Alsheikh, Raphael ben Shalom

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ALSHEIKH, RAPHAEL BEN SHALOM

ALSHEIKH, RAPHAEL BEN SHALOM (1881–1957), Yemenite scholar, teacher, and communal worker; the descendant of a family of sages and leaders in Sanʾa. During the great famine in the years 1900–03, Alsheikh fled to Aden and from there migrated to Jerusalem. He studied at the yeshivot and earned his living by working as a scribe. After World War i he was asked to serve as head of the Yemenite community school in Tel Aviv and taught there until his final years. Alsheikh also served as a rabbi and religious instructor. In his later life he was appointed rabbi of Tel Aviv's Yemenite community and represented it in the Asefat ha-Nivḥarim, the *Va'ad ha-Le'ummi, and the local religious council and burial society.

bibliography:

Y. Ratzaby and I. Shivtiel (eds.), Harel, Sefer Zikkaron R. Alsheikh (1962).

[Yehuda Ratzaby]