Yosef Yitzchak Shloush

Who is Yosef Yitzchak Shloush?

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Shloush lived in the old city of Jerusalem until 1938. In 1938, he moved to Machane Yehuda. He was the head of the Chevrah Kadisha and the Av Bet Din of the Sephardic Community of Jerusalem. They used to say that he married off half of Jerusalem and buried the other half. Rav Yosef Yitzchak ran a minyan in the old city of Jerusalem at a shul called Tzuv Devash.

The Chevrah Kadisha on The Mount of Olives:

At one point Arabs were throwing stones at the chevra kadisha who were burying the dead on the Mount of Olives and they relayed this to Rebbi Yosef, who at that time was the head of the Chevrah Kadisha of the Sephardic Community in Jerusalem. Rebbi Yosef came up with an idea, he would go up with the chevra kadisha except he would be carried up like one of the dead. Once they were on the Mount of Olives and in the process of burying the dead, the Arabs started throwing stones, and the chevra kadisha ran away. But Rebbi Yosef was lying there, and once everyone was gone and the Arabs were there near him, he got up and in his long black robe and a staff, he ran after them, and surely the Arabs were scared and the chevra kadisha was allowed to continue burying their dead.