Shalom Hedaya the son of Rabbi Moshe Hayyim Hedaya and Sabtiah Shamah, was orphaned at an early age and was very poor. He was so poor he had no one to take care of him and he considered leaving the path of Torah in order to earn a living. He was fortunate enough to receive help from Ribbi Shelomo Safdeye, Ribbi Ovadiah Moshe Antebi, Ribbi Shmuel Silvera and Senor Aharon Silvera. He was taught by the great Kabbalist Ribbi Moshe Swed, the Av Beit Din

Av Beit Din

Av Beit Din, Av Beis Din, or Abh Beyth Diyn . was the second-highest ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Commonwealth period. He presided over the Sanhedrin in the absence of the Nasi, and was the chief of the Sanhedrin when it sat as a criminal court...

 Ribbi Yits`haq Bekhor Mizra`hi and later on Rabbi Shaul Sitton, who became Head of the Rabbinical Court in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

.

Rabbi Hedaya visited Jerusalem in 1890. He developed an illness in his eyes and soon became blind. He traveled to Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 for surgery and completely recovered. In 1899, he settled in Jerusalem, where he was widely respected. In 1904, he became Judge of the Beit Din for Sephardic Jews and in 1930 he became head of the court. After a time, he became very ill and had to travel to Amman

Amman

Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

, where he was treated and cured. When Rabbi Hedaya returned to Jerusalem, he became the Rabbi of Beit El Synagogue

Beit El Synagogue

The Beit El Synagogue , has been the center of kabbalistic study in Jerusalem for over 250 years.-History of the Yeshivat HaMekubalim:The yeshiva was founded in 1737 by Rabbi Gedaliah Hayon, originally from...

 and was given the title Harav Hachasid.

At a young age, Rabbi Hedaya married Sarah Labaton and they had four sons: Rabbi Isaac Hedaya, Rabbi Ovadia Hedaya

Ovadia Hedaya

-Biography:Rabbi Hadaya was born in 1889 in the Aleppo, Syria , the son of rabbi Shalom Hedaya. In 1895, he and his family left Aleppo for Jerusalem, which was also then under Ottoman rule....

, Moshe and Ezra, and two daughters, Mazal and Rena. Rena married Rabbi Moshe Ezra Mizrahi and she died at a young age. Mazal married Rabbi Jacob S. Kassin, who became Chief Rabbi of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

's Syrian Jewish community in 1933.

Published works

• Shalom Le-Am (Aleppo
  Aleppo
  Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
  
  , 1896);
• Degel Ephraim, where he thanks God for the miracles and wonders done for him;
• Kisay Shlomo (Jerusalem, 1924); and
• Shalom VaTzedek, published in 1948 (the last two chapters were written by his son Rabbi Ovadia Hedaya).