ר׳ חיים אבישלום כהן פרחיה

ר׳ חיים אבישלום כהן פרחיה (1935–2019), widely known as ‘החלבן’ (the milkman), was a Tel Aviv–Givatayim kabbalist and teacher whose public profile combined ordinary manual work with intensive study of Kabbalah. Born in Jaffa to Blanca and ר׳ עזרא כהן פרחיה, from a Turkish Jewish family, he attended Alliance schools in Tel Aviv and worked for decades in the family dairy founded in 1930, later called Mahlevat Deshen. From about 1965 he studied esoteric Torah with a Tel Aviv circle headed by ר׳ משה יעקב רביקוב, ‘the Shoemaker.’ He married Doba Edith and had four children. Although he did not cultivate conventional rabbinic dress, his private counsel and weekly lessons eventually drew broad audiences. He taught Talmud and Kabbalah at Kollel Givat HaShalom in Givatayim and at the Ramat HaSharon hesder yeshiva led by ר׳ ראובן ששון. From 2010, ר׳ ראובן edited his recorded teachings into the sixteen-volume טללי חיים series. After a prolonged illness he died at Sheba Medical Center on 13 August 2019 and was buried in Jerusalem’s Sanhedria Cemetery. This record corrects an earlier false identification with ר׳ יעקב משה הלל.