The Ben Ish Chai, HaRav Yosef Chaim, was the greatest Iraqi
rabbi of recent generations. From his citadel in Baghdad, in
which he wrote his renowned works, he cast the net of his
leadership over everyone of Iraqi descent in all the places
of their dispersion, including Jerusalem.
The Ben Ish Chai conducted extensive correspondence with
spiritual and communal Jewish leaders all over the world,
expressing his opinion on contemporary issues.
A convention was recently held in the Center for the
Tradition of Iraqi Jewry in Or Yehuda, in honor of his 90th
yahrtzeit. A booklet containing a number of his newly
found letters was presented at the convention. Discussions
were held about various aspects of HaRav Yosef Chaim's
influence upon his generation.
A lecture delivered by the Chakak brothers dealt with the
reaction of the Ben Ish Chai to the Zionist movement, which
had been founded during his lifetime.
At the beginning of the First Zionist Congress, convened by
Herzl in 1897, Rav Yosef Chaim began to explain the Jewish
approach to Moshiach and the geula. In his letter,
Ben Yehoyada, he spoke against those seeking to bring
the geula through mortal means. He also attacked the
religious Zionist rabbis, such as Rabbi Kalisher, writing to
him: "What kevodo thinks is a big mitzvah, I regard as
not so small a sin."
Dr. Tzvi Yehuda, head of the Center for the Tradition of
Iraqi Jewry noted: "The Ben Ish Chai sternly opposed the
activity of the Kol Yisrael Chaveirim Association (Alliance
Israelite Universelle) in Iraq, Iran and Kurdistan, which
tried to influence students to change their tradition and
culture."
Rav Yosef Chaim also intervened in issues in Eretz
Yisroel and supervised the activities of the emissaries
who came to Iraq to collect money.
The booklet contains four commentaries on the Torah culled
from HaRav Yosef Chaim's droshos, appearing in print
for the first time in this booklet.
