BESSIS, JESHUA

BESSIS, JESHUA (1773–1860), Tunisian scholar. Bessis was appointed chief rabbi of Tunis in 1847 and served in this office until his death. He wrote responsa and a work on the Shulḥan Arukh, only the section on Yoreh De'ah being published, part of it under the title Avnei Ẓedek (1902) and part as Avnei Ẓedek u-Me'orot Natan (1903). Bessis wrote introductions and approbations for the books of Tunisian scholars. He engaged in practical Kabbalah and was regarded as a saint; his grave became a place of pilgrimage. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Arditti, in: Revue Tunisienne, 3 (1932), 102–3; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 2 (1965), 148.