David de Aaron de Sola
Encyclopedia
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, the son of Aaron de Sola. When but eleven years of age he entered as a student the bet ha-midrash of his native city, and after a course of nine years received his rabbinical diploma. In 1818 he was elected one of the ministers of the Bevis Marks Congregation, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. De Sola's addresses before the Society for the Cultivation of Hebrew Literature led the mahamad (board of directors of the congregation) to appoint him to deliver discourses in the vernacular, and on March 26, 1831, he preached the first sermon in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
ever heard within the walls of Bevis Marks Synagogue
Bevis Marks Synagogue
----Bevis Marks Synagogue is located off Bevis Marks, in the City of London. The synagogue, affiliated to London's historic Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community, is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom still in use...
. His discourses were subsequently published by the mahamad. In 1829 he issued his first work, The Blessings, and in 1836 he published his Translation of the Forms of Prayer According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, in six volumes, of which a second edition was issued in 1852. This translation formed the basis for several subsequent ones.
In 1837 de Sola published The Proper Names in Scripture; about the same time he wrote Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
the Prophet, Moses Maimonides, and Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
, and in 1838 Notes on Basnage and Milman's History of the Jews. In 1839, collaborating with M. J. Raphall, he translated eighteen treatises of the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
. The work had a strange fate, for, the manuscript having reached the hands of a member of the Burton Street Synagogue, it was published in 1842, without the permission of the authors, before it had been revised or corrected for the press, and with an anonymous preface expressing views entirely opposed to those of de Sola and Raphall.
In 1840 de Sola, conjointly with Raphall, began the publication of an English translation of the Scriptures
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, together with a commentary. Only the first volume, Genesis, was published, in 1844.
De Sola was instrumental in organizing the Association for the Promotion of Jewish Literature and other societies of a similar character. In 1857 he published The Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, including a historical account of the poets, poetry, and melodies of the Sephardic liturgy. In the notation of the melodies he was assisted by Emanuel Aguilar, the composer. A musician himself, de Sola composed a melody and setting of Adon Olam
Adon Olam
Adon Olam is a strictly metrical hymn in the Jewish liturgy. It has been a regular part of the daily and Sabbath liturgy since the 15th century...
still used in both Sephardi and Ashkenazi synagogues in the United Kingdom. In 1860 de Sola translated into English, in four volumes, the festival prayers according to the custom of the German and Polish Jews.
Besides his works in English, de Sola wrote in Hebrew, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. He contributed frequently between 1836 and 1845 to the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums and to Der Orient, and published in German A Biography of Ephraim Luzzato and a Biography of Distinguished Israelites in England. His chief work in Dutch was his Biography of Isaac Samuel Reggio
Isaac Samuel Reggio
Isaac Samuel Reggio was an Austro-Italian scholar and rabbi born at Gorizia. Reggio studied Hebrew and rabbinics under his father, Abraham Vita, later rabbi of Gorizia, acquiring at the same time in the gymnasium a knowledge of secular science and languages...
, published in 1855 and afterward translated into English.
De Sola was married in 1819 to Rica Meldola, the eldest daughter of Haham Raphael Meldola
Raphael Meldola (Sephardic Rabbi)
Raphael Meldola, English Rabbi. Born in Leghorn 1754; died in London June 1, 1828.One of the most prominent members of the Meldola family. He received a thorough university training, both in theological and in secular branches, and displayed such remarkable talents that when only fifteen years old...
, by whom he had six sons and nine daughters. The sons included Abraham de Sola
Abraham de Sola
Alexander Abraham de Sola was a Canadian Rabbi, author, Orientalist, and scientist. Originating from a large renown family of Rabbis and scholars, De Sola was recognized there as one of the most powerful leaders of Orthodox Judaism in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth...
, who later became a minister at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal
Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal
The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal also known as Shearith Israel is a Montreal synagogue, located on St. Kevin Street in Snowdon, which is the oldest Jewish congregation in Canada. The Congregation traces its history back to 1760 and was formally established in 1768...
. One daughter, Jael, married Solomon Belais, son of Rabbi Abraham Belais, at one time treasurer to the Bey
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
of Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, and another, Eliza, married Rev. Abraham Pereira Mendes
Abraham Pereira Mendes
Abraham Pereira Mendes was an English rabbi and educator.He was the first master of the Beth Limud School of Kingston, but resigned in order to prepare in London, England for the vocation of preacher and rabbi. He studied under Dr. Meldola, the dayyan, and the Rev. D. A...
, and was the mother of Dr. Frederick de Sola Mendes
Frederick de Sola Mendes
Frederick de Sola Mendes was a rabbi, author, and editor.He was the son of R. Abraham Pereira Mendes. He was educated at Northwick College and at University College School, London, and at the University of London...
and of Dr. Henry Pereira Mendes
Henry Pereira Mendes
Henry Pereira Mendes was an American rabbi who was born in Birmingham, England and died in New York.-Family history and education:...
. Of the other daughters five married in London. David de Sola died at Shadwell
Shadwell
Shadwell is an inner-city district situated within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets located on the north bank of the Thames between Wapping to the south and Ratcliff to the east...
, near London, in 1860.