TOAFF

TOAFF , Italian family of rabbis. alfredo sabato toaff (1880–1963) was born in Leghorn and studied under R. Elijah *Benamozegh at the Leghorn Rabbinical College, where he was made professor, and in 1923 succeeded Samuel *Colombo as chief rabbi of Leghorn. A member of the Italian Rabbinical Council for many years (from 1931), he was several times its president. He headed the Leghorn Rabbinical College and was head of the *Collegio Rabbinico Italiano in Rome from its reopening in 1955 until his death, which occurred in his native city. He was the author of many works on, and translations into Italian of, biblical and post-biblical Hebrew literature, as well as of writings on the history and traditions of the Leghorn Jewish community (such as Cenni storici sulla Comunità Ebraica e sulla Singagoga di Livorno, 1955). Many of his writings show the influence of E. Benamozegh, whose Scritti Scelti (1955) he edited. A bibliography of the writings of Alfredo Toaff appears in: E. Toaff (ed.), Annuario di Studi Ebraici (1965), 215–6.

His son, elio toaff (1915–), was born in Leghorn and was the last rabbi ordained by its Rabbinical College, before its closure by the Fascist regime (reopened 1955). He was rabbi of Ancona (1941–46) and of Venice (1946–51) and was called to Rome to succeed David *Prato as chief rabbi of that community in 1951. A member of the Italian Rabbinical Council and head of the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano from 1963, he edited the Annuario di Studi Ebraici at the college. Elio was a member of the executive of the Conference of European Rabbis. On April 13, 1986, he welcomed Pope John Paul ii on the first visit ever by a pope to a synagogue. He wrote articles and translated studies on Jewish, biblical, and historical topics from Hebrew into Italian.

bibliography:

Israel, corriere israelitico, 49 (1963), nos. 7–13; Ha-Tikwà, Organo della Federazione giovanile ebraica d'Italia, 11 (1963), no. 9.

[Sergio DellaPergola]