A Short Tribute
Hacham Bougid Hanina Saadon was born circa 1916 on the island of Djerba, Tunisia. Hacham Bougid Hanina Saadon was the most prominent student of Hacham Rahamim Hai Hawita Hacohen. He served as Head of the Djerba Rabbinic Court until 1991, when he left for Paris, where he led a community of Tunisian Jews in Paris' 19th quarter and established the Torah ve'Rahamim yeshiva, named after Hacham Rahamim Hai Hawita Hacohen.
Hacham Bougid Hanina Saadon passed away on the morning of 20 Nissan 5766 (2006), the seventh day of Passover, and was buried in Jerusalem.
Hacham Bougid Hanina Saadon authored many books featuring his innovative Torah thought, some dating back to 1930. Among his published works are Magid Teshuva, in 8 volumes – Responsa and Magid Hadashot, in 6 volumes – on the Talmud. Additional books, on the Haggadah and on commentary include Derishat Rachamim, Higgid le'Amo, and Higgid le'Mordercai.
A few quotes from the Rabbi on 'Customs of Israel' in which he teaches that when any link of a chain is shaken, the first one moves as well.
Our sages and rabbis, who have stood for us firmly in the past and still do in the present, are as connected to each other by their very beings as links are in a chain, leading to our Teacher, Moses, may he rest in peace, who received the Torah from the Almighty. Every rabbi, leader and rabbinic court that stands firmly for the People of Israel is like a link in the chain…
And it is a known fact that when a person shakes the last link of a chain - even if it be several hundred meters long and reach the top of a mountain thousands of meters high, and shaken from way below on the ground - the first link moves as well.
This is what the chain of transmission - received by our forefathers and passed on from one person to the next, going back to Moses, may he rest in peace - is like. Every word of learning expressed by the sages of any generation, even the least of them, is an expression of our Teacher, Moses, and the Almighty, and is as though the Shechina is speaking from the mouth of that sage himself.
Derishat Rachamim, Sermon 2, pp. 14 – 15, published by the author, 1985