Meir Nissim Mazuz (also spelled Mazouz; ; 27 March 1945 – 19 April 2025) was a Sephardi-Tunisian Haredi rabbi in Israel, rosh yeshiva and a political leader.
Mazuz was the dean of the Kisse Rahamim yeshivah,
Background
Mazuz was born in
Tunis, Tunisia to noted sage and scholar Rabbi Matsliah Mazuz, who was a judge in the high court of Tunisia and the dean of the original Kisse Rahamim yeshivah in Tunis, which he founded in 1963. Following the assassination of Matsliah by an Arab nationalist in 1971, Meir and his brothers Tsemah and Rahamim fled to Israel, where they re-established their father's yeshiva in
Bnei Brak.
The yeshiva became an elite institution that, apart from producing knowledgeable scholars, sought to make them into leading rabbis. It follows the traditional approach to learning done in Tunisia for centuries. The yeshiva later started its own press, the (Mechon HaRav Matsliah) that prints the works of R. Matsliah Mazuz as well as other Jerban or Tunisian scholars, and siddur and tikkunim based on the customs of Jerba.
Mazuz died in 19 April 2025 after a long battle with illness and a deterioration in his health. He was 80.[ Sephardic Haredi leader Rabbi Meir Mazuz dies at 80] His funeral was attended by thousands. His brother Tsemah will succeed him as the dean of Kisse Rahamim.
Views
Mazuz espoused a method of learning traditional to Tunisian Jews (though historically it was common to most Sephardic communities, originating from the influential
Darkhe Ha-Talmud of R.
Isaac Canpanton 1360–1463) and was its principal exponent responsible for its dominant position among Sephardic approaches to learning.
Mazuz strongly encouraged the study of dikduk and of pronouncing the words in prayer and study with precision and clarity.
Works
Mazuz authored dozens of works on various subjects. Some of these include:
-
Commentary on R. Yehuda ha-Levi's piyyut Mi Kamocha
-
Shut Bayit Ne'eman (3 vols.), responsa
-
Bayit Ne'eman, comments on the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, including notes on Targum Onkelos and the cantillation
-
Shut Makor Ne'eman, responsa
-
Arim Nissi, collection of hiddushim on various tractates studied in Kisse Rahamim
-
Lo Tashich, hiddushim on the fifth chapter of Bava Metzia, Ezehu Neshech
-
An additional collection of hiddushim on Tractate Kiddushin, published in Et haz-Zamir, 5783
-
Le-Ukme Girsa, notes on the order of prayers
-
Le-Ukme Girsa, glosses on Targum Onkelos
-
Sho'el Umeshiv, responsa intended on teaching how to write responsa, published in Ohr Torah, the journal of Kisse Rahamim
-
A collection of biographical articles on Tunisian Jewish sages
-
Kisse Ham-Melech, notes on Rambam, with commentary on his Mussar Epistle
-
Solet Nekiyya, laws of the Hebrew calendar
In addition, there was a weekly publication named
Bayit Ne'eman based off his popular lectures.
