Ben Ish Chai, "Son [of] Man [who] Lives", (actual Hebrew name Yosef Chaim) was a Sephardic Judaism rabbi (chacham) and Kabbalist who lived in Baghdad from 1832 to 1909. He is best known by the name of the work of Halakha (Jewish law) that he authored by the title Ben Ish Chai. Chaim succeeded his father as rabbi of Baghdad at age 25, on his father's death and became widely accepted as an authority on Jewish law throughout the Middle East.

The Ben Ish Chai is considered by some, to be the "Sephardi Kitzur Shulchan Aruch" - it is the standard reference in Sephardi homes and is used in Sephardi eshivot. Due to the popularity of this book, Chaim came to be known as "The Ben Ish Chai", by which he is referred to universally today within Judaism. The book is a collection of homilies he gave over two years along with the weekly Torah portion. Each chapter begins with a mystical portion, usually explaining how a Kabbalistic interpretation of a certain verse relates to a particular halakha and then continuing to expound on that halakha with definitive rulings.

Chaim is also the author of Responsa (in Hebrew: Sheelot U-Teshuvot) known as the Rav Pe'alim and Torah Lishmah. He arranged a siddur (Jewish prayerbook) that is widely used by Sephardic Jews. His commentary on the Talmud, Ben Yehoyada, is considered by many scholars of Judaism to be second only to the Maharsha as a resource in understanding the Aggada (narrative sections of the Talmud). He wrote an esoteric exposition of Jewish law in MeKabtziel which he refers to in Ben Ish Chai for more detailed explanations of his reasoning for certain decisions (see 2 Samuel 23:20)

The most respected Sephardic yeshiva, Ben Porat Yosef, was founded in Jerusalem by one of Rabbi Chaim's patrons at the rabbi's insistance.

External links

References

• • Great Jewish Leaders, Eliezer C. Abrahamson
  • Ben Ish Chai, tzemachdovid.org
  • Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, torah.net
  • Benaihu Ben Yehoyada, ascent.org.il

Resources

• • Ben Ish Chai (Hebrew full-text), shechem.org
  • The Halachot of the Ben Ish Hai, transl. S. Hiley, Philipp Feldheim. ISBN 1583301607