Complete Compilation Handwritten by the Ben Ish Chai

Complete Compilation Handwritten by the Ben Ish Chai

"May Hashem [א-ל ש-די] assist us and protect us and help us always, amen, may it be His will" (blessing of the Ben Ish Chai, twice! at the end of the compilation)

Complete compilation with approximately [82] pages written in the very hand of the Lion of Bavel, the leader of the Diaspora, Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim, author of Ben Ish Chai (whose manuscripts are famous as a segulah for protection and success). The sermon was delivered in 1901 (as indicated by the Ben Ish Chai in his preface), and to the best of our knowledge, it has never been printed.

The kuntress before us contains a very important sermon, one the Ben Ish Chai gave in memory of his father, Rabbi Eliyahu, who was the rabbi of Baghdad before him. The Ben Ish Chai attributed great importance to sermons such as this one, and he invested all his strength in it - for the ascent of his father's soul. Due to the depth of the sermon, it was not delivered as usual before the entire congregation, only for great Talmudic scholars. In the sermon he deals with both midrash, scholarly erudition and halachic adjudication. It is a one-of-a-kind sermon in which the Ben Ish Chai reveals his great prowess in all Torah realms. Due to the great importance of these sermons delivered in memory of his father, and their special content, the Ben Ish Chai saw particular importance in printing them and they were printed in his lifetime as part of his book Ben Ish Chayil and called 'Shnei Eliyahu.' (Apparently the sermon before us does not appear there.) The Ben Ish Chai, as was his way, opens the sermon with a blessing: "In the name of Hashem, may we achieve and succeed ... I delivered this sermon on 8 Elul 1901." He concludes with the words "A tzaddik lives by his faith." And at the end of the sermon, the Ben Ish Chai commands his important blessing twice(!): "May Hashem [א-ל ש-די] assist us and protect us and help us always, amen, may it be His will."

The Ben Ish Chai's manuscripts are known among Iraqi Jews [יוצאי בבל] as a segulah for success and protection for he who possesses them. Especially this manuscript before us, which, in rare form, contains a double blessing at the end,  certainly constitutes a segulah for protection for one who possesses it.

Rabbeinu Yosef Chaim [1833-1909], known as Ben Ish Chai, was the leader of Iraqi Jewry and the greatest Oriental sage of our times. He was born to Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim son of Rabbi Moshe Chaim, rabbi of Baghdad. He was a disciple of Rabbi Abdallah Somech, and his brilliance and righteousness were apparent from a young age. He started sermonizing in the Great Synagogue when he was only 26 years old. He continued delivering these sermons every Shabbat and holiday for about fifty years. Thousands of people gathered to listen to his eloquent words for four to five hours. He was world-renowned as "once-in-a-generation" in his knowledge of the hidden and revealed Torah and was noted for his great sanctity. In 1869, he traveled to the Land of Israel to pray at the graves of tzaddikim, when it was Divinely revealed to him that his soul was rooted in that of Benayahu ben Yehoyada. He titled many of his dozens of works according to this name: Ben Ish Chai, Ben Ish Chayil, Ben Yehoyada, Rav Pe'alim, and dozens more.

The Ben Ish Chai's father, Chacham Eliyahu ben Chacham Moshe Chaim [d. 7 Elul 1819] - this sermon was delivered in his memory. He inherited the rabbinate from his father, Chacham Moshe Chaim. He was very pious and a wondrous rabbi in the hidden and the revealed [aspects of Torah]. He authored several wondrous works - Midrash Eliyahu B'Torat HaNistar etc. In some of them, he mentions his son in his compositions. He was in charge of the charity funds, and in his lifetime, he was asked to transfer the fund's report, and he did not want to do so. Some started to pursue him. In the end, after he passed away, his secret was revealed - that he would distribute a lot of his own money - and he did not want this known in his lifetime.

41 leaves (82 written pages). Approximately 14x10 cm. Ink on high-quality graph paper. Characteristic Sephardic script with corrections. Entirely in his hand.

Fine-very fine condition. Taped reinforcements to the first leaf. Not bound.