Rabbi Makhlouf Fahima, head of the Torah V’chessed institutions in Bnei Brak and the senior rabbi of the North African communities in Israel, has passed away at the age of 84.
Rabbi Fahima underwent a complicated operation a few weeks ago, Behadrey Haredim reports; the operation unfortunately did not succeed and his condition deteriorated. He was hospitalized in serious condition in Bnei Brak’s Mayane Hayeshua hospital, where he passed away.
Rabbi Fahima was born in Morocco to his father Rabbi Yaish and his mother the Rabbanit Rachel. He learned in the Em Habanim Torah institute in Casablanca until the age of 14, and then traveled to London to learn in the Toras Emes yeshiva headed by Rabbi Moshe Schneider, where he became fluent in Yiddish.
After eight years in London he returned to Morocco where he served as the head of the Etz Chaim yeshiva in Tangier. He later immigrated to Israel and settled in Bnei Brak, where he headed the Ohr HaTorah yeshiva and established the Torah V’chessed community and institutions.
Rabbi Fahima was renowned for his devotion to Torah study despite his physical afflictions, as well as his genius in scholarship and his righteous ways. He is survived by five children, including Rabbi David Fahima, a rosh yeshiva (yeshiva dean) in Bnei Brak, and Rabbi Yochai Fahima, rabbi of a community in Paris.
Upon hearing of his passing, the Knesset’s Shas party released a statement saying, “The Council of Torah Sages and the Shas movement share in the grief of the Jewish world at this great loss to the Torah world and yeshiva community.”