Abraham Lévy-Cohen (; 1844–1888) was a Moroccan lawyer, businessman, and journalist. He founded '' Le Reveil du Maroc'' in 1883, the first francophone newspaper in Morocco.

Biography

Abraham Lévy-Cohen was born to a Jewish family in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

in 1844 and raised in

Essaouira Essaouira ( ; ar, الصويرة, aṣ-Ṣawīra; shi, ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, Taṣṣort, formerly ''Amegdul''), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It ha ...

(Mogador). He was educated in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and became a naturalized British citizen. He also spent eight years in France. He returned to Morocco and worked as a lawyer, a businessman, and a journalist, in addition to serving as a member of the Tangier regional committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a member of the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, and a representative of the

Anglo-Jewish Association The Anglo-Jewish Association (AJA) is a British organisation. It was formed in 1871 for the 'promotion of social, moral, and intellectual progress among the Jews; and the obtaining of protection for those who may suffer in consequence of being Jew ...

in Tangier. He also served as a correspondent for Jewish newspapers based in London, such as ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'' and ''The Jewish World''. Although he was a naturalized subject of

the British crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different m ...

, he was a member of the Francophilic Jewish elite of Morocco, and worked to further French culture and interests in Morocco. On July 14, 1883, he began publishing the first francophone newspaper in Morocco: '' Le Reveil du Maroc''.

References

19th-century Moroccan Jews Newspaper people Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 1844 births 1888 deaths People from Tangier Newspaper publishers (people) {{Morocco-journalist-stub