Solomon (Suleiman) David Sassoon was born in 1915, to David Solomon Sassoon and Selina (Sarah) Prins at their London home, 32 Bruton Street. In 1936 Solomon became a Rabbi, receiving smicha (ordination) from Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (Head of the Etz Chaim yeshiva in London), Rabbi Shem Tov Gagin (head of the Beit Din of Spanish and Portuguese Jews in England) and Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Herzog (then Chief Rabbi of Ireland). In the 1930s he taught in the Dalston Talmud Torah, which was under the auspices of the Gateshead Shaarei Shamayim community, and later became a member of the institution's education committee. In 1940 the family were forced to move to Letchworth, a north-east London suburb, because of damage sustained by the family house during the Blitz. Following his father David's death in 1942, Solomon took over his activities in the leadership of the Spanish and Portuguese community in London and also undertook the care of David Sassoon's intellectual legacy by publishing his father's books and looking after his collection of manuscripts. In 1943 Solomon married Alice Benjamin and they had two sons, David Solomon (Suleiman) (1944) and Isaac (1946).
Most of Solomon Sassoon's activities focused on the promotion and advancement of religious Torah-based education, with an emphasis on, though not exclusively, children from Arab countries and North Africa. These activities grew in the years after the Holocaust, whether through the Jewish-Ultra-orthodox channels (in connection with Chabad and the "Hever Pe'ilim" of Agudat Yisrael) or through Zionist channels with Bachad (Association of Religious Pioneers) and the Jewish Agency. Some of his best-known activities include assistance with collecting money and overseeing the rebuilding of the Ben Porat Yosef yeshiva after the War of Independence, and his activities at the beginning of the 1950s in the establishment of an institution for youth aliyah in Kibbutz Lavi, called Hodayot. Originally the institution was set up to absorb youth from Arab countries coming from India, but it was later used to absorb refugees from Iran. His most remarkable work was in the framework of "Otzar Torah". He also began to be active in this network at the beginning of the 1950s, after responding to a request from the Lubavitcher Rebbe to assist Yitzhak Shalom and Yosef Shema in rescuing the network that was in dire straits. The network had been established after the Holocaust with the aim of providing a Torah education in Arab countries, North Africa and France, as a reaction to the Alliance network and to prevent the disappearance of the Jewish people through assimilation. His activities in this network intensified in the 1970s, during which time Solomon was elected President of the World Otzar Hatorah organization.
In addition to his educational activities, Solomon began to lead the struggle against the proposed Crouch Bill to limit Jewish ritual slaughter in England. Within this framework, Solomon was involved in political campaigning, including speeches in parliament, an advertising and propaganda campaign, and academic research, including an experiment carried out in Ireland with the help of the Volcani Center and under the supervision of Rabbi Herzog. As a result of this activity, Solomon wrote a book about Jewish ritual slaughter. In 1970, Solomon made aliyah to Jerusalem, where he continued his activities, especially as President of Otzar Hatorah, until his death in 1985.
