Joseph Messas (; lived 1892-1974) was a Moroccan-Israeli

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

posek In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...

, poet, historian, and public figure. He served as the rabbi of

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran and is the capital of Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the port of Rachgoun. It had a population of ...

and later as the Sephardi rabbi of

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. Marc B. Shapiro
Rabbi Joseph Messas
/ref>

Biography

He was born in

Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. In his youth he studied in the

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

of R' Halpern in Meknes, and also in the yeshiva headed by the brothers R' Yosef and R' Refael Alkobi. At age 31 he was chosen as chief rabbi of Tlemcen, a role he filled for 17 years.חכם יוסף משאש
/ref> Later, after the death of R' Yaakov Toledano, he returned to Meknes to serve as a judge. He was well known among government figures, and honored by the king of Morocco. In 5724 (1963-4) he moved to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and settled in Haifa. At first he refused to serve as chief rabbi of Haifa, despite his reputation in Morocco. However, after encouragement from Haifa's mayor

Abba Hushi Abba Hushi (Also: Aba Khoushy; ; born Abba Schneller; 1898 – 24 March 1969) was an Israeli politician who served as mayor of Haifa for eighteen years between 1951 and 1969. Hushi was one of the founders and activists of Hashomer Hatzair move ...

, he took the position of Sephardi chief rabbi in 5728 (1967-8), a position which he held until his death. His first cousin was the father of Rabbi Chalom Messas.

Works

He wrote 48 works, among them: * Shut ''Mayim Chayim'', halachic responsa (two volumes published in 1934 and 1967) * ''Otzar Michtavim'' (three volumes, published 1968-1975) * ''Ner Mitzvah'' (8 volumes, published 1939, republished in 1969 with additions, and again in 2000) Messas' halachic opinions were often original and surprisingly lenient, leading some to nickname him "Joseph the lenient" (יוסף המתיר), and for figures such as R'

Ovadiah Yosef Ovadia Yosef (, ; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) also known as Maran (Hebrew: מרן) "Our Master", was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, hakham, posek, and the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983. Also known as Gadol Yisra ...

to say Messas' rulings could not be relied upon. Yet he commanded respect among his Orthodox rabbinic peers, as shown by their correspondence with him, and by his appointment as chief rabbi of Haifa late in life when his views were well known. In the preface of his sefer he hints to the fact that he had giluy Eliyahu on a number of occasions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messas, Joseph 20th-century Moroccan rabbis Sephardi rabbis 20th-century Israeli rabbis People from Meknes Moroccan writers 1892 births 1974 deaths