Amram Aburbeh

Rabbi Amram Aburbeh
Title	Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic congregation in Petah Tikva, Israel
Personal
Born	Amram Aburbeh February 23, 1894 Tétouan, Morocco
Died	December 20, 1966(1966-12-20) (aged 72) Petah Tikva, Israel
Religion	Judaism
Spouse	Rivka Hacohen
Children	5 sons 1 daughter
Parent	Rabbi Shlomo Aburbeh Yocheved Khalfon
Alma mater	Porat Yosef Yeshiva
Occupation	Rabbi and teacher
Semikhah	Rabbi Yosef Chaim Hacohen

Amram Aburbeh (Hebrew: עמרם אבורביע, 1894– 1966), also spelled Abourabia and Aburabia, was the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic congregation in Petah Tikva, Israel and author of Netivei Am, a collection of responsa, sermons, and Torah teachings.

Biography

Amram Aburbeh was born on February 23, 1894 (17 Adar 5654) in Tétouan, Morocco. During his youth, he studied in Midrash Shlomo, a beit midrash (study hall) run by his father, Rabbi Shlomo Aburbeh, originally from Castile, Spain. His mother was Yocheved Khalfon.

In 1906 Aburbeh immigrated to Palestine with his paternal grandparents, Rabbi Yosef and Billiada Aburbeh. The rest of the family followed them 7 years later, settling in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Here Aburbeh's father opened a yeshiva in his home called Or Zaruaa. Aburbeh studied in the Tovey Yisba'u yeshiva of the Ma'araviim congregation until 1910. He later studied in the Porat Yosef Yeshiva. He received rabbinical ordination from his teacher, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Hacohen, the president and Rabad (chief judge) of the Ma'araviim congregation in Jerusalem, when he was 29 years old. Aburbeh also became a certified shochet (ritual slaughter) and bodek. He married his teacher's daughter, Rivka, in 1919; the couple had five sons and one daughter.

Catalog of items sold by Aburbeh's and Shloush's Judaica store, listing Torah scrolls, tefillin, mezuzahs, megillot, tallitot, tzitzit, shofars, shechita knives, siddurim, and religious books.

Aburbeh co-owned a store which sold Hebrew religious books and Judaica to North African Jewry and other communities in the Diaspora, together with his friend Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Shloush head of the Ma'araviim congregation in Jerusalem. The store operated first in the Old City and later moved to the Mahane Yehuda neighborhood.

Title page of Siddur V'Ani Tefilah, prayers in the Sephardic tradition, published by Rabbi Amram Aburbeh & Co., Jerusalem, 1941.

In addition to his occupation at the shop, Aburbeh taught at Porat Yosef Yeshiva and at Yeshivat Shaarey Zion, established by Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel. Uziel appointed Aburbeh as chief rabbi of the Nachlaot neighborhood in Jerusalem. From 1924 to 1951 Aburbeh served as a dayan (religious court judge) in the Ma'araviim congregation court in Jerusalem headed by Rabbi Ben-Zion Avraham Cuenca. In 1934 Aburbeh was appointed as shadar (funds emissary) on behalf of the Ma'araviim institutions in Jerusalem. He was dispatched to Morocco, where he successfully collected funds for a year.

In 1920 Aburbeh was among the founders of the new Jerusalem neighborhood of Bayit Vegan. In 1927 he founded and built a new synagogue in the Nachlaot neighborhood for the Ma'araviim congregation called Or Zaruaa, which he named after the beit midrash headed by his late father. This new synagogue included a beit midrash that he headed. Or Zaruaa synagogue was chosen to be included as one of the buildings for preservation in Jerusalem. In 1930 Aburbeh was elected as an executive committee member of the Ma'araviim congregation in Jerusalem.

He was an active Zionist, and took part in the struggle to establish the state. The British Mandate authorities in Palestine arrested him due to his connections with the Haganah paramilitary organization. During this time, Aburbeh volunteered for the Mishmar Ha'Am (People's Guard). His sons were members of the Notrim police force and later served in the Israel Defense Forces.

In 1951 Aburbeh was elected by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Council as Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic congregation of Petah Tikva. He served alongside the city's Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Rabbi Reuven Katz. Aburbeh gave lectures in several of Petah Tikva's downtown synagogues, including Beit Israel, Ohel Chaim, and Beit Avraham (called the "Great Sephardic Synagogue", which he founded). On Shabbat he gave lectures in additional neighborhoods. He was a member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Council and chairman of the National Rabbinical Council of the Sephardic community.

Aburbeh died on December 20, 1966 (7 Tevet 5727) in Petah Tikva and was buried in the Segula cemetery in that city beside his wife, Rivka.

In a sermon that Aburbeh gave in 5724, in Petah Tikva ... he cited his previous sermon from 5676. Then, Aburbeh calculated and proved that the Geula (Redemption) will occur one thousand nine hundred years after the destruction of the Temple, in the year 5728 [corresponding to 1968]; in which year 'we will do vengeance among the nations and expel the enemy out of the holy city Jerusalem'

Netivei Am, 1st edition, Volume II, p. 146

Works

Title page of Siddur Rinat Israel, Rinat Yisrael Nusach HaSfaradim and Edot HaMizrach.

• Netivei Am (Hebrew: נתיבי-עם), responsa and collected sermons, published in two volumes; Vol. 1 pub. 1963, Vol. 2 pub. 1966. He received approbations for his sefarim from Rabbis Ovadia Hadaya, Ezra Attiya, Ovadia Yosef, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, She'ar Yashuv Cohen , and Shlomo Amar; the latter was one of the last students to be rabbinically ordained by Aburbeh.
• ‏ספר שבחי האר״י (in Ladino). 1911. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• ברית עולם. National Library of Israel. 1948. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• חסד ואמת. Chevra Kadisha Jerusalem National Library of Israel. 1996. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

Aburbeh also edited the prayer book Siddur Rinat Israel Rinat Yisrael Sephardic and Edot ha-Mizrach Nusach and composed a special prayer for the recovery of injured Israeli soldiers.

Selected articles

• "Law of fruits, Shvi'it". Kol-Tora: 16–17. Elul 1958. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "On the purity of Shvi'it fruits". Kol-Tora: 23. Nisan 1959. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Comments". Kol-Tora: 19. Tammuz 1959. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Pouring water on the holiday". Kol-Tora: 10–13. Tishrei 1960. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "This is the beginning of the redemption" (PDF). Yesha Shelanu (76): 4–5. Tevet 5768 (2007). {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Memorials

Netivei Am Street in the Ramot Alon neighbourhood of Jerusalem.

Memorials to Aburbeh were dedicated in several places and institutions in Israel:

• Netivei Am AMIT schools, Toranic and Scientific Education branches
• Netivei Am Street in the Ramot Alon neighbourhood of Jerusalem; Aburbeh Street in the Ein Ganim neighbourhood of Petah Tikva
• Beit Midrash Netivei Am in Beersheba
• Aburbeh Scholars Fund for Student Excellence
• Netivei Am organization to acquire rescue equipment

Further reading

• "Zionism and the State of Israel as Viewed by Leading Sephardic-Oriental rabbis (1948-1967)", in On Both Sides Of The Bridge: Religion and State in the Early Years of Israel. Mordechay Bar-On and Zvi Zameret, eds. 2002. Jerusalem:Yad Ben Zvi.

Zvi Zohar on rabbi Amram Aburbeh p.57 in Daf LeTarbut Yehudit, Ministry of Education, Aryeh Strikovski editor, vol.277 2008, pp.54–58 [1]

• Zohar, Zvi. The Luminous Face of the East: Studies in the Legal and Religious Thought of the Sephardic Rabbis of the Middle East. Tel Aviv: 2001. (Hebrew)
• "המסע לגילוי המנהג הספרדי-ירושלמי: הרב עמרם אבורביע ויצירתו "נתיבי עם" (The Journey to Uncover the Sephardi-Yerushalmi Custom: Rabbi Amram Aburbeh and his Opus, "Netivei Am"), in Rabbi Uzziel And His Contemporaries: Law, Leadership and Values, Zvi Zohar and Shalom Ratzabi eds. 2009, pp. 120–165.
• Malka, G. (Shevat 2009). "קוים לדמותו של בעל ה-נתיבי עם" (PDF). HaMeasef: 124–128. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Neri Horovitz, The Shas party and the Zionism: Historical Analysis, New Directions - Judaism and Zionism Journal, volume 2, 2000, pp.30–60. The Jewish Agency in Israel publishing, the Zionistic Education department.

[2]

External links

• Website detailing the Aburbeh family (Hebrew)
• Type-4001 Petah-Tikva historic museum website – Rabbi Amaram Aburbeh (Hebrew)
• Netivei Am, Volume I, first edition, 5724
• Netivei Am, Volume II, first edition, 5726
• Photo of Or Zaruaa synagogue
• Photo of entrance to Or Zaruaa synagogue