Moshe David Gaon

Moshe David Gaon was born in 1889 in Travnik

Gaon was born in 1889 in Travnik, Bosnia, to Rivka and Chacham David Gaon. His family descended from Jews expelled from Spain. As a youth he studied in religious and public schools.

Around age 18 he went to Vienna to study, but his plans did not work out, and he joined groups of students from the Balkans. Around World War I he moved to the Land of Israel and studied at the Ezra teachers' seminary. During the War of the Languages he joined the strikers and finished his studies at the Beit Hakerem seminary under David Yellin.

He was the first teacher of the children of Motza, where he taught for 4 years. From 1921 he ran the Talmud Torah in İzmir and published a Hebrew magazine for his students. He later worked in Zionist offices in Jerusalem and reported for Ladino newspapers abroad.

In 1928 he went to Buenos Aires to teach and edit, and a year later became general secretary of the Sephardi community in Jerusalem, a post he held until his death. His main work, on Oriental Jews in the Land of Israel, appeared in 2 volumes. He also wrote Ladino poetry and a bibliography of the Ladino press.

He married Sarah Hakim of İzmir, and their children included Benny Gaon and Yehoram Gaon. He died in 1958 and was buried at Har HaMenuchot. A Ladino culture center at Ben-Gurion University bears his name.