Meshullam Solomon

Israel Meshullam Solomon (born as Israel Meshullam Zalman Emden in Altona, Hamburg) was one of two opposing Chief Rabbis of England and the rabbi of the Hambro' Synagogue. Solomon claimed authority as Chief Rabbi of England from 1765 to 1780. He was the son of Jacob Emden, the grandson of the Chacham Tzvi, and a great-great-great grandson of Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm. He was appointed rabbi of the Hamburger Hambro' Synagogue in London in 1764.

After Chief Rabbi Hart Lyon left London in 1764 it was agreed that his successor should be appointed and maintained by the Great Synagogue and the Hambro' Synagogue jointly. However, they could not agree on a single name. The Great Synagogue appointed their Rabbi Tevele Schiff on February 24 1765, while the Hambro' Synagogue appointed their Rabbi Israel Meshullam Zalman, Schiff's cousin, who became known in England as Meshullam Solomon. He had been the rabbi at Podhajce until 1764. The Hambro' Synagogue managed to bring up his salary to £150 as well as to grant him £50 for travelling expenses and £120 to set up house in London.

Each Rabbi claimed authority over the whole Kingdom, causing a split in the London Rabbinate. The Jews of the provinces were confused as to which Chief rabbi they were follow. Meshullam Solomon, for his part, had no doubt as to his supremacy. He had beeb legitimately appointed Chief Rabbi and two synagogues followed hin in London, as against only one which accepted Schiff, even if it was the larger and the wealthier synagogue. Solomon therefore considered Schiff to be an impostor, and had no hesitation in subscribing himself " Rabbi of London and the provinces".

Solomon's father, Jacob Emden wrote in his autobiography:

"In the month of Nisan of the same year (1765) my son Rabbi Meshullam Zalman was elected as Rabbi of the Hamburger congregation in London, likewise a result of my activity and endeavors for some time past, and after I nearly gave up every hope for it. For he had many opponents on the part of the Synagogue in Duke's Place (דוקספלעס), which separated from the community and elected another Rabbi, R. Tevele Schiff from Frankfort-on-the-Main. It was, however, from God, and so all the plotting and obstacles, the opposition placed in my son's way, could not frustrate his election. Even after he had duly been elected they conspired against him, and people wrote me letters threatening that, if he came to London, they would attack and abuse him.

All this was done at the instigation of that man "Laze", a pupil of "that man" (ie, R. Jonathan Eybeschutz) who made special efforts and wrote me letters, full of perversions and untruths, with the intention of frightening me so that I should prevent my son from accepting the position. The congregation of the Hamburg Shul , however, was anxious to have him, and they had warned me beforehand to take no notice of that shameful letter. He visited us here, and remained during the past Shavuot festival, and all the most notable men of the three Kehillahs (Hamburg, Altona, and Wandsbeck aka Ah"u) gave evidence of the respect they felt for him. He left us and entered upon his duties in London at the middle of Tammuz, and was welcomed with great honors and with joy. I have since heard that even his former enemies have now become his friends. May God grant that he rise higher and higher and be blessed with children."

Meanwhile, Meshullam Solomon threw himself into his work in London, optimistically declaring himself Rabbi of the Ashkenazi communities of the entire kingdom. In 1777 Solomon published the translation of a sermon he preached in December 1776 at the General Fast for the success of the British Army during the American Revolution. This was the earliest address delivered in an Ashkenazi synagogue in England to be made available in print to the general public. Less positively, when in 1774 he invalidated a get which had been brought from Amsterdam in 1768 he received a storm of uncomplimentary criticism from a Sephardi scholar, Shalom Buzaglo. In 1778 years his matrimonial troubles attracted attention in the British press who wrote that the "Jew Priest" of the Hambro' Synagogue had divorced his "Priestess". Finally, his relations with his congregation seem to have become embittered, while their income decreased to such a degree that they were unable to continue to afford the salary for a Rabbi of their own.

The problem was resolved only after a split within the community at Portsmouth. Although a dissident group of the Portsmouth Jewish population established a rival congregation recognising the authority of Meshullam Solomon, the main community formally accepted the authority of Rabbi Schiff, who in 1766 began to be known by the title "The Chief Rabbi". Whatever the reason, early in 1780 Meshullam Solomon, bitterly disappointed, left London, his hurt mollified to some extent by an annuity of £50 a year which his congregation agreed to pay him.

With Solomon's departure from England, the dispute which had begun in 1765 was ended. The Rabbinate of the Great Synagogue was from that time recognised without question by all the Jewish communities of the provincial towns, all of whom accepted Tevele Schiff's authority.

Meshullam Solomon died in Hamburg in 1794.

External links

• Past Chief Rabbis - Office of the Chief Rabbi