Raphael Della Pergola
PERGOLA, RAPHAEL DELLA (1876–1923), Italian rabbi. Della Pergola studied at Florence and for seven years served as rabbi of Gorizia. In 1910 he was appointed head of the Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt, retaining this post until shortly before his death which occurred in Florence. He was also of great help to the refugees from Ereẓ Israel who went to Egypt during World War I. One of the leading Zionists in Alexandria, in 1918, when the cornerstone of the Hebrew University was laid in Jerusalem, Della Pergola was invited by Weizmann to participate in the ceremony.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Politi, in: Israel (Aug. 28, 1923), 1; B. Taragan, Les communautés israélites d'Alexandrie (1932), 58–60; idem, Le-Korot ha-Kehillah ha-Yehudit be-Alexandriyyah (1947), 108–10.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.