ELMALEH, JOSEPH DE AARON:
Honorary chief rabbi of Mogador, Morocco; born at Rabat in 1809; died in London Jan. 9, 1886. He removed to Mogador at the age of seventeen, and, devoting himself to theological study, was elected in 1840 chief rabbi of the community. In 1881 he added to his clerical functions the calling of a merchant. He also held the honorary post of Austrian vice-consul, and in 1873 was decorated by the Emperor of Austria with the Order of Francis Joseph. His influential position enabled him to render valuable services in mitigating the persecution endured by the Jews. Elmaleh was a valued correspondent of the Anglo-Jewish Association, and the establishment of a Jewish girls' school at Mogador was due to his perseverance.
Elmaleh was the author of "Toḳpo shel Yosef," a treatise on Jewish legislation. He introduced into Gibraltar the "Importa Nacional," an annual tax paid by Jews for the benefit of the poor, and levied on trade at the rate of 1 per cent.
- Jewish Chronicle and Jewish World (London), Jan. 15, 1886.
