Rav Chaim Abulafia of Teveria

Early years

Rav Chaim Abulafia zt"l was born in Chevron in 5420 (1660), the son of Moshe Abulafia. His family traced its yichus to Rav Chaim Abulafia, the Hamusmach HaZaken of Chevron, and the Chida writes in Shem HaGedolim that the family line goes back to Shevet Yehudah and the royal house. His maternal grandfather was Rav Yitzchok ibn Jamil of Chevron, author of Be'er LeChai and Chaim V'Chessed.

As a young boy he moved with his family to Yerushalayim, where he learned in the Bais Yaakov-Viga yeshivah, founded by Rav Yaakov Chagiz, under the rosh yeshiva, Rav Moshe Galanti. He also learned from Rav Shlomo Algazi HaZaken, together with his colleague Rav Chizkiyahu de Silva, known as the Pri Chadash. There he received semichah and was sent to Tzfas to teach and to serve as the rav of the city.

Torah and leadership

In Tzfas Rav Chaim gave derashos every Shabbos and Yom Tov. In 5459 (1699) he left on shlichus as a fundraiser for his poor brethren in Chevron. He travelled to Turkey, then to Saloniki and finally to Izmir.

In Izmir he met Rav Yisroel Benveniste, who had succeeded his father, Rav Chaim Benveniste, author of Shiurei Knesses HaGedolah on Shulchan Aruch. The two sparred and jousted in halachah. The young shadar (shaliach d'rabbanan, emissary of the rabbanim) would one day return to Izmir not as a fundraiser but as its rav.

Back in Eretz Yisroel, Rav Chaim was asked to serve as Rav of Tzfas. In 5485 (1725) Rav Yisroel Benveniste passed away, and Rav Chaim was chosen to succeed him as Chief Rabbi of Izmir. Amsterdam also sent him letters of appointment, but he was drawn by the peace and quiet of Izmir and chose to stay there. He published his seforim in Izmir during his years as rav, and he instituted many wholesome regulations for the community.

Rav Chaim had a profound influence on the kehillah, and even the Christian and Muslim populace revered him. He looked after the material welfare of his community as well as its spiritual welfare. Their economic situation was very depressed at the time, and he used his many talents to change the face of the kehillah.

Teachings and seforim

Rav Chaim published his Shabbos and Yom Tov derashos as Etz Chaim in Izmir, and he also published Mikra'ei Kodesh, which contains chiddushei halachos and treatises on Torah and Gemara themes. His Yosef Lekach, derushim on the Torah, appeared in three volumes between 1730 and 1732.

He wrote Yashresh Yaakov (1729) on the aggados of Ein Yaakov, and Shevus Yaakov (1733), an elaborate commentary on the same collection, which was compiled by Rav Yaakov ibn Chaviv and others. His Chanan Elokim contains derashos and pilpulim, and in it he included chiddushim from Be'er LeChai and Chaim V'Chessed, written by his maternal grandfather, Rav Yitzchok ibn Jamil of Chevron.

Later years and passing

Rav Chaim had long wished to rebuild Teveria, which had lain desolate for some seventy years with no shul or bais medrash. It is told that Eliyahu Hanavi appeared to him in a dream and urged him to do so. In his old age, around 1740, he restored the Jewish community there and served as its rav.

After four years as Rav of Teveria, during which he rebuilt the kehillah, Rav Chaim passed away on 6 Nissan 5504 (1744), at the age of eighty-four. Some say that he passed away on 7 Nissan, and others on 16 Nissan.

Legacy

Rav Chaim is remembered as a Torah commentator, a kabbalist and a great talmid chacham, and as the head of the beis din of Teveria. He was the grandfather of Rav Chaim ben Dovid Abulafia.