SOMEKH, ABDALLAH BEN ABRAHAM
- SOMEKH, ABDALLAH BEN ABRAHAM
- SOMEKH, ABDALLAH BEN ABRAHAM (1813–1889), rabbi and
posek of Baghdad. Abdallah was born in baghdad and was
a pupil of Jacob b. Joseph ha-Rofe. At first he engaged in business,
acquiring considerable wealth. When he perceived that the study of Torah
was being neglected, however, he abandoned his business and devoted
himself to the dissemination of learning. He founded the bet
midrash Abu Menashe which was established with funds provided by
the philanthropist Ezekiel b.
Reuben Manasseh, after whom it was named. In 1840 he founded, with the
help of the same philanthropist, the renowned Midrash Bet Zilkhah. He
died in a plague that swept through Baghdad, and was buried there,
against the orders of the government, in the court of the traditional
tomb of the high priest Joshua. This caused an outbreak of riots, in
consequence of which rabbis and communal leaders were imprisoned. After
three months, Somekh's body had to be exhumed and buried in another
cemetery.
Somekh was regarded as the supreme halakhic authority by communities of
Baghdadi origin throughout the Far East. He was the author of
Zivḥei Ẓedek (2 pts., 1899), halakhic decisions on the
Yoreh De'ah with appended responsa. In manuscript are two
more parts of the same work; Eẓ ha-Sadeh on the tractate
Beẓah; novellae on most tractates of the Talmud; a commentary
on the Passover Haggadah; Ḥazon la-Mo'ed, on the
calendar; and responsa.
-BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A. Ben-Yaacob, Toledot ha-Rav Abdallah Somekh (1949); idem,
Yehudei Bavel (1965), index.
(Abraham Ben-Yaacob)
Encyclopedia Judaica.
1971.
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