Moshe David Gaon (; 6 September 1889 – 8 October 1958) was a Bosnian Jewish historian, scholar of the

Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

world, bibliographer, educator, journalist and poet. He was one of the pioneers of

Ladino Ladino, derived from Latin, may refer to: * Judeo-Spanish language (ISO 639–3 lad), spoken by Sephardic Jews *Ladino people, a socio-ethnic category of Mestizo or Hispanicized people in Central America especially in Guatemala * Black ladinos, a ...

culture in Israel, and the father of businessmen and

Yehoram Gaon Yehoram Gaon (; born December 28, 1939) is an Israeli singer, actor, director, comedian, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure. He has also written and edited books on Israeli culture. The son of Sephardic Jewish parents—a Bosnian f ...

Early life and career

Gaon was born in

Travnik Travnik ( cyrl, Травник) is a town and a municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the administrative center of the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, ...

, then under Austro-Hungarian administration (now

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

) to Chacham David and Rivka Gaon,

Sephardi Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

, sages of Porat Yosef and

Beit El Beit El or Beth El () is an Israeli settlement and local council (Israel), local council located in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish town was settled in 1977–78 by the ultranationalist group Gush Emu ...

, two Yeshivas in the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem (; ) is a walled area in Jerusalem. In a tradition that may have begun with an 1840s British map of the city, the Old City is divided into four uneven quarters: the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Arm ...

. His family is descended from Spanish expellees to the

Balkan region Balkan Region () is the westernmost of the five regions of Turkmenistan. Clockwise from north it borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (north); two provinces of Turkmenistan (east), Iran (south), and the Caspian Sea (west). The capital city is Balkana ...

following the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

. In his youth, he studied at both

Talmudic The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...

and public schools. When he turned 18, Gaon went to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, intending to continue his studies, but ended up joining an academic association with other Balkan immigrants. Near the end of

WWI World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

, he

emigrated to Israel ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described ...

, serving one year in the

Ottoman army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...

Beer Sheva Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most po ...

, and later studied at the Ezra Teachers' Seminary. At the outbreak of the

War of the Languages The war of the languages (; ) was a heated debate in the land of Israel over the language of instruction in the region's new Jewish schools. This "language war" was a cornerstone event in the history of the revival of the Hebrew language. Bac ...

, he joined the strikers, and completed his studies at the Seminar Beit Hakerem under the guide of

David Yellin David Yellin (; March 19, 1864 – December 12, 1941) was an educator, a researcher of the Hebrew language and Hebrew literature, literature, a politician, one of the leaders of the Yishuv, the founder of the first David Yellin College of Educat ...

. In 1921, he visited the newly-formed

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, and returned to Jerusalem with his parents. He became the director of the

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah (, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew language, H ...

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, and published a Hebrew-language magazine, ''Hevranu'', to help his students learn. In subsequent years, upon his return to Israel, Gaon held various positions in the offices of Zionist movements' managements in Jerusalem. He was one of the members of the

Hapoel Hatzair Hapoel Hatzair (, "The Young Worker") was a Zionist group active in Palestine from 1905 until 1930. It was founded by A.D. Gordon, Yosef Aharonovich, Yosef Sprinzak and followed a non-Marxist, Zionist, socialist agenda. Hapoel Hatzair was a ...

party until its merger with the Ahadot Ha'Avoda in 1930. For several years, he served as a reporter for a number of international

newspapers, including: ''Il Avinir'' and ''La Ipoca'' in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, ''Hashofer'' in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, and ''Il Judio'' in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. Later in his career, he wrote articles for ''Harut''. Gaon was the first teacher of the children of

Motza Motza, also Mozah or Motsa, (, ) is a neighbourhood on the western edge of Jerusalem. It is located in the Judaean Mountains, 600 metres above sea level, connected to Jerusalem by the Jerusalem–Tel Aviv highway, Highway 16, and the winding mo ...

. The classroom was located in the Old Motza Synagogue, he would spend time in Motza during the week for teaching, and would return on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

to Jerusalem. He taught for 4 years. In 1928, he travelled to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, where he helped edit the "Hebrew Stage" and served as a teacher at the

Moroccan Jewish Moroccan Jews (; ; ) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were much later met by a second wave of migrants fro ...

community school in the city. He returned the following year to Israel, and was invited to serve as the general secretary of the Sephardi Community Council in Jerusalem, which he held until his death in 1958. Gaon was one of the activists of the Histadrut HaSephardim (later

Sephardim and Oriental Communities Sephardim and Oriental Communities (, ''Sfaradim VeEdot Mizrah'') was a political party in Israel and is one of the ancestors of the Likud party. History The Sephardim and Oriental Communities party represented Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews who ...

) and then in the World Sephardi Federation as a member of the board. He was known as a

Talmid Chakham ''Talmid Chakham'' is an honorific title that is given to a man who is well-versed in Jewish law, i.e., a Torah scholar. Originally ''Talmid Chakhamim'', lit., "student of sages", pl. ''talmidei chakhamim'', "students of sages"; inaccurate reco ...

and a multi-disciplinary, although his main discipline was the study of Oriental Jewry in the land of Israel and in the diaspora. He public many studies which form the basis of the study of the history of the Jews of Spain. His

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

is "The Jews of the East in the Land of Israel: Past and Present", in two volumes, which was published in 1928. He also wrote various poems in Ladino and collected many Ladino newspapers, writing a bibliography on the Ladino press. From his inclination to study the newspapers of the orient, he published many bibliographic articles on the subject in collections on the history of the Palestine press, edited by David Yudelwitz and Zalman Pevsner.

Personal life

Gaon married Sarah ben Binyamin Hakim, a native of İzmir. They had 4 children, two daughters: Kalila and Yigal, and two sons, businessmen Benny Gaon and

. He died on 8 October 1958 and is buried at Har HaMenuchot.

Commemoration

* He has a street named after him in the

Mekor Baruch Mekor Baruch (, lit., "blessed source" or "fountain of blessing") also spelled Makor Baruch, is a neighborhood in Jerusalem. The neighborhood is bordered by Malkhei Yisrael Street to the north, Sarei Yisrael Street to the west, Jaffa Road to the ...

neighborhood of Northwest Jerusalem * His son Benny founded the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture in his name at

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public university, public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli List of national founders, national founder David Ben-Gurion, the unive ...

. * His personal archive is preserved at the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaon, Moshe David 1889 births 1958 deaths People from Travnik Bosnia and Herzegovina Sephardi Jews Sephardi Jews from the Ottoman Empire Sephardi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Israeli Sephardi Jews Judaeo-Spanish literature Jewish poets Jewish Israeli writers Jewish educators Burials at Har HaMenuchot