Print this Article
One of the most prominent addresses in rabbinic literature towards the end of the nineteenth century, was in the quaint, unassuming town of Karaso-Bazar (Bilohirsk) in the Crimean Peninsula. The postman of this small town of 13,000 people – among them 3000 Jews of Krymchak (Crimean) and Ashkenazi descent – would deliver dozens of letters a day, from the most revered Halachic authorities and Talmide Hachamim around the world, to the doorstep of Ribbi Hayim Hizkiyahu Midini.
His responses, many of which are included in the many volumes of the “Sdei Hemed”, are a masterful tapestry of breadth-of-knowledge, methodological thinking and Torah scholarship of unparalleled scope. Ribbi Hayim Hizkia (born as Hizkia in Yerushalayim in 1833, the name Hayim was added as a result of an illness) hailed from a respected family and studied Torah under the great scholars of his generation – Ribbi Yitzhak Kobo זצ”ל (the Rishon L’Tziyon in that time), and Ribbi Yosef Hayim Burla זצ”ל.
He was ordained at the tender age of 13 and married his wife, Rivka, when he was 18 years old in the presence of all of the Gedole HaDor. As life in Yerushalayim became increasingly difficult, he tried finding a source of Parnassah with his relatives in Izmir, which proved to be an unviable option. He was then offered the rabbinate of Karaso-Bazar, a position which he held for 33 years.
The relative peace and quiet the position afforded him allowed him to compile his magnum opus – “Sdei Hemed” along with other volumes of responsa such as “Ohr Li” (dedicated to the memory of his son, who passed away during his lifetime) and “Michtav M’Hizkiyahu”. His encyclopedic style draws on the style of the Sephardic Hachamim of yore, classifying and codifying the rules of the Talmud and Halacha in meticulous order. Ribbi Hayim Hizkiya took this genre to an entirely new level, discussing every Sugya so comprehensively that almost no stone is left unturned.
However, it came time for Ribbi Hayim Hizkiya to fulfill his lifelong dream of returning to Eretz Yisrael. After an emotional farewell from his community (which was decimated by the Germans in 1941, הי”ד), Ribbi Hayim Hizkiya left for the city of Hevron, to succeed Ribbi Rahamim Yosef Franco זצ”ל as the Rav. It was there that the great scholars of Eretz Yisrael were finally able to witness Ribbi Hayim Hizkiya in all his glory. Ribbi Hayim Hizkiya זצ”ל passed away in 1905 and is buried in the Bet Ha’Almin in Hevron.