A Short Tribute
Hacham Shimon Maimon was born to Asilla and Hacham Khalifa in Gabès, Tunisia. He began his Torah studies with Hacham Yitzhak Bokobza and continued with Hacham Haim Houri, who would be his main teacher.
Hacham Shimon Maimon married Fortuna, and the couple had five children. Their son, Nissim, died in 1942 at the age of fourteen after much suffering.
Hacham Shimon Maimon officiated as rabbi of the Torat Haim yeshiva and following Hacham Haim Houri's departure for Israel in 1954, replaced him as the dayan and rabbi of Gabès.
Hacham Shimon Maimon eventually also immigrated to Israel, settling in Beer Sheva, where he became known for his love for all Jews and for the unique salvation [segulaI] he offered to all those in need.
Hacham Shimon Maimon passed away on 22 Shevat, 5741 (1981).
His book of sermons, Ohel Shem, was published in Tunis in 1950; Shem Me'Shimon - his series of books on sermons, Talmudic rules, and original commentary - was published in Israel, as was an additional book, Shlom Yerushalaim.
A few quotes from the Rabbi on 'Traditions of the Fathers' in which he instructs children not to distance themselves from their parents, so that they understand each other's language
May it be God's will that He instill surrender and the fear of sin in the hearts of our children, that the shoots resemble their roots, and that children not distance themselves from their parents. That there be emotional accord between fathers and sons, that one understand the language of the other, and that their homes not diverge from each other's as does the East from the West.
The parents' homes were delightful, in good taste, honest and good, and their children find tasteless and consider them outdated. They should understand "and they will eat their sons and daughter's flesh" - which was said in a moral sense, in rebuke - as meaning that the homes of their sons and daughters will be kosher, according to law and in keeping with Halakhic observance, so that the parents of the old generation visiting their homes will be able to eat their meat with no misgivings about the law; that their homes be kosher as were those of their parents. This is what the text says: "He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents" – that children be similar to their parents.
Shem Me'Shimon, Sermons, p. 54, Dfus Ha'Maarav Printing, Jerusalem, 1974
