Community Magazine December 2013

Yehuda travels the world visiting museums and archives to do research, keenly aware of the vast amount of material still waiting to be unearthed. “I’ve only just scratched the surface in my research for Sephardic literature,” muses the young scholar. Thus far, Yehuda has authored four popular books: • A Legacy of Leaders – two volumes of inspiring stories and biographies of Sephardic hachamim. • The Ben Ish Hai : The Life and Times of Hacham Yosef Haim – a biography of the greatest Sephardic sage of the 19 th century. • A Legend of Greatness – The Life and Times of Hacham Haim Yosef David Azoulay – a study of the Hida, one of the most fascinating Torah luminaries of the modern era. Hacham Ovadia Yosef personally encouraged Yehuda to chronicle the life of the Ben Ish Hai – just as the hacham had himself done in 1962 in an article published in the journal Kol Sinai, where the great sage explained that he was driven to pen the piece “in order to proclaim our great and boundless appreciation for his exalted level of holiness.” Just last month, the Sephardic Legacy Series launched two new publications: a thoroughly researched academic work entitled, The Sephardi Journey – Sephardi Contributions Throughout History , authored by Dr. Sarah Taeib-Carlen; and The Legacy of Maran Hacham Ovadia Yosef , coauthored by Yehuda Azoulay and Rabbi Haim Shimon Ravia, which was recently released at the Sephardic Inaugural Event at the US Congressional Hall. Other books slated to circulate the market soon include: • Darke’Abotenou – the laws and customs of North African Jewry, by Rabbi Mordekhai Lebhar and Ariel Picillo. • Light of the East – a biography of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, authored by Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, and coauthored by Yehuda Azoulay. • Sefer Mi’mizrach Umi’Maarav – a unique work presenting halachic guidelines for Sepharadim studying or praying in Ashkenazic yeshivot and synagogues, by Yonatan Nacson. In addition to his writing, Yehuda has created two websites committed to the history and traditions of the Sephardic community. SephardicLegacy.com is a website aimed at “ensuring that the history, legacies and traditions of the great Sephardic communities throughout the world be recorded and remembered as an integral part of our rich heritage for generations to come.” His second website, SephardicBookstore.com, sells a broad selection of books of Sephardic interest, many by our own community authors. The Institute is also planning to launch an innovative project called Sephardic Tours, whereby Yehuda will travel to cities around the world and lecture about our heritage on-site. Noting one example of the program, Yehuda describes how he plans to “share Sephardic history to 300 high school teenagers from New York while touring a beautiful Sephardic synagogue, such as the Ahava Ve’ahava synagogue in Brooklyn.” A Two-Volume Masterpiece After the recent passing of HachamOvadia Yosef, Yehuda teamed up with Rabbi Haim Shimon Ravia (author of Melech B’yofyo ) and compiled their works from their years of research on the life of Maran. They worked around the clock to write and publish a book about the legacy of Maran Hacham Ovadia Yosef in time for his sheloshim . “Truthfully, it wasn’t my intention or desire to get the book out so fast,” Yehuda confesses. Circumstances, though, placed Yehuda into the position of an immediate turn-around. And this publication, he says, is just a taste of what’s to come. “I have been working on chronicling the life of Hacham Ovadia for six years. Besides for this book, an extensively researched book will be coming out shortly.” Just two days after the shivah observance for the great sage, his son, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef shelit”a , granted his blessing to the project. “I spoke to him on the phone to wish him my condolences and received his haskamah [approbation],” Yehuda relates. “The rabbi’s gabbai [assistant] mentioned to me that to have received an endorsement so quickly is an oddity.” The Legacy of Maran Hacham Ovadia Yosef is a 250-page masterpiece, presenting a plethora of inspirational stories, anecdotes and photos of Hacham Ovadia’s life from boyhood through his teenage and adult years. The second book, titled, Maran: The Life and Scholarship of Hacham Ovadia Yosef , is an extensively researched, 600-page work which is slated for release in several months. It thoroughly chronicles the hacham’s life with material culled from 57 of Maran’s works, 15 Hebrew books, scores of published articles, and personal accounts of his students and family. “In Maran’s books,” Yehuda notes, “he speaks of his wife, family, and events in his life. We have incorporated all this within our books.” The first four books that Yehuda authored: A Legacy of Leaders – Volumes I and Volume II, The Ben Ish Hai: The Life and Times of Hacham Yosef Haim, and A Legend of Greatness – The Life and Times of Hacham Haim Yosef David Azoulay. TEVET 5774 DECEMBER 2013 35