Memoir

Sa’adi Besalel a-Levi

1881–1902

These high officials were not accustomed to wearing European-style shirts. When they decided to dress in the European style, they asked a certain ham,1 Daniel Andjel, whose shop at the Women’s Market was their meeting place, to help them get such shirts. He inquired about who sold such shirts, but he didn’t find any, simply because sewing machines…

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Creator Bio

Sa’adi Besalel a-Levi

1820–1903

Sa’adi Besalel a-Levi was a publisher, journalist, and singer in Salonika. Although his formal education was limited to a few weeks of traditional schooling, he was a passionate maskil who was instrumental in establishing the first Alliance Israélite Universelle school in Salonika (1873). In addition to publishing religious and secular texts, including his own poems and songs composed for holidays and special occasions, he founded two long-lasting periodicals. In 1875, he started a Ladino newspaper, La epoka, and in 1895, the French-language Le journal de Salonique. In 1874, a-Levi was excommunicated by local rabbis on false charges. In his memoir he presents himself as a victim of the ignorant masses and a heroic fighter for progress.

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