of Jerusalem", Modern Judaism 33(2) (May 2013), pp. 147-172

References[edit]
1.

2.

Jump up^ Reuven Snir, 'Religion Is for God, the Fatherland Is for Everyone: ArabJewish Writers in Modern Iraq and the Clash of Narratives after Their Immigration to
Israel', Journal of the American Oriental Society, 126/3 (2006), 37999
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/20064515>, p. 381; 'Yoseif Chaim (18321909), who forcefully
condemned Obermeyer's innovations. The communal leaders also united in putting him
into cherem [sic] (exclusion from communal participation) and the proclamation was read
aloud in every synagogue in Baghdad.'
Jump up^ Abraham Stahl, 'Ritualistic Reading among Oriental
Jews', Anthropological Quarterly, 52/2 (1979), 11520 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3317261>,
p. 115; 'Jacob Obermeyer, a German Jew who lived in Baghdad from 1869 to 1880, found
that many people read the Zohar although they did not understand its meaning. Elderly
people told him that the custom was fairly new and not much in vogue in their youth.'

The Ben Ish Chai Chacham Yosef Chaim (1834 1909), ou.org

Great Jewish Leaders, Eliezer C. Abrahamson

The Ben Ish Chai, tzemachdovid.org

Rabbenu Hakham Ribbi Yoseph Hayyim, benishhai.org

Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, torah.net

Benaihu Ben Yehoyada, ascent.org.il

Resources

Ben Ish Chai text (missing the Introduction) (Hebrew), shechem.org

Ben Ish Chai, fulltext, He:Wikisource

Ben Ish Chai portrait by Tiefenbrun

Ben Ish Chai audio lectures (MP3)

Les Fleurs de l'Orient: The Genealogy Site, farhi.org

The Halachot of the Ben Ish Hai, transl. S. Hiley, Philipp Feldheim. ISBN 1-58330160-7

Golden Apples: Parables Of The Ben Ish Chai , Y. Kahn, Artscroll. ISBN 0-89906404-3