Umberto (Moshe David) Cassuto

One of the pre-eminent Hebrew scholars of his day, Umberto Cassuto was Chief Rabbi of Florence until 1925. He was dismissed from his professorship at the Università di Roma, where he had replaced Giorgio Levi Della Vida, one of 12 university academics who refused to swear the Oath of Allegiance to the fascist regime. Cassuto was, in turn, replaced by Eugenio Maria Zolli (Israel Zoller), Chief Rabbi of Rome until 1945 when he converted to Catholicism. Cassuto went on to teach Biblical Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, despite significant difficulties (he was initially only given a short-term post, on half the normal salary). He remained in Jerusalem, as did most of his family, severely affected by the persecution of those years.