Title: Me-ḥakham Bashi le-rav rashi
Description: The biography traces the course of life and public activity of the Sephardic-Zionist rabbi Yaakov Meir, who was born in Jerusalem in 1856 and who worked there for the Spanish community, alongside advanced circles of young people seeking leadership in Jerusalem. The support he received helped him choose the position of the sage Bashi, from whom he was dismissed a few months later under the influence of conservative wealthy people from the Sephardic community and under pressure from the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem. His prestige as an advanced rabbi and his proximity to the Thessaloniki community, from which his wife came, led to his election as chief rabbi in the Thessaloniki community. During his eleven years in office there a revolution broke out. The "Young Turks" and its leadership during the Balkan and First World Wars greatly aided the community. In 1919 he returned to Jerusalem and became involved in public activities. Since the founding of the Chief Rabbinate in 1921, he has been elected to the position of Sephardic Chief Rabbi alongside Rabbi Kook, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. His tenure as Sephardic Chief Rabbi also gave him the presidency of the Sephardic community in Jerusalem. Principles of his doctrine: "Belief in the resurrection of the people and their return to their land is nationalism and just as he who does not keep the Torah is not a whole Jew, so he who keeps the Torah but does not believe in the resurrection of the nation and land is also an incomplete Jew [...] The whole Jew is the one who keeps Both religion and belief in resurrection and redemption [...] have no nationalism apart and religiosity apart."--Back cover.
Subjects: Rabbis, Biography, Sephardim, Chief Rabbinate, Jews, History, Rishon-le-Zion
Places: Palestine, Israel, Jerusalem, Greece, Thessalonikē
People: Jacob Meir (1856-1939)
Time periods: 20th century