10 Facts About Jacob Rakkah

Jacob Rakkah, spelled Raccah, was a Sephardi Hakham in the 19th-century Jewish community of Tripoli, Libya.

Jacob Rakkah was a well-known posek for Sephardi Jews, a rosh yeshiva, and author of approximately 40 sefarim, some of which were published during his lifetime.

Jacob Rakkah was the son of Rabbi Solomon Rakkah and the great-great-grandson of Rabbi Mas'ud Hai Rakkah, author of Ma'aseh Rokeah, who had come to Libya as a shadar from Palestine and stayed to lead the Jewish community in Tripoli for 20 years.

Jacob Rakkah worked as an accountant for a large firm.

Jacob Rakkah was known as a great Torah scholar and posek.

Jacob Rakkah founded at his own expense Yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Tripoli, which housed an estimated 1,000 seforim and valuable manuscripts.

In 1863 Jacob Rakkah published the third volume of his great-great-grandfather's halakhic work, Ma'aseh Rokeah.

Jacob Rakkah's cousin and contemporary, Hakham Abraham Hayyim Adadi, who was a great-grandson of Mas'ud Hai Rakkah, published the second volume of Ma'aseh Rokeah in 1862.

Jacob Rakkah was a contemporary of many great rabbis in Tripoli and other countries.

Jacob Rakkah had 2 sons: Rabbi Abraham Rakkah and Rabbi Kamus Rakkah.