In the holy city of Jerusalem, one of the pillars of the Sephardic Torah community is the famous Porat Yosef Yeshivah, which was founded close to 100 years ago (1914) to preserve Sephardic Jewry and produce outstanding Torah scholars who would perpetuate Sephardic teachings and tradition. A philanthropist from Calcutta, India, Yosef Avraham Shalom, played a major role in the founding of the yeshivah. This Jew from India had a big heart and, after learning of the diseases that were rampant in Jerusalem and its environs, he wished to build a hospital in the Holy Land to see to the people’s physical needs. He wrote a letter to the Gadol HaDor, Chacham Yosef Chayim zt”l of Baghdad, the Ben Ish Chai, and informed him of his plans. The Ben Ish Chai wrote back with the following response: “Open a yeshivah, not a hospital. Although it is important to build a hospital in Yerushalayim, many people will be eager to grab that mitzvah, while very few appreciate the value of Torah study, which is sorely needed.” Avraham Shalom heeded the Ben Ish Chai’s advice and contributed a vast sum of money for the founding of Porat Yosef in the Old City of Jerusalem.