Aäron Barend Davids (also known as A.B.N. Davids or Aäron Jiisachar Davids) studied to be a rabbi at the Dutch-Jewish Seminary in Amsterdam. In 1924 he was appointed chief rabbi of Friesland. His appointment did not go unnoticed. A.B.N. Davids was an ardent Zionist, which not everyone appreciated. In his inaugural speech he was very frank about his ideological views: 'More work may be performed directly for the establishment of Palestine. We should not stick to praying for the restoration of Zion but should work toward its establishment.' Despite his confrontational stand, he was appointed chief rabbi of the Rotterdam district in 1930. In Rotterdam Davids interacted extensively with Jews not pertaining to the core of the Jewish community. He reached out to Jews who were unemployed and Jewish servicemen and expressed an interest in the Jewish scouts. He established the Instituut voor Joodsche Ontwikkeling [institute for Jewish development], which offered courses on Judaism, Jewish literature and Jewish history.
Rabbi Davids chaired the Amsterdam chapter of the Nederlandse Zionistische Studenten Organisatie (NZSO) [Dutch Zionist student organizations]. He was one of the leaders of the religious-Zionist Mizrachi and was in charge of the association Or Chadasj (new light).
Rabbijn Davids was a member of the pre-war Rotterdam refugee committee.
M.H. Gans, Memorboek. Platenatlas van het leven der joden in Nederland van de middeleeuwen tot 1940 (6e bijgewerkte druk; Baarn 1988) 801;
D. Hausdorff, Jizkor. Platenatlas van drie en een halve eeuw geschiedenis van de joodse gemeente in Rotterdam van 1610 tot ±1960 (Baarn 1978) 55-60;
S. de Jong, Joods leven in de Friese hoofdstad 1920-1945. Voltooid verleden tijd (Leeuwarden, 1970) 36;
A.L. Jonker, Joodse vluchtelingen in Hellevoetsluis 1938-1940 (Hellevoetsluis 1995) 70
R. Fuks-Mansfeld (red.), Joden in Nederland in de twintigste eeuw. Een biografisch woordenboek (Utrecht 2007) 66
Biography