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Ya'akov Moshe Toledano | |
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יעקב משה טולדאנו | |
 Toledano in 1960 | |
| Ministerial roles | |
| 1958–1960 | Minister of Religions |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 August 1880 Tiberias,Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 15 October 1960(1960-10-15) (aged 80) Jerusalem,Israel |
RabbiYa'akov Moshe Toledano (Hebrew:יעקב משה טולדאנו; 18 August 1880 – 15 October 1960) was an Israeli rabbi who served asMinister of Religions for two brief periods between 1958 and 1960. He also served aschief rabbi ofCairo,Alexandria andTel Aviv.
Toledano was born on 18 August 1880 inTiberias, then in theOttoman Empire. He was the son of Rabbi Yehuda Toledano who hademigrated fromMeknes in 1862 and grew up to become known as a public figure in Tiberias. He was a member of the city council and the head of theMizrachi party in the city. For four years, Toledano lived among the Jewish minority in the Galilee, where he was among the founders of a Hebrew school inPeki'in.
DuringWorld War I Toledano received French citizenship after being expelled by the Ottoman authorities and lived inCorsica with 800 other members of the Galilee's Jewish community. He served as rabbi for the local Jewish community on the island, and dedicated himself to improving Jewish life there. In 1920 the French government allowed the community to return to the Galilee. After returning to Tiberias, Toledano purchased land from the local Arabs around theTomb of Maimonides and theTomb ofRabbi Akiva, building a wall around the Tomb of Maimonides and financing the establishments of several new neighborhoods.
Between 1926 and 1928 Toledano was a member of the Chief Rabbinate inTangier, and was a member of theBeit Din for the Jewish community of the city. By 1941 he had been appointed as the head of the Beit Din and the deputy Chief Rabbi ofCairo, the head of the Beit Din inAlexandria and the member of the Beit Din of Egypt, roles in which he served in until his election as theSephardi Chief Rabbi ofTel Aviv in 1942. He held this position until 1958, and along with theAshkenazi Chief Rabbi,Isser Yehuda Unterman, helped found the Special Court ofAgunot.
He left this job to becomeMinister of Religious Affairs in theeighth government on 3 December 1958, despite not being a member of theKnesset. He held the post until 30 November the following year.[1] WhenDavid Ben-Gurion formed theninth government on 17 December 1959, Toledano returned to his ministerial role, serving until his death from cardiac arrest in October 1960.[1]
In July 1960, only months before he died, he married Mary Sebag, a 20-year-old frommoshavTirosh. This led to criticism from much of the Israeli media, from which Toledano defended himself by saying that the marriage was legitimate because he had complied with theJewish law that stated a man must wait for two holidays after the death of the first wife. Toledano also stated "I'm a man ofeastern tradition, and did not base my marriage on European Jewish tastes, but according to Jewish law." Toledano has a street named after him in theBavli neighborhood of Tel Aviv, along with the Prize for Jewish literature established by the Tel Aviv Religious Council.
Toledano collected and studied many ancient manuscripts of the Jews ofSpain andNorth Africa. One of the most famous manuscripts that he discovered was the commentary of theRambam on theMishnah inArabic, as it had been originally written, which Toledano discovered along with his brotherBaruch Toledano inDamascus. When he was living in Israel, Toledano collaborated with archaeologistNahum Slouschz to help discover the hot springs in Tiberias built by the Romans. In 1950, Toledano was sent by theHebrew University of Jerusalem toMorocco where he discovered several more ancient manuscripts.
Toledano was sympathetic toZionism and wrote several commentaries pertaining to his opinion of theThree Oaths, in which he stated that Zionism does not contradict the Three Oaths. He supported the concept ofHebrew labor and stated that it was preferable for Jews to hire other Jews, including secular Jews in his ideas. Toledano also wrote a ruling in which it was forbidden for Jews to sell weapons to non-Jews in the state of Israel. He supported the creation of a high court inJerusalem, and under appropriate conditionssupported the revival of theSanhedrin. Rabbi Toledano wrote several religious commentaries, winning the Rav Kook Prize in 1957 in the Special Award Category for his work.
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