Jacob Rakkah
Libyan Hakham
Jacob Rakkaḥ (Hebrew: יעקב רקח, Yaakov Rakkaḥ) (1800 – 3 March 1891), also spelled Raccah, was a Sephardi Hakham in the 19th-century Jewish community of Tripoli, Libya. He was a well-known posek (arbiter of Jewish law) for Sephardi Jews, a rosh yeshiva, and author of approximately 40 sefarim, some of which were published during his lifetime.
Biography
Jacob Rakkaḥ was the son of Rabbi Solomon (Shlomo) Rakkaḥ and the great-great-grandson of Rabbi Mas'ud Hai Rakkah, author of Ma'aseh Rokeaḥ, who had come to Libya as a shadar (rabbinical emissary) from Palestine and stayed to lead the Jewish community in Tripoli for 20 years. Jacob's brother, Zion, was also a Torah scholar.
Like other Tripoli rabbis, Rakkaḥ did not wish to be supported by the community, and lived a life of poverty. He worked as an accountant for a large firm.
He was known as a great Torah scholar and posek (arbiter of Jewish law). His depth of knowledge was exemplary; his halakhic opinions usually relied on tens of, and occasionally over 100, poskim who preceded him. His halakhic opinions are still cited today; the Siddur Od Avinu Hai (Hebrew: עוד יוסף חי), published by Machon Hai Hai, is based on his emendations to the nusach and laws of prayer for Sephardi Jews.
Rakkaḥ founded at his own expense Yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Tripoli, which housed an estimated 1,000 seforim and valuable manuscripts.
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