Ya'akov Moshe Toledano

Rabbi Ya'akov Moshe Toledano (; 17 August 1880 – 15 October 1960) was an Israeli rabbi who served as Minister of Religions of Israel for two brief periods between 1958 and 1960. He also served as chief rabbi of Cairo, Alexandria and Tel Aviv.

Biography Toledano was born on 17 August 1880 in Tiberias, he served a member of the city council and the head of the Mizrachi party in the city. Following a cholera outbreak in Tiberias in 1903, Toledon's family moved to Peki'in. When David Ben-Gurion formed the ninth government on 17 December 1959, Toledano returned to his ministerial role. This led to criticism from much of the Israeli media, from which Toledano defended himself by saying that the marriage was legitimate because he had complied with the Jewish law that stated a man must wait for two holidays after the death of the first wife. Toledano also stated "I'm a man of eastern tradition, and did not base my marriage on European Jewish tastes, but according to Jewish law."

Toledano died at his home in Jerusalem on 15 October 1960 at the age of 79. His funeral at was attended by president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the rest of the cabinet. A street was named after him in the Bavli neighborhood of Tel Aviv, along with the Prize for Jewish literature established by the Tel Aviv Religious Council.

Famous works and teachings Toledano collected and studied many ancient manuscripts of the Jews of Spain and North Africa. One of the most famous manuscripts that he discovered was the commentary of the Rambam on the Mishnah in Arabic, as it had been originally written, which Toledano discovered along with his brother in Damascus. When he was living in Israel, Toledano collaborated with archaeologist Nahum Slouschz to help discover the hot springs in Tiberias built by the Romans. In 1950, Toledano was sent by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to Morocco where he discovered several more ancient manuscripts.

Toledano was sympathetic to Zionism and wrote several commentaries pertaining to his opinion of the Three Oaths, in which he stated that Zionism does not contradict the Three Oaths. He supported the concept of Hebrew labor and stated that it was preferable for Jews to hire other Jews, including secular Jews in his ideas. Toledano also wrote a ruling in which it was forbidden for Jews to sell weapons to non-Jews in the state of Israel. He supported the creation of a high court in Jerusalem, and under appropriate conditions supported the revival of the Sanhedrin. Rabbi Toledano wrote several religious commentaries, winning the Rav Kook Prize in 1957 in the Special Award Category for his work.