Ezra Attiya was one of the greatest teachers of Torah in the Sephardic Jewish world during the 20th century.
30 Facts About Ezra Attiya
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Ezra Attiya was rosh yeshiva of Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem for 45 years, nurturing thousands of students who, together with their students, constitute the bulk of Sephardic Torah leadership today.
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Ezra Attiya's parents, Yitzchak and Leah, had lost several children in infancy, and before his birth they traveled to the gravesite of the Prophet Ezra to pray that if the child they were expecting was a boy, they would name him Ezra and see that he dedicated himself to a life of Torah.
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Ezra Attiya's father, a respected Aleppo melamed, was a direct descendant of Shem Tov Attiya, a disciple of Joseph Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch.
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When Ezra Attiya was 16 years old, his family immigrated to Jerusalem's Old City, to which a large number of rabbis from Aleppo had immigrated.
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Ezra Attiya went to learn, pray, and sleep on a bench in a small beth midrash in the Bukharim neighborhood of the New City called Shoshanim LeDavid, covering vast amounts of the Talmud with commentaries and poskim.
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Ezra Attiya was asked to join its staff along with distinguished Sephardic Rabbis Yosef Yedid HaLevi, head of the Sephardic beit din of Jerusalem, Shlomo Laniado, and Avraham Haim Ades.
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In 1909, Ezra Attiya married Bolissa Salem, daughter of Avraham Salem, a kabbalist.
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Ezra Attiya gave classes to working men, and was a dayan on the Cairo beit din.
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In Jerusalem, Ezra Attiya returned to his teaching position at Ohel Mo'ed Yeshiva.
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Ezra Attiya studied privately with Chaim Shaul Dweck and Solomon Eliezer Alfandari.
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When Porat Yosef Yeshiva opened in 1923, Ohel Moed was merged with the new yeshiva and Ezra Attiya was appointed as the mashgiach ruchani.
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Ezra Attiya refused to rewrite them, feeling that they were not meant for publication.
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Ezra Attiya did everything he could to enable boys to continue learning into their teens, many times offering to underwrite the costs of their education.
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Ezra Attiya went to Ben Zion Chazan, the yeshiva's founder and secretary, and offered to reduce his own salary to accommodate the boy.
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Ezra Attiya was similarly instrumental in keeping the young Ovadia Yosef in the Torah world.
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Ezra Attiya paid a visit to his home and was shocked by the poverty he saw there.
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The next morning, when the father entered his store, he found Ezra Attiya standing there wearing a work apron.
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Ezra Attiya had told the boy that he had found a substitute worker who would work without pay, and sent him back to yeshiva.
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Ezra Attiya was personally involved with every student in his yeshiva.
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Ezra Attiya developed a unique Sephardic approach to Torah and musar.
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Ezra Attiya always carried a copy of the musar classic Chovot ha-Levavot on his person, and strongly advised his students to do the same.
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Ezra Attiya instructed every class in the yeshiva to begin each day with a short musar lesson.
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Ezra Attiya was greatly respected by such Torah leaders as Tzvi Pesach Frank and the Chazon Ish.
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Ezra Attiya had an encyclopedic knowledge of all areas of Torah.
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Ezra Attiya served as a dayan on the Sephardic beit din of Jerusalem.
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Ezra Attiya's opinion was sought and valued by rabbinical leaders and laymen alike.
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Ezra Attiya died in Jerusalem on the morning of 25 May 1970 and was buried on Har HaMenuchot.
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Ezra Attiya was succeeded as rosh yeshiva by Yehuda Tzadka, who had learned under him since the age of 14.
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Ezra Attiya fulfilled his goal of training Sephardic Torah scholars who could build Sephardic communities at large.