Sefer kiryat arba

Isaac Akrish

1858

There is a matter well known and widely publicized among all those who have come through the gates of our city, Constantinople [Istanbul], may God preserve it. . . . [I]t occurred about two years after the establishment of the school among us here in Constantinople, may God preserve it, that was to teach Jewish children, the youngest students in…

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Creator Bio

Isaac Akrish

died ca. 1888
Isaac Akrish was a leading rabbi and dayan (judge) in Istanbul, who took a strong antimodernist stance on issues within the Jewish community. He opposed the teaching of European languages to Jewish youth, claiming that the ability to read Christian texts would lead to heresy. In 1862, he excommunicated Abraham de Camondo, a prominent member of the community, for founding a modern Jewish school in Istanbul. Akrish was almost imprisoned for this decision, but pressure from members of the Jewish community and the Ottoman government allowed him to remain free. Eventually he moved to Hebron, where spent the rest of his life.

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The first maskilim ransacked both Jewish and European tradition to find new platforms for creating and transmitting the Jewish cultural ideals they conceived. Jews enlisted diverse literary genres to call for social, educational, and economic change.

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