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.