BADI?I, YA?YA BEN JUDAH

BADI?I, YA?YA BEN JUDAH (c. 1810–1887), Yemenite author of works on the Pentateuch and halakhah. Badi?i belonged to one of the distinguished wealthy families of San'a, members of which were skilled goldsmiths by trade and served as minters to the Imams. This was a responsible but dangerous task for Jews since false accusations were frequently brought against them by the authorities. This was the case when Badi?i and his father were imprisoned by the reigning Imam El-Mahdi (1815–1835). The father regained his freedom by paying a high ransom, but Badi?i, faced with the choice between death or apostasy, succeeded in escaping to Karokaban, where the ruler treated the Jews with greater tolerance. Here he served as head of the local bet din. When Jacob *Saphir visited Yemen in 1859, he met Badi?i, whom he described as one of the leading and most God-fearing scholars of Yemen Jewry. Badi?i wrote three works which are still in manuscript: ?en Tov, a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Pentateuch to which he added his original explanations with an appendix of 52 of his own responsa; Ziv?ei Shelamim; and Le?em Todah (based on the Zeva? Todah of Ya?ya ?ala?) both on the laws of she?itah and terefot. This latter work, a resume of the laws of she?itah and terefot according to Yemenite customs, was written both to supply exact information for sho?etim in the villages and to stimulate Torah study, which had declined considerably.

bibliography:

J. Saphir, Massa Teiman, ed. by A. Yaari (1951), 137–8, 186; Y. Ratzaby, in: KS, 28 (1952/53), 265, 270, and suppl. 34 (1958/59), 110–1.

[Yehuda Ratzaby]