Mas'ud Hai Rakkah

Masud Hai Rakkaḥ (, 1690 – July 24, 1768), also spelled Raccah, was a Sephardi Hakham and shadar (rabbinical emissary) who led the 18th-century Jewish community of Tripoli, Libya, for 20 years. He was considered one of Libya's leading rabbis and is credited with laying the foundation for that community's development into one of "sages, scribes, and kabbalists". He is the author of Maaseh Rokeaḥ , a four-volume commentary on Maimonides Mishneh Torah.

Biography Mas'ud Hai Rakkaḥ was born in Smyrna, Turkey, the son of Aharon Rakkaḥ. In his youth, he studied under Rabbi Yitzhak Hacohen Rappaport and Rabbi Hayyim Abulafia, developing into a Talmid Chacham of note. He emigrated to Jerusalem with his teacher, Rabbi Rappaport.

When the Jerusalem community experienced difficult economic times, it dispatched shadarim (rabbinical emissaries) to collect funds from the Jewish diaspora. Rakkaḥ was chosen to travel to Jewish communities in North Africa. He set out for Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya, and upon arriving in Tripoli, sent letters to the communities of Venice and Livorno before visiting them as well. He trained students who became the future hakhamim and dayanim (rabbinical judges) of North African Jewry, including Hakhamim Nathan Adadi (his son-in-law), Shalom Flus, Moshe Lachmish, Binyamin Vaturi, and David Tayyar. and his great-great-grandson, Jacob Rakkah, a leading Sephardi posek (arbiter of Jewish law) and author of approximately 40 sefarim.

Rakkaḥ served the Libyan Jewish community for 20 years until his death on July 24, 1768 (10 Av 5528) at the age of 78. his novellae and commentary on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, in Venice in 1742-1743. Abraham Hayyim Adadi, in Livorno in 1862. Volume 3 was published in Livorno in 1863 by his great-great-grandson, Jacob Rakkah. Volume 4 was published in Jerusalem in 1964 by Rabbi Shmuel Akiva Yaffe-Schlesinger. The inscription on Rakkaḥ's gravestone appears at the beginning of Volume 4.

Rakkaḥ's novellae on the Talmud, commentary on the Five Megillot, and drashot (sermons) remained in handwritten manuscripts, some of which were lost.

Rakkah-Adadi family tree