Pinkhas Ha'Kohen Ha'Gadol

R. Pinhas Ha-Gadol received this designation after sanctifying the Name of Heaven when he was thrown, on the Emir's order, from the Kilan minaret, the highest tower in the city of Bukhara, and survived. From then on, the Emir and the Moslem scholars considered him a holy man. His son, R. Isaac Hayim relates,

As the successors of Hacham Yosef Maimon, R. Pinhas Ha-Gadol and R. Pinhas Ha-Katan complemented each other. Mullah Pinhas Ha-Gadol served as spiritual leader as the Chief Rabbi (Mollai Klon). He headed the Yeshiva, the rabbinic court, the infrastructure for slaughtering animals, and was supported by a number of scholars from among the senior member of the community who constituted the "Seven Town Elders." (See the list of the Scholars, Shklov, 5593/1833).