ḤAKAM AL

ḤAKAM AL, Baghdad family, members of which were rabbis of the community from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Moses Ḥayyim (1756–1837), rabbi and halakhic authority, was born in Baghdad. He served as rabbi of Basra for several years, and then—from 1787 until his death – as rabbi of Baghdad. The Jews of Baghdad continued to follow his decisions and takkanot. His novellae and sermons are scattered in the works of his contemporaries. ELIJAH BEN ḤAYYIM MOSES (1807–1859) was a rabbi, preacher, and kabbalist, and the author of Midrash Eliyahu (1862), a work on kabbalistic explanations of biblical and talmudic passages. He was also a wealthy and generous merchant. His son, JOSEPH ḤAYYIM (1833 (or 1835)–1909) was an outstanding scholar. His son JACOB (1854–1920), rabbi, kabbalist and preacher, succeeded his father (1909). He wrote: Ẓiẓim u-Ferahim (1904), homilies on the Pentateuch and Zekhut   Avot, which he appended to his father's work Ḥasdei Avot (1904). Several of his works, including responsa, and novellae on aggadah, are still in manuscript. Many of his novellae are scattered throughout his father's works. He was succeeded in turn by his son, DAVID. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Ben-Jacob, Yehudei Bavel (1965), 127, 192. (Avraham David)