Rabbi Yosef Kafach: A Life Fulfilled By Matis Greenblatt

In 1172 the Rambam wrote his ed to Eretz Yisrael. He lived in Tel S. D. Sassoon and which wer e Epistle toY emen, which played a deci- Aviv, where he pursued his trade. extant on a substantial part of the sive role in rescuing Yemenite Jewry However, the contrast between mod- Mis h n e h . The commentary was firs t from apostasy and conversion to Islam. est, insular Yemen, and brash, cos- published with the Arabic original in In a remarkable expression of grati- mopolitan Tel Aviv produced a pro- se v en volumes, and then in the Heb r ew tude, inserted a refer- found feeling of loneliness in Rav version alone in three volumes. It was ence to the Rambam in the daily Kafach. He comforted himself by rec- completed in 1967. Rav Kafach was Kaddish. They have never forgotten ollecting life in Yemen and wrote The aw a r ded the Israel Pri z e in 1969. the Rambam’s support, and he has Ways Of Yemen(Halichot Teiman), a In this work, Rabbi Kafach points remained their leading authority for all description of Yemenite life and cus- out numerous errors in the prev i o u s l y subsequent generations. toms, which he did not publish until printed versions of the commentary. This past summer, Rabbi Yosef he was urged to do so in 1961. He also makes note of the rev i s i o n s Kafach passed away in Jerusalem. Rav Kafach moved to Jerusalem, made by the Rambam. Thus, for Born in San’a, Yemen in 1917, Rav where he attended Yeshivat Mercaz example, in the first mi s h n a h of the Kafach’s entire life was permeated with HaRav and the Harry Fischel Institute. sixth and ninth chapters of She v i i t , he the and mesorahof Yemen. His He was selected to become a dayan by cites three versions of the commentary, father and grandfather, David Rabbi Yitzchak Herzog and served in and in the fifth mi s h n a h of chapter 10, and Yichya Kafach were devoted to that capacity from 1950 to 1988. he cites four versions. This work is a teaching the works of the Rambam Towards the end of his life, the classic and is indispensable for the study and establishing the correct text of his Rambam was asked by the scholars of of the commentary, as well as showi n g writings. To this end, they spent huge Lunel, France, to translate part of his its relationship to the Mishneh Tora h . sums in order to recover manuscripts, Guide to the Perplexedinto Hebrew. The standard edition of the Guide to even fragments of manuscripts of his He replied that he would be most the Perplexedcontains the translation works. Rav Yichya instituted the happy if he could translate all of his of Rabbi Shmuel Ibn Tibbon, which is study of the original Arabic commen- Arabic works, but was unable to do so. difficult to follow because of its use of tary to the Mishnah on Friday nights Subsequently, translations of all of his Arabic syntax. Rav Kafach prepared a from midnight to daybreak. He Arabic works were published, however new, readable translation accompanied repeatedly expressed a desire to see the there were inadequacies in all of them. by highly informative footnotes. He publication of a new, correct version of In 1940, at a meeting with Rav Dov also translated the Rambam’s Book of the Rambam’s works. Kook (director of the Har r y Fis c h e l Precepts (Sefer Hamitzvot) and a vol- Yosef’s father died when he was a Institute) and Rabbi Meir Berlin, the ume of his letters, and published a small child and his grandfather died in co n v ersation turned to the Rambam’s small volume Hamikra B’Rambam, 1932. Though very young, Yosef mar- writings, and Rav Kafach broached the which indexes all of the Biblical pas- ried shortly thereafter. (In Yemen, possibility of undertaking a new trans- sages on which the Rambam com- Jewish orphans were forcibly converted lation of the commentary on the mented in any of his works. to Islam, unless married.) He worked Mishneh Tora h , as well as all of the Rav Kafach’s second great love was as a silver/goldsmith while continuing Arabic writings. He was encouraged to for the works of Saadiah Gaon and he his studies. do so. Rabbi Kafach began the prepared a new translation of the Book In 1943, he and his family emigrat- painstaking work of comparing the best of Beliefs and Opinionsbased on the extant manuscripts, including original last version written by Rav Saadiah. Matis Greenblatt is the literary editor manuscripts in the Rambam’s own He also published Rav Saadiah’s com- of Jewish Action. hand, which wer e in the possession of mentary on the Torah containing the

JEWISH ACTION Winter 5761/2000 then known extant fragments of that Guide to the Perplexedand the for the Rambam and Saadiah Gaon. commentary. He published, for the Rambam of the . Rav In the case of the Rambam, one feels first time, the complete translation of Kafach strongly disagreed with this almost as if he were representing Rav Saadiah’s commentary with intro- school of thought, believing that there Yemenite Jewry in repaying an old ductions to the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, is total unity within all the Rambam’s debt of gratitude. and Daniel. Each of these is a major works. (See Rav Kafach’s introduction Though his scholarship was impecca- work, which has not been sufficiently to volume 14.) Those whose main ble, he was anything but the detached appreciated. Rav Kafach also translat- focus is philosophy failed to under- scholar. In his introduction to ed Bachya ibn Pakuda’s Duties of the stand that the Rambam’s ultimate Saadiah’s commentary on Psalms, Rav Heart, though unfortunately in the objective was to recognize the Creator Kafach wrote: Though my primary American edition published by of the world (L’hakir et Mi she’amar goal was redemption (from oblivion) of Feldheim, his valuable notes were v’hayah haolam). One might add that the commentary, and clothing it in the omitted. Rav Kafach himself was unique in that Hebrew language... the entire time I was With his translation of Judah occupied with it I was suffused yb HaLevi’s Kuzari, Rav Kafach had a spiritual world of emotions, as completed translations of all the if standing before the King of the major medieval works of Jewish World. thought that had been written in On the Seventeenth of Arabic. He also edited the responsa Tammuz, towards evening, of Rabad and the Ritva and many Rabbi Kafach told his wife, other works. Suffice it merely to Brachah, that he felt his life mention his publication of many coming to a close. He washed Yemenite halachic, midrashic, and and dressed, and at about 9:30 philosophic works. sat down to learn, which was an Rabbi Kafach’s last major work unusual break of his normal pat- was a new edition of the Mishneh tern. (On most nights he went Torah in 23 volumes, accompanied to bed about this time, and rose by a massive commentary based on at about 1:30 a.m.) At about hundreds of commentators. Each midnight, she looked in on him volume runs from 400-800 pages. and saw that the rabbi’s face He presents the text based on “shone like an angel’s,” as she Yemenite manuscripts, which he had never before seen. At 2:00 considers to be the most accurate — a.m., she awoke, rose and found citing an old tradition that during him lying on the floor surround- the Rambam’s lifetime, Yemenite ed by his open, beloved seforim. Jews sent expert scribes to Egypt to He was 82, the same age his copy the Mishneh Torah from the grandfather had been at his Rambam’s own manuscripts. From demise. time to time, they returned to Rabbi Yosef Kafach zt"l (1917-2000) Jewish life in Yemen is just update the changes the Rambam about over. Most Yemenite Jews had made. Rav Kafach points out that he contributed significantly to the have emigrated to Israel. In Yemen, many scholars are not aware of the Rambam’s philosophic as well as their ancient Jewish tradition had been Rambam’s revisions, which helps to halachic works. preserved. (Many believe their pro- explain some of the difficulties in the Rabbi Kafach possessed an unusual nunciation of the Hebrew language is Mishneh Torah. combination of modesty and forth r i g h t - the most accurate of world Jewry.) As in all of his works, Rabbi Kafach ness. Though he was respectful of his Rav Kafach was hopeful, but not opti- wo r ked completely alone without benefit pr edecessors, he did not hesitate to rej e c t mistic, that these traditions would of assistants or computers. Amazingly, opinions which he felt wer e erron e o u s . continue in Israel. In his own life, he all 23 volumes were published in only His style was direct and at times even was able to maintain the Yemenite tra- two years, from 1984 to1986. Rabbi fe i s t y , refl ecting his primary objective of dition, notwithstanding his encounter Kafach anxiously looked forward to di s c o vering the truth, whether it be a with contemporary life and thought. completing this work, apprehensive co r r ect text or a proper interpret a t i o n . To many of his brethren he was an that he might not live long enough. The sheer immensity of his output is outstanding example that “the ways of Some students of the Rambam see a a tribute not only to Rav Kafach’s dili- Yemen” could yet find expression split between the Rambam of the gence, but above all to his great love amidst modern society. JA

JEWISH ACTION Winter 5761/2000