Kisse Rahamim Yeshivah

Kisse Rahamim is centered at a yeshivah on Uziel Street in Bnei Brak and functions as the hub of a wider educational system. The network includes institutions from early childhood through advanced study, including daycare centers, kindergartens, Talmudei Torah, girls' education, junior and senior yeshivot, and kollelim.[3][1] Its identity combines classical Haredi learning with a deliberate commitment to Tunisian Sephardic scholarship, pronunciation, liturgy, and custom.[4][5]

Kisse Rahamim traces its origins to Tunisia, where Rabbi Matzliach Mazuz founded it in either 1962 or 1963—sources differ on the precise year.[2][4] The institution was described as the realization of his father's dream of spreading a distinctive educational method to as many students as possible.[4] Conditions facing Jewish communities in Arab countries deteriorated sharply after the Six-Day War, and in January 1971 Rabbi Matzliach was assassinated while returning from morning prayers.[4] After the assassination, his sons moved to Israel and transferred the yeshivah to Bnei Brak.[2]

In Israel, Rabbis Meir, Tzemach, and Rachamim Mazuz set about re-establishing the institution to preserve their father's legacy.[2][4] The Israeli yeshivah began with a few students in a two-room apartment in the Pardes Katz neighborhood of Bnei Brak. As its work and financial support grew, land was acquired and the institution expanded into permanent facilities.[4]

More than 1,500 students study across the Kisse Rahamim educational network.[3] The Bnei Brak yeshivah itself has been described as enrolling several hundred students.[4] The network's geographic reach extends beyond Bnei Brak to Jerusalem, Elad, Emmanuel, Bat Yam, Acre, and other Israeli cities.[3]

The defining intellectual commitment of Kisse Rahamim is intensive, analytical study of the Babylonian Talmud—the approach known as iyun. The promotion of the Tunisian method of iyun was described as the crowning element of Rabbi Meir Mazuz's educational enterprise.[3]

Alongside Talmud study, the curriculum emphasizes Hebrew grammar, correct pronunciation in prayer and study, biblical cantillation, and Scripture.[4][5] Rabbi Meir Mazuz insisted that students study the Bible as well as Talmud and Jewish law. He also compiled the Ish Matzliach prayer book to preserve the distinctive liturgy and customs of Tunisian Jewry.[5] The approach combined classical Haredi education with the cultivation of Sephardic identity.[4]

The institution's expansion was supported by wealthy associates and many small donors. Rabbi Meir Mazuz and his brothers reportedly went for many years without drawing salaries, with Meir supporting himself in the evenings by working as a scribe of sacred texts.[4]

Student life was governed by strict behavioral expectations. Notices instructed students to avoid politics entirely and not to wear pajamas with short trousers, stating that garments should reach the sole of the foot in accordance with ancestral tradition. Other notices warned against visiting the sea because of drowning and modesty concerns, while a 1967 letter advised students against shirts with pictures, tight shirts, or metal buttons.[4]

The present Bnei Brak yeshivah operates on Uziel Street. Its foundational Israeli site was a two-room apartment in the Pardes Katz neighborhood, where a small group of students began studying after the institution was transferred from Tunisia. Subsequent growth and financial support enabled the acquisition of land for permanent facilities.[1][4]

Rabbi Meir Mazuz served as head of Kisse Rahamim and was regarded as an important leader within the Sephardic Haredi community.[5] He worked alongside his brother Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, who served as the yeshivah's senior spiritual supervisor, or mashgiach.[1]

The associated kollel produced the Sefer Va-ya'an Shmuel series of responsa. Its catalog record identifies Rabbi Shmuel Shaul Idan as the yeshivah's director and states that the series was issued in his memory.[6] Following Rabbi Meir Mazuz's death, the administration decided that Rabbi Tzemach would continue in the institution's administration and lead the yeshivah.[1]

Rabbi Meir's scholarly output included Sefer Mekor Ne'eman, a collection of answers and teachings on Jewish law, Hebrew grammar and pronunciation, biblical and rabbinic interpretation, outlook, and education. The collection was assembled from hundreds of letters and published by his students.[7]

The Kisse Rahamim network is organized as a continuum of education from early childhood to advanced adult study. It encompasses daycare centers, kindergartens, Talmudei Torah, a girls' school, a seminary, a yeshivah ketana for younger boys, a yeshivah gedola for older students, and frameworks for married scholars.[3]

A publishing institute complements the network's schools and houses of study.[4] The yeshivah's kollel has also produced published responsa, including the Sefer Va-ya'an Shmuel series issued through the Machon HaRav Matsliach publishing arm.[6]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rabbi Meir Mazuz offered a religious interpretation of the outbreak that drew public attention. He attributed the spread of the virus to pride parades and characterized the pandemic as divine retribution for acts he viewed as violations of nature.[8] This was a stated religious position, not a scientific claim.

A Calcalist investigation reported donations to the yeshivah by private-radio owners and their relatives. It documented at least NIS 2 million from Zvi Amar and family members between 2008 and 2023, approximately NIS 850,000 from Zvi Shalom and Yossi Saban between 2007 and 2019, and about NIS 21.5 million channeled through a French Kisse Rahamim committee over sixteen years.[2] The report connected the figures to possible political relationships and a potential conflict of interest. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi rejected that framing and said private donations to yeshivot reflected donors' religious and ethical commitments.[2]