A Short Tribute

Hacham Nachman Angel, son of Hacham Vidal, was born in approximately 1845, in Jerusalem. His father immigrated to Israel in 1830 with the group of Salonica sages that included Hacham Hisdai Alsheich, Hacham Abraham Kuenka and Hacham Menahem Elhassid.

During much his life, Hacham Nachman Angel was a rabbinic emissary for the Beit El kabbalist yeshiva in Jerusalem. He traveled throughout the Jewish world, stopping in Turkey, the Balkan countries, Romania, Vienna, Hungary, Egypt, India and Morocco.

In a letter written during one of his voyages, Hacham Nachman Angel writes that he spent seventeen days at sea, eating only bread and salt. He was often faced with danger, and recounts having once been miraculously saved from a band of robbers that attacked him.

In 1913 Hacham Nachman Angel stopped traveling and joined Rabbi David Soranga's rabbinic court in Jerusalem. He was eventually elected President of the Rabbinic Court. Hacham Nachman Angel's fixed place for prayer and Torah study was the Beit El yeshiva. He was the yeshiva and synagogue beadle, and would preach there on Sabbath days. Hacham Nachman Angel was also a member of the Sephardi Community Committee.

Hacham Nachman Angel passed away on 1 Tevet 5685 (1924). His only published work is Drushim VePerushim, published in 1977 thanks to the efforts of the Sephardi Community Committee in Jerusalem.