Community Magazine October 2003

36 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE TISHREI 5763 OCTOBER 2003 36 s ” xc R A B B I D A V I D S U T T O N Giants of The Glory Days I n 1886, Rabbi Yitzchak and Rabanit Leah Attia traveled 20 miles by donkey—a one day’s trip— fromAleppo, Syria to a little town called Tedef. People visited Tedef to pray by the tomb of Ezra HaSofer. Although Leah had two children, Eliyahu and Frieda, she had suffered many miscar- riages. As they beseeched Hashem for a healthy child, Leah promised that if it were a son, she would name him Ezra, after Ezra HaSofer, and dedicate him to Torah. Hacham Ezra Attia k"mz Part I of II DEDICATED IN MEMORY OF JAMILE v ” g BAT MAZAL AND HACHAM NISSIM k"mz BEN MAZAL COHEN Leah’s father was Michael Shammah, a descendant of the author of the Kurban Eshe, Eliyahu Shammah HaLevi. Her husband Yitzchak was a descendant of Hacham Shem Tov Attia, a student of the Beit Yosef. Whether it was due to Zechut Avot (merit of their fathers) or their intense prayers, Leah was able to keep her promise. She had a son on the 17th of Shvat, a year after the visit to Tedef. In Aleppo, Rabbi Yitzchak Attia was a tutor for children. Their poverty was severe, and the family moved to Jerusalem in search of a better living. The struggles continued there—when the doorknob broke, they couldn’t afford a new one. To guard against intruders, the family placed a pot on top of the door. This “alarm system” would fall and wake them should someone walk in unexpect- edly. Food was scarce—young Ezra was learning 18 hours a day with different Rabbis and Yeshiva students, but would subsist on one piece of pita bread. On a good day, they could also buy an egg which he would split with his mother. Years later, when he could afford to eat more, Hacham Ezra kept to the same one pita-per-day diet. “See how G-d blesses!” he told his son, “He gives us our liveli- hood. I have a day’s worth of food, what else do I need? Now I can sit and learn.” Hacham Ezra’s diligence would set off sparks of hatmadah (diligence to learn) in those who saw him. When Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim was a little boy, his older brother brought him to the Beit Midrash. He pointed to Ezra Attia, and told the young Yitzchak, “Watch this person learn. If you learn with his diligence, you’ll become a Talmid Hacham.” Rabbi Nissim became a Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He credits that moment in his life—seeing Hacham Ezra—as the source of his excitement and motivation to become a Torah Scholar. What kind of intense con- centration did that young boy see? One night, Rebbetzin Leah placed a dip for his pita bread next to Ezra while he was learning. Rather than sink his bread into the dip, Ezra kept dipping the bread into an empty plate. When his mother returned and saw the dip untouched, she realized what had happened. Ezra had been so