The Torah world was plunged into mourning on Motzei Shabbos (Motzei Shvi’i shel Pesach) upon hearing the news of the petirah of HaGaon HaRav Meir Nissim Mazuz, Z’tl, Rosh Yeshivas Kisei Rachamim in Bnei Brak, at the age of 80. The Rosh Yeshivah has been weak in recent months and was hospitalized, with his situation becoming critical over the past week. The Rosh Yeshivah was marbitz Torah to thousands of talmidim in his yeshivah and tens of thousands of people who attended his shiurim, and established many mosdos Torah. HaRav Mazuz, z’tl, was born in Tunisia in 1945, a bechor to his father, HaGaon HaRav Matzliach Mazuz, H’yd, a dayan who was one of the leaders of Tunisian Jewry and the founder of Yeshivas Kesei Rachamim in Tunis. He learned in Yeshivas Chevras HaTalmud as a boy and in Yeshivah Ohel Yosef Yitzchak of Chabad in Tunis as a bochur. When he came of age, he married and established a family. In 1972, after his father, HaRav Matzliach, H’yd, was murdered by an Arab, HaRav Mazuz, z’tl, and his family and his brothers, HaRav Tzemach and HaRav Rachamim, moved to Eretz Yisrael. Later that year, the brothers founded Yeshivas Kesei Rachamim in Bnei Brak. The mosdos of the yeshivah include daycares, pre-schools, Talmudei Torah, girls’ schools, a high school, yeshivos ketanos, yeshivos gedolas, and kollelim in Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, Elad, Emmanuel, Bat Yam, Akko, and other cities. In 1977, the brothers established the Rav Matzliach Institute, which publishes siddurim and Tehillim, and sefarim. HaRav Mazuz was very meticulous about the precise Sephardi pronunciation of the letters of the Hebrew language, especially in tefillah and Kriyas Hatorah and endeavored to impart and preserve it in his lessons and books. Regarding the preservation of customs of Galus communities – and in particular of Djerba Jewry – in Eretz Yisrael, HaRav Mazuz took a middle position – between the opinion of HaRav Ovadia Yosef on the one hand, who believed that in every matter, one should follow the opinion of the Beit Yosef and the minhag of Eretz Yisrael, and the position of other North African Rabbanim on the other hand, such as HaRav Shalom Messas, who believed that one should not change at all from the minhagim of the Gola. HaRav Mazuz’s position was that when the Beit Yosef is stricter than the minhag in the Gola, there’s a concern of a bracha l’vatala (such as the bracha on Hallel on Rosh Chodesh), one should act according to the Beit Yosef’s opinion, even though they were lenient in the Golah. And when the minhag in the Golah is stricter, one should examine whether it is an excessive stringency, and then one can be lenient, especially if it is a stringency that leads to leniency. In other matters, the minhag should be preserved. Rav Mazuz served as the Av Beis HaDin of the Mishpat Tzedek Beis Din L’Mamaonos. In his later years, he served in it only for difficult and complex cases. He also rules in other areas of the Torah in responsa and letters. About a thousand of his short shailos and teshuvos were published in the sefer “Makor Ne’eman A” in 2010 and over the years, HaRav Mazuzhas published dozens of sefarim in all areas of the Torah. כל בית ישראל […]