Yosef Qafih
| Yosef Qafiḥ | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
27 November 1917 Sana’a, Yemen, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 21 July 2000 (aged 82) Jerusalem, Israel |
Yosef Qafiḥ (Hebrew: יוסף קאפח), widely known as Rabbi Kapach (27 November 1917 – 21 July 2000), was a Yemenite-Israeli authority on Jewish religious law (halakha), a dayan of the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Israel, and one of the foremost leaders of the Yemenite Jewish community, first in Yemen and later in Israel where he was sought after by non-Yemenites as well. He is widely known for his editions and translations of the works of Maimonides, Saadia Gaon, and other early rabbinic authorities (Rishonim), particularly his restoration of the Mishneh Torah from old Yemenite manuscripts and his accompanying commentary culled from close to 300 additional commentators and with original insights. He was the grandson of Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ, a prominent Yemenite leader and founder of the Dor Deah movement in Yemen. Qafih was the recipient of many awards, as well as an Honorary Doctorate from Bar-Ilan University.
Yosef Qafiḥ was born in (27 November 1917) in Sana’a in Yemen. His father was Rabbi David Qafiḥ, who died when his son Yosef was one year old. At the age of five Yosef also lost his mother, and was raised by his grandfather Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ, under whom he studied Torah. In 1927, Yosef helped his grandfather retrieve the oldest complete Mishnah commentary from the Jewish community's genizah in Sana'a, containing Rabbi Nathan ben Abraham's elucidation of hard words and passages in the Mishnah. The commentary was later published in Israel. When Yosef was 14 his grandfather died and he inherited his position as rabbinic authority and teacher of the Sana’a community. To bypass his being forcibly converted to Islam as an orphaned child, Rabbi Yihye al-Abyadh (the king's physician) arranged for Yosef's marriage with Bracha Saleh (Tzadok) in the same year of his grandfather's passing. In his early years he worked as a silversmith.
...
Wikipedia