Rabbi Dr. Asher Murciano (1924-2020) was the Rabbi of the Sephardic Jewish Center for 67 years, making him the country’s longest serving Sephardic rabbi of the same congregation. He was also a noted rabbinical scholar. As a youth, he was sent to Menkes, Morocco, to the home of the Chief Rabbi, where he studied and sang with the famous Sephardic singer, Joe Amar. Ordained by Rabbi Baruch Toledano, he achieved the highest degree of Yore Yore Yadin Yadin, an ordination that permits a rabbi to make decisions on Jewish law. In 1948, arrangements were made by the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn, to bring the top eighteen students from Morocco to study at the world-renowned graduate school for Talmudic scholars. Shortly after arriving, he officiated at both Sephardic and Syrian synagogues in Brooklyn. While attending the Mirrer Yeshiva and Yeshiva University (YU) on weekdays, he commuted to Philadelphia to officiate at Mikve Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, as Assistant Rabbi and Hazan for three years. In 1953, he became the rabbi of the Sephardic Jewish Center of the Bronx. He earned his Ph.D. at NYU. He taught at York College and YU. He became a respected member of the Rabbinical Council of America and the New York Board of Rabbis. He was Chaplain to the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America and the Sephardic Home for the Aged, and for 35 years was a chaplain at Jacobi Hospital.
Gil Tauber, "NYC Honorary Street Names," accessed June 15, 2022, http://www.nycstreets.info/
"Rabbi Dr. Prosper M. Asher Obituary," New York Times, May 12, 2020, via Legacy.com, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/prosper-murciano-obituary?id=14189698