Ezekiel ben Reuben Manasseh

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EZEKIEL BEN REUBEN MANASSEH

EZEKIEL BEN REUBEN MANASSEH (d. 1851), Baghdad philanthropist who distributed large amounts of money for charitable purposes in Iraq and Ereẓ Israel. In 1840 Ezekiel established the Baghdad rabbinical academy, named Bet Zilkha and also Midrash Abi Manshi after its benefactor. The yeshivah was first headed by R. Abdallah *Somekh and provided the students with all their needs. Ezekiel also built in Baghdad the "new synagogue" in 1847, the "small synagogue" in 1849, and Kneset Yeḥezkel in Safed, which was named after him (it now bears the name of R. Moses *Alshekh). He also donated half of the construction costs of the Bet Ya'akov synagogue, better known as Hurbat R. Yehudah he-Hasid, in the Old City of Jerusalem. After his death, his sons Manasseh and Sason continued his philanthropic work.

bibliography:

A. Ben-Jacob, Toledot ha-Rav Abdallah Somekh (1949), 15–20; idem, Yehudei Bavel (1965), 175–7.

[Abraham Ben-Yaacob]

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