Rabbi Shilo Raphael, Av Beth Din of the Jerusalem Rabbinical District Court, died on the 3rd of Kislev (6th of November) at the young age of 54. He was buried on the same day. Despite the inclement weather many thousands, including rabbis, Roshei Yeshiva and Hasidic leaders, came to pay him their last respects. In accordance with his wishes, no eulogies were delivered.
The premature death of this brilliant Talmid Chacham, whose attributes includeed wide erudition with deep piety and outstanding moral qualities, leaves all of us poorer. He was playing an ever-increasingly important role in the rabbinic world. Had he been granted more years, he would- no doubt have occupied still more important rabbinic posts and would have continued to enrich Torah literature with significant works.
He was the only grandson late Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon, (Fishman) polific rabbinic writer and famous exponent of Relgious Zionism who was Israel’s first Minister for Religious Affairs. His father is Dr. Yitzchak Rapahel, a scholar and writer, chairman of Mossad HaRav Kook, and prominent leader of Mizrachi, who occupied important positions in the Jewish Agency and and in the Israeli government. Shilo’s mother, Gulah Bat Yehudah, is a scholar and writer in her own wright.
Rabbi Shilo Raphael studied at Yeshivat HaDarom in Rechovot, at Kol Torah in Jerusalem– where he became very close to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, the well-known Posek ofthe Holy City – at the Chevron Yeshiva and at the Kollel of Yad HaRav Maimon, which was headed by the late Rabbi Yaakov Betzalel Zolty.
During the years he studied at the Chevron Yeshiva, Shilo became attached to the late Rabbi of Gur, Rabbi Yisroel Altar, the Beth Ysirael. “He was my guide and master for 18 years,” he wrote after the death of the rebbe, ZT”L.
It was no small sensation in Jerusalem when it became known that the son and grandson of prominent Mizrachi leaders had become a devoted follower of the Rebbe of Gur, who was a pillar of Agudat Israel.
The Kollel of Yad HaRav Maimon published an annual called Beth HaTalmud. Shilo Rapahel was one of the editors and contributors to this publication, of which seven volumes appeared (1965-1971).
Shilo was ordained by the late Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, editor of the Talmudic Encyclopedia and Rabbi Yaakov Betzael Zolty, Rabbi of Jerusalem as well as by the Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Ovadya Yosef. When Shilo asked Rabbi Zevin to confer Semicha upon him, the latter said: ‘There are two ways of examining a candidate for Semicha. One discusses Torah with him and thus evaluates his knowledge, or one subjects him to a regular examination. We will do both.”
Rabbi Zevin examined Shilo and discussed Torah with him for several hours. “I came to Rabbi Zevin’s home in the early hours of the evening and left – with the Semicha in my pocket- late at night,” Shilo told me.
In1970 Rabbi Shilo Rapahel was appointed rabbi of the Kiryat Moshe quarter in Jerusalem. At the same time he also served as chaplain in the reserves after having undergone military training in the IDF.
In 1979 he was appointed Dayan. He officiated first in the District Beth Din of Rechovot and later in Jerusalem. Nine years later he was promoted to the position of Av Beth Din of the Jerusalem Beth Din.
Ravvi Shilo Raphael’s decisions- some of which were published in Piskei Din Shel Battei HaDin Harabbaniyim BeYisrael – were highly praised by the rabbinic authorities. He became known fo his untiring endeavors to resolve marital disputes and for his relentless efforts to help women whose husbands refused to give them a Get.
He decided cases relating to newly arrived Russian immigrants and, in order to familiarize himself with some of their problems,v isited the former Soviet Union.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, December 16, 1994