Yifrach and Cuneca Families - Via the "Lev Ha-Ir" Community Center, Jerusalem

Rabbi Ben Zion the son of Avraham Cuneca (1867-1937) He was born in the Old City of Jerusalem. He was from a family whose origins were from the city Cuneca in central Spain. After the expulsion the family moved to Greece and lived there for generations. His parents, Rabbi Avraham and Bechora-Dona, came to Israel from Saloniki in the middle of the 19th century and lived in the Old City. The family later moved to Yemin Moshe and from there to Ohel Moshe and to Nachalat Shiva where they lived until 1957. At his bar-mitzvah Ben Zion Cuneca gave a speech which gave him the reputation of a 'prodigy'. At the age of 15 he married his cousin, Esther Cuneca (the daughter of Yehuda Cuneca). He left his job in the factory that his father had passed onto him and spent his time studying Torah. In addition he studied secular subjects. At the age of 30 Rabbi Koinka was appointed Head of the Tifferet Yerushalayim Yeshiva. He included secular studies, such as grammar and the history of the Jewish people into the curriculum at the Yeshiva. In 1896 he founded the journal, "Ha'maaseif", where both Ashkenzim and Sepharadim wrote articles. Rabbi Cuneca dealt with all the tasks of publishing the newspaper, which was also distributed abroad. At first the journal came out once a week, but later it was published as a monthly journal, for 19 years, until the outbreak of WWI. During this period he built a large library that housed religious books and books on philosophy and history. He was known to sit there studying way into the small hours of the night. In 1908 Rabbi Cuneca built and managed the "Sepharadi Old Age Home" on Jaffa Street, opposite the Sha'arie Tzedek Hospital. Chaim Valero and Yosef Kuki each donated half of the plot of land on which it was built. During a 10 year period Rabbi Ben Zion Cuneca travelled to many countries, including the United States, where le hived and taught for one year, to collect money for the settlements in Palestine. After the Arab riots in 1929, Rabbi Cuneca served as the rabbi and head of the Rabbinical Court in Hevron for 7 years, due to the murder of the rabbis of the community in the riots. From 1935 he also served as the head of the Sephardic Community in Jerusalem. Ben Zion Cuneca passed away in 1936 and is buried on the Mount of Olives. Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman Maimon wrote: "Rabbi Cuneca was an ardent Zionist and as a Rabbi and a man of faith a Sepharadic Zionist, He was a learned man and a lover of mankind. I believe it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was one of a kind, especially among the Sephardic rabbis. A dear man within the rabbinical world." These are the children of Rabbi Ben Zion Cuneca: Avraham, Yehuda, Yitzchak, Rachel and Dona (who married Eliyahu Sithon). Rachel married Eliyahu Yifrach who was born in Izmir. They lived in the Ohel Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem. They had 6 children: Victoria (1910 Rosenthal); Esther (1920 Levy); Rosa-Shoshana (1922 Albachor); Sima (1926 Yitzchaki); Nissim (1928) and Ruth (1929) Yahalom. Eliyahu Yifrach owned a shop in the commercial center in Mamila, Jerusalem. After the UN decision on the Partition of Palestine his shop was burned by Arab rioters. He was forced to peddle his wares from door to door. He later went to Argentina to work. He lived there for 10 years. Rachel passed away from typhoid when she was 48 years old. Nissim Yifrach (1928-1974) Nissim studied in the Alliance Elementary School and in the Terra Sancta College in Rehavia, Jerusalem. Along with his studies he worked as an apprentice in the offices of the accountant Broida. He later moved to the office of the lawyer, Pinchas Rabinowitz. He joined the LEHI and after being wounded in one of the missions, he was arrested by the British and sent to prison in Latrun. He was freed in 1948 when the British left Palestine. After his release from the army he joined a group of LEHI members who founded the Neve Yair settlement on the Gaza border. The group fell apart and Nissim joined a group of Moshav members. After agricultural training in Mikvah Yisrael in 1955, he and his new wife, Ziona nee Ratzhabi moved to Moshav Nir Banim near Kiryat Gat. They had two daughters: Rachel and Gil. After he contracted a kidney disease he moved to Ashdod and worked in the Soreq Nuclear Research Center until his death in the 11th of Kislev, 1974. Ruth, his sister was born in the Ohel Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem in 1929. She too learned in the Alliance School. She joined the LEHI one year after her brother. She served as a medic and even participated in the battles for the Old City in Jerusalem. After the founding of the State of Israel she joined the army and served in the Air Force. She married Yaakov Yahalom, also a native born Jerusalemite, whom she met while they both served in the LEHI. After her release from the army she worked in the Jewish Agency for close to 30 years. Ruth and Yaakov had three daughters. This photo collection was given to the archives at Yad Ben-Zvi as part of a joint project with the Lev Hair Community Center which is dedicated to preserving the memory and documenting families who founded and built the Nachlaot area. Part of the Cuneca -Yifrach families lived in Ohel Moshe. The pictures were given by Esther Levy nee Yifrach. (See also album YBZ.0017). Read more