Bookstamp of David Meldola

Bookstamp of David Meldola

Meldola, David, 1797-1853

This is the bookstamp of David Meldola, a Hebraist, Talmudist and de facto chief rabbi of the London Sephardic community from 1828 until his death in 1853. Meldola was born in 1797 in Leghorn, where he was ordained as rabbi.

He was the eldest son of Rabbi Raphael Meldola, hakham (Sephardic term denoting chief rabbi) of Great Britain. Although David Meldola never received the title of hakham like his father, his stamp bears the title “Chief Rabbi” and he acted as such after his father’s death. He also succeeded his father as head of the London Sephardic rabbinical court. His tenure coincided with the birth and development of the Jewish Reform movement; Meldola unsuccessfully tried to avert the assimilation of Sephardic Jews.

In addition to his rabbinical duties, Meldola co-founded the “Jewish Chronicle,” the first Anglo-Jewish newspaper. He was an avid writer and composed poems and sermons in Hebrew in addition to commentary on Jewish prayers and dogma.

The Hebrew around the border of his bookstamp reads "David son of Rabbi Raphael Meldola of blessed memory, head of the rabbinical court of the Sephardic community in London." The Hebrew acronym meaning "of blessed memory" after his father's name and the title "Chief Rabbi" in the center indicates that the stamp was made sometime between 1828 and 1853.

Meldola, David, 1797-1853

Cohn-Sherbok, Dan. Blackwell Dictionary of Judaica. Oxford: Blackwell Reference, 1992. 355. Print.

Jewish Encyclopedia (Jewish Chronicle)

Jewish Encyclopedia (Meldola)

Pfeffer, Jeremy. ‘From One End of the Earth to the Other’: The London Bet Din, 1805-1855, and the Jewish Convicts Transported to Australia. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press, 2008. 103.

Between 1828 and 1853.

Digital Image: Washington University in Saint Louis

Ink

Hebrew, English

Bookstamp

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