Joseph Barishac

Born in Edirne in the Ottoman Empire (today in Turkey), Joseph Barishac (Bar-Yitshak) was educated at the local Alliance Israélite Universelle school. He served as principal of Jewish schools in nearby Ottoman and Bulgarian towns. After a period of unemployment, he founded La boz de la verdad (The Voice of Truth) in 1910, Edirne’s only Ladino newspaper at the time. After various disruptions during the tumultuous decade that began in 1912, La boz de la verdad briefly resumed publication in 1922 and continued until approximately 1927. In the name of “national dignity,” Barishac used the press throughout his career to refute ritual murder allegations made by Christians and accusations of Jewish disloyalty made by Ottoman Turkish publications. He held a number of leadership positions in the Edirne Jewish community in the 1910s.