Jacob Rakkah

Jacob Rakkaḥ (Hebrew: יעקב רקח‎, Yaakov Rakkaḥ) (1800 – 3 March 1891[1]), also spelled Raccah, was a Sephardi Hakham in the 19th-century Jewish community of Tripoli, Libya. He was a well-known posek (arbiter of Jewish law) for Sephardi Jews, a rosh yeshiva, and author of approximately 40 sefarim,[2] some of which were published during his lifetime.[1]

Hakham

Jacob Rakkaḥ
Title page of Shaarei Tefilla by Rabbi Jacob Rakkaḥ
Personal
Born
Yaakov Rakkaḥ

1800
Tripoli
Died3 March 1891 (aged 90–91)
Tripoli
ReligionJudaism
NationalityLibya
ParentsRabbi Shlomo Rakkaḥ
PositionRosh yeshiva

Biography

Jacob Rakkaḥ was the son of Rabbi Solomon (Shlomo) Rakkaḥ and the great-great-grandson[2] of Rabbi Mas'ud Hai Rakkah, author of Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ, who had come to Libya as a shadar (rabbinical emissary) from Palestine and stayed to lead the Jewish community in Tripoli for 20 years.[3][4] Jacob's brother, Zion, was also a Torah scholar.[5]

Like other Tripoli rabbis, Rakkaḥ did not wish to be supported by the community, and lived a life of poverty. He worked as an accountant for a large firm.[1][5]

He was known as a great Torah scholar and posek (arbiter of Jewish law).[1] His depth of knowledge was exemplary; his halakhic opinions usually relied on tens of, and occasionally over 100, poskim who preceded him.[5] His halakhic opinions are still cited today;[6] the Siddur Od Avinu Hai (Hebrew: עוד יוסף חי‎), published by Machon Hai Hai, is based on his emendations to the nusach and laws of prayer for Sephardi Jews.[7]

Rakkaḥ founded at his own expense Yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Tripoli, which housed an estimated 1,000 seforim and valuable manuscripts. The yeshiva convened nightly and craftsmen gathered to learn the weekly Torah portion on Shabbat. The yeshiva was destroyed by a bomber during World War II.

In 1863 Rakkaḥ published the third volume of his great-great-grandfather's halakhic work, Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ.[8] His cousin and contemporary, Hakham Abraham Hayyim Adadi, who was a great-grandson of Mas'ud Hai Rakkaḥ, published the second volume of Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ in 1862.[8]

Rakkaḥ was a contemporary of many great rabbis in Tripoli and other countries. From his writings, it is evident that he had a close correspondence with Rabbi Chaim Palagi and Rabbi Benjamin Pontremoli, author of Petach HaDvir. In Tripoli, his contemporaries were Rabbi Frajallah Dabush, Shalom Agib, Joseph Rubin, and others.

Jacob Rakkah had 2 sons: Rabbi Abraham Rakkah and Rabbi Kamus Rakkah.

His Hilula (commemoration of the day of death) on 23 Adar is celebrated each year in one of the Israeli moshavs populated by Libyan Jewish emigres.[2]

Selected bibliography
Kolo Shel Yaakov by Rabbi Jacob Rakkaḥ

Rakkah-Adadi family tree
Aharon Rakkah
Mas'ud Hai Rakkah
Yitzhak RakkahNathan Adadi
Baruh RakkahMas'ud Hai Adadi
Shilomo RakkahAbraham Hayyim Adadi
Jacob RakkahZion RakkahSaul Adadi
Abraham RakkahMeir Rakkah

Further reading
  • אנציקלופדיה ארזי הלבנון: אנציקלופדיה לתולדות גאוני וחכמי יהדות ספרד והמזרח [Encyclopedia Arzei HaLevanon: Encyclopedia of the Lives of Geonim and Hakhamim of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewry] (in Hebrew). 2. Yefeh Nof–Y. Posen. 2006. pp. 1192–1194.
  • Meḳabtsi'el. Yeshivat Hevrat Ahavat Shalom (39): 129–135. 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • יהדות לוב: מאמרים ורשימות על חיי היהודים בלוב [Jews of Libya: Articles and notes on the life of the Jews of Libya] (in Hebrew). Va'ad kehilot Luv bi-Yisra'el. 1960.
  • Vayaged Yaakov, pp. 358 – 391

Notes
  1. "מקצת שבחו" [Some of His Praise] (in Hebrew). HeHakham HaYomi. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. "הילולת ר' יעקב רקח זצ"ל" [Hillula of Rabbi Yaakov Rakkaḥ zt"l] (PDF) (in Hebrew). World Organization of Libyan Jews. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  3. Pedetzur, Benetia (26 January 2004). "ר' מסעוד חי רקח זצ"ל" [Rabbi Mas'ud Hai Rakkaḥ, zt"l]. Or Shalom (in Hebrew). Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  4. Encyclopaedia Judaica. 11. Macmillan. 1971. p. 251.
  5. Pedetzur, Benetia (26 January 2004). "בקדושה ובטהרה: רבנים וכלי קודש בקהילת יהודי לוב" [In Holiness and Purity: Rabbis and Scholars in the Jewish Community of Libya] (in Hebrew). Or Shalom. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  6. Eliyahu, Rabbi Mordechai. "פרשת השבוע: וישלח" [Torah Portion of the Week: Vayishlach] (PDF). Kol Tzofei'ach (in Hebrew). Darchei Hora'ah LeRabbanim. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  7. סדור עוד אבינו חי: למחנה וערבית : נוסח ליוורנו על פי ״תפלת החודש, כמנהג כל קהלות קודש הספרדים ... : עם תקוני נוסח והלכות ע״פ פסקיו של רבי יעקב רקח [Siddur Od Avinu Chai for Mincha and Arvit: Nusach Livorno according to Tefillat HaChodesh, according to all the holy Sephardic communities, with emendations in nusach and laws according to the opinions of Rabbi Jacob Rakkaḥ] (in Hebrew). Machon Chai Chai for the Study of the Writings of the Rabbis of Libya. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  8. "Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ" (in Hebrew). hebrewbooks.org. 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  9. ספר שערי תפילה [Sefer Shaarei Tefilla] (in Hebrew). 1870.
  10. "ויגד יעקב" [Vayaged Yaakov]. National Library of Israel. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  11. ספר פרסומי ניסא [Sefer Pirsumei Nisa] (in Hebrew). 1860.
  12. "Bidding Information". Virtual Judaica. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
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