Porat Yosef Yeshiva

The Porat Yosef Yeshiva ( _he. ישיבה פורת יוסף) is a Sephardic yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem.

History

Joseph Shalom, of Calcutta, India, bought the building intending to have it used for a hospital. However, the Ben Ish Hai of Baghdad persuaded him to endow a yeshiva instead. [Aharon Surasky, "V’zos La’yehuda", Jerusalem 1996, pg. 47.] The cornerstone was laid in 1914, but the First World War delayed its construction. The yeshiva was finally inaugurated in 1923 and consisted of a large "bet medrash" (study hall), two other smaller halls where married men studied, plus fifty other rooms including dormitories, offices and a library.

During the 1948 Israel War of Independence, the building was destroyed and a new yeshiva was opened in the Geulah neighborhood, still in existence today. After the Six Day War architect Moshe Safdie rebuilt the Old City complex on the original site. The new building, based on the original design, evinces a present-day look, blending "traditional" with "modern". In both texture and colour, the stone walls echo the dominant building material of Jerusalem. The synagogue itself is a substantial structure of six stories, seating 450 worshippers. The edifice is covered by a large semitransparent dome that permits light to enter by day, while at night it glows with interior illumination.

Alumni of the yeshiva include: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Benzion Abba Shaul, Rabbi Yehuda Tzadkah, Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri, Rabbi Sion Levy, Rabbi Saadya Lofes, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and Aryeh Deri.

Rashei Yeshivah

*Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel
*Rabbi Ezra Attia
*Rabbi Yehuda Tzadkah
*Rabbi Benzion Abba Shaul
*Rabbi Shalom Cohen

References and footnotes

* "Where Heaven Touches Earth", Rabbi Dovid Rossoff, Guardian Press, Jerusalem 1999.

External links

* [http://cac.mcgill.ca/safdie/searchengines/showrecord.php?id=118 Porat Yosef Yeshiva] in the Moshe Safdie hypermedia archive at McGill University