Rabbi Yaakov Meir הרב יעקב מאיר
first Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Mandatory Palestine—the Rishon LeZion
Born in Jerusalem. From 5667, and for twelve years running, he was Chief Rabbi of Salonika, where the Jewish community was among the largest in the world and almost wholly Sephardi. During the First World War he supported the forming of the Jewish Legion and called on Jews to go up to the Land of Israel.
In 5677 a fire destroyed most of Salonika, and his manuscripts with it. In 5679 he returned to the Land of Israel.
Rishon LeZion. In 5681, with Rav Kook's support, he was elected Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Mandatory Palestine and took the title Rishon LeZion. The two of them—he and Rav Kook—together built the Chief Rabbinate: two chief rabbis, two lines, one court. He established an appellate rabbinical court and worked hard to keep the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities from parting for good.
He held the office until his death in May 1939.
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Documents of the period
- Enactments of the Chief Rabbinate of Mandatory Palestine — the appellate court and the joint enactments of the two chief rabbis
Scholarship
- Encyclopaedia Judaica, “Meir, Jacob” — the years, Salonika, the election as Rishon LeZion in 1921
Basis: documents and evidence.