Naftali Herz Halevy

Naftali Herz Halevi (October 26, 1852 – June 14, 1902) was the first Ashkenazi rabbi of Jaffa. He was engaged in both the revealed and hidden aspects of Torah and was a Kabbalist.

Biography
Naftali Herz Halevi was born in Bialystok to Rabbi Elijah Leib, a preacher. In 1884, he immigrated from Poland to Palestine, settling in the Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem where he founded a yeshiva.

In 1886, the Ashkenazi community in Jaffa was founded, and Rabbi Halevi was sent to serve as its rabbi by the rabbis of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shmuel Salant and Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin. He established Jewish life in the city and its colonies, focusing on the observance of mitzvot dependent on the land.

In 1891, the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities in Jaffa united, and Rabbi Halevi was appointed to lead the united community with the consent of Yechiel Michel Pines and Yoel Moshe Salomon on behalf of the Ashkenazim, and Aharon Shlush and Rabbi Yaakov Meir on behalf of the Sephardim. This made Rabbi Halevi the highest rabbinical authority in Jaffa and a symbol of the possibility of unity between Sephardim and Ashkenazim in Israel.

Opposition to Secular Influences
Rabbi Halevi, who was subordinate to the rabbis of Jerusalem, sought to prove that he maintained religious character and fought against the secular-Russian culture brought by the First Aliyah immigrants, who changed the existing character of Jaffa. He particularly opposed the heads of the public, members of Bnei Moshe, such as Menachem Stein, Vladimir Tiomkin, Yehoshua Barzillai, Yehezkel Danin (Suchovolsky), and Chaim Hissin, who sought to be accepted as partners in the unified community council and influence education and health in the city. Rabbi Halevi, supported by Yehiel Michael Pines from Jerusalem, vehemently refused and attacked the secularists mainly for leading dances of boys and girls and public desecration of the Sabbath and later for theater performances in Jaffa and the colonies. At the peak of the struggle, the rabbi announced that he would refuse to perform weddings for anyone who did not promise to avoid "boys' dances with virgins."

Works

 * He published the "GRA Siddur" based on Kabbalah, with his own commentaries "Shaar Naftali" and "Imrei Shefer," as well as notes on "Shnot Eliyahu" on the tractate Shabbat, which he printed in his siddur for the first time.
 * "Brit Olam" with his commentary "Luchot HaBrit," published by his son Rabbi Yosef Halevi in 1937. A second volume was published for the first time in 2001 by his grandson Rabbi Aryeh Levi.
 * He wrote a commentary on "Mishnat Hasidim" by Rabbi Immanuel Chai Riki, titled "Kesef Mishnah," published by the GRA Institute in 2006.

Descendants

 * Rabbi Yosef Halevi – author of several books and manager of kashrut at the Rishon LeZion winery.
 * Son-in-law: Rabbi Yosef Zvi HaLevi – served in Jaffa as rabbi and Av Beit Din for over sixty years.