A Short Tribute

A Short Tribute

Hacham Moses Pardo, son of Hacham David Raphael, was born in Jerusalem in 1810. He studied at the Hessed L'Abraham and Binyan Shlomo yeshivot with his friend and colleague, Rishon LeZion Hacham Shaul Elyashar.

 

In 1867 Hacham Moses Pardo was appointed Av Beit Din (President of the Rabbinic Court) for the Sephardi community. In 1870, he left for North Africa as a rabbinic emissary to raise funds for kollel study houses. On his way back to the Land of Israel, he was asked to replace recently deceased Hacham Nathan Amram as Rabbi of Alexandria, Egypt. He remained in this role for seventeen years, and in his writings he often expresses his longings for his birthplace, Jerusalem.

 

Hacham Moses Pardo passed away on 7 Av, 5648 (1888) and was buried in Alexandria. His writings are primarily halakhic: Tseddek U'Mishpat, Hora'ah D'Beit Din, and Shemo Moshe – a book of responsa. Hacham Moses Pardo also edited Hasdei David, and wrote a response to Hacham Eliyahu Ben Amozegh's Em LaMikra.

 

Israel and the Nations
A few quotes from the Rabbi on 'Israel and the Nations'
in response to a question concerning the leading of a Torah scroll procession on a Festival accompanied by musical instruments played by non-Jews

I received a question from a person seeking to dedicate a Torah scroll to the holy Eliyahu community in a procession on the first day of Shavuot. The local custom is to hold a procession with musical instruments played by non-Jews, for the Jews do not know if it is permissible to ask a non-Jew to prepare musical instruments on the eve of the Festival so that musicians may lead the Torah scroll with music on the following day. Should we be concerned about whether they might repair the musical instruments during the Festival?


Concerning our issue, it is certainly permitted. I gave my direct consent, all the more so because this has been the local custom in the past, as several proper individuals have testified before me, and rabbis preceding me had done so on several occasions.