Tzadikim

Rabbi Shalom Halevi Elshich

Rabbi Shalom Halevi Elshich (1859, Sana'a, Yemen - 1st of Elul, 1944, Jerusalem) was the rabbi of the Yemeni community in Jerusalem.

Born: Sana'a, Yemen 1859
Died: Jerusalem, Israel, 1944
 

Rabbi Shalom Halevi Elshich (1859, Sana'a, Yemen - 1st of Elul, 1944, Jerusalem) was the rabbi of the Yemeni community in Jerusalem.

His history

Born in 1859 in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, the son of Yosef Elshich, a jeweler (ninth generation to Rabbi Yechia Elshich), and a friend to Beth Badihi, the sister of Rabbi Yahya Badih. He studied in the Talmud Torah, and then from his father, David Rabbi Dikhi and Rabbi Haim Korach. As a family, he made a living, knitting silk threads, and also slaughtered and sung.

In 1888 he intended to immigrate to Israel, but when he arrived at the port city of Hodhida, the Ottoman government banned immigration to Israel, and he was forced to return to Sana'a. When he returned to the city he appealed to the administration and the ban was revoked. He first visited Israel in 1882 and in 1891 immigrated with his family and other community members and settled in the Nahalat Zvi neighborhood of Jerusalem.

In 1893 he was elected head of the Yemenite community in Jerusalem, along with his friend Marie Abraham Allendaf. The community was independent under his leadership from 1908 until his passing. Rabbi Elshich and Rabbi Allendaf were sympathetic to Zionism and the new Yishuv and were representatives of their community at the "Great Church" in Zichron Yaacov in 1903. Due to tensions with the Yishuv's leadership during the Mandate, Rabbi Elshich approached ultra-Orthodox circles.  However, he remained true to religious Zionism.

After arriving in Jerusalem, he studied at the Kabbalah Yeshiva Beit El and Yeshivat Chesed El Participated in the establishment of the Torah Tal Torah Talmud and the Torat Moshe Yeshiva for members of his community. Established with Rabbi Haim Shaul HaCohen Dwik the "Rehovot of the River" Yeshiva.

In 1904 he founded the "Return of Zion"  with friends to buy land in the Nabi Samuel area.

He wrote poems and prayers, a Kabbalistic interpretation of the Torah and a chronicle of the history of his community, in which he tells of the tribulations in Yemen on the eve of immigration to Israel, and the settlement of the immigrants in Jerusalem and Jaffa. Most of his writings saw no light.

Rabbi Elshich died in 1944 and is buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery. Rabbi Yahya Abahel filled his place as a rabbi and the Yemenite congregation in Jerusalem.

From his essays

The Yemenite Elite of Eretz Israel, in: Abraham Yaari (Ed.), The Travels of Eretz Israel, Givatayim, Masada Press, 1976, pp. 650-640
. "Peace talk" (commentary on the Dewan songs). 1997.

May the merit of the tzadik Rabbi Shalom Halevi Elshich protect us all. Amen

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