16 Facts About Yosef Qafih

Yosef Qafih is widely known for his editions and translations of the works of Maimonides, Saadia Gaon, and other early rabbinic authorities, particularly his restoration of the from old Yemenite manuscripts and his accompanying commentary culled from close to 300 additional commentators and with original insights.

Yosef Qafih was the grandson of Rabbi Yihyah Qafih, a prominent Yemenite leader and founder of the Dor Deah movement in Yemen.

Yosef Qafih was the recipient of many awards, as well as an Honorary Doctorate from Bar-Ilan University.

Yosef Qafih was born 27 November 1917 in Sana'a in Yemen.

Yosef Qafih's father was Rabbi David Qafih, who died after being assaulted by an Arab man, when his son Yosef was less than one year old.

At the age of five, Yosef lost his mother and was raised by his grandfather Rabbi Yihyah Qafih, under whom he studied Torah.

In 1927, Yosef Qafih helped his grandfather retrieve the oldest complete Mishnah commentary from the Jewish community's genizah in Sana'a, containing Rabbi Nathan ben Abraham's elucidation of difficult words and passages in the Mishnah.

In 1970, Yosef Qafih was appointed as a dayan in the Supreme Rabbinical Court.

Rabbi Yosef Qafih was a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel and president of the Yemenite community in Jerusalem.

Yosef Qafih died on 21 July 2000 at the age of 82, and is buried in Jerusalem's Har HaMenuchot cemetery.

Yosef Qafih published several works of Yemenite Jewish provenance, such as Maor ha-Afelah by Nethanel ben Isaiah, and Garden of the Intellects by Natan'el al-Fayyumi.

Yosef Qafih identified with the Dor Dai tendency, except that he did not publicly express opposition to the Zohar beyond saying that it was preferable to draw sustenance from the teachings of Maimonides.

The fruit of Rabbi Yosef Qafih's scholarship remains, for the most part, untranslated and as such largely inaccessible to the English-speaking public.

Rabbi Yosef Qafih's followers observe halakhah as codified in Maimonides' Mishneh Torah with Yosef Qafih's commentary.

Halakhic literature stemming from the rulings of Maimonides and Yosef Qafih has been published.

Alongside the written works, shiurim rooted in Maimonidean doctrine and the exposition of Rabbi Yosef Qafih's teachings are given on a regular basis by a number of Rabbis in Israel such as Rabbis Ratzon Arusi, Uri Melammed, and Elyaqim Tzadoq.