The schoolteacher and the priest are ordinarily considered to be respectable occupations. Yet individuals can be found who damage the reputation of both occupations. One such individual, for instance, is Aleksander Toom (1887-1961), who started his career as a schoolteacher. Various scandals followed Toom. Their primary reason was his excessive consumption of alcohol. At the same time, the level of his teaching left something to be desired. In the spring of 1923, Toom himself finally gave up his occupation as a schoolteacher. In the autumn of 1923, he was ordained as a priest and he set to work as a clergyman, yet in that occupation as well, scandals caused by alcohol accompanied him. In 1930, Toom was forbidden to work as a priest. Regardless of that, he tried to continue as a priest and even tried to found an independent congregation, which was similarly forbidden. Thereafter, Toom worked in various occupations. During the German occupation of Estonia in World War II, he temporarily ended up in prison for unknown reasons. In 1948, Toom was once again ordained as a priest, and he served in that capacity in various congregations in Estonia and Latvia almost until his death.

As can be seen from the materials presented in this article, Aleksander Toom left a contradictory impression on people who came into contact with him – this is borne out by archival sources that on the one hand praise him and on the other hand sharply criticise him. Toom inspired utterly contradictory sentiments both as a schoolteacher and later when he worked as a priest. Yet in retrospect, it is difficult to provide a certain answer to the question of why the opinions of people who came into contact with Toom regarding what kind of person he was diverged so profoundly.