David de Sola Pool
David de Sola Pool (;‎ 1885–1970) was the leading 20th-century Sephardic rabbi in the United States. A scholar, author, and civic leader, he was a world leader of Judaism. Biography Early life and education Born in London, England, de Sola Pool was descended from an old and renowned family of rabbis and scholars, de Sola, which traces its origins to medieval Spain. His great grandparents were Rabbi (R.) David Aaron de Sola and Rebecca Meldola, his great-great grandfather was Haham Raphael Meldola, a prominent English Rabbi. He was also related to R. Abraham de Sola, R. Henry Pereira Mendes and Frederick de Sola Mendes. He studied at the University of London. He held a doctorate in ancient languages, summa cum laude, from the University of Heidelberg. Career In 1907, de Sola Pool was invited to become the assistant rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel — often called the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue — located in New York City, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. He served as its assistant rabbi, under H. Pereira Mendes, until 1919. He left to do work in Mandatory Palestine, but returned to become senior rabbi in 1921, when the synagogue was unable to find a replacement for Mendes after his 1920 retirement. In his detailed history of the congregation, An Old Faith in the New World, Pool highlighted with satisfaction its noteworthy diversity: "Probably in no other congregation in the world is there so wide an ingathering of Jews from the four corners of the earth as is to be found in Shearith Israel [...] Throughout the congregation's three centuries, its history has been marked by the integration of the elements which have come to it from the sixty or more countries of the earth. Within the compass of the congregation the motto of the country, E pluribus unum, has happy fulfillment." On D-Day during World War II, Pool delivered these broadcast remarks in support of the brave troops fighting overseas. He served as rabbi until 1955, and was an involved Rabbi Emeritus for the rest of his life. Throughout his career, Pool and his wife, Tamar, were particularly concerned about helping young people, to meet and talk with them, and to motivate them to lead ethical lives. Zionism Following in the footsteps of his cousin and predecessor, H. Pereira Mendes, Pool ardently advocated for Jewish nationhood. He and his wife, Tamar, were leaders in Hadassah's Young Judaea youth movement, and Tamar went on to become National President of Hadassah, striving there to support for the Zionist cause. In 1919, Pool took leave of his position and went with his wife to Palestine to do relief work, assuming charge of post-war relief and reconstruction for the World Zionist Organization and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Pool and his wife stayed three years until before returning to his rabbinical position in New York. Then, as Nazism rose in the 1930s, Pool spoke out increasingly of the need for a Jewish homeland, calling on American