(Some say the Yahrzeit is on the 18th of Elul)
The Only Son of Toldos Yaakov Yosef.
Reb Avraham Shimshon moved to Eretz Yisrael, but in 5502/1742 he returned to chutz laAretz. After his return from the Holy Land, he was appointed Rav of Rashkov which was where his father had served as rav before taking up the rabbinate in Polnoy. Several years later, in 5520/1760, Reb Avraham Shimshon returned to Eretz Yisrael.
In תק"ך, he returned to Eretz Yisroel. In the תק"ם edition of Toldos Yaakov Yosef, he is listed as co-publisher alongside his brother-in-law, Rav Avrohom Dov. He is remembered as the “honorable rav whose great light shines in Torah and yira, chassidus, the complete sage who pitched his tent in the Holy Land.”
It remains an enigma that among the many collections of chassidic letters to and from Eretz Yisroel we do not find mention of Rav Avrohom Shimshon even once.
In the copy of the sefer Toldos Yaakov Yosef that was preserved in Yerushalayim, Rav Avrohom Shimshon writes: “This is the sefer that my father—mentor, master teacher and rebbe—wrote. I published it in order to disseminate his teachings of Torah in the Kollel in Yerushalayim in order to give merit to the masses who study and teach as I did in Tzefas and Teveria and in order to leave a testimony since I have left behind no living children. This shall serve as my monument. [signed] Avrohom Shimshon, son of the author, Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polnoy, living in Teveria and having now moved to establish my residence in Tzefas.”
Rav Avraham Shimshon Hakohen was the only son of Harav Yaakov Yosef of Polnoa, the Toldos Yaakov Yosef.
According to some sources, the Baal Shem Tov and Harav Pinchas of Koritz participated in the wedding of Reb Avraham Shimshon, and the Baal Shem Tov said during the wedding that he saw that Reb Avraham Shimshon would move to Eretz Yisrael. According to another source, Reb Avraham Shimshon moved to Eretz Yisrael while still a bachur.
Among Reb Avraham Shimshon’s manuscripts is a siddur based on the nusach of the Arizal. There are also some divrei Torah from the Baal Shem Tov and from Reb Avraham Shimshon’s father — the Toldos — not printed anywhere else.
Rav Avrohom Shimshon passed away on the 8th (others say 18th) of Elul, 5559 (1799) and was laid to rest in Teveria (Tiberias) Eretz Yisroel. He did not have any children.
