RABBI MEIR HORESH
On Sabbath Eve, the night of Simhat Torah, Tishri 5757, Rabbi Meir Horesh, of blessed memory, died. He was the rabbi of Ramat Gan's Hagefen district, and was among the venerable Babylonian rabbis. He was 85 years old, and his death came after great suffering.
Rabbi Horesh was born in Baghdad in 1911 to the late Mualim Yaakov and Haviva, and grew up in a Torah home in which he acquired his lofty attributes and his love for Torah and those who studied it. In his youth he learned at the renowned Beit Zilkha Yeshiva, a pupil of Rabbi Yehoshua Moshe and Rabbi Yaaqov Musaffi, who found him to be highly diligent and studious. Owing to the meagre stipend of rabbis in those days, Rabbi Horesh could not engage exclusively in his spiritual calling, and decided to continue in his father's path, as a teacher and educator, and he expounded Torah to many. Rabbi Horesh taught at synagogues and schools, chiefly the Talmud Torah School where he taught in the morning hours. In the afternoons he learned and taught until late evening at the Beit Ziklha Yeshiva. His specialization was teaching Tanakh to youth, commenting on it, and translating it into Judaeo-Arabic. He was known as an expert in Bible cantillation and in the precise pronunciation of the words. For many years he served as chief hazan at the Meir Eliyahu Synagogue in Baghdad. His melifluous voice and his accuracy in reciting the liturgy attracted a large congregation of worshippers. In 1942 the late Abraham Tweina and others established a committee under the direction of the late Rabbi Yitshak Salih Mukammal to set up afternoon classes in religion at the Jewish schools. Rabbi Horesh joined the body of Jewish educators who volunteered to teach the youth, with the aim of implanting in them the Jewish culture and legacy whose study was restricted by the Iraqi Ministry of Education. He continued teaching these classes until their termination in 1948.
Out of longing for the Holy Land and a fervent wish to go up to it, Rabbi Horesh made haste to emigrate with his family in 1951, on the second aircraft that took off for Israel; this was immediately following permission granted by the authorities to Iraqi Jewry to emigrate. Immediately on reaching Israel, Rabbi Horesh learned the craft of scribe of sacred texts, and made his living by it for about a decade. He settled in Ramat Gan.
Rabbi Horesh founded a yeshiva at the Yesharim Synagogue for the Babylonian community, and there taught his pupils Torah and answered questions on matters of halacha. He also customarily delivered sermons on the weekly portion every Shabbat at the Ohel Rahel Synagogue. In the Rabbinate he served as the rabbi of the Hagefen district, and among other duties officiated at marriage services.
In 1982 Rabbi Horesh received the title Freeman of Ramat Gan for his spiritual work in instilling Jewish consciousness and the heritage of Israel among the community in Ramat Gan.
Rabbi Horesh, of blessed memory, did much for charity, and exerted great efforts to give of his possessions and his strength to help the needy, to bring girls to matrimony, to support Torah scholars and yeshivot; he was a partner in the founding of Keren for this high purpose. Woe for the loss, which is not to be replaced. May his memory be blessed.
Yosef Horesh