Rav Yaakov Mutzafi רב יעקב מוצפי

He learned in the study houses of Baghdad—Beit Zilkha and Midrash Talmud Torah—under Rav Shimon Agassi, Rav Yehuda Fetaya and Rav Sadqa Hussein; his first lessons came from his grandfather, Rav Moshe Mutzafi. The Baghdad of those years was a city where halakhah and kabbalah were learned side by side, and he carried out both wings.

In 1950 he went up to Jerusalem—a year or two before almost all the Jews of Iraq left. In Jerusalem he led the Shemesh Tzedakah synagogue in the Geula quarter for over thirty years: rabbi, head of the yeshiva and cantor there—his prayer is remembered to this day. At the same time he headed the Sephardic court of the Eda Charedit.

People came to him with questions from across eastern Jerusalem, and especially those who had come from Iraq and found no place for themselves in the new country. His responsa appeared as Tiferet Yaakov. He died on 13 Sivan 1983 and is buried on the Mount of Olives, in the Babylonian section.