Community Magazine May 2013

"We live in an upside-down world.” This is how Hacham David Yosef, shelit”a , described his feelings in response to the untimely passing of his esteemed brother and renowned Torah sage, Hacham Yaakov Hai Yosef, zt”l , at the age of 66. Hacham Yaakov, the oldest son of Hagaon Hacham Ovadia Yosef, shlita , who served as Rosh Yeshiva of Hazon Yaakov and rabbi of Jerusalem’s Givat Moshe neighborhood, returned his soul to its maker just several hours before the onset of Shabbat on 2 Iyar (April 12), following a courageous 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Throngs of students, admirers and Jews of all backgrounds assembled just before Shabbat to accompany the revered hacham to his final resting place and offer condolences to the family. The Flatbush community was given the opportunity to hear firsthand about this towering sage when circumstances forced his brother, Hacham David, to observe a day of shiva in Brooklyn en route to Jerusalem. HachamDavid was inMexico on Friday morning when he received word of his brother’s steadily deteriorating health. He decided to travel to New York for Shabbat, and then continue to Israel after Shabbat. Shortly after his arrival in New York, he received a second phone call, informing him of Hacham Yaakov’s passing. The hacham observed shiva that day in the home of Mr. Daniel Bergman, where throngs of community members and prominent community rabbis flocked to greet the hacham and express their condolences. During those hours, Hacham David spoke at length about his revered brother and his accomplishments as a Torah sage, gifted leader and educator, and devoted servant of the Jewish people. HachamYaakov was born on Motza’e Simhat Torah (October 18), 1946, in Jerusalem, when his father served as a dayan (rabbinical judge) in the city. He is the second child, and oldest son, of Hacham Ovadia. A year later the family moved to Egypt, where they would spend the next three years until their return to Israel. Hacham Yaakov studied in the famed Yeshivat Porat Yosef in Jerusalem, where he established a close personal relationship with the Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yehuda Tzadka zt”l . He later spent time learning in Yeshivat Kol Torah under the tutelage of Rabbi Shelomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l . Hacham David related that his father held Rav Shelomo Zalman in very high esteem and wanted his son to have exposure to this preeminent Torah sage. After his marriage to his wife, Nitzhiya, he studied in Kollel Kol Yaakov and Mossad Harav Kook in Jerusalem. A Fountain of Torah HachamYaakov began his career as a Torah educator at the young age of 22. “When my father accepted the position of Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv in 1969,” Hacham David related, “he needed someone to replace him as a maggid shiur at the Borochov Synagogue in the Bukharian section of Jerusalem. My father was not successful in finding the right person until he decided to give the position to my brother Yaakov.” The young teacher exceeded expectations, and his lectures gained rapid and widespread popularity. “Yaakov’s shiurim were so well received by the baale batim [laymen] that the weekly shiur became a daily shiur . He spoke a very clear Hebrew and gave over every class slowly, purposefully, and meticulously. No one could compete with my brother as a maggid shiur .” Hacham Yaakov was a tireless disseminator of Torah, who spent virtually the entirety of every day delivering classes. “Every talmid hacham has a special area in which he is known,” Hacham David reflected. “My brother was very gifted and capable in many areas. However, the area in which he excelled was that of giving shiurim . He would pray netz [at sunrise] at the Kotel and afterwards start on his schedule of shiurim , delivering at least seven in one day until about 10pm. Then he would stay up until the early hours of the morning learning on his own.” His success as a teacher lay in his rare ability to convey scholarly information in a manner that can be easily understood and digested by virtually anybody, to bridge the enormous gap between his PNINA SOUID Hacham Yaakov Yosef, zt”l 26 Community magazine