ʿIrāqī, Shalom Joseph

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ʿIRĀQĪ, SHALOM JOSEPH

ʿIRĀQĪ, SHALOM JOSEPH (1843–1917), leader of the Yemenite community in Jerusalem. Born in San'a (Yemen), in 1882 ʿIrāqī immigrated to Palestine, together with all his family. In Jerusalem he earned his living as a goldsmith, at the same time devoting himself to study in the Sephardi yeshivah of the Old City, and acting as rabbi and leader of the Yemenite community. Because of his relationship with the ʿIrāqī family in India, he was sent to India, together with R. Meyuḥas, as an emissary of the Sephardi kolel (congregation). With the separation of the Yemenites from the Sephardi kolel in 1908, he was appointed as one of the three leaders of the independent congregation.

[Yehuda Ratzaby]