Shalom Flāḥ

Born in Tunis to a traditional Jewish family, Shalom Flāḥ initially worked as a merchant before committing himself to journalism and Hebrew education. Fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, and Judeo-Arabic, Flāḥ contributed to numerous Judeo-Arabic journals in Tunisia and to East European maskilic Hebrew journals like Ha-Tsefirah and Ha-Magid. An acclaimed Alliance Israélite Universelle Hebrew teacher in Tunis and Sousse, Flāḥ wrote the first North African modern Hebrew grammar book, Mikra meforash (Scripture Explained, 1892). In addition to his linguistic and journalistic endeavors, he wrote novels in Judeo-Arabic as well as a social history of Tunisian Jewry. In 1928, he was appointed ḥakham bashi (chief rabbi) of Sousse.