Rabbi Chaim Kapusi: The Blind Sage Who Saw Through Truth

A Saintly Scholar in Egypt

Today marks the yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of Rabbi Chaim Kapusi, author of Be’or HaChaim and revered by generations as a miracle worker and Torah giant. In his morning lecture, Rabbi Yitzchak Batzri encouraged everyone to light a candle in Rabbi Kapusi’s merit and recite Tehillim today, promising, “you will see salvations beyond the natural order.”

Rabbi Chaim Kapusi was born around the year 1540 in Algeria and later moved with his family to Egypt. He studied under Rabbi Yitzchak Birav, son of the famed Rabbi Yaakov Birav, and according to some traditions, was also a student of the Arizal in Kabbalah. Over the course of his life, Rabbi Kapusi lived and taught in Cairo, Alexandria, and Damietta and is believed to have headed a major yeshiva in Egypt.

Miraculous Recovery

At one point in his life, Rabbi Kapusi became blind. Rumors circulated that he had accepted a bribe while serving as a dayan (rabbinical judge), invoking the verse “for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise” (Devarim 16:19). When he heard this, he publicly declared before the congregation: “If I indeed took a bribe, let my blindness remain. But if I did not, may my sight be restored before your eyes.” In that very moment, his vision was miraculously restored, and he immediately began recognizing people by name and face.

From that day forward, he signed his name as “Hashem nissi – Chaim Kapusi” (“Hashem is my miracle”), and the public called him Ba’al HaNes, the Miracle Worker.

The Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai) attests to this episode, noting that he personally saw two types of signatures in Rabbi Kapusi’s writings: one scribbled and shaky from his time of blindness and another bold and clear following the miracle.

Halachic (Jewish Legal) Legacy Hidden for Centuries

Rabbi Kapusi’s halachic writings were long hidden in manuscript form. The Chida quoted them often, and Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Toledano published three of his responsa. It was not until 2011 that a full collection of 60 responsa and additional Talmudic commentaries were finally published from his manuscript. These responsa offer invaluable insight into the Jewish communities of Egypt and beyond and reveal his correspondence with major sages of his time.

He was known to have debated leading halachic authorities such as Rabbi Yaakov Castro, Chief Rabbi of Egypt, and Rabbi Betzalel Ashkenazi, author of Shita Mekubetzet, during his stay in Egypt.

Rabbi Chaim Kapusi passed away on the 12th of Shevat, 1631, and is buried in Egypt, where his gravesite remains a place of pilgrimage. A synagogue that bears his name still stands in Cairo, and when Egyptian Jews immigrated to Israel, they established another synagogue in his honor in the city of Holon.

Rabbi Chaim Kapusi’s life and legacy, rooted in Torah, integrity, and miracles, remain a beacon for truth-seekers and believers. On his yahrzeit, lighting a candle in his honor and reciting Psalms in his merit connects us to a powerful spiritual lineage that continues to illuminate the path of justice, humility, and scholarship.