A Short Tribute

Hacham Yitzhak Eliyahu Laniado, born in Aleppo, earned the merit of having studied Torah in poverty. He was a scholar and kabbalist, and devoted his entire time to doing G-d's work, bringing his brethren back into the fold and preaching Torah to the public. His brother, Hacham Shlomo Raphael Laniado, immigrated to Israel and subsequently served as Rosh Yeshiva of the Porat Yosef Yeshiva. In 1912, Hacham Yitzhak Eliyahu Laniado immigrated to New York, from where he moved to Buenos Aires. He and Hacham Shaul Sitteon Dabbah led the community and strengthened its religious foundations. When Hacham Yitzhak Eliyahu Laniado passed away he was bitterly eulogized by Hacham Shaul Sutteon, despite the latter's instructions to the contrary. Hacham Shaul Sutteon Dabbah ruled that a zealous and righteous person of such fame was not to be heeded and that it was an imperative that he be eulogized in the synagogue, and so it was. The epitaph engraved upon his tombstone reads that he spent all his days in anguish, preached Torah to the public and led the wayward to repentance; he was the exemplification of "leading the public to righteousness"- zealous for G-d and His Torah, and scrupulous regarding His commandments. Hacham Yitzhak Eliyahu Laniado left this world on 17 Tishrei, 5678, and was buried in Buenos Aires.

Hacham Yitzhak Laniado had authored his book on mysticism, Vayizra Yitzhak, by 1912, but it was published only in 1928, thanks to his son's efforts.