Rabbi Ṣadqa Ḥuṣīn was born in Aleppo toward the beginning of the seventeenth century and was considered to be one of the community’s preeminent Torah scholars. In 1742 and 1743, a severe epidemic struck the city of Baghdad, and many prominent local scholars died. Moses Shandūkh, the nasi (head) of the Jewish community, urgently asked Samuel Laniado, the chief rabbi of Aleppo, to send a learned scholar to Baghdad to serve as judge (Heb. dayyan) and chief rabbi. Laniado chose Ṣadqa Ḥuṣīn.

One can certainly say that Rabbi Ḥuṣīn revived Torah study in Baghdad, but in doing so he …