“We have come to express to you our thanks for your proud stand during the Pope’s visit to Israel,” we said to Chief Rabbi Nissim when we visited him in his residence in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Nissim replied that he had acted only in accordance with his duty and tasks. As a representative of the Jewish faith he could meet with the Pope—but not wait upon him, for this would have meant an affront to the Jewish religion.
“There are many missionaries in the country trying to seduce our brethren. Would I have met with the Pope in the manner I was asked to do, they would immediately have spread the word: ‘See the leader of the Jewish religion waited upon the Pope. Doesn’t this show that the Christian religion is superior?’”
“I have acted as my conscience and duty had bidden me,” Rabbi Nissim stressed.
We talked about the Ecumenical Council’s draft on the Jews.
“I cannot understand why some Jewish organizations overflow with gratitude for the church on account of the proposed resolution which wants to ‘cleanse’ us of ‘our guilt’. We Jews have never felt any guilt. Our Fathers have not sinned. The Christians should feel guilty for having encouraged through their teachings the growth of anti-Semitism and they should really do something about it. Yet our wish that the Christians eradicate anti-Jewish sentiments from their teachings should not be interpreted as an admission on our part of any feeling of guilt,” Rabbi Nissim declared.
The sixty-eight year old chief rabbi was born in Baghdad. His father was a rabbi who spent much time studying Torah.
At the age of ten, Nissim visited Jerusalem, and after his return to his native city, devoted himself with great enthusiasm to the study of our sacred literature. He became known as one of the great Talmidei Chachamim of Iraqi Jewry. Though he refused to accept a position as rabbi, he participated prominently in the spiritual leadership of Iraqui Jewry and took part in the deliberations of the Chacham Bashi (Chief Rabbi) and rabbis of Baghdad.
He also corresponded with many great Palestinian and European rabbis, including the sainted Chofetz Chaim, who praised his writings.
In 1925, Rabbi Nissim again visited Jerusalem and a year later settled there permanently. Soon after he left his native country, the leaders of the Baghdad community asked him to return to become their spiritual head, but Rabbi Nissim would not leave the Holy City. In 1929, elections to the chief rabbinate of Baghdad, created a deep rift in the community. After the assimilationists succeeded with the help of the British government to enforce the election of their candidate, Rabbi Nissim went to Baghdad and with the assistance of the late Rabbi Yaakov Meir, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, and the Palestinian and British personalities was able to bring about the annulment of the elections.
In Jerusalem, too, Rabbi Nissim served as spiritual leader and adviser to Sefardi rabbis and communities. In 1955 he was elected to his present position as Rishon Lezion.
Rabbi Nissim has contributed studies to many Torah journals, has edited response by famous Sefardi rabbinic authorities and has published Kanogah Zidkah, a decision on the affairs of the oriental communities in Jerusalem. In 1957 there appeared the first part of his collection of response.
The chief rabbi has a very rich collection of books and manuscripts by Sefardi rabbis. Before we took leave of him we asked him to show us his great literary treasures. He gladly consented to do so. He spoke to us of the famous Sefardi authorities and their books and pointed out to us the published works of Rabbi Haim Galipapa. Rabbi Haim Galipapa was rabbi of Smyrna about one hundred years ago. He published 72 books (incidentally the total numerical value of Chaim is 72. Chaim in gematriah is 68. Add thereto the four letters of the word and you have 72.)
“These seventy two books were not the only literary produce by Rabbi Galipapa. In the introduction to his commentary on the Haggadah, Rabbi Galipapa writes that many of his manuscripts were burned in a fire,” Rabbi Nissim told us.
The rabbi took the book from the shelves and showed us the introduction. The fire occurred on the eleventh day of Av of the year 5601 (1841).
It was on the eleventh day of Av that we visited the Chief Rabbi. What a coincidence!
By Chaim Yerushalmi, Pen name of Tovia Preschel
Jewish Press
August 7, 1964
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With the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem by the Israeli Defense Forces, Chief Rabbi Isaac Nissim decided to transfer the seat of the Rabbinical Supreme Court to a location near the Temple Mount.
At first he thought of installing the Court in the Synagogue of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, the oldest synagogue of the Old City. However when he learned that the rebuilding of the Shrine which like former houses of prayer in the old city had been destroyed by the Arabs would take some time, he decided to establish the court in a building near the south-western corner of the Temple Mount.
On the eve of Tish’a Be’Av the new seat of the rabbinical court was dedicated. Prior to the opening ceremony, the Chief Rabbi, the judges and other dignitaries prayed at the Western Wall.