Elio Toaff celebrates 90th birthday

Rome’s widely respected former chief rabbi Elio Toaff has celebrated his 90th birthday, receiving warm praise from Italian political leaders. Toaff served as Rome’s chief rabbi for half a century. Addressing him as his “dear friend,” President Carlo Ciampi called Toaff a “great Italian patriot, a man of faith, a man of hope.” Ciampi has received with petitions calling on him to proclaim Toaff a senator for life, one of Italy’s highest civic honors. Rome’s Jewish community will honor Toaff on 8 May with a day of study and celebration, to be attended by rabbis from around Italy and Europe, as well as Ciampi and other senior political figures. Toaff was one of only two living people mentioned in the will of late Pope John Paul II.