On Sunday 24 Sivan 5773, many mispallalim with gather in the Har Menuchos Beis Hachaim in Yerushalayim to mark the third yahrzeit of HaGaon HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu ZT”L.

The main event is called for 18:00, gathering in the parking lot of the beis hachaim.

The Rav was born in the Old City of Yerushalayim almost 81 years ago, as his late father followed the instructions of his Rav, the Ben Ish Chai. He was a nephew of Rav Yehuda Tzadka, and as a young man, he studied in Yeshivat Porat Yosef under Rav Ezra Atiya. Decades later, after already serving under the Chazon Ish, Rav Mordechai Sharabi, and Baba Sali, he was appointed as the Sephardic Chief Rabbi in 5743, replacing HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef Shlita, working as chief rabbi for about a decade alongside HaRav Avraham Kahane Shapira ZT”L.

During his tenure as chief rabbi, he visited the United States where he met with the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT”L, maintaining close ties with him for the remainder of the Rebbe’s life. He was also close to Jonathan Pollard, providing him spiritual guidance and working in earnest to bring him home, to have him released from his American federal prison. The Rav was also known for his personal intervention on behalf of many many critically ill patients over the years, doing his utmost to encourage them and daven for their recovery.

In 1940, the Rav was already serving as a dayan on the Beersheva Beis Din, the youngest Dayan in the country, later elected to a position on the Chief Rabbinate Supreme Court.

His right-wing hashkofa and tenacious belief in a Greater Land of Israel made him the unofficial spiritual leader of the nationalistic camp.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)