Hacham Moses Gaster Dead in London at 82; Noted As Scholar

Dr. Moses Gaster, retired chief rabbi of the Sephardic Community of Britain and a famous scholar, died last night at the age of 82.

Born in Rumania, Hacham Gaster was expelled from his native land in 1885 for leading a protest movement against persecution of Jews. He settled in England and later rejected an offer of the Bucharest Government to return to Rumania. However, he complied with a request of the Rumanian Government to write a report on the British educational system, which was accepted as the basis of education in that country. In England, Dr. Gaster lectured at Oxford University and for many years played a leading part in Jewish secular and religious life. In later years, although almost completely blind and in poor health, he remained intellectual alert and took a close interest in Jewish affairs. In 1934, he created a stir by suggesting a League of Nations loan to finance wholesale emigration of Jews from Europe to America and Africa. Later developments proved his prediction that a large part of the Jews of Europe would have to leave.

Dr. Gaster was one of the early Zionist leaders and was associated with Dr. Theodor Herzl, founder of political Zionism. He was vice-president of the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. During the World War he was prominent in the negotiations leading up to the issuance of the Balfour Declaration by the British Government. An enthusiastic adherent of the Hebrew language, he was responsible for the making of mechanical adjustments in the typewriter that made possible the marketing of the first Hebrew typewriter. His wife, seven daughters and six sons survive him.