Rav Shammai Zahn nurtured a generation of Sephardi gedolim whose influence was felt all over Europe and beyond. A reunion of memories after six decades

“I owe my life to him.”

Talmidim remember Rav Shammai Zahn ztz”l

• Mr. Shmuel Bitan, originally of Melilla
• Mr David Fhima, originally of Marrakesh
• Rabbi Avraham Melul, originally of Tangiers

They were a group of several dozen Moroccan teenagers on an open lorry, traveling down an English highway, singing aloud in the August sunshine. Arriving in the beautiful Lake District National Park, they’d find a scenic but sheltered spot and set up their tents for camp. Leading the group was a middle-aged, European-born rosh yeshivah, with a long beard, big smile, and overflowing heart. Of course, he would help his boys pitch the tents. He had bought them the army surplus tents and sleeping bags. He would take care of their summer fun, the same way he took care of their learning, their davening, their growth, their occasional homesickness, their clothing, their Yom Tov invitations, and even their pocket money.

When we meet a small group of these Moroccan alumni of Sunderland Yeshivah, 60 years later there is still an outpouring of gratitude and closeness to their rebbi and mentor, Rav Shammai Zahn ztz”l, who passed away in 2001.

“I tell my grandchildren, I owe my life to him.”

“I can never, ever, have enough hakarat hatov.”

“He was more than a father to us.”

“You could not find a better person to follow,” say these grandfathers whom Rav Shammai Zahn taught and nurtured in his yeshivah, so many decades ago.

From 1952 to 1967 and beyond, in the quiet, chilly British town of Sunderland, far from the Mediterranean sunshine, far from their parents in Tangiers, Fez, Casablanca, or Marrakesh, boys who had barely studied Gemara before blossomed into serious yeshivah bochurim and often brilliant talmidei chachamim. Some notable personages include Rav Nissim Rebibo ztz”l, who became rosh beis din of Marseille, then of Paris, then of the entire France; Rabbi Shimon Biton ztz”l, who served as the venerated av beis din of Marseille, his fascinating life recorded in the ArtScroll biography of his wife Rabbanit Shulamit Biton-Blau, From Djerba to Jerusalem; Dayan Saadia Amor ztz”l, rosh beth din of the Sephardi Beth Din of the UK and mechutan of Rav Mordechai Eliyahu; Rav Avraham Baddouch ztz”l, a rosh kollel in Mexico; Rav Refael Yisrael ztz”l; and yibadel lechayim tovim, Rav Gavriel Ittah of Strasbourg, among others. There’s also Kabbalist Rabbi David Pinto who has set up Torah institutions around the world, and Rav Shalom Gabbai, who went back to lead the community in Marrakesh. Dozens of others became shochtim and menakrim trusted by stringent kashrus authorities, and sincere, learned laymen.

The bochurim in the yeshivah became a close-knit group, almost like a family. They were taught by Rav Shammai Zahn and the beloved maggidei shiur Rav Chaim Shmuel Lopian (son of Rav Elya ztz”l) and Rav Vovshi Kaufman, who later became rosh kollel of Manchester’s Kollel Harabbanim. Among themselves, they used their own languages, Spanish or French, Hebrew, a little Arabic, while Hebrew was used to communicate with the staff members. Rav Yisrael Melul, today a retired rabbi in Edgware, UK, was one of the very early arrivals from Morocco to Sunderland, and by the late 1950s he was already giving a shiur to the beginners. All had learned Chumash at home, some Mishnah, but very few had learned Gemara. Yet the boys recall having a tremendous desire to learn.

“It was hard, but it didn’t take us long to catch on to Gemara, because we had a lot of cheishek, we spoke Hebrew, and we had that special warm atmosphere,” says Rabbi Avraham Melul, the host of our meeting. The atmosphere in Sunderland Yeshiva was serious. Any boy who came to a yeshivah so far away had come to learn, not to goof off. The alumni share fond memories of young Nissim Rebibo, a Morrocan illui, standing at the back of the beis medrash, learning for hours upon hours, and of his afternoon chavrusah with Rav Vovshi Kaufman. The sincere desire to learn coupled with the language barrier meant there was little outside the yeshivah to attract these diligent talmidim.