Draft:Haim Nisim Abulafia

Haim Nisim Abulafia (חיים ניסים אבולעפיה; 1795 – 1861) nicknamed חנ"א was the rabbi of Tiberias and the Rishon LeZion in Jerusalem.

Haim Nissim Abulafia was born in Tiberias and was a descendant of Chaim Abulafia II. For a certain period, he served as a rabbi in Damascus, but most of the time he served as the rabbi of Tiberias. In the great earthquake that occurred in the Land of Israel in 1837, his leg was broken, and since then he suffered from pain all his life. He was known for his great humility. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Shmuel Haim Gagin, the son of Rabbi Chaim Avraham Gagin. Among his grandchildren was Shlomo Abulafia, one of the founders of the city of Tel Aviv. As the rabbi of Tiberias, he went to the commander of the Turkish army in Sidon demanding the protection of the Jewish residents in Tiberias and the Galilee from rioters, and as a result, soldiers were sent to protect them. After he turned 50, he moved to Jerusalem, and after the death of the Rishon LeZion Rabbi Yitzhak Kubo, he was appointed to this position and served in it for about six and a half years. He was among the encouragers and supporters of the establishment of general schools despite the ban declared by the Ashkenazi rabbis of Jerusalem against them. He wrote several books, but they were not published; the names of three of them were mentioned on his tombstone - Kera ChNA, Eresh Tzvi, and Totsot Chaim. Some of his rulings were printed in the book of responses by Rabbi Binyamin Mordechai Navon.