Life & contribution
Baghdad-born rabbi and kabbalist whose life linked Iraqi rabbinic traditions with later Sephardi religious institutions in Jerusalem.
Detailed biography & historical context
Baghdad-born rabbi and kabbalist whose life linked Iraqi rabbinic traditions with later Sephardi religious institutions in Jerusalem.
The documented record currently assembled for Yaakov Mutzafi includes the following: Born in Baghdad in 1899, he studied at Midrash Bet Zilkha under leading Iraqi rabbis including Yehuda Fatiyah and Sadqa Hussein. After moving to Jerusalem in 1950 he became a senior rabbinic figure in the Iraqi community and headed the Shemesh Sedaqah institutions.
This biography belongs to the long Baghdadi rabbinic tradition centered on study houses, courts and communal institutions. The figure is significant not only for personal scholarship but also for the transmission of Iraqi Jewish religious learning across generations and, later, across diaspora communities.
Archive classification: Rabbinic Leadership. Recorded life dates/status: 1899–1983.
This profile synthesizes the documentary sources listed below; where the record is limited or contested, the dossier avoids unsupported detail.
Additional documented context
- Born in Baghdad in 1899, he studied at Midrash Bet Zilkha under leading Iraqi rabbis including Yehuda Fatiyah and Sadqa Hussein.
- After moving to Jerusalem in 1950 he became a senior rabbinic figure in the Iraqi community and headed the Shemesh Sedaqah institutions.
Documentary references
Additional biographical details are tied to the source records below.
Permanent ID · IJHDA-PER-0026
This biographical figure record is integrated into Discover Jewish Iraq from the Virtual Embassy’s Iraqi Jewish heritage collection.