A Short Tribute

Hacham Sliman David Sasson, son of Hacham David Sasson, was born in London on 4 Elul 5675 (1905) on a Sabbath day. He studied with private tutors at the home of his grandmother, Freicha Sasson, who was a Torah scholar in her own right, well versed in Bible, Talmud and Halacha. As a child he spoke Arabic with his father and grandmother, German with his mother, and Hebrew or Yiddish with his tutors.

In 1924 he visited the Land of Israel with his parents, where they met Hacham Bechor Quaknine from Tiberias, who returned with them to London to become Hacham Sliman David Sasson’s teacher. In addition to religious studies, Hacham Sliman David Sasson studied mathematics, physiology and other sciences, and would keep up to date by reading scientific journals.

Hacham Sliman David Sasson was ordained to the rabbinate by Rabbi Samuel Yitzhak Hillman, Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler and Hacham Shemtob Gaguine.

In 1939, during the Second World War, he helped his father in his work rescuing Jewish refugees who had reached England from Germany.

Hacham Sliman David Sasson immigrated to Israel In 1971 and settled in Jerusalem. He founded the movement for the renewal of Babylonian Jewry and for the preservation of the Babylonian Jewish heritage.

Hacham Sliman David Sasson passed away on 7 Sivan 5745 (1985) and was buried in Jerusalem. Most of his writings have remained in manuscript form. A collection of his original Torah commentary can be found in the book, Natan Hochma Le’Shlomo.