Overview
Joseph Hayyim of Baghdad, widely known as the Ben Ish Hai, combined legal instruction, sermons, biblical interpretation, ethics, folklore, and Kabbalah. His public lectures attracted broad audiences, while his printed works reached communities throughout the Middle East and the Baghdadi diaspora. The book Ben Ish Hai organizes practical law around the weekly Torah portions, making halakhic guidance part of a larger moral and mystical teaching. Joseph Hayyim did not hold the city’s formal chief rabbinate, yet his charismatic authority became immense. His writings continue to shape many Sephardic and Middle Eastern religious practices.
