Gagin, Ḥayyim Abraham ben Moses
GAGIN, ḤAYYIM ABRAHAM BEN MOSES
GAGIN, ḤAYYIM ABRAHAM BEN MOSES (1787–1848), chief rabbi of Jerusalem. Gagin was born in Constantinople. He became rishon le-Zion (Sephardi chief rabbi) in 1842 and was the first to bear the official title of ḥakham bashi. Gagin was responsible for the taxes of the Jews to the government, and was granted authority to impose taxation within the community on meat ('gabela'), maẓẓot, wine, etc. He lived in the Old City of Jerusalem in the courtyard of his grandfather, Shalom *Sharabi, the kabbalist, and the government placed a guard of ten soldiers near his dwelling to protect the Jewish quarter. In his time a violent dispute broke out among the rabbis of Jerusalem with reference to the *Kolelim and the distribution of the funds for them which arrived from abroad. The following of his works were published: Minḥah Tehorah (Salonika, n. d. c. 1825–36), Ḥukkei Ḥayyim (1843); Ḥayyim mi-Yrushalayim (1882); and Yeri'ot ha-Ohel (2 pts., 1886–1904).
bibliography:
Frumkin-Rivlin, 3 (1929), 276–8; M.D. Gaon, Yehudei ha-Mizraḥ be-Ereẓ Yisrael, 2 (1938), 179–82.
[Abraham Ben-Yaacob]