Abraham de Sola

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Rev. Dr.
Abraham de Sola
Personal
Born(1825-09-18)September 18, 1825
London, England
DiedJune 5, 1882(1882-06-05) (aged 56)
New York City, New York
ReligionJudaism
Spouse
Esther Joseph
​
(m. 1852)​
Children
  • Rev.
    David Aaron de Sola and Rebecca Meldola
DenominationOrthodox Judaism
Jewish leader
SuccessorMeldola de Sola
PositionRabbi
SynagogueCongregation Shearith Israel
Began1846
Ended1882
BuriedMontreal, Quebec

Abraham de Sola (Hebrew: אברהם די סולה; September 18, 1825 – June 5, 1882) was a Canadian rabbi, author, Orientalist, and academic. Originating from a large renowned family of rabbis and scholars, De Sola was recognized as one of the foremost leaders of Orthodox Judaism in North America during the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Early life and education

Born in

Raphael Meldola, a prominent English rabbi. His sister Eliza married Rabbi Abraham Pereira Mendes and was the mother of Rabbis Frederick de Sola Mendes and Henry Pereira Mendes
.

In 1846, De Sola was elected minister of the

LL.D. was conferred upon him by McGill in 1858—the first instance of a Jew attaining this honour in an English-speaking country.[citation needed
]

Later career

Abraham de Sola delivering the opening prayer at the House of Representatives on January 9, 1873

In 1873, by invitation of President

Edward Thornton
, the British ambassador at Washington, extended the thanks of the British government to De Sola.

Abraham de Sola frequently visited the

J. J. Lyons, and other traditionalist religious leaders, and on Leeser's death was invited to become successor to his pulpit; but this and many similar offers he declined. For twenty years he was a constant contributor to Leeser's Occident
, and after the latter's death he purchased the copyrights and stereotype plates of his works and continued their publication.

He died in New York City in 1882 and was buried in Montreal.[1] His archives are held at McGill University.[2]

Personal life

De Sola married Esther Joseph on 30 June 1852.[1] Amongst their children were Rev. Meldola de Sola, Canada's first native-born rabbi, and Clarence I. de Sola, a businessman and pioneer Canadian Zionist.[3]

Publications

Besides the below works, Abraham de Sola also contributed actively to the Jewish press, a large number of articles by him appearing in The Voice of Jacob, The Asmonean, The British-American Journal, and other contemporary Jewish journals. His articles on Sir John William Dawson's Archaia, Dawn of Life, and Origin of the World are specially noteworthy. He also edited and republished George Bethune English's Grounds of Christianity and a number of educational works.

Selected works

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jacobs, Joseph; de Sola, Clarence I. (1905). "Abraham de Sola". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 432–433.

  1. ^ a b Miller, Carman (1982). "Abraham de Sola". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 11. University of Toronto / Université Laval. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Abraham de Sola and Evelyn Miller fonds". McGill Library Archival Catalogue. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
  3. ^ Tulchinsky, Gerald (1998). "Clarence Isaac de Sola". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 14. University of Toronto / Université Laval. Retrieved 22 November 2015.

External links

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