Gaon, Solomon

views updated

GAON, SOLOMON

GAON, SOLOMON (1912–1994), English Sephardi rabbi. Born in Travnik (Yugoslavia), Gaon studied for the rabbinate at Jews' College, London. After acting as senior ḥazzan, he was in 1949 appointed haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregations in the British Commonwealth. On retiring as haham of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation of London in 1977 Gaon was appointed haham of the Association of Sephardi Congregations with the object of converting that organization into the effective center of leadership and rabbinical administration of the increasingly diversified Sephardi component of Anglo-Jewry. In view of its failure to expedite the setting-up of a centralized bet din he resigned in 1980. He also acted for some time as visiting minister to the She'erit Israel Sephardi Congregation of New York. He published Influence of Alfonso Tostado on the Pentateuch Commentary of Abravanel (1943).