A great leader and gadol of the generation. Served as the Sephardi Chief Rabbi (theRishon Lezion or
designated as the Head/ First of Zion). The spiritual leader and president of the Council of Sages of the
Torah of the Shas Party since its inception.
{died 3rd in Hashvan 5774 [7.10.2013] buried in Beit Chaim Sanhedria Jerusalem}.
My personal story
I didn't get to know the Honorable Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Z'l up close. The only way I got to know him, was
like my peers in my generation, i.e. like most of the people, I knew who he was and what he looked like
through the media. I understood his greatness, his glory and his importance to the people of Israel. My
story begins when my good friend informs me that her birthday is on the day the Tzadik passed away,
that is 3rd of Cheshvan (her birthday in question falls a few years after the Tsaddik's death.) I suggested
that I invite her and her husband to a prestigious meat restaurant in Jerusalem and she agreed to go.
On the 2nd day of Cheshvan, in the late afternoon, we went to Jerusalem to celebrate her birthday as
we had agreed. We arrived at a restaurant and cheered, we ate and were happy, it was all perfect.
During the meal she suggested we go to the Tzadik Maran Ovadia Yosef Z'l, to pray. After all, it was her
birthday and her happiness was important, so we decided unanimously that at the end of the feast we
would go to Zion the Tsaddik at Beit Chaim (cemetery) in Nahadaria, we finished and went to the
Tsaddik.
We arrived in Zion and there were hundreds of people who came to pray and ask. My friend's husband
went to the men's section, while my friend and I went down to the women's, next to the grave and
slowly approached the grave to touch it and pray.
My friend left and went upstairs to the square to look at me praying, there was a large crowd of women
there. I continued my prayer, and after a short time the police arrived and asked us to leave the grave
for the safety of the girls. There was a great crowd, I did not finish the davening, so I went upstairs and
looked for a quiet place to connect with the prayer, I found a quiet place behind the office rooms, I sat
down on a low wall and began to recite the Holy Zohar for the soul of the tzaddik "Safra Datzinuta".
During the prayer, I hear many message alerts on my phone, normally unattended because while
praying, I am connected to a higher place. So, after prayer, as I read the messages, I see a message from
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's home that reads: "You are invited to the home of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in this
address in Jerusalem…we are waiting for you".
I looked at the written message for a long time and my heart was pounding hard, I wanted to run to tell
my friend and her husband, but I immediately woke up from the excitement of the surprising message
and remembered! "Finding them in the crowd is almost hopeless", so I decided to send a text message
and suddenly I find out that my friend had been looking for me for a long time and she herself had
already sent me several messages. Thus, I immediately called and told her where to go. A few minutes
passed and she was already standing in front of me.
Impatiently I revealed to her the message from the Rabbi's house, she jumped full of joy and with great
impatience and excitement, she went to look for her husband to tell him that they had invited me to
come to the Rabbi's house. I waited for them until they came, they both arrived excitedly and did not
stop talking about the miracle all the way to the Rabbi's house. It is very important to note that I had no
previous communication with the Rabbi's house or the institutions of Beit Yosef. I was never called by
the institutions and I never donated to the Rabbi's institutions. The only thing I did was connect with the
tzaddik through the Holy Zohar on his day of rejoicing and truly and sincerely make my best friend as
happy as possible whose birthday is the date of the tzaddik's death.
The visit to the house of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Z’l
We got out of the car and approached the building of the tzaddik's house. Outside there were a few
people talking, when suddenly an Abrech or a Torah student approached us and started talking to my
friend's husband, who told him that they had sent me a message to come to the Rabbi's house and that
his wife had a birthday today. The Abrech smiled and said "Welcome, let me take you to the rabbi's
house." I went up after the Rabbi and entered the Rabbi's house. I approached the chair that was close
to the Rabbi's chair and behind it was a huge library of holy books. I really wanted to read Zohar on this
chair, however I felt embarrassed. Nevertheless, the Abrech made me feel welcome and at home.
I sat down on the magnificent and holy chair and began to prayThe Holy Zohar, during the prayer my
friend took a picture of me without my knowledge and after she sent me the pictures. During my prayer
one Rabbi gave my friend and her husband a tour of the Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s house and showed them
the Rabbi's bedroom and other corners of the house. I continued to connect with the Zohar and the
Tzaddik and we toured the Rabbi's house. When I finished my prayer for about twenty minutes, my
friend came to me and said that the Abrech wanted us to enter an inner room where he would host us
with a large private meal just for us. He led me to an inner room that looked like an office with a large
table on which there were meats of all kinds, rice, salads and other good things.
We ate and said the proper prayers before and after the meal and we were happy to be invited for a
meal in the house of the Tzaddik in his day of revelry. After the meal, the Abrech took us down to a
room that looked like a warehouse and took out the Rabbi's robe and glasses and other items and ask us
to touch them. I took the robe and glasses and put them on my body and my eyes, it was surprising the
generosity of the Abrech the close escort, the luxurious private meal. After that, we left without saying a
word. All the way back we are trying to understand how all this came to us and where they got my
phone number from.
What were the chances of us getting invited and treated with the respect of a king from the house of
the Rabbi? I pondered in my heart and thanked the Blessed name and the Tzaddik who worked miracles
with me in my prayers and opened the door to the righteous, even in their passing from the world. The
ways of God."