Sephardic Luminaries

 Chacham Yehuda Fetaya, son of kabbalist Chacham Moshe Yeshua Fetaya, was born on 2 Shevat 5619 (1859) in Baghdad, Iraq. 

As a child, he studied at the Midrash Beit Talmud Tora and later at the Midrash Beit Zalicha.  He received most of his Torah learning from his teacher, Chacham Yoseph Balbul.  In 1884, at the age of 25, Chacham Yehuda Fetaya wrote his first mystical work, entitled Ya'in Harekach. He became famous for the depth of his knowledge of invocations and amulets. Tora V'Ahava of Florida remains dedicated to the Fetaya outlook on Tora and Judaism.

On March 18, 1983,  Rav Eliyahu was appointed Rishon LeZion (Chief Rabbi of Israel).

As Chief Rabbi on of  his focuses was on attempting to reach out to secular Jews, giving them a better understanding of  customs and their importance. He traveled extensively  emphasizing the importance of Jewish education, Shabbat observance, niddah (family purity), fighting assimilation, and making aliyah.  After stepping down from his official post, Rav Eliyahu remained active, even ramping up his work for the Jewish community in Israel and the diaspora. Tora V'Ahava of Florida is an extension of Rav Eliyahu's Jewish outreach.

 Rav Ovadia Yosef was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party.  

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was born in Baghdad in 1920. At the age of four, his family moved to Jerusalem.

 In 1973,  Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the chief Sephardi rabbi of Israel, ruled that the  Ethiopian Jewish community were Bnei Israel or “Sons of Israel”,  according to Jewish law. This has allowed them to immigrate to Israel in  large numbers. 

Kes Elias Mehret was born to Elias Sohlu in 1931 in the village Daval Meshach, in Semen, Ethiopia. He founded a synagogue in the village, taught morals, and preached the Tora in public. For his livelihood he engaged in agriculture, and personally took care of the financial and physical well-being of the needy in his community, especially single-parent women. He loved peace and pursued peace, he preferred to reconcile and bridge the conflict and judgment. He led that every Yom Kippur, Jews from all the surrounding villages gather to pray together and hold a feast to break the fast every year in a different village.

Chacham Yosef Massass was born in 1892 in Meknes, Morocco to his mother Simcha and father
Hacham Haim Massass. As a youth, he studied at the Etz Haim Yeshiva, headed by Hacham Haim Birdugo, in the city of Meknes.

In 1964 he made Aliyah to Israel and settled in the city of Haifa. In 1968 he was appointed Chief Sephardi Rabbi of Haifa. 

 Kes Melke Azaria Yaheis, was born to his father Kes Azaria and his mother Lakch Tedla in 1918, in Teda, Gondar, Ethiopia. He first learned his Tora from his father, Kes Azariah Yaheis in the village of Teda. In 1928, the family moved to the village of Uzva. He deepened his studies, and learned the Gaza language from Abba Gubao.In 1940, he married Judith Asres, and they had four sons and two daughters.

In 1941 he was ordained to the Kes in a solemn ceremony in the community. He was his father's right-hand man in the leadership of the community, and in all things sacred.

Moshe Elias Levy was born in 1782 in Mogador, Morocco. Son of a Sephardic merchant and a courtier, Chacham Levy lived out his early childhood under the reign of Sultan Sidi Muhammad III. Between 1823-25 Chacham Levy established Pilgrimage Plantation at 1,000 acres, clearing 120 acres immediately for sugarcane, corn, and subsistence crops. Chacham Levy’s views on slavery were simultaneously progressive as highlighted in his work the Abolishment of Slavery. The Pilgrimage operated like a modern Israeli Moshav. Some lands were set aside for private development for Jewish and Israelite families such as Tora V'Ahava of Florida 

 Rabbi Ben-Zion Cuenca was born in the old city of Jerusalem in 1867. His surname, Cuenca, corresponds to a province of Spain in the area of ​​Castilla-La Mancha. The family was part of the Jews expelled from Castile and Aragon in 1492. The family settled in Thessaloniki (Greece) and lived there for 3 centuries. His father, Abraham Cuenca, emigrated to Erets Israel around 1850. 

Kes Ayelin Menashe Adgoyachao, was born to his mother and father Kes Ayelin in the year  1933 in the Wollo Lasta region of Ethiopia. Kes Ayeline Menashe Adgoyachao grew up in Torah and reverence. On Saturdays and holidays, he would go to the synagogue of his relative, Abba Kes Beyene Yitzchak, in a nearby village. His love for learning led him to also study with Abba Volela. In order not to offend his rabbi's honor, he would go out to study with Abba Volela, only after his rabbi fell asleep. In the year 1947 , after reaching the age of mitzvot, he followed other teachers, in the mountains of Semen, and learned from Abba Reuven, and Abba Mensah Reuven.

Kes Abba Yitzchak Yasu was born to his mother Demkech Mebreht and his father Kes Debtera Yasu in the year 1900 in the village of Adi-Sheva in Ethiopia. He first learned his teachings from his father Kes Debtera Yasu, who was a priest and the spiritual leader of Tigre Jews of Eritrea. Later, he wandered to the Semaine Mountains, where he deepened his studies with the Meleksuch Bachtuti (Jewish monks), and in 1927, at the age of 27, he was ordained to the priesthood by the high priest, Abba Kinde.