Saba Yaakov Zigger, 104, a resident of Moshav Elyakim, insists smoking is not bad for his health and despite being in Rambam Medical Center in Haifa; he wants his ‘nargila’ (hookah). Mr. Zigger explains he began smoking at age 12 in Yemen, and he rejects any claims that his hookah can harm his health.

Unfortunately, what one might call a ‘technical malfunction’ involving the hookah has landed the elder Zigger in the hospital and he is scheduled to undergo a plastic surgical procedure on his right leg, which sustained burns. It appears Saba Yaakov uses a flammable substance to light his tobacco when he smokes daily. Last week, some of the flammable substance apparently leaked onto his pants and his trousers caught fire, resulting in his hospitalization.

Saba Yaakov is not particularly worried over the upcoming surgical procedure, but he is less than pleased regarding the realization that he is without his trusty smoking device. On Sunday he told one of his sons “I haven’t smoked for five days and the hookah is undoubtedly a contributory factor to my longevity.”

Yaakov is the father of eight children (two have already died), grandfather to 25 and great-grandfather to 14. He is married for a second time to a ‘younger woman,’ 75, who Yaakov credits for his ‘arichas yomim’ (longevity).

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)