The Olam HaTorah was plunged into mourning on Thursday upon hearing the news of the petirah of HaGaon HaDayan HaRav Shlomo Ben-Shimon Z’tl at the age of 88.

HaRav Ben Shimon, the Gaavad of the Neve Tzion Beis Din and a member of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah of Shas, has weakened in recent years. His condition took a turn for the worse on Wednesday and he was hospitalized in Hadassah Ein Kerem, where he was niftar today.

HaRav Shimon was born in Yerushalayim to his father, Chacham HaMekubal Mantzour Ben Shimon, ztl, who was a Rav in Yeshivat Porat Yosef.

As a bochur, he learned in Porat Yosef. After his marriage, he was appointed as a Rav in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood of Tel Aviv. During that period, he was one of the founders of Yeshivas Torah V’Hora’ah in Tel Aviv.

He began serving as a Dayan in Batei Din in Tiveria, Tzfas, Ashdod and Tel Aviv and was later appointed as an Av Beis Din. In 1991, he was appointed as a Dayan in the Beis Din HaGadol in Yerushalayim, where he served until he retired. During his term, his fame grew as one of the leading dayanim with the expertise to judge on the most difficult and thorny shailos. HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef, zt’l relied on him fully to deal with the most difficult issues.

HaRav Ben Shimon was also known for his fluency in Kabbalah.

In 2001, he was selected to serve as a member of the Moetzet HaRabbanut HaReishit and later was appointed as an Av Beis Din of Badatz Neve Tzion and as the Rav of the Neve Yitzchak shul, a kehilla comprised of hundreds of Bnei Torah in Bnei Brak, as well as the Rav of the Ramat Dovid neighborhood in the city. He also served as the Nasi of the Nesivot Shalom Beis Din in Beit Shemesh. In 2022, he was appointed to serve as a member of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah of Shas.

In recent years, HaRav Ben-Shimon, z’tl, resided in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem.

His son-in-law, HaGaon Harav Chanoch Cohen, is the Rosh Yeshivah of Be’er HaTalmud. He is also survived by his illustrious brothers, Chacham Nissim Ben Shimon and HaGaon HaRav Massoud Ben Shimon, the Sefardi Rav of Bnei Brak and the Rosh Yeshivah of Ohr Elitzur.

‘וכל בית ישראל יבכו את השריפה אשר שרף ה

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)