Abraham Danon (; 15 August 1857 – 22 April 1925) was a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

rabbi,

Hebraist A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...

, writer, and poet.

Biography

Abraham Danon was born into a rabbinical family in

Adrianople Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, in 1857. He attended the

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary educat ...

in that city, pursuing his Talmudic studies at a

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

. In 1879 he founded the

Maskilic The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...

society ''Ḥevrat Shoḥare Tushiyya'' ('Society of the Proponents of Wisdom'), also known as ''Dorshe ha-Haskala'' ('Seekers of Enlightenment'), which promoted the study of Jewish literature and history. After having presided over a small seminary at Adrianople, in 1897 he was appointed director of the rabbinical seminary founded by the

Alliance Israélite Universelle The Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU; he, כל ישראל חברים; ) is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 with the purpose of safeguarding human rights for Jews around the world. It promotes the ideals of Jew ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. That same year, he went to Paris to represent Oriental Jewry at the Congress of Orientalists. Danon moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in August 1917, and began teaching at that city's . He died there in 1925.

Work

Under the title ''Toledot bene Abraham'', Danon published a Hebrew translation of

Théodore Reinach Théodore Reinach (3 July 186028 October 1928) was a French archaeologist, mathematician, lawyer, papyrologist, philologist, epigrapher, historian, numismatist, musicologist, professor, and politician. Academic career Educated at the Lycée Con ...

's ''Histoire des juifs'' (Presburg, 1888), completing the story, as he says in the preface, by extracts from Graetz, Geiger,

Kalman Schulman Kalman Schulman (1819 – January 2, 1899) was a Jewish writer who pioneered modern Hebrew literature. Life Schulman was born in 1819 in Bykhaw, Mogilev Governorate, Russia. He came from a Hassidic family. Schulman studied Hebrew and the Talmu ...

, and others. Under the title ''Maskil le-Edan'' ('Edan's Poem', abbreviation of 'Abraham Josef Danon'), he published a series of Hebrew translations of the poems of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, and Saadi, together with some original contributions (Adrianople, 1888). Danon's main achievement was his initiative in founding at Adrianople in 1888 the historical review ''Yosef da'at'', or ''El Progresso'', which was published in Hebrew characters in Judæo-Spanish,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, and

. The aim of the review was to collect all the documents relating to the history of the Oriental Jews. But the Ottoman government censorship suppressed this review, together with all others published in Turkey. Danon published a collection of fifty-five Judæo-Spanish ballads which are sung in Turkey, each ballad being accompanied by its French translation. They first appeared in the ''

Revue des études juives A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own durin ...

'', and were published separately by Durlacher in Paris in 1896. Danon also published some studies on the Jews of Adrianople and of

Salonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

, which appeared in the same review.

Partial bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danon, Abraham 1857 births 1925 deaths 20th-century French Jews Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to France French-language writers Hebraists Hebrew-language poets Jewish orientalists People from Edirne People of the Haskalah Translators to Hebrew Turkish orientalists Turkish rabbis