A Decade Since the Passing of Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l • Lines of His

Today, the 3rd of MarCheshvan, we mark a decade since the histalkus of Maran, the glory of the generation, the gaon Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt”l, who was gathered to the Heavenly Treasuries in the year 5774. Below are a few lines that sketch his greatness, and the special connection he had with, may he be separated for life, the gaon and holy Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a:

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was born on the 12th of Tishrei 5682 to his father, R’ Yaakov, and his mother, Georgia, in Baghdad, Iraq. He was named after Rabbi Abdallah Somekh and the Ben Ish Chai. From early childhood, his extraordinary wisdom and immense diligence in Torah study were already evident. At only nine years old, he wrote his first work—a collection of notes on the sefer “Reishis Chochmah.” In the year 5685 he immigrated to Eretz Yisrael together with his family. Even before his bar mitzvah, at age twelve, he entered the Porat Yosef Yeshivah. Day by day he rose higher in Torah, and his sharp brilliance was apparent to all. At age twenty he received rabbinic ordination and served as a dayan in the Beis Din of the Sephardic community in Jerusalem. In the year 5704 he married the Rebbetzin Margalit a”h. One year before the establishment of the State, he moved to Egypt, where he was appointed Chief Rabbi. However, because of his great firmness—refusing to compromise even on the minimum of Judaism—he returned to the Holy Land after a little more than a year and a half in office. Maran became known above all for the great revolution he led in the world of Sephardic halachah. It can be noted that his first halachic work was published in 5712—Chazon Ovadia on the laws of Pesach. Rabbi Ovadia served as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv; it was then that he began his extensive efforts to uplift the honor and standing of Sephardic Jewry in the Holy Land. In addition, in the year 5733 he was appointed Rishon LeTzion in the Holy Land.

In the year 5774, during Chol HaMoed Sukkos, his health deteriorated. Many prayers were said throughout the land, and even The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—who was in Morocco at the time—prayed for his recovery at the holy tziyun of Rabbi David u’Moshe zy”a. But on the 3rd of MarCheshvan, “the heavenly beings overcame the mighty,” and the Ark of G-d was taken. He was brought to rest in a levayah that is considered to this day the largest in Eretz Yisrael since the establishment of the State, with more than eight hundred thousand participants.

The connection between Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zy”a and The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a:

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef held The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, in great affection, and he maintained a bond of friendship with him until his histalkus. Rabbi Ovadia expressed himself a number of times about The Rav’s greatness. A well-known meeting is the one in which Rabbi Ovadia told The Rav shlit"a that if he were the Prime Minister, all of Am Yisrael would return in teshuvah (Watch). During the years of the Iron Curtain, Rabbi Ovadia wrote a letter of support to The Rav shlit"a regarding his journey to Uman (Letter). He also asked more than once that The Rav shlit"a pray for him at the holy tziyun. Likewise, The Rav shlit"a was invited again and again to events attended by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zy”a, who honored him publicly before all.

May it be Hashem’s will that his merit be a shield and protection for us and for all of Israel, amen!

Below is a prayer for the day of the yahrzeit, written by The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a:

To merit, on the yahrzeit of Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef, the forgiveness of all sins, and that the Kohen Gadol be revealed with the Choshen upon Har HaMor

Yahrzeit of Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt”l — 3 Cheshvan

Master of the World, Who is all-powerful: today is the 3rd of Cheshvan, the yahrzeit of the gaon Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt”l, who was the neshamah of the Chazon Ish. Therefore he passed away in the month of “Marach Cheshvan,” the eighth month—the month that will bring all salvations. Therefore, the holy letter-combinations of “Devash hayom hazeh Hashem” apply here: this is the month of honey, for anyone who passes away in it enters straight into Gan Eden, without any sin or transgression, because all sins were already completely atoned for on the night of Yom Kippur. That is why there were no days as joyous for the daughters of Israel as the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, when the daughters of Israel would go out in borrowed white garments, to show that everything has turned white—that all redness has become white—and nothing remains except to dance and rejoice among the vineyards. For Am Yisrael are called a “kerem” = 260—ten Havayos 260 = 26× 10. Therefore, every Yom Kippur the daughters of Israel would dance among the vineyards. And now this is the moment of the Geulah. Therefore Rachel, and also our gaon Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, passed away in that same month—the month of honey, the month of “Choshen Mor”—when the Kohen Gadol enters with the stones of the Choshen and the Shoham upon Har HaMor, on Har HaMoriah, in the Beis HaMikdash.