חכם פרץ מימון


A Short Tribute

חכם פרץ מימון נולד לאמו גמרה ולאביו רפאל ביום כ"א תשרי תרע"ח (1917) בגאבס שבתוניסיה.
עיקר תורתו מפי החכם חיים חורי, שסמכו לרבנות, ואף נשא לאישה את בת רבו, נינה. חכם פרץ מימון שימש שוחט ובודק וכן כסופר בית דין וכותב כתובות, ובשנת תרצ"ב (1932), החל לכתוב מחברת פיוטים, בכתב ידו. בשנת תשי"ד (1954) עלה ארצה והתיישב במושב גילת, ליד אופקים. הוא שימש רב המושב ורב המועצה האזורית מרחבים כחמישים שנה. ולאחר פטירת החכם יעקב כהן שימש גם רבה של אופקים, במשך שבע שנים. 
חכם פרץ מימון שימש בכל מקצועות הקודש: מלמד ופוסק, שוחט ומוהל, חזן ובעל קורא. כרב מושב הרבה לעסוק בשאלות הנוגעות לחקלאות, ופעל להפצת דיני השמיטה בקרב החקלאים. 
חכם פרץ מימון נפטר ביום י"א תשרי תשס"ג (2002) ונקבר במושבו גילת.
כתביו של חכם מימון פרץ נדפסו בספר בן שלושה כרכים, ששמו 'תולדות פרץ'. בכרך אחד תשובות הלכתיות, בשני דרשות לפרשת השבוע ובשלישי – חידושים על התלמוד. 
A few quotes from the Rabbi on 'Customs of Israel' in which he teaches that an Ashkenazi who has settled in their moshav is to follow Sephardi custom
Question: Some twenty years ago an Ashkenazi man came to live among us in Gilat, having married a Sephardi (Tunisian) woman. He followed his Sephardi wife's customs on every matter for he knew nothing of his forefathers' customs, he also did not wish to follow their customs. They had, thank God, three children, two of them boys who 'earned the crown of Torah' and rose in sanctity and awe of Heaven. Somebody told one of the boys that he was to follow Ashkenazi custom, his father being Ashkenazi, and he came to me asking what he should do, both brothers having been my pupils when they were young and having since entered senior yeshivas; they are saintly in all good things, may God be their support, Amen.
Answer: Before asking me about the sons, ask about the father himself. Will he follow Ashkenazi custom or continue to follow his original custom? …Although the [book] HaPanim Me'irot states in part B paragraph 60 on page 121 that an Ashkenazi who acts lenient contrary to the RAM"A [Rabbi Meir Abulafia] must repent, our Master and Rabbi Rishon LeZion [Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef] wrote in Yabia 'Omer that this is certainly the case in their original places of abode, courts and palaces, but in the Land of Israel and its surroundings, where Maran's instruction has been accepted, one is certainly permitted to follow local custom in the place one resides…He wrote so in Avkat Rochel paragraph 212 as well, that Ashkenazim should follow Sephardim, because when the Jewish settlement was initiated the Sephardim were a majority, and Ashkenazim gradually increased in number little by little…Here, in Gilat, we have no independent Beit Din and all follow Sephardi custom…and since the father himself is permitted to follow Sephardi custom, his sons – who since their birth have followed this custom – are not to return to their forefathers' custom.
Toldot Peretz, Volume 1, Yoreh De'a Responsa, pp. 128 – 129, published by the author's family, Gilat, 1981