Rav Chaim Chizkiyohu Medini Sdei Chemed

Rav Chaim Chizkiyohu Medini, the Sdei Chemed, was born in Yerushalayim and was married at eighteen. After his father was niftar two years later, Rav Chaim’s cousins in Constantinople offered to support his learning if he moved there. After thirteen years in Turkey, he took the position of Rav in the small city of Karasubazar in Crimea. He served there for thirty-three years, fighting the forces of the Karaites, before moving back to Yerushalayim. He lived there for two years, then moved to Chevron, where he was appointed Rav of the city in 1880. His Sdei Chemed is a monumental, universally acclaimed, eighteen-volume Talmudic and halachic encyclopedia.