Meshullam Solomon

Israel Meshullam Solomon (1723–1794), born as Israel Meshullam Zalman Emden in Altona near Hamburg, was one of two rival Chief Rabbis of the United Kingdom and the rabbi of the Hambro' Synagogue. Solomon claimed authority as Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1765 to 1780, while Rabbi Tevele Schiff claimed the same authority from 1765 to 1791. Rabbi Solomon was the son of Jacob Emden, the grandson of the Chacham Tzvi, and a great-great-great-grandson of Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm. After being rabbi at Podhajce, he was appointed rabbi of the Hamburger Hambro' Synagogue in London in 1764. The Hambro' Synagogue managed to bring up his salary to £150 as well as to grant him £50 for travelling expenses and £120 to set up house in London.

Career After Chief Rabbi Hart Lyon left London in 1764 it was agreed that his successor should be appointed and maintained by the Great Synagogue and the Hambro' Synagogue jointly. However, they could not agree on a single name. The Great Synagogue appointed their Rabbi, Tevele Schiff as Chief Rabbi, while the Hambro' Synagogue appointed their Rabbi, Israel Meshullam Zalman (Schiff's cousin), who became known in England as Meshullam Solomon. His relations with his congregation seem to have become embittered, while their income decreased to such a degree that they were unable to continue to afford the salary for a Rabbi of their own. who in 1766 began to be known by the title "The Chief Rabbi". Whatever the reason, Meshullam Solomon left London in 1780 for a post in Russia.

With Solomon's departure from England, the dispute which had begun in 1765 was ended. The Rabbinate of the Great Synagogue was from that time recognised without question by all the Jewish communities of the provincial towns, all of whom accepted Tevele Schiff's authority.

Meshullam Solomon died in Hamburg in 1794.