During the time the British entered Tiberias in World War I, a plague broke out in the city. Halpern became very ill and eventually died, along with most of his family. After Halpern's death in 1918, Odesser became a personal attendant of Rabbi Solomon Eliezer Alfandari, the great Sephardi rav and kabbalist known as the Saba Kadisha, who was living in Tiberias at the time. After seeing Odesser recite the "Tikkun Chatzot" (Midnight Lament over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash one night, however, the Saba Kadisha refused to let him attend him anymore, and instead treated him as a young colleague.