The second son of Rabbi Shalom Hedaya and Sarah Labaton was Rabbi Ovadya Hedaya (1890 Aleppo -1969 Yerushalayim), who was brought to Yerushalayim from Aleppo at age nine. During World War I, he fled the country in fear of the Sultan and spent four years in exile. He returned to Yerushalayim at the end of the war.
At the age of 18, he wrote his first book titled, Servant of the King, based on the Rambam. He received many awards for his writing including the Israel Prize as well as the Honor of Those Who Hold Jerusalem Dear. Rabbi Ovadya was made principal of Yeshiva Porat Yosef in the Old City of Yerushalayim, where he remained until 1945. He also served as Chazan at Oz Vehadar, the kabbalistic yeshiva next to Porat Yosef. Rabbi Ovadya succeeded his father as dean of the Yeshiva Bet El and became Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Petach Tikva in 1939. In 1951, he became a member of the chief rabbinate of Israel, authoring many books on Jewish law and speeches. He also served as a Dayan, judge of the Beis Din.
A pious man, Rabbi Ovadya went to the mikveh daily, regardless of the weather or season. According to his granddaughter, Ruth Nakash, his handwriting was very neat and he was very efficient. "People wrote to him from all over the world asking his opinion. He had a special room with books from floor to ceiling. He typed the answers and decisions himself. He was very independent."
When the Arabs burned the old building of Yeshiva Bet El in 1948 in the Old City of Yerushalayim, Rabbi Ovadya took on the task of rebuilding the yeshiva in the new section of the city.
Rabbi Ovadya married Sulha Shrem (1893 Aleppo-1975 Yerushalayim) and they had three girls and one boy - Sarah (b: 1912), Mazal (1916-1983), Shalom (b: 1926) and Esther (b: 1930) - and 29 grandchildren. Their son, Shalom, became a rabbi. Sulha was an educated woman for her time, who attended school and learned to read and write during an era when it was uncommon for women to do so. Rabbi Ovadya Hedaya is buried on Haritz Mountain in Eretz Yisrael.
