Wikipedia's first sentence called it “rosh yeshiva and posek of iraqi jewry”. Today it says “iraqi jewish hakham”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2015
Abdallah (Ovadia) Somekh (1813–September 13, 1889) was a rosh yeshiva and posek of Iraqi Jewry .1He was born in Baghdad to Abraham Somekh, himself a descendant of Nissim Gaon ; he was the eldest of eight brothers and eight sisters. At first he earned his living as a merchant, but he devoted himself to the field of education when he saw the level of Torah study wane in Baghdad. Hakham Abdallah became head of the yeshiva Midrash Abu Menashe (established in 1840 by Heskel Menashe Zebaida); the yeshiva was later expanded and renamed Midrash Beit Zilkha and remained in operation until 1951. As rosh yeshiva, Hakham Somekh was teacher of several Sephardi sages including his brother-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Chaim ("the Ben Ish Chai "), and Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer ("the Kaf HaChaim "). He issued a great number of rulings, particularly in matters of shechita (Jewish slaughter of animals) and treifot —these rulings have been published in the work Zibhei Tzedek (Baghdad 1914, 2 vols), which became the handbook for Baghdadi Jews throughout India and the Far East. He also authored Responsa on all of the Shulchan Aruch . Hakham Abdallah died on Friday night 13 September 1889 during a cholera epidemic, and he was buried in the courtyard of the tomb of Yehoshua Kohen Gadol. Les Fleurs de l'Orient Introduction to זבחי צדק החדשות see History of the Jews in Iraq: Modern times (1922-)2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 660117799.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Hakham Abdallah Somekh (1813–September 13, 1889) was a rosh yeshiva and posek of Iraqi Jewry . He was born in Baghdad to Abraham Somekh, himself a descendant of Nissim Gaon ; he was the eldest of eight brothers and eight sisters. At first he earned his living as a merchant, but he devoted himself to the field of education when he saw the level of Torah study wane in Baghdad. Hakham Abdallah became head of the yeshiva Midrash Abu Menashe (established in 1840 by Heskel Menashe Zebaida); the yeshiva was later expanded and renamed Midrash Beit Zilkha and remained in operation until 1951. As rosh yeshiva, Hakham Somekh was teacher of several Sephardi sages including his brother-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Chaim ("the Ben Ish Chai "), and Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer ("the Kaf HaChaim "). He issued a great number of rulings, particularly in matters of shechita (Jewish slaughter of animals) and treifot —these rulings have been published in the work Zivhei Tzedek (Baghdad 1914, 2 vols), which became the handbook for Baghdadi Jews thorughout India and the Far East . He also authored Responsa on all of the Shulchan Aruch . Hakham Abdallah died on Friday night 13 September 1889 during a cholera epidemic, and he was buried in the courtyard of the tomb of Yehoshua Kohen Gadol. Les Fleurs de l'Orient Introduction to זבחי צדק החדשות see History of the Jews in Iraq: Modern times (1922-)
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 328488442.
The opening as it stood in 2020 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Iraqi Jewish rosh yeshiva and posek Abdallah (Ovadia) Somekh (1813–September 13, 1889) was an Iraqi Jewish hakham , rosh yeshiva and posek .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964192637.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Iraqi Jewish rosh yeshiva and posek Abdallah (Ovadia) Somekh (1813 – September 13, 1889) was an Iraqi Jewish hakham , rosh yeshiva and posek .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1173552947. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “rosh yeshiva and posek of iraqi jewry”. Today it says “iraqi jewish hakham”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
rosh yeshiva and posek of iraqi jewry
Now
iraqi jewish hakham
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.