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Ish Matzliach: The Lessons Of Preparing For Shabbat |
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 The 21st of Tevet is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Matzliach Mazuz, the Ish Matzliach (1912-1971). Born on the island city of Djerba., he was accepted into the yeshivah of Rav
Rachamim Chai Chavitah HaKohen at the age of eleven.
After his marriage in 1930, Rav Matzliach moved to Tunis, where he served as a mashgiach ruchani in the Chevras HaTalmud yeshivah for 13 years. He was later appointed to the position of dayan in the beis din of Tunis. 600 couples came to him for divorces between the years 1955-1958, and he managed to make shalom bayis between 75% of them.
He founded the Kisei Rachamim yeshivah in Tunis, named after his mentor. Years later, his sons reestablished this yeshivah in Bnei Brak. In 1971, while Rav Matzliach was returning from a pre-dawn minyan, clad in tallis and tefillin, a number of Arabs attacked and killed him. Among Rav Matzliach's writings are: Shu"t Ish Matzliach, on the four parts of Shulchan Aruch, three of which have appeared until now; Kuntress HaMaarachot, which discusses the rules of issuing halachic decisions; Matzliach Yeshuah, a collection of chiddushim on the Shas; and Magen u'Tzinah, answers to questions on the Maharsha. The rest of his writings are still in manuscript form.
Rav Matzliach is survived by his sons: Rav Mayer, rosh yeshivah of Kisei Rachamim in Bnei Brak and the leader of the Tunisian community in Eretz Yisrael; Rav Yosef Tzemach, the director and mashgiach ruchani of the yeshivah; and Rav Rachamim, also a mashgiach ruchani. One of Rav Matzliach's daughters is married to Rav Yitzchak Barda, author of Yitzchak Yeranen, and another to Rav Chanan Kablan, a dayan.
Introduction to Ish Matzliah: We are so accustomed to Shabbat that we need little preparation and review to properly observe all her laws. However, when Shabbat immediately follows a Yom Tov, and we have the laws of different levels of holiness, we find that we must carefully review the laws of the differences between one holiness and another.
This lesson of Shabbat must be applied to our environment. We are accustomed to battling with those who fight against our spiritual existence, that we need little thought as to how to fight.
However, we are also challenged by those who claim to be holy and it is far more difficult to separate between one holiness and another. We find ourselves intimidated by those who claim that they have the correct path to holiness and that ours is at fault. Such battles takes far more thought and preparation.
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