Hacham Eliyahu Sham'a Halevy

Date of Birth: (0)
Date of Death: 11th of Iyar, 5574 (1814)

The Daily Sage, a database of Jewish Spanish sages

A Short Tribute

Hacham Eliyahu Sham'a Halevy, son of Hacham Joseph, was born in Aram Tzova, now known as Aleppo, Syria.

He was a learned and venerable individual, known for his charitable deeds. As Mara D'Atra, he stood at the head of two communities in Aleppo; the ancient community that preceded the expulsion from Spain and the Francos community that arrived in Aram Tzova after the expulsion.

In 1814 an epidemic broke out in Aram Tzova, and Hacham Sham'a Halevi become ill. He passed away on 11 Iyar, 1814 and was buried in the burial cave for Tzaddikim adjacent the Great Synagogue of Aleppo.

His son collected his original commentary in two books, entitled Korban Moshe – containing Responsa, Maimonides and sermons, and Machshirei Milah – on circumcision.

A few quotes from the Rabbi on Torah Study

in which he warns those who have attained Torah not to descend to scorn towards those who have not

"Yehoshua ben Perachia says, "Make for yourself a mentor, acquire for yourself a friend and judge every person as meritorious." By "Make yourself a mentor [rav]", the Tanah may have meant that one should become a mentor oneself, by toiling at Torah night and day, until reaching the level of a mentor and generating original commentary. We are given sound advice: You shall reach this level by "acquiring for yourself a friend", purchasing a quill and copybook as your friends; one should be constantly writing in the copybook, and adding to the amount [of writings] composed. And it says, "…judge every person as meritorious", meaning that if you have reached this level and have earned the merit of [creating] original commentary and composing a collection, "do not scorn any person" who has not earned similar merit but rather "judge every person as meritorious".

Hacham Eliyahu Sham'a Halevy, Korban Moshe, p. 286, Ahavat Shalom Company, Jerusalem, 1985 From 'The Daily Sage'