A Salonikan Jewish Man Recalls the Day of His Wedding

Sa’adi Besalel a-Levi

1881–1890

When my engagement was decided, my sister and brother-in-law announced, “You are engaged” without my even meeting the father of the bride.

As the date of my wedding approached, I still didn’t have the foggiest notion about marriage, thinking that a wife was about laundry, cooking, and taking care of the house. By my wedding day, the women had…

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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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