A historical and important letter in favor of "HaChacham Bashi" Rabbi Sasson Smucha from Baghdad in the midst of the controversy in the community to remove him from his position - signed by the great genius of Baghdad (from Eretz Israel). Baghdad, Iyer 14, 1881.
In their letter, the geniuses describe how Rabbi Sasson rejected all the allegations against him when his enemies intended to depose him from "Chacham Bashi" position: "And we argued with them and said to them, please let me know what you found wrong in me and what was the fault that came out of my hand and by what law did you judge when I was not present and remove me from the rabbinical not my fault, They were silent and did not answer him a thing, only their faces were on the ground...", and he proved that they did not find anything wrong with him, and the rabbis testify about him that all the judgment and things about him were done in front of them and that "He is righteous and upright; he walks righteously in his heart, and he judges only the truth, and he hates greed", And everything they claimed against him was all a futile plots, and testify to his honesty, and to his being appropriate of the "Chacham Bashi" position that was taken from him for injustice. At the end of the letter are the signatures of the great geniuses of Baghdad: Rabbi Yitzchak Arazi HaCohen, Rabbi Yehoshua son of Rabbi Ya'akov, and Rabbi David son of Rabbi Yitzchak.
The sage Bashi Rabbi Sasson Smucha of Baghdad [1821-1911] and the controversy over his "Chacham Bashi" position. Rabbi Sasson B.R. Eliyahu B.R. Moshe Halevi, known by his nickname Rabbi Sassoon Smucha, served as a rabbi and as the "Chacham Bashi" in Baghdad. In his youth, he studied at Beit Zalka Midrash with Rabbi Abdullah Somech and served as Dayan in the years 1841-1876. After the death of Rabbi Ovadia Avraham Halevi in 1876, Rabbi Sasson Smucha was appointed to replace the rabbi in the position of "Chacham Bashi". At that time, he and Rabbi Elisha Dangor served in the court headed by Rabbi Ovadia Avraham Halevi. In 1879 there was a severe drought year which caused the price of wheat to be raised by wheat merchants and importers. Rabbi Sasson tried to cancel the increase and declared a boycott against the merchants. The announcement of the boycott was a drastic step that caused severe internal discord within the community in Baghdad. The rabbi's opponents accused him of a plot of vanity before the representatives of the Ottoman government, that he stole the community's funds, as a result of the plots, in 1879 Rabbi Sasson was dismissed from the "Hachem Bashi" position due to allegations against him of illegally preparing taxes and property taxes. The community of Baghdad decided not to grant to the the dismissed rabbi from the kollel's funds. The struggle even intensified when on the 16th of sivan 1880 they sent a letter of consent against him, which was signed by nearly five hundred sages and the wealthy of the community, to Rabbi Moshe Halevy. Despite this, Rabbi Moshe Halevy did not accept their opinion and in Av 1881 he replied to the rabbis in favor of Rabbi Sasson by saying that their actions against the rabbi were done because of hatred, and reinstated Rabbi Sasson to his position. As a result of Rabbi Moshe Halevi's letter, the elected agreed to pay Rabbi Sasson a total of 375 krush tsag each month (half of his salary). In the letter before us, the elders of Baghdad joined in the opinion of Rabbi Moshe Halevi to purify the name of Rabbi Sasson Smucha.
Despite this, the disputes and quarrels in the community did not stop and at the end of 1881, Rabbi Sasson was dismissed again and in his place Rabbi Elisha Dangor was appointed as the "Chacham Bashi". In 1883, Rabbi Elisha Dangor was deposed and in his place was appointed Rabbi Avraham Hillel. In spite of everything that had happened, Rabbi Sasson continued to lead the community with dignity and to handle all its affairs and helped Rabbi Hillel in solving crises such as the crisis at the burial of Rabbi Abdullah Somech in 1889. The miraculous about him is known, that in the year 1893 he bravely stood to the aid of the Jewish community of Hamdan, who were about to be massacred by the order of the mufti of the city. The rabbi turned to the Grand Mufti of Iran who canceled the decree against the Jews.
[1] leaf. 21x13 cm. Filing holes. Good condition.
