Journal of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
No.16, Spring  2008


 

Mordechai Ben-Porat:

DR. YAAKOV ZEMACH

 

 

“My brother and friend” were the words with which I bade farewell to Justice Yaakov Zemah at the end of his funeral in Jerusalem on January 29, 2006. With them I expressed my emotion and deep pain at the passing of this dear man, who was vanquished by his terrible illness at the relatively young age of seventy-one.

I made Yaakov Zemah’s acquaintance at the beginning of the 1970s, when we founded WOJAC (World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries) for the purpose of fighting for the rights of Oriental Jews in their lands of origin. We made the preliminary preparations for the organization’s first congress, held in Paris in 1975. I turned to Dr. Zemah, then a senior official at the Ministry of Judicial Affairs, and asked for his help. He agreed to accompany me, together with Prof. Yaakov Meiron, from the same Ministry.

 

Yaakov Zemah was a legal genius. He wrote books on Israel’s judicial system which were translated into a number of languages and distributed in many countries throughout the world. He was the Chief Justice of the Jerusalem District Court until his retirement in July 2005. His work as a judge brought him many sensitive cases, including that of Rabbi Arieh Der’i, leader of the SHAS Movement. Even when he came home after a hard day’s work he would continue his labors. His home was like a second chamber.

 

His verdicts were jewels of Hebrew expression. He came to Israel at the age of sixteen, in the first stages of the mass immigration to Israel, together with his father Sasson, who had been a member of the Iraqi Parliament but preferred to come to Israel together with his family. In 1961 Zemah finished law school at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and worked as an attorney and a lecturer at a number of universities. In 1972 he received his Doctorate in Law from the University of Virginia. In 1984 he was appointed to the post of District Judge in Jerusalem and later became the Chief Justice of the District Court. Rumor has it that he was being considered a candidate for Israel’s Supreme Court.

 

Dr. Zemah was a very special person: calm, gentle, full of integrity and modesty, a model husband and father. As someone who also had to cope with cancer, I was very worried about him when I was told of his condition. I spoke to him on the telephone and wished him good health. I added that I was not an observant Jew and did not know if my prayers were being heard. He immediately replied: “Your prayer will be answered sooner than those of some observant people who have not contributed to our society as you have”.

 

His funeral was attended by very many people. He was eulogized by the Minister of Judicial Affairs, Mrs. Tsipi Livni, the President of Israel’s Supreme Court, Mr. Aharon Barak, Supreme Court Justice Eliakim Rubinstein, the former president of Israel’s Supreme Court, Mr. Meir Shamgar, and many more.

 

Dr. Zemah passed away at the age of seventy-one. The people of his native city of Mosul and all Babylonian Jews were proud of him. We pray that his loyal wife Erela, his children and other members of his family will find the strength to cope with their great loss.

May his memory be blessed.

Mordechai Ben-Porat