Meldola de Sola
Aaron David Meldola de Sola was the first native-born Canadian rabbi. He succeeded his father Abraham de Sola as leader of the Shearith Israel synagogue in Montreal upon the latter's death in 1882.
Biography
Meldola de Sola was born in Montreal in 1853, the eldest son of Esther and Rabbi Abraham de Sola. His rabbinical studies were pursued chiefly under the direction of his father, whose assistant he became in 1876. He was elected as his father's successor in 1882. On a number of occasions he was invited to deliver sermons at the Congregation Shearith Israel in New York and Bevis Marks Synagogue in London.He was appointed the first vice-president of the Orthodox Convention in New York in 1898, and he was one of the committee of three that drew up its "Declaration of Principles". At the conventions held in 1900 and 1903, he was elected first vice-president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of the United States and Canada, and chairman of the Committee on Presentations of Judaism.
De Sola published a large number of pamphlets on Jewish subjects, as well as articles in newspapers and magazines. He wrote voluminously in the Jewish press in defense of Orthodox Judaism, and was a vocal critic of the Reform movement. In 1902 he issued a protest against the Central Conference of American Rabbis for discussing the transfer of the Sabbath to the first day of the week. De Sola was also outspoken against Christian missionary activities, and a strong supporter of the Zionist movement.